A Boracay Wedding

When I found out that my cousin planned to get married in scenic Boracay in March, the shutterbug in me was compelled to jump at the invitation. I just had to shoot a beach sunset wedding! As a bonus I had the chance to see Ariel Javelosa and his crew at work covering the event. The art direction was all his, I was just shooting from the sidelines, trying to keep out of the way.

I processed some of my favorite photos from the set below, all shot with my Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8 and a couple with an SB-600 and a Lumiquest Mini Softbox attached.

Joy and Jonas Sanchez Get Married

Presenting Mr. and Mrs. Sanchez

[ Nikon D50 and Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 EX DG APO HSM ]
[ f/4 1/320s ISO400 70mm ]

I was stumbling around with some new gear on this wedding shoot. If you want a workout, try carrying around a 70-200 f/2.8 plus Speedlight on a flash bracket all day. Now for the challenge, try shooting handheld with the entire rig, with a faulty bracket swing arm and a pocket bouncer that won't stay on the flash head! Still, the exercise was worth it. The Sigma telezoom let me shoot from the sidelines so as not to get in the way of the event and get closeups easily. It is often said that it is the photographer and not the gear who make good photographs, but good, working equipment does help.

I'm less convinced about the benefits of the pocket bouncer, at the tele end at least. While shooting one sequence the thing fell off and I had to keep shooting without it. I could not distinguish between the ones shot with and without the bouncer.



Cary had the benefit of an assistant, "guest photographer" Christian, holding up his Speedlight on a borrowed monopod. Off camera flash gave us great results, and the flexibility with moving the light source let us play around and get the best results. So the lesson here is to get a willing assistant and hand him a monopod!

Joy and Jonas were great subjects, good sports throughout the entire shoot as we fumbled with the gear and asked them to pose for the cameras. I still like candids best, but there is a great sense of accomplishment in getting a posed photo to look natural.

More photos at the PEP Blog.