When Jeremy and Emma approached me about including a Story Art piece as part of their wedding day coverage I was initially hesitant. My composites often takes hours of pre planning, not to mention the time that would need to be allocated to the shoot itself, on the wedding day. I love to take a challenge and run with it though, so it wasn't long (10 minutes?) before I was dreaming up ideas for their custom wedding Story Art piece.
Jeremy and Emma hired us under our Wedding/Portrait business, Emerald Eye Photography, to cover their wedding day in Adelaide on Saturday the 14th of November, 2015. Together, my husband Stuart and I have been photographing weddings for over a decade. Our challenge for this wedding was to fly interstate, ensure we had all the gear required for both the wedding and the composite, and fit everything into the one day. We not only photographed the wedding, but also captured video clips to be put together into a Wedding VideoStory. During the reception we created a same day slideshow of 100 images from the wedding day. Our day ran from 8:30am to 2:30 am the following morning!
Jeremy's Back Story
Jeremy Sebastian is a Pro Boxer. When Jeremy and Emma gave me their lists of interests, I struggled to try and come up with a concept that fit both of them within one Story Art piece. Emma enjoys romantic comedies, classic architecture, old fashioned class and charm.
Emma - Bride
"I am into architecture and design, things that are a little different or quirky, old fashioned class and charm. Champagne, fashion and details, girly tv & movies (think gossip girl, crazy stupid love or my best friends wedding) I'm a sucker for a rom com!! The closest thing I do to a sport is yoga and even then I find myself making up excuses to skip class."
With a massive bridal party of 14 (16 including Page Boy Hudson and Flower Girl Indi) coming up with an all in one composite was proving challenging. Jeremy's interests were also polar opposites to his fiance's, preferring action and adventure over classic romance.
I pondered on the perfect image for some time until one night, after being woken up by my daughter at 3am and not being able to get back to sleep, I formulated the plan for two separate images. One telling the story of the Bride getting ready and one telling the story of the Groom getting ready. By breaking them up into two separate artworks I was able to bring into focus each of their interests (and also create a more manageable piece with less people to fit in each image).
Knowing that Boxing was close to Jeremy's heart, I came up with the idea you see here to tell the story of his day, one last 'hurrah' before the ceremony.
Below you can see all of the images that made up the final composite. EVERY SINGLE CAPTURE was photographed on the wedding day. Why? Why not capture some of the images on a different day? In order to enter specific photography competitions all elements in a wedding composite must have been photographed on the same day. Crazy? Yes probably, but nothing like pushing the limits!
We needed to capture the boys in a real Boxing Ring. Thank you to Cardio Flex for allowing us to make use of your space on a busy Saturday morning! The day prior Stuart and I spent a few hours mapping out the scene and taking test shots to ensure that the actual shoot on the wedding day would go smoothly. Three hours of preparation meant a smooth 30 minute shoot on the day of the wedding.
Behind the Scenes of the Shoot
Thank you to Jeremy, Chris and Guy Sebastian for sharing in this Video about your experience. It's one thing to see the shoot in action, but to hear from those involved helps others to understand it CAN BE DONE! I'm not saying it was easy (far from it), but I'm determined to break the mould in Photography and offer something to my clients that previously was only available for big budget corporate ad campaigns.
Ok, pause here. Yes... You did see Guy Sebastian, crazy talented, multi Aria Awarded, first ever Australian Idol, X-Factor Judge, Eurovision superstar. Guy is also a skilled photographer and is the Canon Ambassador for Australia. You also probably noticed super talented Chris Sebastian who recently dominated in The Voice, taking a few flying leaps... Take a deep breath. Good, now, focus. Back to the image and the main stars of this show, the Bride and Groom, Jeremy and Emma Sebastian.
Speed Edit of the Photoshop Process
