Sometimes, the best photographs are the ones that we didn’t plan on taking. That was the case for photographer, Matt Shumate. While shooting a wedding in Spokane, Washington a few months ago, he was surprised by the first winter snow of the season. This is his story…
When we got to the church earlier in the day the weather was relatively pleasant, if not just a bit chilly, but dry. After the ceremony was over we looked outside and saw that the weather had changed drastically. I love shooting in the snow. Love it. Love. It.
I asked Matt to tell us how he shot this amazing photo, but first, let’s meet the photographer behind the camera. Matt is a husband, father, retired marathon runner, and music junkie. His wife and daughters are his favorite things in life, and are an endless source of inspiration for him.
They are far and away the most important things in my world. I have to provide for my family. It makes me work harder because there’s no fall back if this photography thing doesn’t work out. That’s why I shot nearly 50 weddings over 2011. I have no doubt that had I tried this same thing before having so many responsibilities I’d have had no success.
My family has definitely softened me. What I mean by that is I’m better at reading emotion than I used to be. It’s much easier to pick up on the subtleties of the many relationships that show themselves throughout a wedding day. It’s also nice having a few ‘built-in’ models when I’m trying a new technique or when the light coming through our windows is doing something interesting. They’re my support system that I don’t deserve. They believe in me to the point that I don’t understand it. There’s no way I’m letting them down.”
Matt is a Graphic Designer by training, but a photographer at heart. While taking a class that was required for his BFA Graphic Design degree, he fell in love with photography, and hasn’t looked back.
My design background has more to do with how my pictures look than anything I’ve learned about photography. It’s what I did as a kid before even knowing graphic design was a vocation. I can remember drawing out different letter styles in school or drawing from memory all of the baseball hat logos from Major League Baseball. After trying a lot of different things, graphic design is what I went to school for. I love it. I thought it’s what I’d do for the rest of my life—until I picked up a camera.
Photography felt completely natural to me, whereas graphic design feels like something I have to work at to keep up. The reason I love my graphic design background is that it’s so strikingly similar to photography. All the important elements are the same—line, contrast, symmetry, color, texture―and the most important, composition. In graphic design I’m using those elements to convince someone of something. In essence, I’m telling a story with whatever elements I choose to put on the screen. Photography is exactly the same. I’m using those same elements to guide the viewer’s eye and tell a story. The differences are technical. It’s much easier to quickly learn and understand how a camera (and light) works than to internalize what the best composition is to move a viewer’s eye around the page.
Overall, school was great because it taught me to be my own worst critic. I learned very quickly that when I brought in a piece for class critique I needed to be ready to have it ripped to shreds by the professor as well as the other students. If I could anticipate and correct those critiques, I was going to turn in better work. I think that’s the biggest thing lacking in so many young photographers. They haven’t developed the ability to critique their own work before posting it on Facebook. And when you’re judged by your worst photos, it can add up quickly.
It was also nice to have a professional presence immediately upon getting serious about this photography thing—even though a graphic designer is always his own worst client.
Finding inspiration is easy, it’s all around us. It’s in the shows we watch on TV, music we listen to, movies we see, even advertisements. It’s everywhere, we just have to be open to it and recognize it as the muse it can be.
I feel like inspiration is looking for me sometimes because it’s so prevalent. I find it in the obvious places like TV (If you’ve never watched Breaking Bad or Game of Thrones, you should just for the absolute beauty and care with which they’re shot), and in movies. Music inspires me. I subscribe to lots of fashion magazines (for which I’m made fun of by my daughters and their friends). I have several photographer friends who push me to get better as well. There’s a documentary by National Geographic that I can watch over and over. It’s called Nat Geo’s Most Incredible Photos. It’s a ‘behind the scenes’ doc about the process behind some amazing photos.
The most important inspiration comes from whomever is in front of my camera. I love people and their stories. I love knowing what makes them tick and what’s important to them. I’m not sure how that translates to better photos, but I know it makes a huge difference when I understand the person I’m photographing.
Another thing that inspires me is challenge. I’m terribly competitive and I’m always trying to challenge myself. As I’m driving, I’m always looking for great locations that I can use, but I’m also looking for a challenge. I think to myself, what if I had to shoot an entire session in this parking lot, what would I do?
I think a photographer developing a ‘vision’ is the most important thing they can do. They need to be able to visualize a photo in their mind before making it. I can teach a thousand times how to pose a couple and light them. I can teach what camera settings I use. But none of those things really matter when a photographer can’t see the photo on their own. They’ll walk right past the most amazing photo opportunities because they haven’t developed that skill. I’m sure I do it all the time and it kills me. It’s often all I can think about when I finish a wedding or other shoot.
So, going back to the idea that the best photos are sometimes the ones you don’t plan for. This photo was taken on the Gonzaga campus just minutes after the wedding ceremony. Snow was not in the forecast, but Mother Nature had different plans…the first snow of the winter season was falling, and Matt was ready for it!
I popped my flash (Nikon SB-700) into a Lumiquest III mini soft box and asked a bridesmaid’s boyfriend to help me out. I gave him the other umbrella, set the flash to 1/4 power (a good guess), and told him to follow behind the couple 10 or 15 feet and keep the flash pointed at them. I didn’t have an exact shot in mind but I knew I wanted a backlit photo because it would make the snow show up clear. Fortunately Lindsey (the bride) was a trooper and had zero complaints about being cold. She just kept reassuring us that her dress had lots of layers so she was fine.
I had a little more urgency since I was uncovered, and although I know my Nikon D3s is one hardy machine, I didn’t want to risk having water from the instantly melting monster snowflakes short something out. Partially to give myself some time to formulate a plan, and partially because I knew I wanted to use the brick walkway in the background, I asked the newly married couple to walk the long way around Gonzaga’s roundabout toward the parking lot. Once we got in front of the walkway I found my composition. I asked Lindsey and Jaron to keep each other warm with a romantic moment. I scooted to the side to let one of the pathway lights peek around Lindsey’s dress giving the shadow a reason to be there (even though we all know what really made the shadow). I made a couple of camera adjustments, quickly snapped a few photos, and we all took off for the cars.
My goal with the composition was to show the beauty of Gonzaga’s campus at dusk on the evening of the year’s first snow. For the couple, I wanted to convey the feelings they were having after being married moments before. For the exposure I wanted to keep the skies dark enough to see the white flakes hit with the flash and bright enough to keep the blue color and show the dark flakes in shadow. I wanted the flash to be bright enough to light the edges of the couple and produce a nice cast shadow in front of them, but not so bright that I’d get nasty wrap-around flare. I figured that the flash would bounce a little light off their faces, and even though they’d still be a little underexposed, the D3s file would withstand brightening them up quite nicely.
I used Lightroom to balance out the exposure, bump the contrast, and fix the colors. There was a girl walking through the background and a bit of the umbrella from the VAL (voice activated lightstand) that I cloned out in Photoshop. Both things I would normally correct in camera were we not under the duress of time. I have to add that I feel like this is a special but imperfect photo, but that’s okay. I can think of at least four things I’d do a little different next time. Gotta keep pushing.
As artists and creative people, we never think our work is done. We always see little things we can improve upon or do better. But when I saw Matt’s photography a few months ago, it absolutely took my breath away…and that is what every photographer wants their audience to feel.
We want to thank Matt for taking the time to share his thoughts and expertise with us. If you would like to learn more about Matt and view more of his photography, click over to Matt Shumate Photography, and tell him we sent you!
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