As a Wedding Photographer, there is a always a lot of pressure and a ton of responsibility. I always embrace both with each wedding a photograph and those two aspects are what make shooting weddings fun, among other things. Well, this past weekend I was simply a guest at a family wedding in Hamilton, Ontario. Attending this wedding made me feel like as though I have finally come full circle. The last wedding I shot as a guest was what got me into wedding photography in the first place. That was over 6 years ago. It's been one hell of a ride since then and those years have flown by.
This time around I had many years of experience behind me and, being a guest, I was able to get a lot of behind the scene photos and just general moments that were very candid. Although, this is how I normally shoot so it wasn't much of a change for me.
The main challenge for this wedding was using one camera and one lens. For the entire weekend I simply brought one camera, my Fuji XE-1 and the 16mm 1.4 lens. I usually have two full frame Nikons hanging over both shoulders so it was so nice just carrying around something as small and compact as the Fuji. I am seriously considering slowly sizing down my kit. This wedding showed me that I can get some amazing images with a mirrorless camera like the Fuji. Using the 16mm lens also meant that the majority of my photos were more of a wide angle perspective. I didn't mind one bit not being able to zoom in as I was still able to capture some great moments.
The toughest part by far of the wedding was the dancing portion. Once the lights went down I had to use the pop up flash on the Fuji. Usually I would have a speed light mounted but I had to make due with what I had. Surprisingly, I had a lot of keepers. All in all, it was so much fun using the XE-1 and especially the 16mm. It's such a great, sharp lens. The photos below were all shot as jpg's and edited in Lightroom with small tweaks. The BW images were show as BW in camera and again processed in Lightroom. I really didn't have to do too much editing either.
Thank you to Sylvia and Greg for a wonderful wedding day. I'm hoping these photos give them a glimpse of how I saw the day through my eyes.
