[dropcap color=”” background_color=””]I [/dropcap]think one of the biggest pitfalls we, as artists, can encounter is to become trapped by rules and convention. We spend a lot of time an energy learning and eventually mastering classic techniques. We get wrapped up in concepts like the the “rule of thirds,” getting perfect exposure, and trying to produce images for what we think others want. We want to make sure our clients are happy, and even more importantly that we gave images that future clients will want. The end result is that we end up playing it safe.

[dropcap color=”” background_color=””]T [/dropcap]he problem is that safe, is boring. We end up getting so wrapped up in thinking that we need to have images that the couple, the friends, and the parents all like, that we end up in danger of producing boring, mediocre images. I guess I would compare it to vanilla ice cream. Sure everyone like vanilla ice cream, but very few people LOVE vanilla ice cream. Personally, I love Ben and Jerry’s Chubby Hubby, but I am certain some people don’t care for it. To me that means to create images that some people absolutely love, we need to risk that some people will hate them.

[dropcap color=”” background_color=””]I [/dropcap]n order to improve my risk taking ability I recently took at class from David Beckstead, one of my all time favorite wedding photographers. The class focussed on playing and experimenting with wedding photography. Instead of starting with the subjects we worked on seeing leading lines, patterns, reflections, and ways to find compositions that the subjects would fit in to instead of the other way around. We gave up the idea of playing it safe and instead we played, experimented artisticly, and had fun. The result was images that were more about symmetry, lines, and flow than they were about a smiling bride. I don’t know if I will use all the techniques I learned, but I certainly appreciated what I did learn.

[one_half] [single_lightbox url=”https://www.timothyfaust.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/MG_8496-Edit.jpg” image_url=”https://www.timothyfaust.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/MG_8496-Edit.jpg” image_width=”200″ image_height=”125″ title=”I would never thought dumpsters and warehouses would make a good backdrop for a bride.”] [single_lightbox url=”https://www.timothyfaust.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/MG_5863.jpg” image_url=”https://www.timothyfaust.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/MG_5863.jpg” image_width=”200″ image_height=”125″ title=”Using a long lens in order to compress a scene is nothing new, but this was the first time I tried it in an urban setting.”] [single_lightbox url=”https://www.timothyfaust.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/MG_5762.jpg” image_url=”https://www.timothyfaust.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/MG_5762.jpg” image_width=”200″ image_height=”125″ title=”Bride wearing Sunglasses”] [single_lightbox url=”https://www.timothyfaust.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/MG_8864-Edit.jpg” image_url=”https://www.timothyfaust.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/MG_8864-Edit.jpg” image_width=”200″ image_height=”125″ title=”Playing with infrared and flowing lines”]

[/one_half] [one_half_last] [single_lightbox url=”https://www.timothyfaust.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/MG_8484.jpg” image_url=”https://www.timothyfaust.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/MG_8484.jpg” image_width=”200″ image_height=”125″ title=”Playing with patterns, leading lines, unusual cropping.”] [single_lightbox url=”https://www.timothyfaust.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/MG_8735.jpg” image_url=”https://www.timothyfaust.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/MG_8735.jpg” image_width=”200″ image_height=”125″ title=”Using window light is nothing new, but I was learning to use the leading lines in the hallway.”] [single_lightbox url=”https://www.timothyfaust.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/MG_8899-Edit.jpg” image_url=”https://www.timothyfaust.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/MG_8899-Edit.jpg” image_width=”200″ image_height=”125″ title=”Playing with a red veil in front of a blue backdrop to create leading lines and flow”] [/one_half_last]

 

[dropcap color=”” background_color=””]A [/dropcap]fter the workshop, I was feeling pretty inspired. A few days later I found myself in Illinois and still wanted to play. I called up a friend of mine who was married a few years earlier, and I asked her if she would be willing to put on her wedding dress and help me explore some ideas that I had being thinking about since the workshop. Luckily she agreed, and we headed to the Illinois Railway Museum and started playing.

[one_third] [single_lightbox url=”https://www.timothyfaust.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/MG_9016.jpg” image_url=”https://www.timothyfaust.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/MG_9016.jpg” image_width=”150″ image_height=”200″ title=”The idea here was to combine leading lines and reflections”] [/one_third] [one_third] [single_lightbox url=”https://www.timothyfaust.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/MG_9094-Edit.jpg” image_url=”https://www.timothyfaust.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/MG_9094-Edit.jpg” image_width=”150″ image_height=”200″ title=”Here, I wanted to convey a sense of motion and flow. I couldn’t safely put her on a moving train, so I pulled back the veil with my free hand and slightly dragged the shutter to create the feeling of motion.”] [/one_third] [one_third_last] [single_lightbox url=”https://www.timothyfaust.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/MG_9121.jpg” image_url=”https://www.timothyfaust.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/MG_9121.jpg” image_width=”150″ image_height=”200″ title=”This was another image where I wanted to play with a lot of lines and contrast”] [/one_third_last]