Have you ever felt like you were born to do something? I have that feeling every weekend I'm blessed to photograph a wedding. Driving
home from the reception, feeling totally spent, I have this inner peace knowing that on this day, this bride and groom got my very best effort--their photographs will be beautiful!

To me, photographing weddings is about having the right skills, the right equipment, and the right attitude!

Attitude

What's more important than your wedding day? Not much! In most
cases, a lot of time has been spent planning, a lot of dreams have
played out, and a lot of money has been invested to make this
a wonderful and memorable event. When my assistant and I are
packing up our equipment, I always ask him if he's ready to "fight
the good fight." We realize we have only one opportunity to produce
and deliver the best photos possible. We fight that fight with high
energy and great attention to detail.

I often tell engaged couples coming in for their first interview
that the wedding day is the most fun day of my week. It's when I
get to do what I love the most--take photographs! Most of the rest
of the week is filled with all of those tedious office-oriented tasks
that are necessary to run a business. Most of our clients do not
realize that we'll put over forty hours into their wedding photos before their album is picked up. The hours I spend at the wedding are my most enjoyable!

I learned a long time ago that to be truly professional, it's
important to do all the little things that others might think unimportant or unnecessary. For instance, if I do not have a wedding scheduled the night of your rehearsal, I am there to say "hello" to everyone and to remind them of the timeline for our posed photographs. I have also always made it a point to memorize names. Rarely do I miss a name in the course of a day. Not only does it make it more fun for a family and wedding party that I fit in in this way, but it's much easier to get great expressions when you call someone by their name.

A quick, fun story regarding memorizing names! A few years ago, I photographed a wedding with twenty-eight people in the wedding
party. When I was packing-up at the reception to leave for home,
one of the groomsmen whose wedding I had photographed the year
before told me to follow him. We walked over to another groomsman
who handed him $100. My former groom said: "Thanks a lot, Mike!
I bet my buddy one hundred bucks that you wouldn't miss a name
all day. He thought it impossible!" His buddy just looked at me
and shook his head in disbelief. To me, it's all about making people
feel comfortable, resulting in better photographs!

I encourage you to read the "About Me" page. It details more
about what brought me to a genuine love of wedding photography
and how certain skills were acquired.

Skills

The skills to photograph weddings are many. Having good people skills would be highly preferable! The ability to be very organized and thorough is paramount--a detailed planning session about a month prior to the wedding is essential. The ability to pose groups and couples in a formal staging, in a romantic setting, and in a candid, fun way are all equally important. The candids also require a highly developed sense of anticipation to be at the right place at the right time.

Of course, there are technical camera skills that are crucial to
success! Weddings often require very quick camera adjustments.
The ability to accurately change apertures, shutter speeds and
focus within a matter of seconds (often with many distractions
present) is not for the faint of heart. Many good photographers
shy away from weddings because the pressure of getting it right
in the heat of the moment is just too intense. There are no do-overs in wedding photography! The best wedding photographers relish this challenge!

Some of the skills listed above can be learned and perfected with practice. Others are more innate. Some of these skills I think I was just born with--the others I have tried to master as best I can. Click-on the Testimonials link! This is a referral-oriented business, after all!

Equipment

It's all high quality and there's plenty of it! First, I most always
have an assistant present. I believe it's critical to have more than
one flash going off in most photographs to get that professional
look. We use remote control flash with my assistant using the second strobe to light up backgrounds, veils or people--depending on the
effect we're going for. My assistant and I are often on different
sides of a room, but we are able to communicate instantaneously with walkie-talkies.

We almost always bring a portrait studio setup with us to the
church. Portraits add a professional look to those close-up
relationship photos. It is usually best to take these photos prior
to the ceremony while the make-up and flowers still look perfect.
It is not necessary for the bride and groom to see each other
before the ceremony to do these photographs. However, some
couples (especially for evening weddings) prefer to see each other
prior to their vows to get all of their posed photos out of the way.
This allows them to spend all of their time after the wedding with
their guests.

Regarding cameras--we typically bring at least three medium
format professional camera bodies with us, along with eight
different lenses that vary from wide-angle fisheye to long
telephoto. There is also an assortment of special effect filters
for creating things like orange sunset silhouettes and a starlight
on candles and chandeliers.

Copyright © 2003 by Mike Kavanagh   All Photos are copyright of Mike Kavanagh