Saturday, June 1, 2013

My First Sikh Wedding

I had the privilege of second shooting a Sikh wedding in Bethesday Maryland, for Baz Kanda of Five Rivers Studio. Baz is an international wedding and fashion photographer out of Canada. He is amazingly talented, loves animals, and horses and as such, in addition to working the wedding, (which was nearly three days long), we spent time talking about horses, animals, and photography. We had planned to go riding after the wedding ended, but nature had a different idea, and it rained and an ocean, unfortunately.

I usually do not share the work I do when second shooting, partly because its not typically something you do as a second shooter , some what of a no-no in the wedding industry, since as a second shooter the work you are doing is for the photographer you are assisting. Baz gave me permission to share, and I felt it was necessary to show that I have worked outside the typical wedding realm and have acquired knowledge of other types of ceremonies. I must admit that, speaking as an artist, I was in love with all the colors and textures I found. Mind blowing in fact, and yes, while I have grown accustomed to photographing the typical "white" wedding dress, this wedding really was refreshing.

I was mainly responsible for photographing the groom, Jetinder Sehmi getting ready and then taking candid shots of the ceremony and reception. Jatinder's family is so sweet and kind. Very helpful, and knowing it was my first Sikh wedding, explained different aspects of what was going on within the wedding as it happened! And their family dog was entirely too cute. I love when families include their pets in the festivities!

The energy level of a Sikh wedding is go, go, go, and go some more. It was very fast, lively, energetic and I think I lost three pounds that weekend and definitely acquired some painful blisters on my feet. Let me say, I am very thankful for Baz asking me to assist him, I had a great time with a great friend! I will certainly jump at the chance to shoot a Sikh wedding again if I ever get presented with the opportunity! But I digress, let me get to the point, and share with you some images I captured from that day.

You can click on the images to see the larger version, since on some of the templates here, you can't really see the smaller images in the collages.