So you’ve spent — or you’re going to spend — a lot of money on your wedding dress. What do you have planned for it after your wedding day? Do you store it? Perhaps you want to save it for your daughter’s (or granddaughter’s) wedding? Does anyone even do that anymore?
My close friend Sandi had a beautiful wedding at the Halekulani earlier this year, and during my last visit to Hawaii she brought up the topic of trashing her dress. For those of you who are not familiar with this concept, “trash the dress” is a post-wedding photo session in which the dress is likely to be more exposed to the elements than on a wedding day. Sandi made it clear to me, however, that she didn’t *really* want to ruin her dress; she just wanted to do something creative with it before she placed it in storage indefinitely. Needless to say, any ideas having to do with fire and/or being submerged in water was out of the question.
On the eve of our scheduled session, I came up with the idea of creating a story, vice just doing one creative shot. While it required a lot of driving and a lot of time, we agreed on the concept and committed to it right away. We started with her getting ready in Chinatown, where she would shop for her own bouquet and begin her journey in search for her love. Along her way, she would encounter mazes, trails and desolate landscapes, where her love is nowhere to be found. There’s really no definitive synopsis for this story; I’ll leave that up for the audience to interpret in their own way. 🙂
By the end of the day, Sandi had been in her wedding dress for nearly 9 hours — longer than on her own wedding day! If it wasn’t for her adventurous nature, this shoot wouldn’t have been nearly as successful.
For all the photographers out there … Every one of these images was captured completely in natural light (i.e., no flashes, strobes, reflectors or any other light modifying/shaping devices were used).
Congratulations and best wishes to Sandi and her new husband Taeho!
Now, what will you do with your dress?
OMG, Kevin, what an awesome idea. Hmm… something to think about before I preserve my dress. Awesome job, as usual.. and I love the story!
Love the concept and the pictures! Very creative!
This is ABSOLUTELY FUN! Kevin, you are a very creative young man, and YES..this is a GREAT. I think this idea will make other brides think about what they should do with her gown. Mrs. K
Love your imagination & creativity 🙂
-As always Kevin, your photos are simply beautiful.
Good job Kev… they came out better than I expected! 🙂
Yes, I think ALL brides should consider doing a trash the dress (or semi-trash the dress) session! The day was MUCH more relaxing than our wedding day, it was all about having fun, and not to mention it was a time to really showcase that beautiful dress of yours you may never wear again… by just being you! The images are just so different than what you’ll get at your wedding. Not to mention when I took my dress in for cleaning/preservation the next day I was told it was a flat rate fee no matter how dirty it was, so I definitely got good value out of the cleaning!
I have heard about this before and debating on if I want to do this… my dress is sitting in a box right now…
Kev, you are da MASTER. I loved the pictures of Sans…she looked even more lovelier than on her wedding day..the concept blew my mind and the photos were beautiful.
Nice job Kev! I have always a problem to select the right aperture value. I’m opening too much as a result the background is blurred too much. Looking at you images you always seem to get the right aperture. It would be helpful if you output the settings you used for the images. Shutter speed, aperture, ISO, focal length …
Thanks Alex! Aperture is definitely a matter of preference. I would suggest using your depth-of-field preview to see what you like. Over time, you’ll develop an instinct to use the aperture you want for every shot. I shoot primarily in aperture-priority mode. 🙂
Pure creativity. Every photo has a story. Love the locations, too!