Two Become One

Throughout the past few years, upon introducing myself as a photographer it was rather common for people to assume that I was, by virtue, a wedding photographer.  Awkwardness often ensued after I would explain to them that I had never done a wedding before, followed by confusion and disappointment when I would declare my specialty being fencing photography.  While I cannot testify to accurate statistics, I would presume that wedding photographers constitute a smaller percentage overall in the photographic population, and that, if anything, photojournalism dominates the spectrum of specialties.  (If I am in error, I welcome the correction and citing authority.)

I am human, of course, and thus I am constantly evolving.  So too are my artistic pursuits.  From my origins as a fencing photographer, my professional experience has expanded into street reportage, portraiture, parties and events, and fashion.  As of three months ago, I had added one more item to my photographic resume—at last, weddings.

As I had alluded in several previous posts, I spent the weekend of 19 July this summer in Green Lake, Wisconsin, to photograph my first ever wedding, the joining of my friends Mai and Jeff.  I can write an entire dissertation regarding the logistical preparations of the shoot, the technical and artistic direction agreed upon, my friendship with the bride and groom and why they entrusted a street photographer with no wedding experience with the task of documenting the most important day of their lives, and how I got rather inebriated while celebrating with the wedding party late at night after sending my photo-assistants back to the hotel.  I shall abstain from doing so for the time being, however.  Instead, I will only state this: seeing the expressions of joy and happiness on Mai’s and Jeff’s faces as they viewed the 414 still photographs I had delivered to them from that special day is undoubtedly the greatest and most prestigious moment in my photographic career thus far.

I present to you here a few frames of my finest work to date.

One more thing . . . .

As a surprise, I had prepared for Mai and Jeff a video montage of the images from that day, set to the music of their first dance as husband and wife, together as one.  Watch in HD at Vimeo directly at: http://vimeo.com/kdaophotography/twobecomeone

All images © K. Dao Photography 2014, all rights reserved.