2018 marked ten years since we shot our first wedding and it feels good to say that year ten was the most fun we’ve ever had.
The catalyst behind this was an April workshop in Kauai with the best wedding photography team on Earth, TwoMann Studios. We’ve always been inspired by these two, but the opportunity to spend several days of intensive education with them proved to be a career-changing moment. It’s brought around a shift in styles that is much more about story telling and photojournalism, seeing natural and artificial light in new ways, and shooting more–way, way more, in an attempt to capture those ephemeral moments that before had gone unnoticed.
Also, with the help of second shooter Elli Davtyan (Ellucine Photo) who was there with us for several weddings, we locked down some amazing new tag-team lighting techniques for the reception that have taken that part of the day to another level.
Mammoth has become an incredible wedding destination for Los Angeles, San Diego and Bay Area-based mountain loving couples, so much of our time was spent between Convict Lake and Mammoth Mountain, as well as a stop at June Mountain .We also had a few at Hayden Cabin in Mammoth Lakes and Double Eagle in June Lake, and incredible elopements at Alabama Hills and McGee Canyon, both in the Eastern Sierra.
We traveled to Tahoe twice, with one wedding at Edgewood Tahoe in South Lake Tahoe and another at the Gatekeeper’s Museum on the north end of the lake.
We also got to shoot the wedding of the inimitable JP Sears and his beautiful wife Amber at Kennolyn Camps in Santa Cruz, and ended the year in legit island style at Red Frog Island Resort in Bocas del Toro, Panama for the ideal season-ending destination wedding.
2019 is already firing and looks to be a lot like 2018. In March, we’re headed to Bali for a reunion workshop with the TwoMann crew as well as with several other photographers who have done these workshops before. Past students, including several who were with us in Kauai, are some of the industry’s most inspiring and the opportunity to work with the best isn’t something to pass up.
Thanks for following the journey in 2018 and here’s to another crazy year.
-Brandon
