Sunday, April 17, 2011

Melbourne, Weddings - The Story of Gig & Tony - Butleigh Wootton Reception

































The couple's first dance.All the while they're just whispering to each other, peering into each other's eyes, smiling.













Gig is my colleague at work. Two weeks ago I had the honour of attending her wedding ceremony which was held the Butleigh Wootton Receptions in Kew.

It was a lovely place - an all-in-one wedding location where there's a ceremony area, a garden for the pictures afterwards, and reception upstairs. And while it was a bit chilly that day, we were more than happy huddling under the heaters downing cocktail champagnes and beers. Nevertheless, it turned out great as the skies didn't open thankfully!

As I was a guest and not the photographer, I didn't want to lug my big chunky SLR along. Instead, I brought my Panasonic Lumix LX3 (I LOVE this camera).

I also decided to have a little fun I usually wouldn't be afforded if I was the official photographer. I actually shot the whole wedding in black and white.

Now one of the many reasons I love the LX3 is because of how it renders black and white pictures. It is not a super high megapixel count camera, and because of that, the pixels it renders has more 'space to breathe', and somehow has that film quality to it. Where in other cameras it will look like noise on the picture, on the LX3, it feels like film grain.

SO.

No depth of field to isolate out the background. No fancy bounce flash. No colour. I had to work with what I have and it was so much FUN!

It challenged me to go back to the very basics of great photography - composition,  working with available light, and most importantly, being at the right place at the right time to see and capture beautiful moments.

My favourite picture of the day?

The last one where the little flower girl was dwarfed by the size of the main table (where the bride and groom were seated). I think she wanted to check out how it feels to be seated at the 'special' table.

Hope you enjoyed these. And share them if you did! :)

6 comments:

  1. Second last shot is perfect Jeremy. I love how these photos are just a beautiful as the ones your take with your expensive SLR.. it's not about the gear, it's about the eye for expression. :)

    Gig looked stunning (and tiny hehe).

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  2. I love that second last shot very much too Katie. Sorta one of those where after I took it, I knew it'd be good.

    You're right about the gear. It's easy to fall into the trap of constantly doing depth of field shots and get lazy with the composition. Using the LX3 forced me to work my shots harder.

    How're you going with your AV1? Saw some shots on your site. Dayum, your colours are really nice and your composition really has your signature style to it.

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  3. AV-1 definitely requires more thinking! I find it interesting how I go out with a roll of film and after it's processed I have equally as many 'good'/blog worthy shots that I would have if I had my digital SLR out and took hundreds of photos... I'm yet to get my second roll developed (weather here has been absolutely miserable!).

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  4. im inspired by your work...thanks

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  5. Katie: Can't wait to see them! I think when one considers the shots more, the photos really do come out better. :)

    Anon: Hey, you made my day. So thank YOU. Happy shooting!

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