You can technically say I've been "dabbling" in videography forever. Whether that was being annoying AF with my 5-minute-long snapchat stories or making little videos for our annual trip to Lake Stockton, I've always been subconsciously very aware of my mortality.
Not in a morbid, forever thinking I'm going to die kind of way, but rather from an appreciation standpoint, that I'm capturing epic memories that I'll have to look back on for a lifetime. It may also partially be because my memory is shocking.... Alas, because this is my train of thought, I naturally want to create visuals for people to indulge in past events enjoyably.
If you want to be a documentary style creative, I think you need to have a healthy balance of storytelling as well as being visually stimulating. When I deliver a wedding gallery, my favorites are never their favorites. That’s because I don’t feel what they’re feeling at the time of the image of video, the ones I dig are going to be on the more aesthetic side, because that makes me feel proud and gives me a feeling of accomplishment. Whereas they are going to love the visuals that spark real emotion.
I always try to create videos and galleries with my couples' best interest at heart, of what they are going to want to remember in the years to come, and not my own personal agenda of what just looks appealing. Sure, you spend a lot of dosh on the décor, venue and florals so it’s worth capturing but for the most part you’re not going to care in 10 years' time. What’s truly going stand out is the love you felt, the laughs, the tears and relationships that surround you, and that’s exactly what I’m thinking about while I’m shooting.
So much so, that I actually cry as what will seem like the most basic of moments, that my second shooters must think I’m crazy haha. But the reality is we aren’t going to live forever and neither are the people around us, so on a day as special as a wedding my aim is to capture all those special people naturally.
