boxcars + bugle boys : j+m walk through a wedding san francisco

I’m not sure where to begin.

Justin + Mary’s Walk Through A Wedding Workshop in San Francisco last week was a game-changer.

First of all, Justin + Mary Marantz are the real deal. The bomb diggity.

Not only are they dedicated to the craft of wedding photography, I truly see how they are making other photographers not just better at what they do, but better at serving their clients, and better people. I know, right. Whoa.

They really care about people and about the importance of this job. And that is why I think I connect so deeply with what they are teaching.

I can’t say enough good things about them and this workshop.

Here’s a little recap of our day together. It’s probably woefully inadequate to describe how good these guys are at what they do and how much I learned. But here I go…

.  .  .

Justin + Mary started our day together by getting into the WHY.

Why they do what they do – the vision behind all the little decisions that have to get made on a wedding day.

This was a good reminder to know my mission on the wedding day – to capture timeless and sacred moments authentically and beautifully. To show the joy and the love. If I am focused on this, the little things won’t stress me out, and I can focus on what matters the most.

Even knowing your mission can impact the smallest decisions – where to shoot the bride’s shoes or perfume bottle, or how you speak to your bride as she is taking her portraits – all these little things make a serious impact on the wedding.

I know I want my impact to be positive but it’s so easy to get flustered with everything that is going on.

I was reminded to take a deep breath and relax so that my clients can relax too.

Justin took us through his technical tips on how to photograph perfume and finding good textures for the accessories… even if it means pulling the drawers out of the nightstand.

Since this workshop is all about walking through a wedding, step by step, the second part of our day was spent at St. Mark’s Cathedral in San Francisco, where Justin and Mary took us through how they photograph the ceremony – from lighting situations to where to stand and how to pose family portraits afterwards.

While we waited outside for Justin + Mary to get things ready, we couldn’t help but snap a few photos of our amazing models, real life husband and wife photographers Elizabeth and Ryan.

I had some fun photographing Gladys – it was so fun to get to experience this workshop together!

Love you Glady!!

I met Elizabeth and Ryan at WPPI last year and it was sooo fun to get to see them and photograph them. Photographers always make fun models!

The inside of St. Mark’s is so beautiful and candy colored. I could shoot here all day.

Mary looking totes adorbs as she finishes setting up the light for Justin’s demo on shooting the processional.

Dean graciously agreed to be our father of the bride… In these photos the light source is set on the balcony above and you can see the soft lighting from behind as they walk down the aisle.

Confession : I’m easily distracted.

 

 

Our reception location was Bourbon and Branch in San Francisco.

This is a speakeasy bar. You have to know the password to get in through the unmarked doors outside and once in there are a bunch of secret doors and stairways to different bars and rooms.

Coolest. Place. Ever.

Confession : When I first saw our reception site and realized we wouldn’t be taking any more natural light portraits, my heart sank a little. It was dark dark dark in there.

BUT, and this is a big BUT, it really forced me to try new things and embrace some of the things that Justin + Mary were showing us with their flash setup – without being distracted by taking a bunch of easy photographs.

And when I look at the portraits we took using the flash, I can’t believe I didn’t have faith. I LOVE THEM to the moon and back and also it makes me a believer in Justin and Mary. These guys are the real deal. I’m not just saying that.

Before we get to those, Mary took us through some of their go-to poses that they use on the wedding day.

I found this to be hugely helpful because on a wedding day you sometimes have 10 minutes for portraits and when it comes time to pose I get overwhelmed and my mind goes blank.

These poses are a helpful arsenal for that.

 

To give you an idea of how dark it was down there, these are shot at f/1.2 ISO 6400 at 1/50 of a second …

These are shot using the off camera flash (to the right). I love the dimensional light it creates and the depth it gives to these details.

We’re getting into favorite portraits ever territory.

Justin + Mary, I can’t say enough how thankful I am for this workshop!

 

EEEEEEEEP.

Ryan, you are so working it.

Oh, your love is beautiful to watch. I hope you know that.

 

Julia, you did such an amazing job with all the details for this workshop! And I have to say you are a pretty cute candy girl to boot.

 

I loved our bridesmaids! Thanks girls for being so rad and for laughing at my jokes… I know they were bad.

You guys are too cute!

Be sure to check out Justin + Mary’s sneak on their blog! So good.

Xoxo

Em