Norwegian wedding in New York (long with pics)

Shay Stephens · April 24, 2005

Just posted the gallery for a Norwegian wedding we had here in New York on Friday. Would you like to see what happens in the span of two hours?

Everyone shows up to the Norwegian Seaman's Church about a half hour before the ceremony starts. Meet up with friends and do a little paperwork in preparation. Then the music plays and the couple walks down the aisle:

The ceremony starts, songs are sung, the ceremony has begun:

Sometimes the couple has friends who show up, as this one did. But sometimes it's just them:

I know part of the ceremony talk will be remembered, but some of it will have not been heard because the concentration and focus shifts uncontrollably at times:

The rings are exchanged, and kisses given, they are man and wife:

Relief and happiness seems to fill the room as well wishes and congratulations are offered:

And then the most delicious cake you have likely had in a longtime makes it's way to the couples table:

And of course coffee and other Norwegian beverages are enjoyed too:

Time seems to slow down during the cake period. The conversation is good:

And then the paperwork is signed by witnesses and the bride and groom in Norwegian and English:

With the legal stuff out of the way, it's up to the rooftop for some portraits:

And then a quick taxi ride to Central Park for more portraits:

They had dinner reservations there at the boat house in the background. It was lightly raining that day, but not hard enough to bother two Norwegians and two Seattle-ites :wink

So there you have it, a tale of love and food, for as Andy is wont to say, it's all about the food, and I would add, the love :wink

DeanMcM · April 24, 2005

Shay...
Very nice Shay!

Andy · April 24, 2005

shay's work makes me want to get married again, just to have better pics

great job shay i love your stuff.

Tim Kirkwood · April 24, 2005

Thanks shay for the learning. Never been to a Norwegian wedding and not sure that I will either.:D

You did a great job and I am sure that they are very pleased with the results.

Thanks for sharing.

Tim

digismile · April 24, 2005

I recall going to an annual Scandinavian night with a Norwegian friend where the "Norwegian beverage" left me with a really nasty headache:D

Very nice photos,

Brad

ehughes · April 24, 2005

Shay, all very nice pictures, but I REALLY like the last shot..

Ed

rutt · April 24, 2005

So, Shay, were you the official wedding photographer? Did you control where people stood? Great shots. I'm just interested in how much on a wedding expert you are.

rutt · April 24, 2005

ehughes wrote:

Shay, all very nice pictures, but I REALLY like the last shot..

Ed

Yeah, and what about this:

Says something about what the wedding night and honeymoon are going to be like!

Shay Stephens · April 24, 2005

Yes, this was a very short notice Wedding and they hired me two days before the wedding! But I shoot mostly reportage or photo-journalistic, so I don't pose people with the exception of some of the formal portraits that they request. I just capture what is going on as it goes on for the most part.

I don't know how that affects my "expertness" hehehe

rutt wrote:

So, Shay, were you the official wedding photographer? Did you control where people stood? Great shots. I'm just interested in how much on a wedding expert you are.

rutt · April 24, 2005

OK, how many weddings have you shot? How many have you been payed to shoot? Roughly. It looks like a lot.

Shay Stephens · April 24, 2005

I shot 3 weddings my first year, 14 the second year, and as of right now, I have 18 booked for 2005. I am expecting to do 30 to 40 this year. With the exception of one wedding, I have been paid to shoot all of them.

rutt wrote:

OK, how many weddings have you shot? How many have you been payed to shoot? Roughly. It looks like a lot.

rutt · April 24, 2005

Shay Stephens wrote:

I shot 3 weddings my first year, 14 the second year, and as of right now, I have 18 booked for 2005. I am expecting to do 30 to 40 this year. With the exception of one wedding, I have been paid to shoot all of them.

Makes sense. You're an expert and these shots show it.

I like that you don't pose them and just work with what happens. I was an accidental wedding photographer once and had no "prep work" and it was darn hard. It's nice to know that you can do this be just going with the flow. Do you scope out the church and reception site ahead of time. The wedding I shot was in this really dark church and if I'd actually known what I was doing, I think I'd have tried to have some remote lighting.

Next time I get married, I'll call you. More likely, when my children get married...

Shay Stephens · April 24, 2005

If it is a venue we have not been to before, I like to preview it ahead of time or at the rehearsal to get meter readings, see what the white balance is like, and try out some lighting if possible.

I love using remote lighting, I think it helps preserve the ambient look of the venue while still allowing for good lighting. The Norwegian wedding posted here was all remote lighting (two lights) for the indoor stuff. One flash for the roof, and no flash for Central Park.

rutt wrote:

Do you scope out the church and reception site ahead of time. The wedding I shot was in this really dark church and if I'd actually known what I was doing, I think I'd have tried to have some remote lighting.

Dee · April 24, 2005

You make it look too easy
And I know it's not

:

The boat house looks like a nice place to have a wedding dinner.

Wonderful photos as usual!

Sam · April 24, 2005

Shay,

Nice shots, and while I'm here at the keyboard, I visited your web site and thought it was very well done. If I were in the market for your services your site projects quality and left me with a felling of confidence in you and your photography.

Sam

ps: Do you shoot in Raw or jpg? Just curious.

USAIR · April 24, 2005

Shay
Thank you for wedding story intreresting
And as always nice work great shots

Thanks
Fred

Shay Stephens · April 24, 2005

Thanks Dee and Fred.

Sam, I shoot RAW. The primary reason is to get better control over white balance and exposure consistency through the various lighting environments I am faced with through the day. Another important reason is chroma noise control which is done automatically via the RAW converter.

My work flow got much shorter and more streamlined when I switched to RAW. And in a wedding situation where I am dealing with hundreds of photos that have to be processed and put up on the gallery within a week, automation was a very strong motivator for shooting RAW.

It comes at a price of course, I need to have 13 gigs of memory with me and I am thinking of beefing up my computer to handle the processing load faster, and the storage/archiving requirements have gone up substantially too since switching to RAW.

But when all weighed in the balance, RAW holds more value for me in what I do

:

Sam wrote:

ps: Do you shoot in Raw or jpg? Just curious.

rutt · April 24, 2005

Hey, Shay. I did errands and chores, went for a bike ride, dinner with my family, movie with my wife. But all the time I was thinking about your stunning use of selective focus. It really raises the level of these wedding shots way above a lot that I've seen, including ones from pretty expensive photographers. Very brave to focus on the backs of the heads instead of the alter, the desert instead of the bride, the ring. And it works!

These were great. Gives me a new perspective on wedding photography.

Yuri Pautov · April 25, 2005

Shay!
Spasibo for such a wonderful serial of photos and interesting story!

Phil U. · April 25, 2005

Results like these are why wedding photographers get paid good money. Unfortunately most of the wedding albums I've seen from "pros" aren't this good.

Angelo · April 25, 2005

great stuff Shay. Thanks for sharing.

marlof · April 25, 2005

rutt wrote:

But all the time I was thinking about your stunning use of selective focus. It really raises the level of these wedding shots way above a lot that I've seen, including ones from pretty expensive photographers. Very brave to focus on the backs of the heads instead of the alter, the desert instead of the bride, the ring. And it works! These were great. Gives me a new perspective on wedding photography.

Shay, these great pictures kept popping up in my head from the moment I saw them. As a newlywed (after a short courtship of 19 years, but that's another story) I know how much anticipation there is when the weddin pictures will be available. I'm sure your clients went to the moon and back from pleasure when they saw yours. Very beautiful pictures that seem to have captured the atmosphere, and are out of the ordinary, all at the same time. Kudos!

Nir · April 25, 2005

Beautiful Shay!!

Missed your weddings - haven't seen them for a long time.

Shay Stephens · April 25, 2005

rutt:
Thank you so much for the kind words. It's nice when photos can keep someone thinking about them

Yuri:
Good to see you here, and thank you for the comments.

Phil U.
I have seen the albums you are talking about. Boring and lackluster. Thank you for the comments.

Thanks Angelo!

marlof:
They were very excited, when we called them, they were walking around in downtown Manhattan. I can just imagine what they did to get themselves to a computer as fast as they possibly could

The gallery got a lot of activity so they must have spread the word far and wide. That is one of the coolest things, I think, about web proofing. Their family in Norway were able to see the pictures the same day the bride and groom did in Manhattan

Nir:
Good to see you here too! And I am hoping to be posting much more work now that nobody cares what camera I am using here

wxwax · April 25, 2005

Fascinating. Thanks for the shots and for discussing how you do your work, Shay. I love the even lighting you have indoors. Must learn how to set that up. And I really like the groom isolation shot. Thanks for sharing.

Steve Cavigliano · April 25, 2005

Shay Stephens wrote:

If it is a venue we have not been to before, I like to preview it ahead of time or at the rehearsal to get meter readings, see what the white balance is like, and try out some lighting if possible.

I love using remote lighting, I think it helps preserve the ambient look of the venue while still allowing for good lighting. The Norwegian wedding posted here was all remote lighting (two lights) for the indoor stuff. One flash for the roof, and no flash for Central Park.

Shay,
Lovely shots

I'd expect no less

So is the key to getting a decently lit BG, remote lights? Or was the interior well lit enough (I notice it was daylight and some nice light was streaming in)? The ceremony and reception shots look great. Especially shots like the flower in the glass with the oof bridal party in the BG. Remote lights lighting the BG, not the subject?

As Sid's points out in his post, a 580EX isn't going to light a room. Nice pics with a dark BG's look amatuerish. Would you say that the way to prevent/minimize this is to use remote lighting? Plus, how long does it take for you to reposition the lighting and where you moving lights during ther ceremony?

Sorry about all the questions. But, I'd sure like to get your feedback, rather than learning the hard way

Thanks,
Steve

Shay Stephens · April 25, 2005

So is the key to getting a decently lit BG, remote lights?
I think so.

Or was the interior well lit enough (I notice it was daylight and some nice light was streaming in)?
There was light coming in from the front,but nothing from the back. I had to use some flash from the rear to balance the ceremony room.

The ceremony and reception shots look great. Especially shots like the flower in the glass with the oof bridal party in the BG. Remote lights lighting the BG, not the subject?
I was firing the lights into the ceiling for these photos, so all the light was indirect on the people and the surroundings.

As Sid's points out in his post, a 580EX isn't going to light a room. Nice pics with a dark BG's look amatuerish. Would you say that the way to prevent/minimize this is to use remote lighting?
Absolutely, think of it as if you were filming a movie. One of the key ingredients is lighting, and that light is almost never coming from the same direction as the camera. There are a number of things you can do to use remote lighting that blends in with the ambient lights of the venue without destroying or unduly altering the venues appearance. That is what I strive for. And even if you can't achieve that 100%, a lit up venue will look tons better than a dark black one

Plus, how long does it take for you to reposition the lighting and where you moving lights during ther ceremony?
The lights are on light stands, and everything is all battery powered, so moving them is as quick and easy as lifting and walking it to the new location.

For the processional and recessional, Jennifer, my assistant and skilled Sherpa, was holding one of the lights and moved with the couple from the side of the room. During the ceremony, the lights were stationary. During the cake, the lights moved as I needed new angles. For the roof shots, Jen held one light to provide some fill. At the park, I was able to use just ambient light.

wxwax · April 25, 2005

Great stuff!

ian408 · April 25, 2005

As I scrolled through the shots, I was amazed at how natural they look.
That there's no obvious flash shows what a master you are with lighting.

My two favorites are the Central Park shot and the seated wedding shot.

Your style lends itself well to capturing the emotion and beauty of a
wedding.

Ian

4labs · April 25, 2005

I can't add anything that hasn't already been mentioned. I wish I had known about you when I got married...

Norwegian wedding in New York (long with pics)

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