Wedding at The Fells

Jarrett & Yomayra

I don't shoot weddings.  I stand strong behind that statement.  I've photographed four couples so far in my life who have gotten married.  Three of those times it was for dear friends and I dictated to them what I was willing to shoot and not shoot.  Most of the time all I'm interested in is getting some nice "formal" shots of the bride and groom in my style.  Something dramatic.  Elegant.  This time, a friend I went to college with needed a 2nd shooter for a wedding she was shooting of her Cousin and his bride-to-be.  I'd be  happy to help, as long as I could get a few dramatic shots in my style and help her out.

Jarrett & Yomayra

People ask me why I don't do weddings.  The simple answer is that I'm just not wired to do weddings.  I have very talented friends who shoot weddings and they love it; the tension and stress and quickness of it all.  I could never handle the stress related to a wedding.  The bride and groom are dealing with so much.  The photographer has to deal with so much and shoot tons and tons of images.  I know wedding photographers that shoot thousands of images.  That is way too much for me.  I love working the way I do because in the end, I'm giving a commercial client a small proof set that they might select 3-6 images from.  I've never been much of a high volume shooter, and the thought of blasting away thousands of shots and then needing to cull and edit those would simply cause me to wet my pants in panic.

Major props to those of you reading that shoot weddings.  You guys rightfully deserve the money you get for a wedding.  There is a TON of work that people don't see and you guys bust your butts doing that work.  Kudos to those that love to shoot weddings.  I'm just not wired that way.

Jarrett & Yomayra
Jarrett & Yomayra

I went natural light most of the wedding.  I used the Petzval for the one image at the very top, but since it was dark outside you can't really see the "swirly" effect.

My Holdfast strap rules.  My back was in pretty good shape by the end of the night.  I love that thing.

I enjoyed helping my friend out - it was a fantastic wedding and the location was GORGEOUS.  I was very happy to get a few good shots, like the ones pictured here.

But I don't do weddings.  I might even register a website called www.IDon'tShootWeddings.com and it would just be a referral website.