So as a photographer there is a fine art to being a photojournalist. There have been times in my life where I’ve thought, “oh, that’s just a lucky shot.” But as a learn more, I realize there is art to being prepared and being where you think those “lucky shots” might happen. Below is a list of some of my favorite “lucky shots” from 2010 and a description of how they’re not so lucky.

Somewhere in the early part of 2010 I had a bride that played “Going to the Chapel” on repeat for literally an hour straight while she was getting ready. Surprisingly it was more funny than annoying. When photographing I always try and tell the story of the day and capture things a bride may not always remember 20 years down the road. So I took a picture of her ipod with going to the chapel on repeat. It was then I started noticing ipods and will sometimes take a picture if they display a certain song popular of the time period, or maybe a song that all the bridesmaids screamed and started dancing. One day I noticed this message from a brides adoring fiance. One might think it’s lucky that I happened to look at the ipod when this appeared, but my training had me prepared to look.

The image above is only half lucky. It take two parts to make this shot. One is me being prepared and listening for when in the ceremony the officiant will hold up the rings (I’d say about 50% of weddings they do this), and the second is hoping the minister holds the ring still long enough for me to get focus without one of the other guests moving and blocking the shot. This one happened to be perfect. I knew I wanted this shot, and like magic the bride and groom leaned in a little closer to each other to be in the frame. While the minister was holding the ring I was holding my breath thinking, “don’t move, don’t move, got it! phew!”

Love this image! The photo was taken right after the ceremony as the groom’s two brothers went to greet him for the first time after being married. This can be a tough one to call. Right after the ceremony there is a lot of emotion going on all over, and the trick is knowing where to be. I saw emotion one brother had on his face, quickly changed my camera settings and followed him.

The upper and next three pictures you will see are the only images that are truly pure luck. Yep, I had my camera sitting on the seat of my car and not in its case as usual. I happened to be looking at my lens for dust at a red light right behind the bride and grooms car with the bridal party in a limo behind me when this happened.

Now I keep the camera in the seat next to me when traveling.

This is a fairly typical lighting set up I use during the first dance; any other lighting set up and this shot would not have worked. I saw the way these little girls were looking at the bride and followed them. Lucky for me they decided to sit down in the perfect place.

Proper camera setting and a quick trigger allowed me to capture this next lucky set.