Taking the Plunge

Robin and Reena are great friends of ours. They have a lot of enthusiasm and positive energy so we thought this would be a perfect way to shoot them, in celebration of their marriage. "Jump Rock" at Waimea Bay has long been a favorite place for local kids to do a bit of "thrill seeking." I'd shot the local kids jumping there before, and the images I liked the most showed the entire bay and the beach, with that amazing aquamarine water, so for this shoot I decided on that same angle.

Below: Tor shooting the couple jumping off, as curious locals check out the scene.

In the last few days I'd noticed there weren't many kids jumping, and when we arrived I discovered the reason: big swells had undermined the sand, so that just getting to the rock required a swim and a rock-climb, all of which had to be timed between waves. Luckily I brought a waterproof backpack for my camera (Patagonia makes an incredible one). Reena had quite an experience, getting pulled slightly out to sea in her wedding dress while trying to reach the rock. She handled it perfectly though.

When the couple jumped, I was surprised to hear the beach full of people erupt into applause and shouts of approval. Many people had their cameras out for the big event. They must have thought that this was their actual marriage ceremony. On the second and third jumps the applause dwindled considerably.

For Robin, Reena, Kyoko (my wife and business manager) and myself it was great fun. This is one of the best things about wedding photography - sharing the joy of one of the happiest times in life with true friends.

Radical Wedding, Dude!

We met Melissa and Taio through some friends on the North Shore. Melissa and Taio actually met out surfing at Sunset Beach, while Taio was working as a lifeguard, and Melissa had just moved to the Islands. We photographed their beautiful wedding at a private home at Velzyland, near Sunset Beach, which was a lot of fun. It wasn't until some time later that I came up with the idea of shooting a wedding couple in formal attire on a surfboard, and immediately thought of Melissa and Taio. They are both good surfers, they're naturals in the water, and they are so attractive that it's hard to take a bad photo of them.


Melissa loved the idea, but she was a little worried how her mother might react to trashing a new wedding dress that took a lot of time to find, and considerable work to customize by hand (not to mention the not-so-insignificant cost). To her credit, her mother told her to go for it. She said Melissa would never wear the dress again, but the photos would be a great keepsake for them. Taio didn't think twice about wearing his classy new three-piece suit in the salt water. He never liked suits anyway.


We had a blast with the shoot at Laniakea, in beautiful clear water with nice little waves. I rode a big stand up paddle board alongside the wedding couple. The timing was a bit hard, and there were several out-takes, what with hanging onto the camera, paddling, while shooting, and riding the board. I found that kneeling gave me a nice low angle, and was fairly stable. The deck pads on the paddle board are great for setting the camera down while paddling.

Most of the surfers in the water tried to ignore us (surfers are just too cool), but one surfer did say, "That's a first!"

Taio shot back with "We're looking for the preacher...you haven't seen him out here, have you?"


Check out the "making of" video below, which gives some idea of what it took to get these shots, as well as being pretty good comedy.

Music for video: "Island Style" by John Cruz
(used with permission)

Thanks to John Cruz for allowing the use of my favorite song, to Melissa and Taio for an incredible job, and to Melissa's Mom, for being so cool.

Click here to see more wedding images by Tor Johnson Photography.
Click here to see a previous wedding blog entry.

Weddings

I focus more on journalistic and commercial photography than weddings, but I recently had a wonderful time shooting two very different weddings. It so happened that a friend who shoots high-end weddings, Stephanie Riedel, became ill halfway through an important wedding. Her clients were prominent black Philadelphians who wanted the best of everything, even to the extent of bringing their own pastor and some amazing choral singers from the mainland.

The bride was gorgeous, the light at sunset was soft and warm. The ceremony was long, and there was a downpour just at the end, which made the entire wedding party scatter for cover. I ran in front of the wedding couple and caught the action.

Later the groom and his best men sang half a dozen songs to the bride, before starting an incredible dance party. I enjoyed filling in for Stephanie and I shot some images that I was very happy with.The long, traditional and religious ceremony couldn't have been more different from my next wedding- a simple Hawaiian ceremony for our new friends Brian and Tracey from Sydney, Australia. Noted Hawaiian kahu Butch Kauihimalaihi Helemano led a traditional Hawaiian ceremony including weaving of coconut fibers (ka nui ka'ula) symbolizing the weaving of the bride and groom's lives into one, and the traditional exchanging of breath (ka honi Hawai'i), the Hawaiian form of a kiss that symbolizes the sharing of life itself. The wedding was at Laniakea, one of my favorite beaches.

Learn more about Butch Helemano's Hawaiian wedding ceremonies.

It's been a joy to share some of the happiest moments of people's lives with them, and to have a chance to make a creative interpretation through the lens. Rather than simply taking pictures of a wedding, I think it's important to find new lighting, new angles, and new compositions in order to learn and stay passionate. I guess the same goes for any type of photography.

View more wedding images at Tor's website