A couple weeks ago, I posted the final pic of my Trash the Dress session with Jenna, this one with her holding a paintball gun. I felt the picture was wrong, too bright, too colorful, for the concept I had in mind. As I worked through the series of pictures, I went with a much more grungy look at the Paintball location.
Not all the pictures in this series has that grungy look. I didn't really do this with the idea that they were all supposed to have the same editing process. As we went from location to location for the shoot (seven in total, although three were at one park and two were on the same creek just a few hundred feet from each other), I was more interested in finding the best shot for that location.
I had told Jenna at one point in time that we were going to get into a mud pond, and I don't think she quite believed me. But she was a real trooper. By the way, for most of the shots, I wanted more of a tranquil expression from her. For every shot where she's looking like that, I got others of her smiling and having a good time, as I knew Jenna would prefer those. But, largely speaking, this was the look I wanted.
These shots are actually in the order taken throughout the session. Her hair, for example, gets messed up more and more as we go along, and I just really thought that was fitting as we kept moving toward more of a grungy look as the session went on. I didn't fix a single flyaway hair, and have no intention of doing that.
7. We're at the side of a very small creek now, just though this tree trunk would provide a contrasty look to the beauty of the bride, but also an earthy touch to her muddied-up dress. One of the few shots that weren't full body. http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3848/14844514015_5af1b5afac_b.jpg
8. This shot is a work-in-progress. We're in a shady area in mid-morning light with the light coming in behind her and to the camera right. So the leaves and foliage are insanely bright green. I tried toning them down but it just came out looking unnatural (which I don't mind in the grunge looks), then thought it would work well in a b&w conversion, but still not happy with the leaves/foliage. They're too muted for me, so I need to keep working on the b&w conversion here. You can tell this shot is more for Jenna than me, as she smiling big time. http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3887/14657897598_f37dcbc010_b.jpg
11. As I shot this look, some guys in a neighboring paintball environment looked over to see what they were doing. I thought that really added to the concept of her being shot and killed here. http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3840/14864388353_b89a7f4df3_b.jpg
tsilva wrote:
Nice shots Ron. At first glance on #2 it appears he is grabbing her , then it registered that his hand is on his knee.
-Tony
"Groping her" would be the correct term, Tony. Yeah, I saw that and wondered whether it ruined the shot or not. I finally decided to just let it go. It is his wife, after all....
Wonderful set ! I really enjoyed looking through them and I'm sure they will love them too.
#2 - Don't like the yellow sign top left. I'd crop vertically from just left of the steps & horizontally from just below that sign, thereby cropping off all the pillar. Something like a 16:9
#5 - again don't like the purple whatever @ top right intruding. Again a tighter crop 16:9 perhaps.
#12 - again I'd crop off the top right at the bus roof level as the slatted windows are out of place (for me).
#14 - this is the only one which doesn't work for me - I didn't even notice her initially !
Simply love #6 & 7 (she has very arresting eyes !) and #9-12 are all just great !
I know I'm a traditionalist. I never have understood the "trash the dress" concept. I photographed some weddings where the bride wore the wedding dress passed down to her by her mother.
1 & 5 are awesome!! Love the motion, colors, and her expressions. Cool concept with the paintball, although I would've liked to see the husband in his tuxedo/suit and the two of them battling it out
Haseeb, thanks! She was definitely all in on this!
Doug, thanks! I just did a wedding like that myself, no way would that dress end up in a creek or mud pond. But I also get it. In most cases, the dress gets put away and basically never sees the light of day again.
Reese, thanks! Husband had no interest in getting dirty. I did get some shots of him shooting up his wife, and it was pretty comical watching her reaction. "Ow!!!" And then the husband would laugh and shoot again! And the damned paintballs weren't breaking. Hilarious!
Thanks, Rob, Anthony and Steve! Really appreciate the comments!
Steve, another big change was changing the color of that building from this bright teal color to the darker red. That really changed the mood of the shot, I thought.
