Ode to the wedding ring – My thoughts behind shooting specific detail shots
Thanks for the email Lynne! Instead of going back to the shoe article which you can read by clicking here. Let’s chat about wedding rings as my approach would be similar for both objects. Firstly I would like to say that not every couple wants a ring shot … some would rather me take pictures of actual people as opposed to objects. I always ask my couples alot of questions before shooting a wedding and the answers they give me changes the way I approach the day.
In the shot above the couple got married at the Oyster Box Hotel in Umhlanga. The red and white lighthouse is an icon of this area and very much loved by the couple. The bride was not from South Africa but the groom was and he had great memories of growing up in Umhlanga. I simply placed the rings on top of a post card I found of an aerial view of the Hotel. For me this not only places the wedding in terms of it’s location, it also evokes their mutual love for this landmark and each other.
We took this pic in the Caribbean which is all about the white sandy beaches and cocktails with mini umbrellas. Enough said!!!
When I arrived at this wedding I noticed the free newspaper for hotel guests at the door and grabbed it to draw reference to the couple’s wedding date.
This particular couple live in the UK but specifically chose to get married in South Africa hence me using a map of SA to photograph their wedding rings on.
Cagla is half Turkish/ half German and Brendon is from South Africa but lives in Zambia and they met in Australia and have traveled all over the world together. It was therefore important for me to communicate the idea of world travel and so I used their wedding invite with a world map on it as a base for their ring shot. They had their names printed onto M&M’s as sweeties for guests and I added these to the pic for some extra interest.
It was a very rainy wet wedding … need I say more!
There always seems to be sev and nuts available at Indian weddings and so I shot the rings with this unique Indian treat!
This particular couple love to play chess. They also loved all the quirky details at the place they got married. This chessboard therefore became the perfect place to photograph their rings.
I took this pic in Zambia. The groom was mad about tiger fishing and the lodge where they got married is right on the Zambezi river which is known for this type of fishing, in fact we actually photographed the guys fishing in the morning before the wedding. I therefore had some fun with a fishing lour and some hooks.
ThIS particular couple came down from Joburg to have their dream beach wedding! I found a travel mag with a great beach shot on it and used this for their ring shot.
This couple are both Afrikaans and very proud of their heritage. They got married on the bride’s Grandfathers farm and it was filled with all sorts of trinkets like old wagon wheels and potjie pots.
Camilla and Don got married on Camilla’s family fruit farm up near Nelspruit – the one thing that struck me about their farm life was the fact that there were always grapefruits available for breakfast and so I photographed the ring with a breakfast tray.
The Natal Midlands in autumn is absolutely gorgeous. I love the golden leaves that litter the crunchy driveways! This couple chose to get married on the farm where the bride grew up and they particularly chose an autumn month to get married on. It therefore seemed obvious that I had to photograph the rings using an autumn theme. This was a very rainy wedding … what more can I say!!!!
So in essence one can use detail shots to talk about the couples interests, the location of their wedding, the theme of their wedding, the weather on the day, the date of their wedding …….. etc etc
Instead of just taking pictures I like to tap into my passion for story-telling and create narratives. This makes the work more meaningful.
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