The New Art of Capturing Love: The Essential Guide to Lesbian and Gay Wedding Photography

by Kathryn Hamm, Thea Dodds

Overview

The first guide to posing and sensitively capturing same-sex couples on their big day, The New Art of Capturing Love equips semi-pro and professional wedding photographers to enter the exciting new LGBT wedding photography market.

With nearly half of the states in the US (and 13 countries) currently recognizing same-sex partnerships, the market for LGBT weddings is poised for explosive growth, offering great opportunity for today's wedding photographers. But capturing portraits in this new market requires a new approach to posing, which until now has been nearly exclusively oriented toward pairing a larger man in black with a smaller woman in white. What works for Jack and Jill won't necessarily work for Jack and Michael, let alone Jill and Louise. The New Art of Capturing Loverewrites these traditional techniques, giving photographers the tools to create flattering, emotion-filled images for any couple in today's dynamic wedding market.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780804185240
Publisher:	Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed
Publication date:	05/06/2014
Sold by:	Random House
Format:	eBook
Pages:	224
File size:	106 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

KATHRYN HAMM is president of GayWeddings.com, the pioneering online wedding boutique and resource for same-sex couples, offering a community forum, planning articles, and directory of more than sixty thousand LGBTQ-friendly wedding pros. She is also an education expert for WeddingWire, the nation’s leading marketplace serving the $70 billion wedding industry, as well as a speaker, workshop leader, and consultant for couples and wedding vendors across the country. She lives with her wife and son in Arlington, Virginia.

THEA DODDS is an award-winning wedding photographer and founder of Authentic Eye Photography. Her work has been featured in Newsweek and the Huffington Post, and on ABC News, CNN, and NPR.org. Dodds lives with her husband and two daughters in Rumney, New Hampshire, and can be found online at AuthenticEye.com.

Read an Excerpt

Foreword

Imagine my surprise when I received a message on Twitter not long ago from my childhood pal Kathryn Hamm, asking me if I would be willing to write a foreword for the book she was writing with photographer Thea Dodds. My response was a flattered “yes,” only because I knew that anything Kathryn was a part of had to be amazing.

Even so, as I considered the book’s title and flipped past the cover page, I began to experience some writer’s remorse. Quite honestly, I was thinking to myself: Yes, I’ve been married (twice), but I’m a musician. What the hell do I know about photography? And more importantly, what do I know about same-sex weddings? Absolutely nothing. So, I went into this feeling very insecure, like maybe I was the wrong woman for this job. Seriously, did Kathryn not remember that back in school, I was the queen of CliffsNotes and skipping class?

But as I turned the pages, it all started to become clear. I had an emotional revelation. This book is about capturing and celebrating LOVE. And I DO know a little about love, as it is one of my favorite emotions! I write songs and sing about it all the time. It is all encompassing, knows no limits, and is the most universal and equalizing virtue of our humanity.

Like love, I can’t imagine our world without artistic expressions like music or photography. They offer powerful truths about ourselves and our pasts; where we were, what was important to us, and how we felt. And in the case of this book, how far we have come! 

The New Art of Capturing Love moves me. It sings to me. The images are beautiful, and filled with an urgency for expression. Ever so important because, as on any wedding day, the moment is now, and then it is gone in a flash. When the wedding is over and the guests go home, the photos and the memories are all that remain of the day.

But this book not only offers an amazing collection of images of love between two people, their families, and friends, it also offers a practical and insightful step-by-step instruction for photographers on how to capture these unique wedding moments. It breaks down a million and one reasons why approaching a nontraditional wedding may require a different set of skills and considerations, and in this book lie many ideas and solutions. 

The photographs in this book are not snapshots. They are poetic statements, curated by Kathryn and Thea, and crafted by photographers who know precisely how to combine the essential elements to bring forth an image that stirs a deep emotion in us. Just like a songwriter, this is a photographer’s gift, and when accomplished so finely, the viewer’s experience is like hearing a great song that instantly becomes an important emotional thread, woven through your life forever.

Having spent some time with The New Art of Capturing Love, I realize now that I do know something about photography and same-sex weddings. And that is this: there is no better time than the present to celebrate and demonstrate love in its many beautiful expressions, and this book offers an engaging path toward that end.
I hope you’ll be as inspired by it as I am.
—Martie Maguire

Table of Contents

Foreword
Preface
Introduction

1: A Wedding Revolution
2: Breaking the Mold
3: Engangements
4: Two Grooms
5: Two Brides
6: Wedding Parties
7: Wedding Rituals

Parting Thoughts
Contributors
Appendix
Acknowledgements
Glossary
About the Authors
Index

Editorial Reviews

03/24/2014
GayWeddings.com president Hamm and photographer Dodds offer a highly informative revised and expanded version of their self-published manual Capturing Love. Most wedding photographers naturally assume they should employ the same strategies they use for hetero couples when photographing same-sex couples. This guide quickly dispels that notion, addressing subjects such as asking each spouse which gender pronouns they prefer, and avoiding poses that make the couple appear as “friends or siblings.” Most importantly, Hamm and Dodds stress that photographers get to know their clients and find out details, such as what rituals will be featured in the ceremony, and what attire will be worn. The authors caution photographers to consider that the road to marriage is different for same-sex couples and that family members or even passersby may not support such events. Though some of tips and tricks are common sense for anyone in the wedding business, the guide offers a host of specific strategies, such as how to pose brides with two bouquets, and what to do if the grooms are the same height. The book also includes a heartfelt foreword on love by Martie Maguire of Dixie Chicks fame. 180 full-color photos from 46 photographers. Agent: Kathryn Beaumont, Kneerim, Williams & Bloom. (May)

Publishers Weekly

"The New Art of Capturing Love is completely fresh and moving—like no other photography handbook. It opens doors for photographers, not only to new business opportunities but also to more understanding and acceptance of people in general. The images are beautiful and this book is an education and inspiration to all photographers—no matter who they photograph. Treat yourself to the simple joy of photographing love.” 
—Kevin Kubota, wedding photographer and author of Kevin Kubota’s Lighting Notebook and Digital Photography Boot Camp

“This book . . . offers an amazing collection of images of love between two people, their families, and friends. I hope you’ll be as inspired by it as I am.”
—From the foreword by Martie Maguire of the Dixie Chicks and Court Yard Hounds

"Anticipating the needs of your couples is integral to the success of any and all wedding professionals. This revolutionary book will empower you with the essentials to successfully navigate these new and exciting waters."
—Meghan Ely, owner of wedding marketing and PR firm OFD Consulting and blogger for The Knot.

"These joyful same-sex marriage photos show how fabulously normal it's become. The very existence of the "essential guide to lesbian & gay wedding photography" speaks volumes."
—Michael Mechanic, Mother Jones

From the Publisher