Today we photograph one of my favorite weddings ever.
We take a helicopter to private Island and do the ceremony on a cliff.
Most beautiful sunset,
Jackson shooting 67 weddings last year. Taylor Jackson,
well known in this community are an amazing photographer.
All right, here we are some dramatic portraits
of Jeff signed the marriage license with your reflection and no, it's good.
It's a really tight crop.
So it just looks like you're in some really scenic area.
Welcome to the wedding day.
If you watch the short doc that we made and came out yesterday, uh,
the basically we almost didn't fly today because the weather was really coming
in and uh,
we had to be really low in the helicopter and then all of a sudden everything
got amazing. Also, if you are a Patriot member, uh,
I am releasing my introvert's guide to wedding photography posing course all
month. So every Monday a new module is going up. So hop over there.
If you're introverted, you're quiet, you're shy,
and you want to learn how to pose a little bit better.
I'll get into it a little bit in this video,
but a lot of it happens in real time here and it's a little bit difficult to
kind of go through my entire system. Uh, well, things are flowing in real life.
So Sarah left and she is on this helicopter that's going to land and we're going
to do the first look on the runway. We don't really know what's gonna happen.
Jeff kind of made a joke that she was gonna land in the parking lot and I didn't
know if that was real or not.
Are they really going to land here in the parking lot or is that [inaudible]
[inaudible]
I'm also doing video today too. As one person. Uh,
you get hired a lot more for things like this. If you can do both as one human,
all of a sudden I just kind of feel like Pete Souza,
I've never photographed a helicopter landing near somebody wearing a suit and it
feels very, very presidential. I have a lot of favorite frames from today,
but this is definitely one of them. I like the simplicity and the isolation.
[inaudible]
I get a lot of comments that this a GoPro Mount kind of feels like call of duty
a lot and with the helicopter noises at 100% does back shooting video.
[inaudible]
all right,
Josh and I are going to hang out here and Jeff is going to go attempt to
orchestrate a first look based on a not really knowing any of the variables
about what's about to go down.
We know the helicopters probably landing on the apron somewhere. Uh,
so he's wandering over there to uh,
see what's possible and we're gonna hang out here for a quick second and uh,
I'm gonna photograph Josh's hands.
It's not weird is it? I would, his face less weird.
He's happy.
Jeff is giving us the thumbs up, uh, that we're okay to come down.
She's going to stay in the helicopter.
We're going to do a first look kind of out of the helicopter and a,
this is Jeff standing near a helicopter in a suit. If you want to print 20 bucks
gatekeeper does that some things. It's recording.
I had my third camera body with me.
So I gave it to Jeff to record a little bit of video of the first look because
it is one time that I would like to have a second photo or video shooter. Uh,
cause it's kinda hard to do everything all at once. But he, uh,
he got some good stuff.
I'm actually happy that it's cloudy right now and that it's overcast because it
made this, uh,
everything just come together really well with her dress and the grays and the
blues and the blues and the helicopter and everything just works really,
really well in his lighting condition. So I am by no means upset,
but I do know that I really do want a sunset when we actually arrived to the
Island. And you might be saying to yourself, what kind of shot did Jeff get?
I just handed him a camera that he's never using,
hit the record button and told him to point it out a couple for their first
look. I'd say he did. All right.
Hire Jeff Mack for all your wedding needs. He's an officiant, a videographer,
a DJ, a florist, a planner, and he'll even drive your limo.
Just don't ask him to make your invitations back out on the runway.
Things are getting crazy. I'm kidding. They're,
they're not. They're just kind of the same controlled conditions.
Nothing really to worry about. Kind of ideal circumstances.
Going to be good. No invitations.
That's good. So good. Yeah,
I'm super happy.
I am absolutely overjoyed by the quality of light bouncing up off this apron and
lighting the scene perfectly.
All right. So you guys are good. Yep. Great.
I wish I brought the fish. I said no wedding photographer ever.
I'm glad I didn't bring a fisheye. Now we traveled through the sky.
Jeff and the pilot are actually having a conversation about the fact that we
might not be able to land on the Island that Jeff has scouted, um,
through Jeff scouting services also available, um,
as an audition for your wedding audition, audition. Anyways,
it kind of cleared up and, uh,
we got to land on this Island really close to the cliff there, uh,
tails hanging over the edge, 10 out of 10 landing. Um,
kept us on the edge of our seats. Uh, this is a presidential portrait again. Uh,
Pete Souza shout out. Yeah. All right. Getting out of the helicopter.
I figured that I always get the limo scene and I'm trying not to fall off this
cliff and into the shallow water. Um,
then trying also not to get hit by the propeller blades. And Jeff's just a,
I dunno what Jeff, what's Jeff up to? He's got his three 60 Insta three 60,
a one X pro, uh,
because he is a professional Insta three 60 a videographer as well. So, uh,
as an addition to a services, he'll deliver you a three 60 video.
That's actually a true statement, uh,
that he will give you that it's actually a really nice addition and it's usually
a surprise. I thought about staging that more properly,
but I kind of liked the way that it naturally organically happened.
I'm happy that we have, that's good quality light,
while the sun would still be a little bit too high to really get that nice
golden hour. I'm in about roughly 25 to 35 minutes.
So we're going to approach that golden hour. So fortunately, spoiler alert, um,
that it does clear up and we do get a sunset. Um,
I flew the drone around a little bit and just kind of tried to get a sense of
scale of where we were. I think that that was important.
I wasn't able to get too many great shots coming into the actual Island from the
helicopter cause you get kind of the side to side jostling motion.
And I kind of wanted the helicopter actually in the shot.
Here's a photograph of Jeff on the business
business on the, on the business business, on the, on the, on the,
on the business business, on the business, on the business,
on the business. Is this on the, on the business.
This is the ceremony now
everything on this Island is sharp and prickly.
So I'm trying to not stab myself on every single plant that has some sort of
defense system and it's working out okay.
And as you can kind of see a, or as you will see,
I guess there is a very significant lighting shift during the ceremony as the
sun begins to Pico behind them, which was really, really, absolutely incredible.
And we didn't really notice it until after the ceremony when everything was just
absolutely beautiful and all that up. So, uh,
my white balance are a little bit all over the place because the actual white
balance of the day was a little bit kind of all over the place.
This is Jeff's favorite photo of the couple right here,
just exchanging their vows, beautiful sunset in the background, just all alone.
This is what the elopement was meant to be.
And now my dilemma is that I don't know what I like better if I like the left or
the right better or if it matters. I think I prefer the left,
but I went back and forth about a hundred times before I decided on how to
process this specific section of the day. Uh,
and they're not different enough to be able to deliver both.
It's kind of weird if you send them both. So you gotta pick one and uh,
they're both, all the presets you see are all my presets are my 20,
19 color and 2019 V2 was the, uh, the alternate.
And that last one, which I kind of debated switching to,
but I stuck just with the 20,
19 color kind of just my general one that I use for everything.
Now we're getting a lot of dynamic range with the light coming in this way and
it's kind of bordering on a little bit too much,
but there's not a whole lot I can do without bringing out like actual lights to
light it up, which is not something that I would want to be doing out here.
I feel like it kind of goes against the entire idea of an elopement,
but I do the best I can and eventually I'll go kind of off center from the sun.
But right now it's kinda just like everywhere poking through the clouds.
This is when I switched to my 24 to get the same shot.
So you can see that one too. It's right there in front of you right now.
That's what you're looking at. And we signed the, uh,
the marriage documents on a helicopter,
which is maybe a thing that hasn't been done before. It probably has, but, uh,
I don't know of anyone that's signed their wedding papers, uh, on,
on a helicopter, but I don't go on hell.
I guess I do go on helicopters pretty often, but not that often.
Not often enough with couples to have signed marriage documents on a helicopter
before. Let's stop talking about this and let's just, let's do the thing.
It's getting sunset and you can see it.
It's the sun that's behind them that's about to make my life kind of difficult.
And you kinda,
this is one time that you for sure actually have to be shooting raw that a lot
of the time I do my best to get it right in camera.
And in this specific circumstance there is really no way that I could,
I could get a pretty close, but without any sort of extra lighting,
there's really no way that I could get exactly what I want from a JPEG file.
So I'm happy to have the multiple stops of dynamic range.
Thanks for having us witness
bottom right. I've never been a witness before. Come on.
Taylor Jackson wedding photography slash video slash limo services,
invitations and also sign your documents. Um,
I just can't officiate if I sign your documents. I guess another dilemma.
Do I like the silhouette or the in color version? This is the same photo. Uh,
all I moved was the shadow slider up quite a lot and it makes a completely
different image.
So I'm okay to deliver both of these I feel because they are so different.
And then can I have you guys hold hands and maybe take a few steps towards that
side over here? I know that it's kind of challenging but just go really slow and
yeah, I feel like kind of walking through it and you can look at each other and,
but then you're having that great time that you were having.
If you are a Patriot member and you've started doing the introvert's guide to
wedding photography, posing a, you'll know that I rely a lot on movement,
but uh, unfortunately out here it's kind of hard.
This is Jeff with a bottle of cheap champagne and his Insta three 61 X pro
invitations I,
which actually looks pretty cool and I can't use the music that he included in
it because of copyright, but I'll make some blah, blah, blah.
I brushed Jeff out of this.
I covered him with a tree that I stole from the other side of the frame.
Now we have a basket. There is champagne. We have props.
This is again doing video. You forgot that I was doing video,
but I'm still doing video.
God delivered that highlight and I'm very happy they brought props because it
makes it, it's basically something to do. We're trapped within,
like they don't really move more than like 20 feet in any direction.
So the fact that we actually have something to do for at least a little bit of
time, let the sun get a little bit lower. Um,
the downside with using a helicopter is that you have to get out before sunset,
otherwise you have to stay the night.
And this would have been an amazing location once the, uh,
once the sun went complete, we laid down the life of a billionaire.
Here's Jeff delivering donuts from the aircraft and just remember no
invitations. I'm photographing just some generic scenery. Uh,
I've noticed that whenever I do this, it ends up in frames,
usually at my couples homes, uh, because it's a wedding day image,
but it's not something that is just them in wedding attire,
which is a bit weird to blow up on a canvas and put on your wall.
But something like that is a little bit more reasonable.
I think the sun is kind of in the perfect spot right now. Uh,
I'm just super happy with how this day has turned out.
It has wildly exceeded all expectations. And uh,
the video looks amazing.
This is with Nikon D lighting on extra high and then they pose themselves in the
best way ever. You can kind of see, sorry I missed that,
but this is what the 24 and then I was just like, hold that, don't move.
I need to get my 85 and do it again.
And it was two of my favorite photos from the day and they were literally just
kind of walking around.
So sometimes you don't know exactly what you want until you see it.
And when you see it,
you can kind of capitalize on it and make sure that you get it exactly as you
want. All right, first dance on the Island, taking those first dance photos.
A difficult to spin on the Island with sharp plants and objects.
This is kind of the prime golden hour time that I know I'm gonna need a lot of
my favorite photos from the day and I'm so happy that the clouds allowed us to
have this brief moment. As you can see,
the sky's pretty much entirely clear now with the exception of a few clouds,
which is absolutely nuts. How far everything came.
And back where we actually took off from is still really cloudy and dark. Um,
we just got this weird break on the Island here. I've stopped down a little bit.
You'll see my settings in a second here. Um,
just to get a little bit more depth of field,
I figured that this was going to be one of those like images that ended up
getting blown up really large somewhere. Um,
I don't know if they'll blow it up or if I will, um,
for like a wedding show for something.
But either way it's going to be good quality and a big print. Uh,
if I would've shot at 1.4, it would've been fine as well, but just a,
a little more detail kind of shooting it at 2.2.
These frames are absolutely ridiculous.
I can't believe that this is a real life thing that happened and I'm so happy
that we were here on this day and that Jeff, uh, Jeff,
the officiant was actually the dude that put all this together and he got Sarah
and Josh to somehow agree to this to be their wedding.
And I am so happy and thankful that he did and that he involved me.
So we're loading up into the helicopter to head back. Um,
Jeff is going to give his a guided tour on the way back.
I'm sure I'm his tour services as well. Uh, you can't really see what I'm doing,
but I'm taking photos of them in the back seat and then I can actually do some
outside of the aircraft as well before we take off, uh,
because I kinda like this,
but I knew that from outside without the seatbelts and everything kind of all
lit up the same as them, uh, that I could do something pretty cool.
And also it's a little bit of a surreal feeling with the tail hanging out over
the water there. Uh, it's,
it looks like you're on a much taller cliff than you are or that you're even
like airborne. Um, rather than just like being parked right here.
So super happy with that photo. Super happy with his day. And here we go.
Taken off. This is my GoPro with my hand out the window.
I'm happy to drop my GoPro cause then I would've had to have, uh,
asked him to go back to get my GoPro,
which would've been a very and expensive procedure. Maybe. I don't know.
I'm not, I'm not, uh, I'm not a helicopter pilot.
I have my private pilots license though, so I can fly a plane,
just not a helicopter. I don't quite understand them.
If you are an introverted photographer and are looking for the secret to
creating better images than you have ever dreamed and booking more weddings than
ever before. Listen up.
Good afternoon.
We are on our way to shoot the first video for the posing guide for introverted
wedding photographers,
which is a system that I have been working on for over 10 years.
When I was first getting started,
one of my biggest struggles was posing couples.
I felt like I was doing the same poses over and over and over again,
just in slightly different locations.
My couples for sure notice this and quite honestly it was a bit embarrassing.
I felt bad that I didn't have any other ideas of what to do next.
I'm quiet and shy and it felt legitimately challenging to get the photos that I
knew that I was capable of.
I saw all the other photographers around me creating incredible work and booking
so many weddings and it was my dream to go full time as a wedding photographer
and I knew that this was something that I'd really have to figure out to start
generating more inquiries and booking even more weddings. Well,
over the past 10 years of shooting 60 plus weddings every single season as a
single photographer studio, I've learned a lot. In the beginning.
I didn't want to post people like it was a school photo,
but I also felt like I wasn't getting natural expressions out of people.
It was a struggle to get my couples to relax and forget that I was following
them around with the camera. I tried everything.
I brought images on my phone to reference in secret during the shoot.
I came up with games to play and probably watched every video online when it
came to posing. Unfortunately,
none of it helped and if anything it made me even less myself.
Then it all changed over my next five shoots.
I just made notes of everything that worked well and I came up with a system,
a system that worked for me,
an introverted photographer in a sea of extroverted personalities,
assistant based entirely around getting natural expressions from real people
without playing any silly games or going out of my comfort zone every season I
was doing better work.
Weddings were a lot more fun and I was thrilled with the work I was creating.
I had a few weddings printed magazines and was even invited to speak at a
conference, which is also something that is way out of my comfort zone.
Something that I still haven't mastered. Most importantly,
by using this posing system, I actually felt like myself,
I wasn't doing anything weird.
My couples are having fun and I was booking more weddings than ever before.
Today I'm excited to announce it.
You can get in on this system for only 25% of the cost of when it's actually
released. That's right. A 75% discount for the month of October.
Every Monday while I build this course,
I'll be releasing the modules to my Patrion page,
which means if you sign up for just the month of October,
you'll get this entire $129 course just for the $30 tier you join not only this
course, but you'll instantly get access to well over 100 videos,
videos like my full pricing breakdown of my 2020 wedding photography pricing
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So join today and make the first step in dominating your local wedding
photography market. I'm Taylor Jackson and I'll see you inside the course.
That's all videos done. Now
we can go get Arby's.