As a Florida Wedding Photographer I capture a wide range of unique images. This is an opportunity to give more insight regarding wedding pictures you may have seen my Instagram or Facebook posts and would like to know the story behind some of these images read below.
If don’t follow me on Facebook or Instagram, here are a few photos from my some of my recent posts. If you do happen to follow me on social media, this is a opportunity to learn more about my photography and how I create my images. Working as a Florida wedding photographer I get to work at a wide range of hotels, country clubs, beach clubs, and golf clubs. I have found that when a client hires me for a wedding, they are looking for a wide range of photographic images. A Florida wedding photographer needs to be skilled in portrait photography, product photography, scenic photography, ballroom decor photography. wedding photo-journalism, and all around party photography. In this post you will see the wide range of images I produce.
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If you love to travel and you love photography, then Florida is a location that god created just for you. Working as a wedding and event photographer I find myself driving all over the state of Florida to take pictures in lot’s of unique locations. By the way, I also happen to put a lot of miles on my car. Just this month, I’m photographing weddings in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach County, and Tampa. Ok, Tampa is not in Florida, but I certainly don’t mind driving to photograph a unique wedding. One place that most South Florida wedding photographers also travel to is the Florida Keys. Weddings in the Keys are completely different than your typical wedding on the Florida mainland. Florida keys weddings are usually much more laid back and casual. Couples who decide to have a wedding in the Keys are more interested in that tropical Caribbean vibe than the formal more dressy weddings that take place in areas like, Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale or any other of the Florida cities. This doesn’t mean that weddings in the Florida Keys are cheap. I have photographed some very high end weddings in the Keys as well. One of my favorite upscale wedding locations in the Keys is the Ocean Reef Club. The Ocean Reef Club is a very private and exclusive resort, with it’s own airport. Check out these two Ocean Reef Club weddings I photographed. Taylor and Robert’s Wedding. Liz and Eamon’s Wedding. Looking at these two wedding you can certainly tell they are high end. Working as a Florida wedding photographer, who travels to the Keys often, I find that shooting Keys weddings offers me the opportunity to create pictures with a completely different unique vibe. This more relaxed atmosphere opens the door for me to be more creative. This is simply because most of the weddings in the Florida Keys are smaller, which means more time to spend photographing the bride and groom. The fact that the brides gown is usually lighter, than the large bridal gown seen at many of Florida larger weddings means that I don’t have to spend as much time styling the bridal gown for photography.
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This photo was taken during a Jewish wedding ceremony at the Delray Beach Marriott. The Delray Beach Marriott is a very popular wedding venue in Florida. Actually this hotel has been completely re-modeled and the name has changed. The new name is The Opal Grand. The beach is directly across the street from the hotel, making it a favorite of brides and grooms. Couples select the Opal Grand because guests have access to the beach and all the great restaurants and shops around the hotel. This is just one example from the many Jewish weddings that we photograph around Florida. You can see more pictures from the Opal Grand here: Ballroom decor at The Opal Grand, Bride and Groom photo at The Opal Grand, Bride and Groom having fun at the Opal Grand, A complete wedding at the Delray Beach Marriott
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This lovely portrait of bride with her gown amongst a sea of bridesmaid’s gowns was taken at the Sailfish Marina Resort in Palm Beach Shores, Florida. I’m always looking to create interesting and unique photos, so at this wedding I decided to make a background out of the bride’s gown and bridesmaids dresses. Since each bridesmaids dress was different but the same color, I thought that these bridesmaids’ dresses would make an unusual pastel colored background. When a Florida photographer gets to work at a place as beautiful as Sailfish Marina, they must be thrilled to have such amazing scenery as a background.
The Sailfish Marina Resort is a fantastic place for a wedding. The resort has a golf course and a marina so if your out of town wedding guests want to play a round of golf or take a boat trip while visiting for your Florida wedding, they may do so.
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What a really cool spot for photos! This photo was taken at the Monkey Bar inside Boca Raton Resort and Club. As a preferred wedding photographer at the Boca Raton Resort and Club, I find myself photographing there quite often. Working at the same wedding venue over and over has its advantages because you can become extremely familiar with the layout of the venue and find all the great shooting locations. For example, I know every inch of Boca Resort which allows me to go directly to the areas I know are the best for photos – spots with the most interesting architecture, best lighting and overall ambiance. Boca Resort is a superb choice to host your Florida wedding. Brides and grooms have the option of spending time at the main hotel and also the yacht club. We have photographed at both locations. However, working in the same venue time after time a photographer can fall into the trap of taking the wedding shots that are the most popular and deemed run of the mill. Nobody wants to fall into that rut. While there are popular photographic locations around the resort that many photographers utilize, often I find that it’s fun to create images in spots that one wouldn’t necessarily think of right away as being good for photos. I love to think out of the box and try to see places in a different way, visualizing how I can make an amazing photograph in an unusual or new location.
For this particular photo, I used the front gate of Boca Raton Resort and Club’s Monkey Bar. However, rather than simply putting the bride in front of the gate, I decided to use a spot light to cast a shadow onto the wall next to the gate. Being creative is a huge plus if you are a Florida wedding photographer because there are so many photographers who are competing for attention. Hope you like the results!
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Engagement Photo at St Andrews Country Club in Boca Raton, Florida
If you are planning a Florida wedding, then you should also think about doing a Florida engagement shoot. By booking an engagement shoot, you not only get beautiful photos, you also have the opportunity to work with your photographer in advance of you wedding day. When shopping for a wedding photographer, a bridal couple will view thousands and thousands of beautiful photographs in all different styles. Some of these styles include traditional portraits, wedding photojournalism, casually posed and fun action shots. For this photo, I had the engaged couple hold hands and walk around a few steps. By having the bride and groom walk, the movement creates a more exciting and spontaneous looking shot. When couples hire a Florida photographer they are often looking for an artist with a camera. This means that catching expressions that make the imagery look beautiful while telling a story is important.
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This photo represents a beautiful family tradition. I thought this was very cool. This bottle of whisky was purchased and drank from when the groom was born. It was then re-opened and used for a toast at his wedding. Not every Florida wedding has details such as this one to photograph. This one was truly very special for the families involved. You can’t tell from the photo, but this photo was captured at Diplomat Country Club – another very popular Florida wedding venue.
Like the Boca Raton Resort and Club, the Diplomat Country Club also has a beach hotel. Wedding guests can play a round of golf and them spend the day at the Diplomat’s Beach Resort.
Posting photos to Facebook and Instagram is great but it doesn’t allow me the opportunity to explain my motivation or the technical challenges I have to over come to create the image. As a wedding photographer in Florida I find that I’m always faced with unique opportunities to get awesome wedding photos. Below are a few photos and more info about each photo.
ABOVE: This photo was taken at The Breakers in Palm Beach FL. The bride and groom were so easy to photograph. All I had to do was give them the slightest bit of direction and their expressions made the photos come alive. For this photo I played around this different F-Stops until I got the perfect – Lens Bokeh –If you have never heard the term Lens Bokeh it is: the visual quality of blur produced in the out-of-focus parts of a photograph. Bokeh produced by the way a lens records the out-of-focus points of light. Lens aberrations and aperture shape cause some lenses to blur the image in a way that is pleasing to the eye. Bokeh occurs in parts of the photo that is outside the depth of field. Photographers often photograph with a wide f-stop to create images with prominent out-of-focus background. In addition out of focus points of light appear as circles in the out of focus parts of the photograph.
In the above photo, I just love how the bokeh looks in this photo. When creating this photo, I first tested to shot for nice bokeh, then I ran over and got the bride and groom to pose for me. Working at The Breakers is a treat for any South Florida Wedding Photographer. If you would like to see more pictures taken at The Breakers check out this link: Wedding Pictures from The Breakers, Palm Beach.
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The most difficult part of taking this photo was setting up the “First Look” between the bride and groom. My process for the first look is simple. First, I get the groom and bring him to the first look location. When choosing locations for the bride and grooms first look I choose a spot with good easy lighting and few distractions. The idea is to get great photos of the couple’s expression when they’re first see each other.
This wedding took place at the Hilton Fort Lauderdale. The hotel had a deck that over looked the ocean and Fort Lauderdale Beach. It was the perfect place for the first look. Since the lighting looking at the ocean was very bright and the couple was in the shaded hotel deck I had to use my flash to match the lighting.
Once the bride and groom saw each other they were very emotional which made for some awesome first look wedding photos. This shot is only one in a sequence of awesome photos. There are so many awesome hotels in Fort Lauderdale and couples have so many great choices when planning their weddings. However, this deck at the Hilton Fort Lauderdale is one of the best I’ve found. After the first look we went to the lobby for more photos and for the family photos. Since the Hilton in Fort Lauderdale is right across form the street I was able to get some fantastic beach photos as well! Beach weddings are very popular and as Florida wedding photographer I get to shoot many beach front weddings.
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Another “First Look” photo, taken at Boca Point Country Club in Boca Raton, FL
This photo was taken by my staff photographer Albert. Boca Point Country club is one of our favorite places to photography weddings. The lake in the background of this photo made this a nice scenic photo. However, that really made this shot was the brides arms stretched out and her awesome expression. Boca Point Country Club has many fantastic places to photos and this area was no exception. Taken next to the clubhouse the building was able to cast a nice shadow over the bride and groom. This the day of this wedding was unique because of the Florida weather. It was rainy, then sunny, and Albert had to shoot out doors when mother nature decided to cooperate. While this wedding photo is Black and White we also have the same shot in color. If you would like to see more pictures from this fantastic venue check out this link: A cool infrared wedding picture taken at Boca Pointe Country Club.
Here is a link to a complete article from another wedding that took place at The Club at Boca Pointe. Caitlyn and Alex’s wedding
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This photo was taken at the Delray Beach Marriott after the wedding ceremony. This couple had their wedding ceremony inside the hotel ballroom. The really wanted so outdoor beach photos but didn’t want to get sandy or fight the crowd during the day. Saturdays on the beach in a hotspot like Delray can be very crowded. They also didn’t want to miss too much of their cocktail hour. The second the ceremony ended we darted outside and across Ocean Ave to the beach for some photos. It was getting dark so we have to act quickly. There was this lovely path that let through the brush to the ocean. I decided that a walking photo of the bride and groom would be nice. So I had the couple hold hands and walk down the path while I stood on a sandy mound taking photos.
Often I’ll shoot walking photos by having one person lead and the follow; this way the camera sees both people. Since the faces are a few feet apart I use a telephoto lens to compress the people together. This creates the problem of selective focus. If the focus is on one person the other person gets soft focus or no focus. Using a small aperture, which increased depth of field, solves this. Since it was already getting dark and I had all this stuff working against me, I also used a high ISO. Having a professional camera that is excellent in low light is a must when shooting under these conditions.
I really envisioned the bride’s veil blowing behind her. This didn’t happen too easily, however the bride waved her arm up and down which made her veil look like to be blowing behind them. The Delray Beach Marriott is one of my favorite places to work for so many reasons. Having close access to the beach is just one added bonus.
The hotel has many different places to get awesome wedding photos and the staff at the hotel is always a pleasure to work with.
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Zack and the Guys. I shot this one on the balcony at the Delray Beach Marriott during the getting ready portion of a wedding. The groom (Zack) was hanging out with his groomsmen checking out the view of the ocean from the Marriott’s balcony. When I arrived I saw this glass table sitting there. Now when I see a glass table it usually think, double reflection. So shooting this came naturally. I feel that it there is an opportunity for a double reflection shot, it needs to be taken. By the way, it goes for a piano. Piano, means “Double Reflection” in my book. Since the guy were so easy to work with and took direction well. Pulling off this photo was easy and fast.
BELOW: SLEEPING BEAUTY!
This photo was taken by Albert at a wedding reception. This is often a common sight. However, she was positioned perfectly and posed perfectly with her fluffy companion. Events like this for a Florida photographer are always fun to cover because of all the unique picture opportunities that occur. Sometimes something as simple as a young flower girl sleeping could open up a photo opportunity.
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