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“My best Jewish wedding photo” by Cotton Candy Photography

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A weekly series where  I ask some of the world’s best wedding photographers to pick out their favourite shot from their Jewish wedding portfolio. This week it’s the turn of Gemma from Cotton Candy Photography

Cotton-Candy-Photography

‘The Parents’ by Cotton Candy Photography

Ooh this was tricky. I initially picked a dance floor shot as the dance floors at Jewish weddings are bonkers and amazing. However, I opted for this one instead. It’s not got the fanciest backdrop, it’s not even the best shot I have ever taken but it really makes me smile. This is the bride’s father and mother and the grooms father’s reaction to seeing their two children get married. The bride and groom’s parents were friends before the couple were even born, so they both grew up together and were in each others lives since birth. The two best friends and two dads both look so proud that their children are choosing to spend the rest of their lives together, it just feels like such a wonderful moment.”

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“My best Jewish wedding photo” by Chris Mann

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A weekly series where  I ask some of the world’s best wedding photographers to pick out their favourite shot from their Jewish wedding portfolio. This week it’s the turn of  Chris Mann.

Chris-Mann

‘We did it’ by  Chris Mann

I always enjoy shooting Jewish weddings (even though they are usually quite hectic!) and this image is my  favourite because it’s a special moment just between the couple. I normally do a short portrait session with the couple during the reception – and often I pause halfway through the shoot and make some excuse about “having to change the battery in my camera”. What I actually want though is to give them a moment to themselves. It’s usually the first time they’ve had since the ceremony to just be together and think “wow, we did it!” – and of course I am ready to take the picture of that moment.”

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“My best Jewish wedding photo” by Shaun Taylor

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A weekly series where  I ask some of the world’s best wedding photographers to pick out their favourite shot from their Jewish wedding portfolio. This week it’s the turn of  Shaun Taylor.

Shaun-Taylor

‘Texas’ by  Shaun Taylor

Jewish weddings are full of iconic amazing moments to photograph, and the Badeken and Israeli Dancing are two that definitely stand out. But knowing that this is a scene that is very specific to the couple, their style of wedding at a plantation house in Texas, and knowing that the chances of shooting such a scene again are very low, means that it’s one image that I will always be proud to share.’

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“My best Jewish wedding photo” by Erika Szostak

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A weekly series where  I ask some of the world’s best wedding photographers to pick out their favourite shot from their Jewish wedding portfolio. This week it’s the turn of  Erika Szostak of PhotoMadly.

Erika-Szostak

‘A chuppah in the  dark’ by Erika Szostak

Sheli and Zack were married at a breathtakingly beautiful resort near Palm Springs, California. The resort was ringed by craggy mountains, which made for a stunning backdrop — during the day. The wedding ceremony was scheduled for sunset but as things often happen on wedding day, things ran late, and the ceremony didn’t start until about 20 minutes after schedule.

Well, not having worked at this particular resort before I didn’t know that the transition from light to dark at the base of the mountains is like going from white to black in the blink of an eye. Inexplicably, neither the venue nor the wedding planner seemed to know this either, and no one had thought to provide a single light source for the ceremony. So, the sun set and suddenly we all found ourselves in total blackness.

As you may or may not know, a camera’s autofocus does not function in the pitch dark. It needs contrast in order to work, thus you need at least one point of light in your frame. I switched to manual focus, but that didn’t help either because it was so dark I couldn’t see anything through my viewfinder. Total panic mode!

Luckily, my partner and second shooter, had had the forethought to hang a remote flash from a tree branch over the chuppah before the ceremony, thinking the chuppah would act as a nice diffuser and we’d get a bit of fill flash. We never imagined it would be the only light source! It worked though, and while disco-strobelight-flashing-chuppah is not the effect we were going for (and Sheli and Zack said they didn’t even notice this), it meant that disaster was averted and not only were we able to get the shots under incredibly difficult conditions, they were especially dream-like and dramatic to boot.“

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“My best Jewish wedding photo” by Matt Parry

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A weekly series where  I ask some of the world’s best wedding photographers to pick out their favourite shot from their Jewish wedding portfolio. This week it’s the turn of Matt Parry.

Matt-Parry

‘Energy’ by  Matt Parry

The only way to truly capture weddings is to get right in the thick of the action. One of the true innovators of photography Robert Capa once said “If your pictures aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough.”

I love this shot. I love the dance floor at all Jewish weddings. OK I may take the odd elbow/chair leg to the face but its so worth it to get right up close and capture that sense of energy and happiness. Sometimes the energy and movement within images can be subtle (a moment just before a kiss) ….and sometimes it can be in your face obvious (a flying groom just before he collides with your camera lens).”

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