Jetsetters!

Amanda and Kevin are getting married tomorrow!

We did their engagement shoot almost 2 years ago. I felt like their wedding day was never going to get here! We are so excited to be a part of this amazing couple's special day tomorrow! 

In the hangar where Kevin works, there was a private plane he was working on. Right away we both asked, "Can we go in it?' I mean, it's not everyday you get to see the inside of a private plane. We decided this part of the shoot would look great in their formal outfits. It reminds me of the movie Pretty Woman, when Richard Gere whisks Julia Roberts off in his private plane to see the opera!

We played around with lighting for a while on this one. Neal explains in more detail below... I was not tall enough to hold the lights where Neal needed them. Time to bring in a ladder! Once everything was in place, we told Kevin and Amanda to pretend we were flying. You can imagine the laughs we got from that. But, we got a nice, intimate, private moment between them!

We'll see you tomorrow Amanda & Kevin!

-Danielle

Neal here, it's funny because the simple looking images are often the most complicated to "create"!

I agree with Danielle, this was a great opportunity, it's not often we have a private jet at our disposal. The Jet was parked inside a hangar. This was when it was getting dark outside. When I took a test shot you could see the hangar walls & equipment outside of the windows. I wanted to make it look as if we were flying high above the clouds so it had to be BRIGHT! Amanda & Kevin were getting changed so this bought us a few minutes to get setup. We took four speedlights and blasted the plane with light from the outside. All lights were set at different power levels. This washed out the windows making it look as if we were above the clouds! I even had Danielle point one of the lights towards the camera so it created a natural lens flare and that light acted as the sun (highest power). Like Danielle said, Jet's aren't low to the ground, we put lightstands on the wings and ladders. We also had a handheld light inside the plane for some fill light on their faces. We used 5 lights total, it literally looked and felt like a movie set. All of this was done within ten minutes. I live for moments like this!!!

As for the post processing, this jet wasn't very old but the interior screamed 1950's to me with the tan leather seats and the woodgrain trim. I used this illustration from a LIFE Magazine from 1955 as inspiration for the color palette. 

-Neal

Buffalo Engagement Photography: Neal Urban Studio

Buffalo Engagement Photo Location: Akron Airport