Wedding/Engagement

Last Couple Weddings! Valerie & Ben and Tanya & Harold!

Posted by Matthew Durr on June 10, 2015
Posted in: Wedding/Engagement. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . 3 Comments

As the summer starts to heat up, many couples will take the plunge in their own wedding throughout these bright months. Back in May, I had the chance to photograph two more weddings after a long break from photography due to graduate school. It felt great to get back in the swing and stress of wedding photography, and it did not take long to get my focusing and shooting muscles to remember exactly how to get any needed shot in a hurry.

As I have done in some past posts, I will let the photos speak for themselves here. These shots are from Valerie and Ben’s wedding in Nicholasville, KY at a small church (with a children’s playroom for the guys’ dressing room, fun shots there!) and later at a country club. Helping out as my backup photographer and lighting assistant was Justin Tackett, shooting with a Nikon d3200 and Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8. As always, click on the photos for larger sizes!

Zeiss 32mm, ISO 100, f/1.8, 1/50

Zeiss 32mm, ISO 100, f/1.8, 1/50

Zeiss 32mm, ISO 100, f/1.8, 1/50

Zeiss 32mm, ISO 100, f/1.8, 1/50

Zeiss 32mm, ISO 100, f/1.8, 1/50

Zeiss 32mm, ISO 100, f/1.8, 1/50

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Wedding: Chelsea and Jonathan Durbin

Posted by Matthew Durr on October 22, 2014
Posted in: Wedding/Engagement. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment
Under the Veil Nikon 50mm, ISO 800, f/1.8, 1/160

Under the Veil
Nikon 50mm, ISO 800, f/1.8, 1/160

Still in the pursuit of my goal of catching up with posting past work—before I get into current projects (provided I have time!)—just a month ago I was the main photographer for the wedding of Chelsea and Jonathan Durbin in Louisville, KY. With mostly the same equipment as I used in my previous wedding, and the addition of the Rokinon 16mm f/2, I had my ducks in a row as far as gear preparation goes. In stark contrast to the rustic, small-scale wedding I shot prior, this catholic wedding with a large bridal party forced me to change techniques and styles around to keep up with the proceedings. Thankfully, I enlisted the help of Lisa Britton—another freelancer in the Cincinnati area—to help as backup and lighting assistant (Nikon d7000 with Tamron 24-70mm). As a larger wedding with more events to cover, this post contains significantly more photographs than my previous photo story, so make sure you have the time to peruse through the following. With that, let’s get to some shots!  Continue Reading

Engagement Shoot: Brianna Jordan and Shelby Dixon

Posted by Matthew Durr on May 27, 2014
Posted in: Portraiture, Wedding/Engagement. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Brianna/Shelby Engagement

My life has seen a world of firsts over just the past month. From college graduation to a senior recital, and individual portrait sessions to my first wedding photography experience, the last month has been a whirlwind of activity. Everything seems to just be getting better, however, as I am pursuing more freelance work in photography in lieu of a traditional “summer job” for work over the next few months. There are possibilities for more weddings, portrait sessions, and events, so this site—and my shutter finger—may be nice and busy as time goes on!

Regardless, another “first” that I participated in last week was my first engagement shoot with a couple I graduated with at Transylvania University. They make for a very happy, sometimes silly, couple that was a blast to photograph during our 1.5-hour session. Per request, the majority of shots were largely informal, with most poses forming naturally with only a little pre-guidance from me. I have found with not only my wedding portraits but individual shoots that giving subjects general direction for poses, without specifically telling them “put your hand/foot here or there” too much works very well for relaxing everyone and making photographs that are more organic. Continue Reading

First Wedding Shoot! Brandon and Hannah Ransdell

Posted by Matthew Durr on May 18, 2014
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Field Embrace

Some time, sooner or later, I knew I would get into wedding photography. With my experience the past few years shooting events and sports primarily from a candid perspective, the pursuit of more freelance work with portraiture and weddings was the next natural step.

So, when presented the opportunity to be the primary photographer for a country wedding, I jumped at the chance, despite the fact that at the time I was preparing a musically intense senior recital for my undergraduate degree in music education. But hey, I do love a good challenge, and this one was no exception—with time management a chief concern.

Regardless, after much research on wedding photography articles and ensuring I had the proper gear to take on anything an outdoor wedding could throw at me, I felt more and more confident as the wedding day grew nearer. Along with backup photographer and lighting assistant Chase Bullock, we were set for a successful day of shooting.

And succeed we did! All in all, I whittled down a large batch of files from three cameras in Lightroom 5 to a solid pool of 500 images. Obviously I don’t have the bandwidth on this site to post them all (and I would not expect any reader to want to look through the whole set!), so below are 42 selections from this pool that span the course of the wedding day. Continue Reading