Two new highlights films in one week!?! Whaaaa?! Yup it's true! Bonnie and Christopher (aka Denman) are two incredible people and we go way back. I first met Denman while I was in film school as he was a good friend of my classmate Joshua (of Joshua + Bonny Jo). We got along great but didn't have a whole lot of time to hang out as he was visiting from Texas. The next time I had met him was when I went to Dallas to film Joshua and Bonny Jo's wedding. Denmand was Joshua's best man so I was able to spend a few days with him and all day at the wedding. He had just started hanging out with this girl Bonnie that Joshua had set him up with. I was lucky enough to meet Bonnie and she was a joy. Super fun and a great fit for Denman. They were both smitten pretty quick. Fast forward 6 months and I'm flying back to Dallas again to film Candi and Daniel's wedding and next thing I hear they're engaged. They didn't want to waste any time. Denman was nice enough to take me out one night for a bite to eat at a classic Dallas drive in burger joint. He asked me if I'd be willing to fly out to Dallas the following year to film their wedding. I was beyond excited and honoured. So last week I flew out to Dallas. What you may not know about Texas in August is that it's hot… and I don't just mean a little uncomfortable… I mean it's hard to breathe it's so hot and humid. And on top of that, Dallas apparently was going through a worse than normal heat wave and has been setting heat records. We're talking 110 degrees fahrenheit at 11pm. Oofta! So I arrived a few days early to spend some time with Joshua, Bonny Jo and Denman. I was able to go along to the rehearsal dinner and check out the venue and it was amazing! It was looking over a nearby lake where Denman and his family have a cabin. I was later told that Joshua and Denman have this old pastime of Canoeing on the lake early in the morning and they said they were planning on doing so before the festivities started on the wedding day. I immediately asked to tag along as I thought it would be a great way to start their film. The wedding day was beautiful. It was hard not to have a smile on my face the whole day, being surrounded by such incredible scenery and seeing the joy and love on Bonnie and Denman's faces. I was so happy to be able to create their wedding film.
||Techy Stuff||
Ok so there are a few shots in here that I was thrilled to be able to get. During the morning I was able to take my mkii and glidecam and head out on a small boat with Joshua and Denman. I wanted to get some shots of the scenery and of the venue where the ceremony and reception was to be held. Having the glidecam while on the boat allowed me to get some extremely high production value shots. See if you can spot them in the film.
Also another note about this film is that it was shot entirely with one shooter. We don't often shoot one shooter weddings but this was a rare exception. Fortunately the preps, ceremony and reception were all held at one location. I had to be very aware of the schedule throughout the day to make sure I could capture what I needed. It's cool to see that if you have a vision for the story, you can be where you need to be and make it appear to be that there was more that one shooter. The gear used was the 5D and 7D with L series primes 50mm 1.2, 35mm 1.4, and the 135mm 2.0. For the ceremony and speeches I set the 7D up on the tripod and then used the 5D on the monopod to get other angles. It turned out great. Obviously not my preferred way to shoot as it can be a little hectic, but I was happy to see the footage turn out so well.