All language subtitles for 10. Candid Family Portraits

So remember, when you're actually photographing a family

under the guise that you are actually commissioned

to photograph a family at a wedding, whether

it's a family portrait session, they know you're

there.

Okay, let's just get that over and done

with it.

They know you're there and you're there to

actually create a family portrait of some description.

But remember, there's gonna be opportunities that reveal

themselves, whether it's event-driven like a wedding,

whether it's actually a family portrait session, where

things just spontaneously happen.

And I'm saying to you that there is

a big difference between creating and capturing, right?

So we can create, as in we actually

create something out of nothing.

We, hey, stand there, stand there, and let's

do a nice little portrait.

And there'll be times where we just capture

it, okay?

So one is a very reactive way of

photographing, and there's one is a very proactive

way of photographing.

You have to not only capture the magic

that exists, but create magic of your own.

But creating magic that exists, you have to

be really wary of what is happening and

anticipate moments.

That's why I strongly encourage you that if

you haven't photographed a wedding yet, you're better

to actually learn by watching this very class

and being able to witness what it's like

photographing an actual wedding, like being a virtual

assistant to somebody.

Even better yet is actually being with a

person on a wedding day and to be

able to know what it's like in a

real-world situation to photograph a wedding, or

even a family portrait.

So please practice and assist as many people

as you can before you take the leap

of actually photographing for real on a wedding

day.

But just know that family portraits are not

just about the ones that you, again, you

pose in front of your camera.

There'll be moments like the father-daughter dance

and the mother-son dance where it's going

to be such a beautiful thing, and you

know there's gonna be probably lots of tears,

there's gonna be lots of laughter, and it's

gonna be very emotional.

So after shooting for a lot of times,

many, many weddings over many years, there are

certain cultures, certain rituals at certain weddings.

Like if you go to a South Asian

wedding, I mean, the amount of ritual on

those weddings that you know is gonna be

emotional.

If you go to a Jewish wedding under

the kuppah and the bedeckin and all those

different things where the bride is revealed to

the family and the groom and things like

that, they are steeped in tradition that have

been developed over thousands of years.

Shame on you if you do not know

those traditions before you actually photograph them.

So this is where we have to do

our homework.

If you photograph a wedding of a certain

culture that you don't understand, you should research

what that means.

And if you don't know what that means,

and if you haven't done the homework or

don't have the time to do that homework,

is find someone of the family that's dedicated

to you to actually explain to you what's

involved at this particular point in time.

Here's the golden rule.

If it moves, shoot it.

If there's a different action, shoot it.

Something happens, shoot it.

Doesn't matter what it is.

You might not understand it.

You may think it's crazy, but it could

be incredibly meaningful to the people that you're

photographing.

This next particular photograph was of a group

prayer done for the bride.

Now, I did not know this was happening.

I was at the church.

I was waiting for the bride to walk

up the aisle.

I actually traveled.

I saw the bride rock up to the

actual church.

She was there.

I saw her.

Half an hour goes by, nothing.

The groom's looking at me saying, where's the

bride?

I'm like, I don't know.

We came together.

She was in the car in front of

me.

We parked the car.

I don't know what's going on.

So I walked down into the crypt of

the church, and there I saw the bride.

All hands were on the actual bride, and

they were praying for her.

So I walked in and discovered something like

this.

So there are gonna be moments like this

that you don't pose at all.

You find, but this pretty much encompasses everything

that we're discussing.

You see how all hands are touching in

one way, bodies and everything like that.

We're seeing this triangle of sort of faces

with the hierarchy of the bride in the

middle and the parents on this side.

I love that you got the wisdom on

the left, and you sort of got the

youth on the right.

I love the fact that you've got the

niece of the bride with her mother, and

you can see there's so much intensity there

as well.

So you can't just do the obvious.

Go out of your way to actually find

moments.

And like I said, if you go out

of your way to find them, you become

a magnet for them.

It's funny because you often hear people say,

oh, the universe is telling me something.

The universe, the universe.

And it's like, well, when the universe usually

gives you what you want, it's because you've

worked your ass off for it.

It's no different than putting the energy out

there of a certain thing that you want,

but it's not so much, well, let me

just pray for it and let me hope

for it.

And whether you believe in God, Karma, or

Buddha, whatever the hell it is that you

believe in, all I'm saying is you've just

got to work for it.

You've got to, you know, the law of

attraction and just sitting back and hoping for

something to be miraculous in front of you.

It's funny because when we hear these miraculous

stories, it's from the people who had that

miracle happen to them.

Does that make sense?

We don't hear from all the people that

wish for something that didn't happen.

So as a photographer, I say in my

brain, if only the bride turned towards the

light, the father turned this way, they put

their foreheads touching, and then the brother and

sister were giggling in the background, if only.

When that happens in my brain, I just

make it happen.

Or I at least give history a chance

and just put the elements in front of

those situations and give them permission to feel

a certain way.

This next shot was the smallest wedding I've

ever been to.

This was the amount of guests at this

wedding.

So we've got the bride and the groom.

We've got the daughter being held by the

uncle.

She was sleeping.

We've got parents of the groom, parents of

the bride.

That was it.

In fact, we were guests at the wedding.

So those two chairs are for us.

I'm like, I have a very incredible opportunity

here to photograph a family at a wedding

where this is the smallest number of guests

ever and on one small table.

Was this directed?

Was it posed?

Was it not?

Who cares?

I'll let you be the judge on whether

I captured this or whether I created this

or it was a combination of both.

The point is that family photographs are not

just about doing a cool effect and putting

people together shoulder to shoulder or doing the

foreground background thing or walking towards a camera.

It is actually about creating something unique and

dynamic for the family that truly represents them

as individuals and as groups within the group.

Here's a final photograph to really end our

discussion on photographing and posing groups, families, guys,

girls, bridal parties in whatever context.

And this sums it up.

We wanna toast and celebrate people.

We wanna celebrate people at their best.

And in this case, you might think, well,

how did you photograph this?

Aren't you just lucky to have a very

flamboyant family that and the bride and groom

happened to be standing underneath a chandelier and

you happen to have a vignette of people

all in the foreground framing the couple having

a great time.

Well, you can probably tell by my tone

of voice that this was actually created by

me.

Now, how did I do this?

I just thought, wouldn't it be cool for

all those things to happen?

I went up to the MC and I

said, hey, would you mind if I direct

a photograph publicly with a microphone?

He goes, I'll do it for you.

I said, great.

Well, tell me at a convenient time at

a dance bracket or at the start of

a dance bracket or something where we can

do this.

Because what they had was they had a

bit of a dance floor.

They had Ottomans everywhere.

They had people flanking the people sitting on

the chairs on either side.

And then the best light was underneath the

chandelier.

I'm like, well, that's just begging for a

photograph.

So what do I do?

Well, simply I said to the MC, can

you just get every, like the bridal party

and all the important family members underneath the

chandelier.

Everyone do not look at me.

Face the bride and groom, toast them, celebrate

them.

And the MC was fantastic because he raised

his voice.

He got them in the mood as a

good MC does.

And then we got this great photograph of

this beautiful family.

So guys, in summary, what am I trying

to say here?

Posing should be flattering, but also should be

purposeful.

It should be meaningful.

When it comes to groups, when it comes

to more than one person, because now, okay,

we've talked about posing a girl, a bride,

an adult female here.

We've talked about photographing a guy, an adult

male over here.

We've photographed a couple.

Well, there's a certain dynamic when you're photographing

a girl on her own, a guy on

his own and a couple, right?

There's a romantic relationship, let's say if we're

photographing specifically a wedding.

When you're talking about a third person and

beyond, a brother, a sister, a parent, a

mom, dad, grandparent, we're talking about the idea

of what does love look like between that

many people?

What do connections look like?

What does unity look like?

What does joy look like?

What does strength look like?

What does celebration look like?

You have to know the mechanics as a

foundation of understanding lighting and posing and how

it affects big groups.

But remember, beyond trying to make a perfectly

posed group photograph of more than say two

or three people, you should be asking yourself,

how do I make this more meaningful?

How do I make this more joyful?

And how do I create a beautiful legacy

for one's family?

So the way you'll get better quite simply

is repetition, experience and practice.

So don't forget that although in your mind,

maybe before watching this particular segment here, that

in your mind, family photographs were quite and

quite boring, I would challenge that you should

go out of your way to look at

everyone in that family through the eyes of

the other, and you will start to see

different things.

So the thing is that you might have

a bad relationship with your parents.

Well, that should make you want to immortalize

a good relationship for the parents.

Does that make sense?

If you have a good relationship with your

parents, you are gonna want that also for

everybody else as well.

So sometimes you sometimes have to do the

thinking and the feeling for other people because

they're so in awe of the occasion, they're

so in awe of the moment that sometimes

their true selves don't come out.

And all you're gonna do is what I

call massaging, is massaging the situation and being

able to sort of shift the energy a

certain way so people reveal themselves and also

understand a bit more about who you're photographing

way before you even pick up the camera.

Speaking to the parents individually, speaking to the

best friends, speaking to even the bride and

the groom without each other in each other's

presence.

And you start to understand all these dynamics.

You make these notes and you really have

a bit of a game plan.

And then based upon light, based upon location,

based upon aesthetics, based upon the time that

you have, you will make all these decisions.

Get your safe shot, get that one looking

in the camera smiling, get them interacting, then

break it up and take a bit of

a risk.

And trust me, you'll enjoy the process more,

you'll never upset a client and what you

will do become more fruitful and people will

look at your photographs and not only see

something pretty, but they will feel more.

So remember, posing should be beautiful, but more

importantly, purposeful.