“So... the groom went fishing on the morning of the shoot with his buddies... Yes, he spent the morning of his pre-wedding day out on the lake, face covered, hauling two boats for fishing 🎣...”
The Significance of Wedding Photography: A Fisherman's Pre-wedding Shoot
Back in June 2023, I received a task for a pre-wedding photoshoot. The couple, Jay and Cheryl, had met through fishing 🎣 and wanted to capture some pre-wedding shots on the lake.
Like many, you might have initially imagined a serene lake scene with a canoe drifting along, adorned with flowers and the happy couple leisurely casting lines 🎣 amidst gentle lake breezes. So, I sent them some pictures like that. But unfortunately, disappointment ensued 😔😔. The groom's response? "Too picturesque, can't pull it off"...
So, I scrolled through their social media profiles, and what did I find? Posts about "Fly fishing for salmon 🐟 ", "Two boxes of Golden mandarin fish", "🐠Perch full of fishing adventures 🎣", and "Driving 8 hours 🚗 to fish for 8 hours" 😱😱. And there I was, just a photographer and never fished before, feeling a bit out of my depth. I quickly phoned my seasoned angler friend for help, and after a 40-minute chat, I started to gain a new perspective on this sport.
This couple has a deep love and dedication to fishing, and this is where their story began. So, if something you deeply love is mechanized into a photo shoot, with the wrong fishing rods and in unsuitable settings, or worse, showing off store-bought dead fish, that's not doing their passion justice. Thus, I decided to rethink the whole plan.
After consulting with friends:
1 🇨🇦 Ontario prohibits the transportation of live fish, meaning I can't buy fish from the store as props and take them to another lake for the shoot ⚠️ It has to be catch-and-shoot on the same day.
2 The shoot was scheduled for June, but the bass season starts on the 17th, so if we want bass props, it has to be after that.
3 Space on the lake is limited, so we need some panoramic shots, hence the need for a second boat.
4 Planning the shoot to be more efficient, considering the angle of the sun, foot traffic, fish conditions, and launch boat time, as it's a public port.
Considering all this, we settled on shooting at Port Perry at 4 PM. So... the groom, went fishing on the morning of the shoot with his buddies... Yes, he spent the morning of his prewedding day out on the lake, face covered, hauling two boats for props 🎣...
I usually arrive early for shoots, but this time, since I hadn't been to this location and it's over an hour's drive from Toronto, I feared getting stuck in traffic. So, I got to Port Perry an hour and a half early and wandered around the lakeside town, scouting potential spots, then returned to the car to wait. Maybe it was the rain the day before or the blazing sun, but... I ended up with heatstroke...
When Jay arrived and saw me in that state, he quickly pulled out some cold drinks and the sunblock he was wearing and helped me cool down. My temperature dropped instantly. (I have to say, I started to love the Rapala sunblock shirt 🌿). The groom wasn't faring much better—years of wind and sun plus the morning's work left him with a dark, sweaty complexion. And the fish? Not too cooperative. Thankfully, we didn't come back empty-handed, just six fish.
But in the end, luck was on our side. With sunshine and no strong winds, we got the shots we were all happy with. I guess that's the significance of wedding photography, right? It should embody the union of marriage and love, but more importantly, reflect life's uniqueness, even if it's tiny and mundane.
Makeup Artist： Cindy
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#Groom's fishing excursion
