After spending so much time with Nikki & Sohil, I was so excited for their Wedding Day! We had talked about it so much, all of their plans for the decor and the other vendors they were using, the activites they had planned that evening to incorporate Nikki’s Chinese heritage with Sohil’s Pakistani wedding traditions! Nikki and Sohil told me everything, except for one very small, but very important detail:
The Wedding Ceremony would be held outside, in the snow.
For a photographer, that is a very important thing to know! I arrived and was speaking with the coordinator about all of the details, and she kept mentioning how cold it would be, and I couldn’t figure out why it would be cold, I know this venue has heat! Once she told me about their plans, I made a quick phone call, and had someone there in about 15 minutes with boots, a hat, and my very special photographer’s gloves!
I arrived a bit before anyone else was there, so I kept myself busy with detail shots while there was still available light.
Hooray, they’re here!!!
And the ceremony in the snow begins!
For about a minute, the amount of light from the waterfall exactly matched the ambient light of the setting sun behind the storm clouds! And then it was gone. Just like that! This is my last color shot for a while, I desperately wanted to avoid using a flash as much as I could so as not to disturb the ceremony, and the light is so blue at this point that doing a completely custom white balance isn’t rendering it a neutral tone! I know I can get the blue out in post, but an entire ceremony just felt like a cheat to me, since the actual color was really that blue! I decided to be true to who I am as an artist, shot the rest of the ceremony in B&W with all natural light. What’s my shutter speed? 1/13th of a second. That’s right, I said 1/13 of a second. Entirely hand-held. I’ve got rock-steady hands baby!
OMG light!!!!! I was so happy when they lit their unity candle! Even though for me I am standing a bit too close to the bride and groom for comfort during a wedding ceremony, it was so dark that I figured none of the guests would even notice me up there. All of this light shining on their faces is from one candle being lit. Hey, and did I mention that it was really dark outside?
This is my favorite shot of the evening, them walking away from their wedding ceremony as husband and wife, toward the light and the warmth!
People are overjoyed, and it’s time to relax and get the party started! Reception pictures soon…
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on Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010 at 9:54 am and is filed under Weddings, Winter.
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March 3rd, 2010 at 10:43 am
I found your blog awhile ago and I thought I would finally comment! You are such an inspiration Pepper. You are so talented. As someone who is planning/hoping to be a successful photographer in the next few years I definitely look up to you! I’m going to WPPI for my first time next week. I wish I had known about the Thirst Relief auction earlier, I would have bid way more than what you went for to get lunch with you. Anyway, keep it up, you are amazing!
March 3rd, 2010 at 11:00 am
Lynette, thank you so much! I can’t tell you how much it makes my day to wake up and find new comments on the blog! You are going to absolutely LOVE WPPI, it is an amazing experience and I hope to see you there! If you would like to make a matching donation to Thirst Relief, I would be happy to do a mentor session with you as well while we are both attending the convention. Let me know if that’s something you’d like to do and we will make it happen!
March 3rd, 2010 at 11:31 am
Beautiful wedding, and man 1/13th shutter? You’re a stud!
March 3rd, 2010 at 1:34 pm
seriously, 1/13th- that is awesome!
March 3rd, 2010 at 1:45 pm
1/13th – yeah, I’m pretty badass. LOL You guys crack me up! Seriously, the secret to is hold your breath, and if you think I’m kidding, I am not. Look at my face. Is this the face of someone who is kidding around?
March 3rd, 2010 at 2:10 pm
Pepper, beautiful, simply amazing!! Miss you!!
March 3rd, 2010 at 9:36 pm
Taj, I miss you and your boys!!! When can we hook up for a play date? Zen is so big now, he actually said “Where’s Daddy?” tonight, he’s never used the word ‘where’ before! I feel like every day is a new milestone and it makes me so sad that they’re coming so close together! I gotta see you soon – I miss my Taj!
March 3rd, 2010 at 9:40 pm
This looks so beautiful Pepper. Love it!
March 4th, 2010 at 3:15 pm
Awesome!
March 5th, 2010 at 2:37 am
Thank you! Nikki & Sohil were incredible to work with, just so easy going and so much fun! [Not to mention, both gorgeous. They made my job so easy!]