Amaya + Ortiz Wedding and a Trip to Vegas
Updated: Jan 7, 2020
I traveled to Vegas a couple of weeks ago to attend my friend's wedding. Although I was not the official photographer for the event, they were happy to have me take some candid pictures pre- and post-ceremony. I got to work on my wedding photography chops a bit, and took pictures throughout the trip to chronicle the vacation. I took my Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II with an M. Zukio 17mm f1.8 lens. This post is mostly about the wedding, but I am book-ending it with a few pictures from my travels to and from Vegas.
On the way to Vegas, I stopped and took some photos of Colorado Springs and the airport. I've wanted to get a shot of this power plant from a nearby bridge for a while, so I got out of the car and walked across the bridge to do so.
I thought the sunset over the mountains viewed through the airport terminal made a nice composition.
Air travel is rarely a source of photographic inspiration for me, but I liked the way the lights looked behind the person in front of me as she spoke with her traveling partner across the aisle. Bokeh for the win!
The bride's family was kind enough to host me for the weekend. I arrived at the tail end of a pre-wedding party with the couple-of-honor, friends, and family. I managed to get a few shots of the couple having fun before midnight came around and the groom was quickly whisked away lest he see the bride before the ceremony.
The next morning I explored some of the best coffee that Las Vegas has to offer: Mothership. While there, I put together this website!
Then it was off to get some pictures of the wedding party as they prepared for the big evening. The bride's makeup was done by her sister while the rest of the family and wedding party got ready.
I also surprised the bride's sister while she was doing her own makeup.
The groomsmen all looked great in their matching gray suits, although the pocket squares were a cause of some consternation (more on that in a bit).
This was Ervick, another friend that enjoyed taking candid photos before and after the ceremony, along with his Canon setup. I liked his suspenders enough that I went out and bought a pair for the next wedding I attended two weeks later.
One of the groomsmen forgot their pocket square, but some quick work with scissors and another pocket square fixed that right up!
Most of the groomsmen (there were six in total), complete with pocket squares, ready for the ceremony to begin. I caught kind of a weird shadow in this one, I think because somebody opened a door, but I liked the way it turned out.
Finally it was time for the ceremony. I don't have any shots during the ceremony as I was not the official photographer, and did not want to be a distraction. I did, however, manage to snag a couple as the bride approached with her father, and as the newly-married couple walked back down the aisle together!
The indoor setting and dance-floor lighting, I thought, made for an interesting challenge for shooting and post-processing images. I did a lot of these in black and white because I had difficulty getting the colors to work the way that I wanted, and because I am rather partial to black and white photography. The ceremony and reception were a lot of fun, and incorporated traditions from Peruvian and Mexican culture with which I was unfamiliar. The couple was radiant, and the guests all had a great time, despite the Vegas Knights losing one of their Stanley Cup games during the evening (lots of people were watching hockey on their phones for dinner).
The next day I was treated to some of the best ceviche I've ever had at a family lunch hosted by one of the bride's aunts or cousins...they had a really big family and I'm not quite sure how everybody was related. Then it was back home early the next morning, after a stop at another excellent coffee shop and an early-morning palm tree picture.
Plus one from the Vegas airport terminal, just to bookend the trip.
Overall, shooting some of my friend's wedding was a lot of fun, and I think I got a few shots in there that they might like. I enjoyed meeting the couple's family and friends, and I enjoyed attempting to chronicle my trip for the sake of this blog. I plan to do more of these in the future, as I travel and do other things with family and friends. Maybe I'll figure out how to write a not-terribly-dull narrative along the way...