I often get the question, “why do you like photographing weddings?” To me, the answer couldn’t be more simple, I absolutely LOVE it. There is nothing that I have experienced in my life, quite like capturing a couple’s special day. I am an empath and love to experience true, unbridled emotion. At a wedding, there is so much love coming from everyone that it fulfills me so deeply to experience that. From the newly wed, to the friends and family, everybody let’s their guard down on that special day and I get to experience that pure humanity from front row seats. Like I said earlier, there is nothing quite like it. It is beautiful. The difficult part is to make sure that my images convey that pure beauty in the way that I get to experience it.
I’m certainly not saying weddings are easy going or always perfect. On the contrary, they are filled with ‘happy accidents’ and it is those accidents that make each wedding so unique and special. I have yet to experience a wedding that went perfect. I think that is another part of wedding photography that I absolutely love. The entire experience is ad-libbed. Sure, there is an itinerary. But those are seldom stuck to once it gets down to the actual day. The itinerary serves as a rough map for the day, but never accounts for when the bride sees her best friend that she hasn’t seen in x number of years, or the groom’s dad surprises the newly weds with something… It is in those unique and pure moments where the experience and memories are made.
My job is to be moving around like a ninja (not being seen and out of everybody’s way) making sure I snap those moments as they are happening. I’ve tracked my steps at most of the weddings I shoot just out of curiosity. It’s not uncommon for me to put in 10 miles during a single 4–6-hour wedding. More if it runs longer. After each wedding, I am tired and sore… but ready to shoot another wedding if I had to just because it is just so much fun.
It took me a little while in my lifetime to finally find my life’s passion, but now that I’ve found it, life couldn’t be better!
~Corey
