Oy vey!!! My first Jewish wedding...

mmmatt · November 10, 2009

***lots more pics on the bottom of page 2***

Hello all!
as it says, my first Jewish wedding... This was nothing like a Christian wedding let me tell you!!! Really glad this wasn't my first wedding, and really wishing I had hired an assistant for this one. If anybody reading this wants more detail then feel free to post or pm me. It was a tough night. Everything took place at the synagogue and there was no time between events. Literally I had to leave gear behind and run through a crowd of 300 people to get in front of the b&g all night. It was nuts. THE hardest event I have ever shot.

So on with the pics!

1. this is a bridesmade/sister of the groom

2. Here's the bride.

3.

4.

This is the start of the TTD. We were supposed to meet around 2 on Sunday and when I called them to get a where, they canceled on me. When I reminded them that I only took 3 formals of them the night before (because everyone was so late and things were so behind) I eventually convinced them that they should really make the time! Jordan is an actor and was told on Friday that he was needed on set first thing Monday morning so he was flying out at 7pm. This ultimately gave us about 45 minutes to hit the two locations they wanted to use.

These first two are from a bridge where Marsha used to hang out and drink with her buddies when she was a kid.

5.

6. This was a fairly narrow bridge, and I decided not to use my off camera lights thinking I was short on time and had good lighting. I shot this at 200mm so what seemed like great light was only marginal. Lesson learned! I have more from this location but picked this one for my quicky client preview because I liked the expressions, but hopefully lighting will be better on some of the others.

7. Location two was a park. Walking from the parking lot Jordan noticed the awesome beam of light on these rocks by the lake. We hurried down to try to catch it. After getting down there we decided we wouldn't be able to get Marsha up on the rock, so I said. I wonder how cold that water is and touched it. "Not as bad as I thought! I said. "Would you guys be willing to wade in on the side of those rocks? Marsha said sure, Jordan said "Really? Not me", and I said "Cool!". the shot I wanted couldn't be had from shore so I pulled off the shoes and waded out up to my waist to shoot it.
Jordan, being a proud New Yorker, wasn't going to let me out man him so he followed Marsha out by the rocks and we got our shots. The water was probably about 40 degrees... maybe 50, but either way it was super cold!!!Lake Michigan is barely over 50 in the middle of the summer!

8.

9.

10. This bottle of champagne got downed by the three of us in about 5 minutes! Starting this day I had on a button up casual shirt and an undershirt. In this shot Marsha is sitting on the button up, Jordan is on the t-shirt, and I am sporting my pasty white skin to the world. By this time we had about 20 people watching us and clapping. It was fun!

11. Shoe shot from the ttd. I think I will leave the sand to remember where this was shot.

12. The only thing Marsha knew she wanted from the day, was a shot of the two of them running down this big hill.

13. Note the reflection...

Thanks for looking and for any comments!

Matt

heatherfeather · November 10, 2009

Very sweet reflection in the ring shot! LOVE IT!
Where is the handrail reflection coming from in #1? Can you explain?
I don't know what you are whining about. I love the light in 6.
I am thinking we need a behind the scene photo of 9. Too funny!

I had my hardest event thus far this weekend too... a 14 hour killer wedding. I... thought... I... might... die. But I didn't. And in all that 14 hours the bride and groom could never get themselves away from the party for their photos of just the two of them! Craziness! I am going to see if they will do some after photos when they get back from Jamaica.

mmmatt · November 10, 2009

heatherfeather wrote:

Very sweet reflection in the ring shot! LOVE IT!
Where is the handrail reflection coming from in #1? Can you explain?
I don't know what you are whining about. I love the light in 6.
I am thinking we need a behind the scene photo of 9. Too funny!

I had my hardest event thus far this weekend too... a 14 hour killer wedding. I... thought... I... might... die. But I didn't. And in all that 14 hours the bride and groom could never get themselves away from the party for their photos of just the two of them! Craziness! I am going to see if they will do some after photos when they get back from Jamaica.

Well thanks Heather! Sounds like we both had some fun this weekend! Well... mine really was fun, and even the crazy Jewish service and the tish's and all was fun, but it did kick my a$$.

#1 was an interior beveled glass door that opened to a hallway, then another door opened from the hallway to the room were the girls were getting their hair done. Next to the door by the girls was a full length window and the stair case was in the hallway. I opened the door about 45 deg and attempeted to bounce my flash through to the next room, and then shot across to the window on the other side of the stairway. The reflection is on the window accross the hall from me. Don't know if that makes sence! Wait!!! sounds like a job for ms paint!!!

Ha!!!

6... ehhh. I thought I was seeing more light on his face. At least it's not flashy though! Right Jason... Jason? Just kidding!

as for the set up shot, I was totally kicking myself for not asking somebody to shoot me doing all that, and maybe somebody did but I'll never see it. Ah well, it was quite the spectacle for sure. On my way back to the car people were patting me on the back and saying "good job". It was cool.

Matt

heatherfeather · November 10, 2009

Cool! Thanks for the details of that. I think I get it, thanks to your lovely artwork. And you can always add some brightness in post to his face if you want to. Shouldn't be a big deal, really.

mmmatt · November 10, 2009

heatherfeather wrote:

Cool! Thanks for the details of that. I think I get it, thanks to your lovely artwork. And you can always add some brightness in post to his face if you want to. Shouldn't be a big deal, really.

Blurmore · November 10, 2009

I cut my teeth on Jewish weddings, I have shot many many many of them. They are a different kinda thing. I have only shot 1 at a temple. So are you going to start bringing a ladder? Looks like you did a good job, especially with your time constraint.

mmmatt · November 10, 2009

Blurmore wrote:

I cut my teeth on Jewish weddings, I have shot many many many of them. They are a different kinda thing. I have only shot 1 at a temple. So are you going to start bringing a ladder? Looks like you did a good job, especially with your time constraint.

The "everything at the temple" is the killer, there is no time between things because all you have to do is go across the foyer/common area thing. But that's not easy! Especially for someone who switches gear for each new location. You gotta wear it all...

You are so right about the ladder. They did tishes (I bounced between them both) then at the end when the Groom goes to the brides tish, i was in front of the groom and first man in the room. I quickly got backed into a corner so had to plow to the back of the room, stand on a chair, and shoot over my head reporter style. During this time he veils her, her father blesses her, the rabbi blesses her and they sign this special wedding thing in hebrew. Lots of important stuff! Sorry I don't know all the names... this is all new to me! I got the shots but they aren't great. focus yes, light yes, but not composed very well! I also shot from the stage with the band durring all the traditional dances at the reception!

Ladder, check! Thanks for the comments and the compliments Jason. I wish I would have know you have shot a bunch of them. I would have picked your brain. Well, actually I didn't think it would be that different short of a broken glass, a mozeltov, and an hora. Serves me right!

Matt

Blurmore · November 11, 2009

Interesting, they must have been fairly conservative. I've only shot 2 that had the tish, and they were Orthodox. Being the only gentile at an Orthodox Jewish wedding is an experience in itself. Did they escort them off to the Yichud, then stand outside and cheer and pray? THAT is an experience.

mmmatt · November 11, 2009

Blurmore wrote:

Interesting, they must have been fairly conservative. I've only shot 2 that had the tish, and they were Orthodox. Being the only gentile at an Orthodox Jewish wedding is an experience in itself. Did they escort them off to the Yichud, then stand outside and cheer and pray? THAT is an experience.

I talked for a bit with her father when I met them to go on the ttd and asked him if there was always a Tish and he said, like yourself, that it was more of an orthodox thing. I shoot my share of Mitzvahs and the father and the groom are middle of the road but leaning toward the conservative side compared to the people I normally deal with. No braided beards and round brim hats though! The Tish was awesome... really neat tradition and I don't know why it isn't common, and yes they did the Yichud.

I'll give a rundown with help from the program for anyone interested..

Starts with the Tish which is supposed to be a way to introduce friends and family into the Jewish wedding tradition. The groom is supposed to read from the Torah (their bible scroll in Hebrew) and give a brief explanation of how the Jewish faith sees marriage, intermixed with singing and dancing. At the end, the groom is danced to the brides Tish.

Jordan joked about this saying that what we were really going to do was sing loud and clap to fool the women and then drink a lot of whiskey! I get the feeling that this was traditionally what was done at a Tish back in the day as well! It was toasts, speeches, music, clapping, and a bunch of scotch.

The ladies Tish is called Hakhnassat Kallah. The bride sat in a white covered chair with a chair on either side, almost like a throne. The ladies came in and had a chance to talk to her. This was more of a "tea and crumpets" kind of affair as opposed to the male version where they were downing shots and singing. The groom is then danced into the brides room for the Ketubah.

The Ketubah is the Hebrew document that is signed by the b&g in front of whiteness and is their promise to one another, but they also signed the marraige license at this time.

Then the groom lowers the veil over the brides face and this is called the Bedeken. The veiling of the bride is symbolic of setting her apart from all others or being set apart in holiness.

From there we went into the service, and then imeadiatly afterwords they went into the Yichud. The Yichud is an oppertunity for the b&g to spend time directly after the ceremony in seclusion with just the two of them so they can spend their first few moments together as husband and wife. Nobody was cheering or praying outside the door though. The Rabbi said that nobody could disturb them and they would come out whenever they come out, but the father of the bride had different ideas and knocked on the door to get them moving.

Like I said, this was a lot going on and since you can't start any of it until after dark it gets crammed together. Next time I will have an assistant/2nd shooter for sure, and probably have 2 bodies set up so I could move quickly between events.

Matt

Ed911 · November 11, 2009

Matt...great set.

8. 10, 11, and 13 are my favorites.

8...the stroll down the beach...very nice post processing, you hit it just right...dreamy. Same for 10...the light is very nice...you really captured the moment...the happiness in their hearts.

11...nice shoe shot...the light is just right...the white shoes against the background of Autumn leaves...post processing...vingnetting...it's all there.

13...excellent ring shot...nice refelctions...the rings really stand out against the nice bokeh and back ground colors...

My nit...not complete if you don't have one...the good and the bad...is the first shot...not liking it at all...to confusing...banister through the head shot...with all the other, "what are these," artifacts...not to mention that she is facing out of frame. A lot of abstract dead space on the left of the image. Just my two cents...

Other than that...wow...if you don't get some referrals from this one, I'll be surprised...

And, thanks for the rundown on Jewish weddings...never been to one...maybe one day I'll be lucky enough to photograph one...

Thanks for sharing.

divamum · November 11, 2009

Matt - GREAT set. I love the different moods you captured.

I remembered your esession for these two and went and looked at it again - I can't believe how different she looks without her glasses and all dolled up for the occasion (nb: not good/bad different, just DIFFERENT). I seriously wouldn't have realised it was the same couple if you hadn't mentioned that he was an actor!

And dude, HERE is a definition of "professional": producing great shots in a high-stress, unfamiliar situation. Ta-da!!

mmmatt · November 11, 2009

Ed911 wrote:

Matt...great set.

8. 10, 11, and 13 are my favorites.

8...the stroll down the beach...very nice post processing, you hit it just right...dreamy. Same for 10...the light is very nice...you really captured the moment...the happiness in their hearts.

11...nice shoe shot...the light is just right...the white shoes against the background of Autumn leaves...post processing...vingnetting...it's all there.

13...excellent ring shot...nice refelctions...the rings really stand out against the nice bokeh and back ground colors...

My nit...not complete if you don't have one...the good and the bad...is the first shot...not liking it at all...to confusing...banister through the head shot...with all the other, "what are these," artifacts...not to mention that she is facing out of frame. A lot of abstract dead space on the left of the image. Just my two cents...

Other than that...wow...if you don't get some referrals from this one, I'll be surprised...

And, thanks for the rundown on Jewish weddings...never been to one...maybe one day I'll be lucky enough to photograph one...

Thanks for sharing.

Thanks Ed!
I agree to an extent on the first one. I like the obscurity and confusion of it though. This isn't the result I was trying to achieve and honestly didn't really know exactly what I had until I got it home, but this kind of shot is an internal effort to break new ground. I was just trying to see if I could throw light around a corner and make something out of it! Not saying something like this has never been done, but it is now on the verge of being a skill that I can control. I hope to always be trying new things. If I don't I will get bored with this.

I worked on that one early (this is a 2800 image shoot from last weekend) and it is the grooms sister. These early images are something I try to do for all my clients so they get a taste and can start singing my praises! They get them scaled down and watermark so they can email them and post on facebook etc. It is posted here because it is unique(ish) and I wanted comments on it, so I appreciate yours!

As for referals, yes. Unfortunately the b&g, grooms family, and wedding party all live in New York. Every one of the girls at the salon made a point to tell me how much they loved the e-session shots, and the sister in that first pic said she wanted me for her wedding if she ever got married! Sure, yeah... I'll fly out to NY for a wedding!!!

The father of the bride is local, owns a Real Estate company, and is well known throughout the community. When we spoke on Sunday while I was waiting for the b&g, I could see how proud he was. He hired me and he was getting lots of pats on the back for it. I used the e-session shots to produce a guest book for the wedding, so everyone there saw my work, and saw me flying around, and saw me making the little kids smile for the camera during super rushed formals. He was glowing and patting me on the back. I delivered a DVD to a Bat Mitsvah client the Monday after, and he told me that it turns out that his wife and the mother of the bride work together and I was the talk of the office that day. You just can't buy that kind of advertising! My Bat Mitzvah dad was happy too. "Most Bat Mitzvah pictures are so boring! In yours it looks like everyone is having so much fun!" Didn't hurt that his daughter is gorgeous, and fun. She was doing stage dives and air guitaring, and doing all sorts of fun things... I just pushed the button!

Only sad thing about all this is the guy who referred both these clients to me. He is a big time Mitzvah shooter and brought me in to shoot his overflow. Based on the elatedness of these two clients that are from his network, I wonder if he and I will be competing soon. He is a good photographer and gets the job done but he is a "P" mode "shoot and burn" guy and can't compare to what I do. If he wanted to yes, but since he doesn't have any passion for the artistic end of it, he can't. Not every client wants that, and I am far from being the best, but I try to be that kind of shooter and am slowly finding my chee. thanks in large part to the people here at dgrin...

It wouldn't surprise me if this ends up being the goose that lays that shiny egg, but I guess we will see. The bulk of this wedding is pretty simple and documentary which is what they are used to and hopefully what they are expecting. To truly shoot an event like this MY way, I would need atleast 1 other body shooting with me. It was hard to get out of the box at that pace.

Matt

mmmatt · November 11, 2009

divamum wrote:

Matt - GREAT set. I love the different moods you captured.

I remembered your esession for these two and went and looked at it again - I can't believe how different she looks without her glasses and all dolled up for the occasion (nb: not good/bad different, just DIFFERENT). I seriously wouldn't have realised it was the same couple if you hadn't mentioned that he was an actor!

And dude, HERE is a definition of "professional": producing great shots in a high-stress, unfamiliar situation. Ta-da!!

Diva! Oh and they aren't all great shots... I am pretty sure I got everything I need. I could have done better had I known what to expect, but there is enough above average to overshadow any below average I think.

Thanks for the kind words.

Matt

mmmatt · November 25, 2009

OK, well since I eluded to the crazyness of this days events, I thought I would show you a few of the results.

From the hair salon

01.

02.

From the getting ready

03.

04.

05.

06.

From the brides formal sessions before they had seen each other.

07.

08.

From the grooms

09.

10. This is Mom and Sis. Did I mention that Mom REFUSED to be in any pictures that Step-mom was in? Huge drama and it made for doing 2 sets of everything on the grooms side. Keep in mind we started 30 minutes late out of the gate! She had no regard for the fact that this was her son's day and not hers... sheesh!

Brides Tish

11.

12.

Men's Tish

13. Father of the groom making a toast.

14.

15.

16. Off to see his bride for the first time.

Everybody together (all shot from a chair with my camera over my head)

17.

18.

19. Opps! No flash! Guess those halogen can lights weren't that big of a pita!

20. This is Dad after giving her his blessing and a kiss on her forehead.

Service

21.

22. father of the bride hugging the groom

23. I can't remember what the tent thing is called but it is typical from what I understand. Being I am a bounce flash guy it did mess with my lighting quite a bit. It was also a little off level so it messed with my formals too.

24. Parents stand up for the whole thing.

25. From the cocktail party during the Yichud. Old Jewish men have the coolest faces!

more formals

26. My new favorite pose! I call it "make a clump". I pull this one out when Dad is tapping his watch on one side and the wedding coordinator is yelling "can we announce them now?" from the other.

27. Squeezed of a few simple poses of them before they literally run out the door to the reception.

The reception mayhem

28. Batts are dying on me here! Thankk God for RAW.

29. Lock and load Baby!

30. There were then speeches and performances from friends. One guy did a stand up comedy bit, and other wrote and performed them a song, and one guy even did these stick things. (I think they are actually called "devil sticks"... shhhh!)

31. First dance happened twice... once to the band playing the song and then again to the grooms ipod... not sure what was up with that.

32.
Grooms Dad and the Stepmom. I just don't understand why the Mom hates her... hmmmm.

33.

34. More speeches... this time it was direct family. Here is the grooms sister again. the one from the stair rail through the head shot.

35.

36. Dad got emotional often. Pretty cool actually.

***edited to renumber because I'm a dork***

heatherfeather · November 25, 2009

Heya Matt,
I am in LOVE with your #13 from the men's tish. What a great photo!

Celebration of family is fairly singing from these photos. Really beautiful set.

mmmatt · November 25, 2009

heatherfeather wrote:

Heya Matt,
I am in LOVE with your #13 from the men's tish. What a great photo!

Celebration of family is fairly singing from these photos. Really beautiful set.

Thanks Heather! I like that one too. The tish's were my favorite part of this shoot. That was a really neat addition to the service.

Matt

mmmatt · November 25, 2009

heatherfeather wrote:

Heya Matt,
I am in LOVE with your #13 from the men's tish. What a great photo!

Celebration of family is fairly singing from these photos. Really beautiful set.

Crap! I misnumberd and there were two 13's! Fixed now. Curious which one you meant. Dad toast or guitar guy. I like them both though!

Matt

heatherfeather · November 25, 2009

mmmatt wrote:

Crap! I misnumberd and there were two 13's! Fixed now. Curious which one you meant. Dad toast or guitar guy. I like them both though!

Matt

I thought *I* was the only one that misnumbered. Well join the misnumbering club!

The father's toast aaaaall the way.

mmmatt · November 25, 2009

heatherfeather wrote:

I thought *I* was the only one that misnumbered. Well join the misnumbering club!

The father's toast aaaaall the way.

There are actually 3 from that toast that are equally good. that was a hard one to pick for you guys, glad you like it.

stirinthesauce · December 1, 2009

Very nice Matt.

Particularly like the msPaint diagram

adbsgicom · December 1, 2009

13, 22, 25, 31 and 36 are my faves here. You captured some great moments.

The canopy is called a Chuppah (sounds more like Huppah, not a hard-ch). It represents the home they are forming.

mmmatt · December 4, 2009

space
key
is
broken.

sorry
bad
English:D

finally
end
of
story

promise
last
of
pics!

TTD

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8a.

8b.

9.

10.

Thanks
Matt

divamum · December 4, 2009

at Wedding Forum, Haiku Style

Number 2 and rings
Seriously float my boat.
Wine shot is funny!

(I love #7, too, but it wouldn't scan because it had too many syllables

)

mmmatt · December 9, 2009

Well new computer so no more haikus! Woot!

stirinthesauce wrote:

Very nice Matt.

Particularly like the msPaint diagram

Thanks Jon! I think that skill was honed on a really old thread at TS. "5 min ms paint contest" or something like that! I owe you an email... I will get on that tomorrow or the next day!

adbsgicom wrote:

13, 22, 25, 31 and 36 are my faves here. You captured some great moments.

The canopy is called a Chuppah (sounds more like Huppah, not a hard-ch). It represents the home they are forming.

thanks Andrew for the props and for the chuppah reminder!

Matt

stirinthesauce · December 9, 2009

mmmatt wrote:

Well new computer so no more haikus! Woot!

Thanks Jon! I think that skill was honed on a really old thread at TS. "5 min ms paint contest" or something like that! I owe you an email... I will get on that tomorrow or the next day!

Matt

Yeah, I remember that old thread. No sweat on the email. Think I got everything sorted out. Got my prints in for the album yesterday. Now just to build it. I'll post up some pics in a thread probably by this weekend.

Mitchell · December 9, 2009

Fantastic series. You've really captured the essence of an ultra-conservative Jewish wedding.

Always have a ladder available at Jewish events. I usually check with the Temple staff ahead of time to make sure they will let me borrow one.

mmmatt · December 10, 2009

Mitchell wrote:

Fantastic series. You've really captured the essence of an ultra-conservative Jewish wedding.

Always have a ladder available at Jewish events. I usually check with the Temple staff ahead of time to make sure they will let me borrow one.

Thanks Mitchell! I appreciate the compliment!

yeah, I shoot b'nai Mitzvahs fairly often and could have used a ladder many a time! I am going to start doing that for sure.

Matt

mmmatt · December 10, 2009

divamum wrote:

at Wedding Forum, Haiku Style

Number 2 and rings
Seriously float my boat.
Wine shot is funny!

(I love #7, too, but it wouldn't scan because it had too many syllables )

Thanks Diva! Funny how I don't remember the champagne being all that awful either... I think it was probably more the fun they had at the reception! I felt obligated to show those since they will otherwise go mostly unseen I assume.

Crap! I forgot to thank Shima for our little lens deal from a few months ago. All 3 of the ring shots in this thread were done with her kick butt 100mm 2.8 macro. My first wedding outing with it. She replaced it with the new L version of course, but I think this one may have magical juju. LOVIN that lens Cat!

Matt

Grinder · December 14, 2009

mmmatt wrote:

***lots more pics on the bottom of page 2***

Hello all!
as it says, my first Jewish wedding...
Matt

I had to stop by and see what you were up to - great work, great PS work too.

Break out the latka!

-G

Oy vey!!! My first Jewish wedding...

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