Win the Groom
Win the Groom
Most often in the wedding photography business the goal is to win over the bride and get her approval. In the case of the photograph above, I was challenged with winning over the groom. Some years ago when my business was solely devoted to wedding photography, I was hired by a young woman to shoot her wedding. At some point before the date of the wedding I was informed that her fiancé was really unhappy (and that’s putting it VERY lightly) with the decision to hire me because he wanted his friend to do the job. I also learned that the bride gave up rights to a lot of things she wanted for the wedding in order to have me be their photographer. I was seeing red flags in this right away but the contract was already signed and the date was fast approaching.
The morning of the wedding was like so many before, pics of the girls getting ready then shots of them all made up and beautiful. As I prepared for the grooms arrival, knowing he did not want me there and that he was in a rock band at the time, I looked for a place on the grounds to photograph him and his guys in a way that would appeal to him. It couldn’t be pretty, It had to be rough. It had to be different. It had to be ROCK and ROLL! I walked through the restaurant on the grounds and found a back door to where the restaurant would dump their trash and employees would take smoking breaks. It was perfect.
I walked to the parking lot where I waited for the guys to show up. A large white limo rolled up and out rolled the groom and his groomsmen. Here I’ll just say, I wasn’t greeted fondly, how’s that? At this point as a photographer you can either be weak or strong. You have to decide. I remember looking at him and just said, “Let’s go.” I pointed where I wanted them to go and they followed. I used the fact that I’m 6’6” and wasn’t gonna be intimidated and told them where to stand. I then told them, “For this first shot I need no smiles and to look like you don’t like me.” To which one of them under his breath replied, “No problem there.” I trusted my scouting and the equipment I had set up and the look I was going for. It took one frame to win him. I fired the shutter, looked at my camera screen and couldn’t have been happier inside, but now I had to win the groom. I walked straight up to him, not smiling, (umm, neither of us….. neither of us were smiling) turned the screen to him and…. at this point, I’ll leave out the expletives, but just know they were all used in a positive way and well, he loved me through the rest of the event and whatever I asked, they all did. One frame won the groom.
Details:
Canon EOS 1D Mark III
File Type: RAW
Lens: 16-35mm
ISO: 100
Shooting Mode: Manual
Shutter: 1/160
Aperture: f8.0
To make this image even more “rock and roll” I used only one off camera strobe (Canon 580EX II) to my right on an old bookshelf or something. To trigger the strobe I used a Pocket Wizard Plus II Transceiver on my camera and the other on the strobe. I wanted the light to be hard because I knew I would edit this image to look rough and very contrasty with deep colors. This is what comes with experience, and not to say that I’m the best or that I’m better than anyone else, but the more you work, the more hours you put in behind the camera the more you can see an image before you make it. I’d like to also say that you need to treat people with respect when you work with them and honestly this is the respect this guy needed. He didn’t want “pretty” wedding photographer. He wanted something that he would like as well. Images that fit him and his friends and their feel. So before you start working with someone, ask questions, get to know them, likes and dislikes, it’s all very important to the end result.
