Let’s start the week of right with the second (!!!) volume of How I Shot This!
If you know me you know this: I love happy photographs and I love light. Light can be a tricky beast – there’s so many ways to incorporate it into a photograph! – and, for me, the easiest way to think of it is this: It’s just another subject. Like, you might think that you’re taking a photograph of one subject when you take a senior photograph but, in reality, you’re really photographing two things: the subject and the light.
Another thing you may know about me! I have some really, really funny stories from when I first started photographing couples. It’s totally second nature to me now but, ten years ago, me and my shy self felt super awkward every single time I pulled my camera out and asked people to, y’know, snuggle or hug or kiss. Photographing couples can definitely take some time to get used to – ask me for some stories the next time I see you! – but, nowadays, I have no qualms. I get right up in there with my couples to capture every single movement and quirk and laugh. And this photograph of Lauren and Zach? It has my heart!
Here’s how I did this one! When we first got to this rad location – we shot these at Zach’s amazing family farm near Huntsville! – we started on a hill and found the most amazing golden light. I started this series of photographs by shooting some wide shots and some easy, laid-back smiling portraits (I call them “Mom Shots”) but, as the sun got a little lower, I had Lauren and Zach lay on a blanket and, once they were set, I laid down on the ground in front of them. I had them squeeze each other and rub their noses together until they broke into laughter and, the more Lauren laughed, the closer I got to them (basically I’m a pro army crawler) and, when she started laughing super hard at something Zach said, I popped up a bit and literally got right in their faces to shoot this. And y’all? I love everything about it – the sunlight shining between them, the sunlight on the very edge framing them on the sides, Zach’s fingers in Lauren’s hair, the wayward hair stuck on Lauren’s thumb, the way Lauren’s face is scrunched up laughing and the way that you can feel Zach laughing, too. This is one of my all time favorite photographs and, if I hadn’t gotten right in front of them and hadn’t completely filled the frame with their faces, this would look totally different – it would be pretty and fun but, if it were taken from farther back, I wouldn’t feel it as much as I do now. I want to take photographs that make me feel something and, if you’re reading this, I’m guessing you do, too.
Don’t be afraid to get close to the people you’re photographing, y’all! I’m not saying that you should be in their faces all the time but, if you see something happening, don’t be afraid to jump in there! Being photographed is a vulnerable and fun experience – let yourself have fun and be vulnerable, too!
(P.S. These photographs were all taken with a Canon 5d Mark IV and a Canon 35 1.4L.)
Weddings | Engagements | Seniors | Families | Personal
Read How I Took More of My Favorite Photographs Here!
Lissa Chandler is a wedding photographer located in Fayetteville, Arkansas who loves rad couples and crazy good light and, today, she photographed twenty of her family members in front of a shark tapestry. Every single photograph included confetti… and one included a giant rose, too.
