Renee’s Bridal Session @ the Swan House
Amazing – just truly amazing! I was so completely honored when Renee wanted to me to be her wedding photographer. This woman is just the picture of beauty and grace and the sun just seems to follow her where ever she goes! When she told me that she was planning her wedding for March 7th on the lawn of the Swan House – uh, just one of my favorite ALL time locations in Atlanta or ANY WHERE – I was a bit skeptical, I’ll admit it. March can be such a volatile month for weather. We’ve had blizzards and tornadoes in Atlanta in the month that comes in like a lion and it worried me a lot!
What I didn’t know is that the good fortune that Renee seems to have. When I went to Raleigh to shoot the engagement session for her and Milton last fall, it was the epitome of a gorgeous fall day. We had a great time walking the grounds of a beautiful park and a glamorous hotel while I also got to know the two of them better. When we discussed when to schedule her bridal session, I was so nervous about the timing with bridals usually needing to be a month or so before – that would put it right in the heart of winter. We scheduled her bridal session for February 7th and I crossed my fingers and said a little prayer…
And oh, what an amazing day it turned out to be. Perfectly warm, slight breeze and just gorgeous sunlight. The whole day was just beautiful and just right for a bridal session. Renee is stunning and it takes very little effort on my part to make her look glamorous. One of the things I wanted to play with a little is off-camera flash so when Marlene arrived, we messed around for a few minutes trying out different settings where the flash would be triggered by remote controls called Pocket Wizards. They worked wonderfully that day so I’m really loving some of the dramatic lighting I was able to achieve with Marlene holding the flash off to the side, just out of the frame.
The great lighting was also helpful in getting my all-time favorites – B&W Infrareds. With infrared, it’s really effective with good sunlight coming from the side and foliage, like this shot. See the regular b&w in the close up and you can see how dramatic the infrared looks.
Well, Renee & Milton’s wedding day last Saturday was just as gorgeous as it could be. Just the right temperature again and plenty of sun! It’s amazing when you consider that just six days before we had several inches of snow here in Atlanta and today, once again, it’s rainy and cold a week later! Ah, the luck of the gods! I can’t wait to post their wedding images, too. It was OTt as we like to say – Over The Top!
Marlene Hawthrone Thomas for Shari Zellers Photography
My favorite shot that Marlene took that day – gorgeous! (I’m so jealous of her back ;o)
To see more of Renee’s images and her whole slideshow, click HERE.
