Miks Šēls/ Life is Life Photography is a photographer who believes that
the most important task of a photographer is to capture feelings.
Life is life and it offers countless emotions to capture with a single click of the camera. Also at weddings – from the morning of the bride and groom's preparations to the raucous dancing at dawn – Miks is there to capture it all, and shares with Līgavām.lv readers recommendations, that should be taken into account when expecting the most beautiful and emotionally filled photographs.
Find an answer to the question, what inspires you?
The first and biggest must have when choosing a wedding photographer is an in-person meeting.
Miks states that as a photographer, it is important for him to get the human factor and become a friend of the couple. It would be valuable to send the wedding photographer some inspiration pictures before the wedding, which would outline the approximate style in which you have imagined your wedding photos. They should depict the environment and things that inspire you - be it the industrial environment or nature, or a romantic or slightly urban feel.
Instead of your favorite t-shirt – a dressing gown, please!
In order to make even more friends with the new couple and help the bride and groom feel as comfortable as possible in the presence of the photographer, Miks often goes to the wedding venue at least an hour earlier. It is the time when the camera is still left in the bag, but there is an opportunity to get to know the details of the environment, the light and in a relaxed atmosphere to talk with the bride and others involved in the morning proceedings. Choosing a place for the wedding morning party of the bride and groom,
Miks advises to think about the light first - in order for the pictures to get the desired mood, the room should be bright, as much as possible unladen with various things.
However, if the couple decides to choose, for example, a beautiful hotel room as the place of preparation, then it is also necessary to think about personal things there - in such cases, Miks recommends taking some things from home - be it a favorite book, candles and flowers, a framed photo or something else, but in this way any place will become more personal. If the wedding morning is spent at home, it is recommended not to do the wedding makeup and hair in the kitchen due to the domestic background. It is possible that the pictures will not turn out as the new wife dreamed of, if dishwashing liquid or a package of breakfast cereals can be seen somewhere in the background.
Līgavām Miks recommends thinking ahead of time about what they will be wearing on the morning of the party.
A beautiful and airy morning dress will look much better in the pictures, than the beloved and worn-out t-shirt.
The magical first look!
Whether the couple's first meeting on the wedding day will be only at the altar or before the ceremony, the bride and groom must decide for themselves. Miks Šēls observed that both cases have their own special magic. Meeting before the ceremony might make the first look more intimate, fewer people involved and the couple more relaxed, while there might be special tears of excitement when the couple first meet at the altar. Miks advises couples to allow themselves to cry, not to suffer for fear of smeared make-up or undermining their masculinity - if you are ever allowed to cry, then a wedding is definitely the right place to do it. "I have seen bridegrooms hold back their tears and cry in shame.
But I definitely recommend not keeping your emotions to yourself - after all, you usually get married only once," says Miks Šēls.
Dress rehearsal – pre-wedding photo session!
In a wedding photo session, regardless of whether it takes place before or after the marriage ceremony, the most important task of the photographer is to help the couple relax. Miks realized that for grooms, various questions about how he met his wife, what he loves most about her work best. Speaking of these things, the photographer will succeed in capturing the loving moments with the camera lens. Considering that many couples don't feel comfortable posing, an activity they both enjoy or a brand new attraction can also come in handy. Be it learning to juggle, running a relay race or jumping in puddles or anything else that helps the couple relax.
"Furthermore, I would definitely recommend having an engagement or pre-wedding photo session with the already chosen wedding photographer before the wedding.
This will allow the couple to understand what the process of the photo session itself could be, how they feel in it and ultimately - how they look in the photos, because often brides also try on their wedding makeup," advises Miks, saying that pre-wedding photos have been popular in the world for a long time, but they are slowly taking their place in Latvia as well.
How to untie wedding guests?
In addition to the bride and groom, wedding guests will most often be wedding guests, who will often not have a professional photographer. Miks believes that in this case too, the key to beautiful pictures is successful communication with the guests themselves. "My biggest question is how to get the wedding guests to dance. The Latvian mentality will more often mean that the guests feel more comfortable sitting than being on the dance floor until the morning.
Therefore, my advice to the new couple would be to stay after their wedding dance and invite other guests to dance as well -
it will loosen them up and the pictures will turn out much more lively. On such occasions, it helps a lot if the couple's friends or ushers have arranged a special surprise - for example, a dance performance that will loosen up the other guests and make them forget their national shyness," advises photographer Miks Šēls.
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