Shot a wedding last Friday at the Brazil Room in Tilden Park, Berkeley.
I’m just getting started with the editing, but this one caught my eye. The bride and her father are about to step out into the lawn for the ceremony. The very moment between one thing ending and another beginning, and they could not look more happy.
Bride and her dad about to walk down the isle
Image © Alex Schoenfeldt 2013. All rights reserved.
Alex Schoenfeldt Photography
I’ve been shooting a lot of portrait photography recently. I shoot for business people, actors, students, people who are doing online dating.
Here is a shot from last week of Dr. Karen Peters of East Bay Naturopathic Clinic. As you can see, she’s really beautiful. However, she was terminally camera shy. She hates having her photo taken. No problem! I’m generally a relaxed person. We chat, we shoot, we keep shooting we keep talking. Eventually people will either relax, or I catch them in-between moments. You can’t be stressed all the time, and I’m fast.
Photo © Alex Schoenfeldt 2012. All rights reserved.
Alex Schoenfeldt Photography
Portraits are great, don’t get me wrong. A god portrait can reflect back to someone just how beautiful they are. I love doing portraits. I love the collaborative process and the deliberate pace.
But my heart leaps at candid, photojournalistic and naturalistic photography. To capture a moment as it happens is such a thrill. Most people just are never going to fake an emotion right. Show me “overjoyed and in love” the best actors can pull that off, but for most of us, if you want a photographer to capture that moment, they have to be there, be quick, be unobtrusive (it can’t be about the photographer by definition) and be good. I love the moment when it all comes together. I am not thinking of my camera, I am not even thinking of myself. I am just caught up in the moment as it happens, and I capture it as it happens. This feeling, this is why I love wedding and event photography.
This picture below is an example of what I am talking about.
Look at them! Happy, laughing, in love, in the moment. Real. I love that I captured that and can show it back to them.
Last year I volunteered regularly at the Campfire after school program in West Oakland. The program gives affordable and enriching education and care to a great group of kids in a low income part of Oakland. They do a really good job with the kids. They help them with their homework (and see that it gets done!), feed the kids healthy snacks, play games (kickball, FTW) and give them a supportive and accountable environment. I was proud to be a part of what they were doing.
One of my duties included portrait photography of the students. Here are some of my favorite portraits of the students.
This first shot, this girl (or teen, or young woman) she was a spunky kid. Strong willed, smart and tough. I love to see her so fiercely happy here.
This last one is one of my favorites. I love how moody and unposed this is.
Last time I updated, the shot was a Facebook screen grab of a father and daughter during a wedding.
This week, it is a father and son. It was a family portrait session, and I saw this moment and grabbed it.
Photo © Alex Schoenfeldt 2011
San Francisco portrait Photography