**WCC (Weddings Challenge Contest) #3: WEATHER OR NOT***

mmmatt

Ahhh nothing better than loading your gear into your car on a beautiful day! Not too hot and not too cool... soft breeze and some big fat fluffy clouds in the sky. But, unfortunately we all know those days don't happen every weekend!

Topic of the month is "WEATHER OR NOT" and Im looking for the times when the weather tried to not corporate. Rain, snow, heavy winds, etc. We all can handle wedding shots on the perfect day, or just bring it inside when weather is bad but it takes a dedicated story teller to take what mother nature throws at us and makes it an advantage. Key here is going to be using the less than perfect weather as a key element to the shot.

I hope this makes sense! If not post and I will attempt to clarify.

For those who don't know, the rules are listed here. Deadline for submission is end of day November 22nd.

I'm really excited to see what you guys post!

Matt

quark

Departure Monsoon
This photo always makes me laugh. Why is the bride (holding my umbrella) talking to the limo driver (sitting inside and dry)? Isn't he suppose to hop out and open the door for her? I love Seattle weddings!

bdcolen

You want wet? You can't face WET!!
The wedding was carefully planned for what was supposed to be a gorgeous Saturday afternoon, lakeside, in Glacier National Park, in Northwestern Montana. Well, maybe it wasn't quite so carefully planned, because there were no provisions made for even the possibility that it might rain. And it didn't rain - it poured. And poured. And poured. But thanks to the fact that the groom and many of the guests were helicopter repellers for the National Forrest Service - the crazies who repel our of choppers to fight forest fires - and the bride was a Texan, which is to say everyone hung on to his or her sense of humor. And thanks to the fact that I was shooting with Olympus equipment that is terrifically weather sealed, a great time was had by all - and there are photos to prove it!



You can see more here.

Crystal-Pixel

We didn't realize that it would rain until the day before, which I asked the bride to try to get together as many black umbrellas as she could. I brought several of my own and my assistant had to hold a bif golf umbrella overme while shooting. I think they are unique rain shots. Something you have to expect in Washington State.

mmmatt

Well... I'm not sure how to say this without sounding rude, so I'm going with rude. Thanks crystalpix for posting, but you should at least browse the rules... this isn't show-n-tell this is a contest. If you want comments on multiple images, please start a thread. Otherwise edit your post down to 1 image and it will be considered for the contest.

Matt

Crystal-Pixel

mmmatt wrote:

Well... I'm not sure how to say this without sounding rude, so I'm going with rude. Thanks crystalpix for posting, but you should at least browse the rules... this isn't show-n-tell this is a contest. If you want comments on multiple images, please start a thread. Otherwise edit your post down to 1 image and it will be considered for the contest.

Matt

Oopsie! My bad I chose one.. I will make sure not to do it again. So sorry!

Blurmore

Don't Wine Over the Rain

heatherfeather

Here is one of mine:

Shima

The Long Veil on a Windy Day
I don't have anything from rainy days, but I do have this great shot from when the bride's very long veil got taken up by the extreme wind that day!

ssimmonsphoto

Rainy day wedding on the coast in Maine. LOVED working with this couple given the conditions because they didn't mind getting wet.

Mishka

Outside wedding with nowhere to hide from the rain...by the time we got to the formals, they could have cared less if they got wet!

Mishka

Heather--that is such an awesome photo! Your clients are way braver than me! Burr!

Shudderz

Umbrella Romance

sweet caroline

The day was not only rainy, but sooo hot. My lenses kept fogging up. This was in Houston, at my dear friend's wedding. A lovely bridesmaid:



Caroline

mikeccc

Run its only rain

Tara Camfield

A Rainy Walk
The bride and groom and I got separated from the rest of the bridal party while shooting portraits inside. We decided to walk the few blocks to the reception location; then realized it was raining. Luckily I always bring an umbrella along! This was my favorite shot; the bride's happy but bewildered expression as she glanced back at me and the groom oblivious to everything but her beauty.

smurfy

Sweet capture, Tara!

mmmatt

Hey there! Lots of good stuff here so far! Just a reminder that the final day for posting images to this thread is Sunday the 22nd, so don't wait too long!!!

Matt

Agnieszka

Well, it wasn't pouring the instant I took the shot, but like 3 seconds later ... one of my favorites from my season

tenoverthenose

I had been hoping to enter a newer photo, but the weather cooperated with the bride and grooms. This one is from earlier this year. It had been raining and 35 degrees all day, but after the sun went down (and after the ceremony) the temperature dropped and it started to snow very lightly. We snuck out quickly (it was really cold) to grab a few shots....

mmmatt

Congratulations Mishka!!!! AWESOME image!!! 1st place

Mishka wrote:

Welcome to dgrin Tara. Please post more of your work here for us to see. Something tells me we would all enjoy it. This shot is lovely and I give it 2nd place

Tara Camfield wrote:

The master at work here eh! Great image BD! Very BD-esque. This one gets 3rd place.

bdcolen wrote:

Well that's it! Mishka, you do the next one so get a'crackin! Great images everyone and I will make comments on every image posted at some point today.

Matt

Agnieszka

Congrats Mishka, Tara & BD Colen

Danspage

bdcolen wrote:

The wedding was carefully planned for what was supposed to be a gorgeous Saturday afternoon, lakeside, in Glacier National Park, in Northwestern Montana. Well, maybe it wasn't quite so carefully planned, because there were no provisions made for even the possibility that it might rain. And it didn't rain - it poured. And poured. And poured. But thanks to the fact that the groom and many of the guests were helicopter repellers for the National Forrest Service - the crazies who repel our of choppers to fight forest fires - and the bride was a Texan, which is to say everyone hung on to his or her sense of humor. And thanks to the fact that I was shooting with Olympus equipment that is terrifically weather sealed, a great time was had by all - and there are photos to prove it!



You can see more here.

omg nice wb did you do anthing to this or is this srtight out of the cam. Gr8 work!

Danspage

sweet caroline wrote:

The day was not only rainy, but sooo hot. My lenses kept fogging up. This was in Houston, at my dear friend's wedding. A lovely bridesmaid:



Caroline

Not sure this will help, but if its hot and the humid factor is high pack your camera with a few hot water bottles in a backpack "nuke them" if it is very hot. You can not and will not fog up till the glass temp goes below the highest temp, like next to an eye.

I was in surgery and a doc was very upset that his loupe's kept fogging up. it was a consent thing he was made to endure for years. He always kept his room temp in the low 60degs. I told him his problem was condensation. He angrily told me "whats new stupid".

I informed him that he need the glass loupes to be warmer then the vapor temp from his eye. "You just need to warm up our loupes with your hands or the blanket warmer before the case."
bow Yes doctor.. He even asked me how long would he need to warm the loupe.

To this day, all the surgeons warm loupes and glasses to prevent fog.
This will also help your lens stay clear from haze formation on lens surfaces.

If you come from a air conditioned room all night- warm up your lens.


huh

mmmatt

Alright! Well first off let me say thanks to all that posted images here. I think this is a great thing we are doing here. Lots of fun! I will say that I did have some opportunities to shoot some rain shots at the end of an e-session a few weeks ago and it is tough! Getting noticeable rain on film means its raining and raining good! I learned that much anyways, and massive respect for those who really captured that in their images. You may notice that the rain show up in many of these images against a dark background.

So anyways here are my comments for each of the images. These are simply my opinions so take them as that… 1 man’s opinions.

Quark
This image is well exposed and certainly is a memory for the bride. Comp is a little lacking with most but not all the limo. I think I would have liked to have seen the whole limo, or more likely just enough to see it is in fact a limo and a bride. I think the limo dominates the composition and the rental truck behind is distracting. A close crop may make this a more powerful image. Not bad as it is, just not “wow”.

BD
This is a really great image. The exposure and processing are just perfectly natural. I assume this is ambient light, but if you used flash then it is perfectly transparent. I love your control over depth of field to keep all the overhead chaos of umbrellas and garbage bags in focus, the rain definitely adds to this image and the story it tells, and to top it off all this occurs on a must have money shot at any wedding. Really great. The only thing that doesn’t appeal to me 100% on this image is I would like to see a little more of the bride and the scene. To a client looking at the whole set, they would almost certainly not feel that way, but as a standalone image that to me is a flaw on an otherwise perfect image. If it were my image I would have cropped out the Nautica logo on the umbrella, but that is me. I don't expect you crop things out too often! Thanks for posting this here BD, and please keep participating in this contest. Very inspiring work.

Crystal
I like the image, and I like that they are all using your black umbrellas. Lots of smiles on their faces despite the rain, and it was raining hard I can see! Only thing I really don’t like is the lack of fill on their faces. A little bit of flash would have gone a long way here with the back lighting and umbrellas shading their faces.

Blurmore
Nice image Jason! I think I have seen you shoot in this vineyard a few other times right? Her dress is throwing me off a bit color wise. I really like the pose, the comp is mostly good but I don’t personally care for the tilt here. I think it is the triangular patch of sky, and although I see some rain on the umbrella, the rain doesn’t otherwise add to this shot. Great image though.

Heather
Nice shot. Obviously hot on their left sides but that doesn’t detract from the image IMO. I love that the flash caught all that snow and I like the water spots on the lens. IMO with an image like this, where you don’t see faces, you need to in some other way invoke emotion. Here I don’t really get what they are doing. If that is a train to the right, then that would have been a good secondary subject maybe, but as it is now it kinda looks like they are admiring a snow covered parking lot. I seem to remember some snow pics you did of a groom and his groomsmen that were just stunning…

Shima
Great catch Cat! Obviously a seat of your pants shot. Wider this would have been stellar, but I can only imagine you were zoomed as wide as you could go on this one. Also her face seems a little diffused like maybe you did a little too heavy a dodge there, but maybe that is her veil over the front of her face? Either way, a great image, and a great heads up catch.

Ssimmonsphoto
Your image is gone friend. Maybe you deleted it or maybe a tech difficulty but not there on judging day so it wasn’t considered in the contest.

Mishka
Great image girl! Obviously pouring rain to everyone looking at this pic and obviously the subjects are unaware. Girl on a stump in front of an old wood porch, leaning down kissing her man, relaxed arms with flowers down, not a care in the world, classic looking dress and tux, and heavy contrast b&w… money, money, money!

Shudderz
Nice image, nice pop to your processing, great location. Only thing I don’t like is the tree. I think this would be a stronger image placing the tree way to the left or shooting in front of the tree. Other than the umbrella, the rain doesn’t do much for your image. Bearing in mind that all these vertical images on my screen are about 2”x3” and if there are subtle rain drops I may just be missing them.

Caroline
That poor girl! This is probably about as unattractive as she could ever look. Captured in digital infamy for the enjoyment of generations… good job! The ultimate blackmail photo. It is a good catch, and obviously rain is a big part of the story of this image. Good job!

Mike CC
Great image! Obviously showing a dash from the church to the Limo and a happy couple. A little flashey for my taste but a great image and I’m sure the family will treasure this one forever.

Tara
I like it. Almost looks like Milwaukee, is it? Anyways, I like how you set the subject off center just enough to catch the bank mutual sign, I love her expression, I love how the groom is helping keep her dress clean. You caught both of their faces even though they are obviously walking away. Very nice image!

Agnieszka.
Great shot when we have the “just before bad weather hits” challenge it will be a winner for sure! Ha! Gorgeous sky and location. Processing is very nice other than a scooche heavy on the vignette maybe, but that is a small nit. This is a beautiful image for sure.

Tenoverthenose

Cool stuff Patrick. I love the comp, and the location. To me the flash is too heavy on the b&g, but I know we have different tastes in that regard. Great image though, and certainly true to your style.

OK, off to bed for me. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

Matt

ssimmonsphoto

mmmatt wrote:

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Ssimmonsphoto
Your image is gone friend. Maybe you deleted it or maybe a tech difficulty but not there on judging day so it wasn’t considered in the contest.
<o:p></o:p>

Ah, shoot. Well, I fixed it. Darn me for uploading the gallery after I submitted that shot. Wound up changing the file name. :cry

tenoverthenose

Congrats to the winners, huge thanks to Matt for taking the time to judge and critique, and I look forward to the next round.

heatherfeather

Yay Mmatt! Awesome critique! Thanks so much for investing your time and helping us get into your head! I love that!

Mishka

Wow, thanks mmmatt! I hadn't checked dgrin in a couple of days, so this was a nice surprise! Congratulations Tara and bdcolen! Now I've got to come up with a topic...

mmmatt

Mishka wrote:

Wow, thanks mmmatt! I hadn't checked dgrin in a couple of days, so this was a nice surprise! Congratulations Tara and bdcolen! Now I've got to come up with a topic...

much deserved Mishka. One of many very fine images we have seen from you. Thanks for posting it and I'm looking forward to your theme for December!!!

Heather/Ten, glad you appreciated the comments. It is tough when the images are all so good. It is particularly tough when people (like yourselves) who's work I can only aspire to rival are in the mix. Quite intimidating actually, but I have opinions about what I see and I guess that is what this is all about!

I put together a little multi-category 1-5 ratting thing to pick my winners but it was so close on my number system I ended up going with my gut for tie breakers. There were 5 or 6 here that could have easily been justified as winners. Really great stuff posted for this one! I felt obligated to let people know what I was thinking and what I liked about their images. These are all treasured images by the respective clients I'm sure.

Thanks again for all who posted.

Matt