November 26, 2011
This was a great lesson in learning to make lemonade when life hands you lemons! Our bride, Ashley, had her heart set on having her ‘first look’ and wedding party shoot at a beautiful remote area in the Tucson mountains. Having never been there before, we just assumed that it was fine so we showed up 15 min before the shoot was scheduled to begin. We started carrying our gear up the hill to the area where she wanted the shoot and were stopped by a caretaker who said that ‘professional photography is no longer allowed here–too many people end up using the chapel as a changing room and are not respectful.” Sooooo–what do you do? The bride is practically in tears (on the phone as she speaks to her groom when he tells her the news). We end up driving down the road about a mile and we pull over. There is a place on the side of the road that has the same view of the mountain she wants in the background (just a little further away) but–it will work. Across the street is enough room to park off the road. There is a fence around the wilderness so we have a small area to work in. It turned out more beautiful than I would have hoped. I had been planning to shoot mostly in a rustic chapel but was now going to be shooting in bright sunlight, totally blue skies at 11am. Not the best for what I had in mind…however, my assistant (this time it was my husband) pulled out my brand new reflectors and went to work taking shadows out of the faces. Sometimes the light was so bright that I had my subjects shut their eyes until I counted to “three” and then they opened them for the shutter release. The colors were amazing, the mountains and cacti made an interesting and somewhat unique backdrop. Unique in that most of the country does not have this option, although it is often preferred here in southern Arizona. After this shoot, we went to the church to finish the pre-wedding photos and the ceremony. It was a great day with great people. Ashley and Zac were great to work with and their wedding attendants were so fun and such troopers! Thanks Ashley & Zac!
