Next week I am photographing my first wedding reception and I couldn’t be more excited! For this blog post I will be reviewing some of the things you should look for when photographing any sort of party. It could be a wedding reception, a five year olds’ birthday party, or even a graduation party. Even though these all fall under the party scene, each one is very different and should be photographed in a way that supports that individual event.
If you love surprise parties, you’ll love photographing them as well. Recently my grandmother turned eighty years old and I photographed her extravagant surprise bash. I did get about 100 photos of her walking into the surprise, which I have to say was the best part, but I also looked out for some other moments that I know she would always cherish and want to look back on. She had a ton of great grand kids that attended and I know they melt her heart, so I tried my best to get some clean, but also fun shots. It’s important to make sure the kids are having fun too, even if it’s an 80th birthday surprise party. By creating a fun environment for the kids I was able to capture some great shots of them dancing, eating their sweets, and even throwing pennies in the big water fountain. There was also a piano man at the party playing some beautiful, classical music. I made sure to get a picture of him playing some of my grandmothers favorite songs, and he actually smiled! I also took some macro shots of the fun decorations because they were full of color and I thought they would be a nice add on to the album I had created for the event. The last photos I had taken were shots of my lovely grandmother thanking all of her friends who attended, (there were 70 of them). I really enjoyed photographing this day because it was very personal to me and important for me to capture those great memories my family had made.
Now next week when I photograph the wedding reception, I will obviously still focus on capturing the fun environment, while working on different, unique types of shots. I am looking forward to capturing the love between the newlyweds, but I will also keep in mind that it is important to photograph the things that mean the most to them. I am planning to take some unique shots of their wedding rings, by placing them on something that would resemble some sort of pedestal. Besides the decor, I will focus my macro shots on the variety of desserts they will have to offer. I’m looking forward to photographing the kids, because as you know by now, they’re my specialty! During events like these find the things that stand out to you and also try to capture the moments you believe will mean the most to the guest or guests of honor!