Most Read
Most E-mailed
Print ArticleWEDDING FEATURE
After covering hundreds of weddings solo for nearly a decade in the
Midwest and on the East Coast, Callanan wasn't enjoying it anymore.
She had actually set her camera aside and given up shooting
altogether.
For the next couple of years, she was content to focus on teaching
at the rapidly growing Santa Fe Workshops—co-founded and
owned by her husband, Reid—and attending to her top
priorities: "family, friends, relationships."
"I'd been photographing solo for years," she recalls, "and needed
to figure out a way to continue to be creative and to have fun
again."
Slowly, she began to feel that making her mark on the world of
photography was less important to her than creating significant
images for her clients and their families. "Now I'm excited again,"
she says, her enthusiasm seven years later spilling over as if her
personal rediscovery had taken place just yesterday.
"I also realized that I like photographing with other people,"
Callanan says. "Working as a team is much less stressful for
me—and the product is so rewarding. We're doing a little bit
of everything: documentary, fashion, portraits, candids. Getting
together and seeing what we've come up with is a lot of fun."
These days, Callanan typically shoots with one other photographer
and two assistants, though there may be as many as six shooters.
She briefs the team in a pre-flight group meeting about areas of
responsibility and the client's preferences: "no cutesie candids,"
"watch for emotion," "we love intimate details,"
etc.—information she obtains through extensive consultation
beforehand. A brief prayer together for spiritual guidance puts
them "all on the same page," and they're ready to take the
field.
As the principal photographer, Callanan focuses on the bride and
groom; only she photographs during the ceremony. Her team fans out
and makes as many as 1,200-1,500 images.
She laughs as she recalls some of the novel things she does to
encourage the creativity of both the wedding party and her staff.
For example, in addition to her Hasselblad 503CX and Canon EOS-A2,
she uses a $20 plastic Holga camera loaded with 120 film. "It leaks
light, so you have to tape it up with black tape," she says, "but
you can get some wonderfully funky results."
To relax the men, she may have them jump, for an action shot; she
has the brides wrap themselves in their veils or twirl
around.
For more intimate shots, if the couple agrees, she quietly takes
them aside for candids just before the ceremony. "We'll hold a
sheet up to hide the bride and then drop it to capture the moment
when they first see each other. Or I may blindfold the groom and
then reveal his bride. The last time we did that, he cried! It
produces some great moments."
Such variety and innovation are the stuff that now keeps Callanan
loving her work. "No two of our weddings look alike," she says.
|
