Jewish Wedding Network » Photography

What Tyra Can Teach You About Posing

Polina F. — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 13:15:37 +0000

Last week, my fiancé Jake and I had our engagement photo session with our wedding photographer Agaton Strom. I was really nervous, as I had never done a professional photo session before and really wanted our photos to come out fantastic. (The perfectionist in me has really come out during the planning of this wedding!) I occasionally watch America’s Next Top Model and when it came time for my engagement photos, I actually paid attention to Tyra and Ms. Jay’s advice. I even practiced posing in front of the mirror! I knew it was a bit much, but I became obsessed. I spent two weeks figuring out what we should wear. Jake and I decided to do a wardrobe change–for the first set of pictures we would wear nice formal clothing, and for second half of the photo session we would wear casual shorts and t-shirts.

We decided to have the photo session take place on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, where I lived for 15 years throughout college and post-college. We met our photographer on the 70th street pier, where Jake and I spent many evenings chilling by the bar and watching the water and boats from the pier.

This was one of the first few pictures we took that day as the sun was setting. I love the light in this picture. The only direction Agaton gave us was take a walk on the pier.

For this picture we wanted to do something different other then hugging or kissing for our photos. I also wanted a rest, so we sat on an old fishing stand which no one uses on the pier.

Agaton took this picture just as the sun was setting. It looks like we are in a field of grain, but really it’s just tall grass near the pier.

Second Wardrobe Change

This is one of the last pictures from our session. We were walking from the pier on a deserted street and decided to take advantage of the fact that there were no cars.

One of the main reasons why we had so much fun at the shoot is that our photographer made us feel very comfortable about being in front of the camera for a few hours. It was a very relaxed atmosphere and he put us at ease. He gave some direction, but really let us go with it. It was such an amazing experience, and in the end I didn’t even really need Tyra’s advice–it felt so natural and easy!

Our Engagement Photos – Finally!

DJ — Fri, 29 May 2009 15:18:10 +0000

I mentioned earlier that we didn’t get to take advantage of the engagement photos included in our wedding photographer’s package. Luckily, my wedding blog addiction finally came in handy because I noticed on one of them that an up-and-coming photographer (Jenna of Jenna Cole Photography) was offering free sessions in order to bulk up her portfolio.

Although Jenna is in Dallas, (a six hour round trip drive from us) road trips certainly don’t intimidate us! I am so glad that we decided to make the drive, because Jenna is an amazing photographer, especially for someone who is just starting out! She took some to die for shots of us.

Here’s a teaser of her beautiful images, you can find the rest of them (as well as a fun write up about us!) here.

We brought our puppy along for the journey
(although we don’t think he completely enjoyed being a model!)

Picture Perfect

Polina F. — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 15:51:56 +0000

This past week was devoted to securing a great photographer to capture our special day. My fiancé and I met with a photographer who we loved. Here is a sampling of some questions that we asked the photographer before making the decision to hire him:

1. What’s your photographic style for weddings? Posed and formal, relaxed, photojournalistic, creative, artistic, candid, traditional?
2. Do you shoot in color or black and white? Or both? Do you shoot in a digital format that can create both color and b/w versions of the same picture?
3. Can we have input on the direction of the shots? Can we give you a list of shots to work with?
4. How many other events will you be photographing the weekend of our?
5. What kind of equipment will you bring with you? How intrusive will lighting, tripods, other equipment or assistants be?
6. How long after the event will the proofs be ready?
7. Will you provide an album or photo book?
8. Do you have liability insurance?

One of the main reasons why we’re planning to hire him is his great photo style and attitude. We felt really comfortable with him during our meeting, and also liked that he had a lot of creative ideas for our wedding pictures. Additionally, I did a lot of background research on him online and found many positive quotes about his professionalism and photojournalistic style, which we also really like. We don’t want posed shots at the wedding. We’d like the photographer to blend in and take lots of action and emotion shots. It’s important to us that our pictures to capture what happened at our wedding, not just who was there. All in all, we were impressed with his other work and are looking forward to our wedding and seeing the final product!