One of Gavin’s favorite photos from a past wedding and the story behind it:
As much as I love a the cinematic scenes I work hard to master at every wedding, I also love great candid moments and work just as hard to capture those. This is one of those moments. It’s from Oliver and Pamela’s 2006 wedding (that would have made me 21). The reception was at the country club in Moses lake and I remember Oliver being ready to leave with his new bride (smart man), look at that smile on his face.

I generally get a sparkler exit at least once a year and their always fun. This was actually my first however. Their not easy to capture. The problem is that in the darkness we generally need a flash, but too much flash and you lose the beauty, light and motion that’s happening. The key is to do what’s we call dragging the shutter, adding a burst of light from a flash to freeze the subjects, but keeping the shutter slow enough to capture the other light. Since I had never done this, I was using manual settings and pretty much going with my instincts.

For those who know what I’m talking about, this was captured at 1/25th second, f4.0, ISO1600. I generally become the director in these situations, having to place people in a way that works for the location and conditions in a very short time. The couple and guests were great however and gave me this result. There’s a lot of action here and while the expressions may not work for a traditional portrait, they tell the story of this couple leaving for their honeymoon in a way that little else could. I’ve made more sparkler images since, but this first still stands out in my mind  and it hangs on the wall of my studio to this day… Gav

You never knew what will happen at a reception, so my motto is to be ready. One of my favorite things to do once the party is rolling, is to step get back with a long lens and just watch. This was a wedding in at the Spokane Club. I was standing on a chair on the sidelines looking for moments and the groomsman decided to just use the pitcher. The bridesmaid looks totally disgusted, but as I recall she dared him to do it and well, you know the things woman can drive us to do.

This was not really a wild wedding, but people had fun. It had been a long day and it felt good just relax, observe and catch some moments… Gav