Wednesday, February 27, 2008

OK, So How About An "Oldie But Goodie" Wedding Image

I was looking for some really old wedding images to post. I'll have more next week - but I did come up with this image. This is actually a copy from an old Polaroid print (remember you can't buy Polaroid film anymore.) I made this image about 28 years ago. It epitomizes the style of some of the images of the day.

I used a Curtis Matte Box which was a hot piece of equipment for the wedding photographer back in the 1980's. It was a black box fitted with a close up lens and attached to you medium format camera. It came supplied with a series of 21/4" x 2 1/4" glass mounted transparencies like the brandy snifter in this photo. First you took the photo of the brandy snifter, or a heart or star..... then double exposed the image of the bride and groom into the glass. It certainly was a lot more involved than Photoshop, but it still worked. If you are interested in even more of this exciting imagery, here is a link to an entire discussion thread on the subject over at photo.net right here.

Hey gang, that's it for today's "Oldies" post. Hope you enjoyed it. Please, be gentle with the comments, too - I'm baring my soul here, you know. I just pulled some images out of storage from 1979 - check back next week to see what I find.
Have a great one, David
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4 comments:

  1. Anonymous4:43 PM, February 27, 2008

    I took my first wedding in 1972...I did these "double exposure" images on a 35mm camera. When I first put in a roll of film I would mark the film with a marker. Then I would shoot several "first" exposures-glass, church, half of ceremony, bride profile, etc. Then wind the film back until it just came off the take up spool. Then rewind the film lining up the original mark on the film. Then shoot the "second" of the exposures. I recently tore apart my darkroom and tossed the prints I used for the first exposure. And then I had a bride ask for it recently...hooray for Photoshop!

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  2. George Black6:40 PM, February 27, 2008

    David,
    I used a Curtis Matte box to shoot weddings back in the day also. I'm retired now and live part time in FL and I enjoy reading your blog. It brings back fond memories.

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  3. Jacob Parks12:56 PM, February 29, 2008

    Wow, it's amazing to see what was offered then and what’s offered now. Imagine if you offered this exact same picture to someone today, they would laugh. Now that we have Photoshop, the level of expectation has been raised SOOOO much! This is great work though, I’ve seen tons of similar images from my uncle’s wedding collections.

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  4. pinkdeer4:37 PM, December 11, 2008

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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