It's Wedding Time Again
I shot my first wedding of the season on Saturday. It feels like it's late in the year to be starting but things really pick up after this. It was a super chill, super mellow day and everyone seemed happy even though the weather was pretty bleak. I don't mind dark and stormy wedding days, I try to lean into the drama of it and the results are usually good.
One notable thing about this wedding shoot is that I shot almost the entire day with one new lens, the Nikon 50mm f1.2(!). It's an absolute beast. The camera body I've been using since last July is bigger and nearly twice as heavy as what I had been using the previous years and now this lens is more than double the size and weight of the lenses I was using. This season will either end with me being really buff or fully debilitated by repetitive strain injuries.
I actually probably won't be using this lens for many weddings. Sorry, this is going to get really geeky so all of you who aren't gear nerds should cover your ears for a minute - My standard set-up for weddings is two camera bodies with two prime lenses, typically a 35mm and an 85mm. The 85mm lets me get good candid shots from a distance, gives me a lot of reach for ceremony shots and speeches and the 35mm is just wide enough for me to get group shots, venue exteriors, and detail shots without too much distortion. The 50mm focal length is...between those. It seems like it would be perfect "in-between" solution but it's actually kind of hard to work with. It's good for newlywed portraits but it's too wide get ceremony shots from a distance, too narrow for groups, dance floor, and exteriors. It was fun using it at this particular wedding since the event was pretty small and relaxed. I could move around as I needed, backing up or getting closer to things and I had the headspace to problem solve tricky angles. It's good to give yourself challenges and limitations. It can really spark things. Anyway, I might bring this lens to weddings just for portraits or for REALLY low light scenarios (the 1.2 aperture lets in A LOT of light), I'm going to use this for almost all other shoots like engagements, maternity, headshots, whatever.
Okay, non-nerds can stop covering their ears now. Next week I'll be shooting another mellow wedding in Brownfield, Maine at the same venue Lilly and I shot one of our first New England weddings at WAY back at the height of the pandemic. I'll also spend most of the week continuing to stress about the NBA finals, but I don't want to talk about that.
Random 120 film shots from New Hampshire. TMAX FOR LIFE
