What would a trash the dress session be if it was not glamorous, was not pretty, but instead told a story? That was the question at hand for this photoshoot with Nicci Nelson and her husband. The result earned eighth place overall in the International Trash the Dress Contest of the WPJA.

Big thanks to Nicci and her husband for having the guts to go along with it. Any of you other recent brides want to do something extreme and out of the ordinary with your dress? Just let me know! I have plenty of ideas….

I have had a few emails lately asking about glow stick exits from receptions.  Its all the latest rage. Here is a recent example, followed by how it was accomplished….

1. Make sure the venue exit is dark. And when I say dark, I mean DARK. Any ambient light will interfere with the effect. Glow sticks are much dimmer than any light bulb.

2. Use the long skinny kind that really move when you wave them, the more motion, the better.

3. Unlike sparklers,  glow sticks will not provide enough light to stop any motion in the picture, especially not a running bride or groom.  So unless you are going for something especially creative, you are going to need to drag the shutter, big time.

To give you an idea, the above image was shot at ISO3200, 1/10 shutter at F2.8. I tend to shoot them wider angled to keep as much of the crowd in the shot as possible, just a personal preference. The Flash is on a TTL Cable, allowing for more directional lighting, again, personal preference. The flash is firing rear sync, to help keep any ambient motion off of the subjects.

Hope that helps, please email me your shots!

Amanda and Jason are getting married in 2010 and decided to do a fun engagement session. This is something I always recommend to couples as it is great practice for the wedding day. A level of comfort is built between the couple and the photographer which really shows in the results. The nice thing about having a studio in NoDa is that you are just a short walk away from endless interesting shooting opportunities.

Here are a few we came up with….

Josh and Emily were married at Temple Israel in Charlotte. The day started with an extremely lively tish and didn’t slow down from there. Their reception took place at the home of Emily’s parents which added a nice personal touch to the day. Emily, Josh and many of the guests are visiting from the UK. They were an energetic and sincere group of friends and family, an excellent source of support for the couple for years to come.

Here are just a few of my favorites from the day…Emily and I discussed her appreciation for high contrast black and white images so I am including a fair amount of those in this blog post.