This has been such a fun series to review my personal favorites from different categories over the past years. It has definitely been a trip down memory lane and it makes me realize how may friendships I have thanks to photography.
I once heard it said that weddings are the marathon of photography. The amount of skill and stamina needed to even finish the long day full of heightened emotions and stress while having the dedicated job of preserving the moments for generations to come in a realistic, but also perfected representation of each event.
Everything that makes other photographers hate weddings are all reasons I love them. I LOVE the challenge! I love finding a way to make harsh mid-day light work. I love when the bride gets snappy or stressed and I can calm the situation and get everything back on track for the day. I love when the groom hates pictures but I make him love them during the engagement shoot and actually excited for it! I love it when a rando family member pulls out their giant camera and follows me around. I’m not threatened, and yeah it’s a no-no in my contract to have another photographer but guess what- that’s usually their sister-in-law, or uncle or best friend and showing them love and including them in the way that they want to be included is going to go a lot further on a wedding day than complaining to the already stressed out bride and groom to get her friend to stop taking pictures because it is a breach of contract. I love that when we get behind schedule because of unforeseen circumstances I can jump in and roll through each setting like a pro instead of being the one vendor everyone is waiting on. I love handling family formals for large families like a pro so at the end everyone goes “That’s it?!?!” Instead of “Ugh, finally!”
Anyway enough reminiscing. I’m so excited to have my calendar more opened up for weddings this year and next. I was really starting to get momentum built up right before Sage was born. I shot more weddings from Jan-May (se was born in June) than any other year I had ever photographed up to that point.
Something that I realized later on was that a lot of photographers pay to shoot models at classes and events with perfect backdrops to build up their portfolio. I never did this! It was 100% grit and perseverance that helped me fight my way into the industry and I couldn’t be more proud of that.
I am so happy with the choice I made to step back and get more into newborn and family portraits as a way to not be away from my nursing baby for so long. I’m happy to say that I have grown even more in that time and I’m so excited to get back to doing weddings!
Here are a few of my all time favorite wedding/couples images:
a little homage to the mid-quarantine backyard weddings
Thanks for joining me for this little reminisce <3. If you know anyone who is planning a wedding I would be absolutely honored to have you refer them to me.
They can reach me at:
alyssa@alyssahawsphotography.com
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