eugene wedding photograph

 

As a child, my father introduced me to the joys of photography and I think I eventually managed to steal (or perhaps I should say “borrow”) every piece of camera gear he ever owned. I spent years running around in the mountains photographing wildlife and landscapes without a single human or manmade object of any kind in the images. Then my friends started getting married. And my sister got married. And much to my surprise – I enjoyed doing this wedding photography thing.

It wasn’t long before somebody told somebody else and they told somebody else and before I knew what was happening, I was being hired to shoot small weddings. My mom still teases me about the frantic phone call…
“Mom, I just got hired to shoot a wedding and they’re gonna pay me THREE HUNDRED DOLLARS!”

That was almost 20 years ago. Since then wedding photography has completely taken over my life and I couldn’t be happier with the many winding roads I’ve traveled with a camera in hand.

Along the way, one of the most valuable photography lessons I’ve learned is that you can either do a lot of things poorly, or one thing really well. That’s why for the past 10 years I’ve dedicated my business to shooting weddings, and ONLY weddings.

My style is to be a storyteller. I come to your wedding with my mind totally open - no expectations of what can or can't be done in a wedding photo and no expectations of how the story of your day will unfold itself.

Most weddings follow a somewhat traditional outline, but within that framework, every wedding is full of unique twists and small details... so to me, the true art of wedding photography is in the photographer’s ability to see the uniqueness of your wedding and capture the day in a complete story. My goal is to create a visual story that will amaze and entertain your family and friends long into the future.

I suppose I've been drawn to wedding photography because I love people and I thrive on the creative challenge of doing something different every day. I truly enjoy meeting new people, seeing new cultures and new places, and most of all, I really do enjoy being a part of your family and your world on such a special occasion. I love that I get to be a witness, and a recorder, and a friend in this incredible moment of your life.

My primary style of shooting during most of the wedding day, is photojournalistic. I prefer to stay in the background quietly documenting everything I see and I won’t embarrass you by yelling, “Stop! Hold that pose!” or anything like that.

During the family group time, I'm not shy - years of substitute teaching and working as a rafting guide (prior to becoming a photographer) taught me a lot about how to wrangle a crowd, so organizing everyone for a couple group shots will not be a problem.

In the evening, or whenever we can sneak away from the crowd, I love the challenge of working with you in a creative collaboration to make a few dramatic couple portraits. During this time, all those years of landscape photography come in quite handy as I work to integrate you into the landscape in a way that is all at once, dramatic and romantic and natural.

Over the past 10 years I’ve photographed hundreds of weddings in the US and roughly 50 destination weddings outside the US, in locations such as Jamaica, Mexico, the Bahamas, Aruba, Hawaii, Barbados, Tortola, St. John, St. Thomas, St. Lucia, the Dominican Republic, Greece, Italy, Fiji, Tahiti, and Hong Kong.... Whew! (see the map) And the list keeps growing as couples surprise me with new destinations I’ve never even heard of. You brides never cease to amaze me with your cool choices of locations.

In 2006 I was approached by the publisher John Wiley & Sons to write a book on wedding photography. After many grueling months behind the laptop that project finally became a reality and you can now find “Digital Wedding Photography: Capturing Beautiful Memories” on the shelves at any major bookstore and online at Amazon.com. I still can’t believe that I have had the opportunity to share so much with the 40,000+ new photographers who've purchased the book so far. I just recently signed the contract to re-write the book for a second edition.

I also recently got invited to be on the board of a new photography organization called... BestofWeddingPhotography.com   As the name implies, this is an organization for the best of the best in the wedding photography world and I have had the honor of helping to form the group and choose which photographers to invite as members.

Back to Wedding Photography.... My prices, contract and calendar can be found in the links above as well as a selection of articles I’ve written that will help you plan your wedding day to get the most out of your photographer.

If you don't have a wedding location yet, here are a few
venue suggestions from places I've seen all around the world.

I look forward to hearing from you,

Glen

 

Check out my YouTube Video Channel. And please rate the videos.

I am currently writing on the second edition of my book "Digital Wedding Photography."

The first version has now sold just over 50,000 copies - WOW! I can't get my mind around the fact that I'm having that big of an impact on the next generation of wedding photographers.

I have recently been invited to be a on the review board for this new group.

Best of Wedding Photography will be the most selective group of wedding photographers in the world. There are many great wedding photography sites and associations. What sets Best of Wedding Photography apart from the rest is our unique, peer-reviewed, invitation-only membership system. Each quarter, our editorial staff submits a list of outstanding photographers to a Review Board. This panel includes some of the best and best-known photographers in the world:

David Beckstead. Glen Johnson. Anna Kuperberg. Crash Taylor. David Ziser.

Every invitation we issue represents a consensus that a given photographer ranks among the absolute best wedding photographers in the world.

I've being invited in on the ground floor of this organization is an incredible honor and I have thoroughly enjoyed having the ability to add in my thoughts and ideas about how to make this organization represent the cream of the crop in the wedding photography world.

I've uploaded a selection of slideshows to my YouTube Channel.
If you get a chance to look at them, please take a moment to rate the videos.

Oregon Wedding photographer   Austin Wedding photographer   Tahiti Destination Wedding photographer   Mexico Wedding photographer   Santorini Wedding  Bahamas wedding photographer   Jamaica wedding photographer

 

541-729-9256
grj [at] aperturephotographics.com       aperture1 [at] hotmail.com

All text and Images Copyright Glen Johnson

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All text and images Copyright Glen Johnson 2010