Are You Afraid of the Dark? Don't Be...

Last winter we were honored to document a wedding in Guadalajara, Mexico. It was a 3 day destination wedding with Jewish ceremonies, beautiful design and lots of partying! Other than us stealing away to shoot an engagement session in downtown Guadalajara, there were not many opportunities to shoot in the light of day. In fact, their wedding only began when the sun went down, after the Sabbath on saturday. We got to document from dusk till dawn, and create fine art wedding photographs in limited lighting. Were we concerned? Of course we had to slow down a bit to focus on lighting and metering, without a light source as abundant as the sun. But we shoot film for a reason! Film has the forgiveness to capture all of the details without compromising the photograph with noise, blown-out highlights, and clipping colors. Film gives us the assurance that, so long as you can gather enough light, it will render beautifully! We utilize motion picture film stock, grainy black & white, and maybe a ring flash or toy camera here and there. High ISO digital could never give us this kind of creative latitude, and fine art documentary wedding photographs! Film also has "soul", personalities to every film emulsion, format size, lens hack, and vintage camera. We documented from sundown until 9am (when the Mariachis and Chilaquiles showed up) in constantly fluxing lighting situations, without having to sterilize the atmosphere with a flash. Only film, with it's dynamic range and our assortment of fast lenses and steady cameras, could grant this kind of consistency. So long as we collect enough light through our lens and onto the analog surface, we will capture that moment in time... All of it! A smooth curve. Not ones and zeros or the limit of the tonal staircase in a bitmap. A true photograph - light archived on film!

Although not every wedding takes place entirely at night, some of the most precious moments are captured late into the evening. Here are a few more memories immortalized on film...

Moonlight and candles can create a subtle dynamic ambiance, and since few weddings run on schedule, we also need to document some ceremonies under the cover of a moonlit night sky. Flash would have stripped these moments of their soul.