Captain Hook and Tink's Wedding

The protagonists - Bobby (Captain Hook) and Perri (Tinkerbell). He is a painting contractor; she is a clinical psychologist. Both are veteran costume players or cosplayers; and find artistic and self expression and fulfillment in the process.

Bobby is usually Captain Hook, and Perri is usually a pirate or Tinkerbell. On occasion both play a couple of 18th century French aristocrats - Philippe Antonio Du Bois and Princess Fluffy Butt. She designs and makes most of what she wears, costume-wise.

Our slideshow or video, as it is called nowadays, opens with a photo of Bobby as the French guy which I took in 2015. This is significant, to me at least, because this was the first time our lives had crossed. Before this we didn't know each other. His first impression of me was that of a demanding director/photographer. (Hey, I know what I want.) And my impression of him was he's this French character with a Hook attitude.

The second image is of Perri which was also taken in 2015. I chose this shot because of a couple of sweet coincidences - the picture was taken in the same themed event and hall, Rendezvous Court, where she will get married to Bobby 3 years later. At that time, I didn't know Perri personally. She told me recently that I had taken her picture a year or two before that occasion in the same masquerade event; and that she thought that photo was terrible. What? I didn't know there was terrible in my repertoire. Just kidding; I may show rare flashes of humanity lol.

Well anyway, the two didn't know each other at this point, but we can already see that they share things in common - passion for cosplay, and that they go to the same events. It will be a year or so after this that our Captain Hook would become her real-life hero when he rescued our Tinkerbell from the clutches of an inebriated pirate during one of the events.

The flow of the video then takes us to the time when they were starting to go out together, then to the engagement shoot, and ultimately, to the flash wedding. It's flash in the real sense because it was supposed to be done in 10 minutes and to happen out of the blue. They chose to get wed in the event that they both love, The Labyrinth of Jareth Masquerade Ball, or LOJ for short. It's a beautiful and enchanting costume event that's held for two nights every August in the equally beautiful Millennium Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles.

Since we would be shooting within the event, we had to work with the time and space restrictions that the organizers had given us. The challenge for me as the photographer was how to work in a space where you literally will only have elbow room and still effectively tell the story. Without the luxury of distance and space, I was limited in my choice of lenses, angles, and perspectives.

Preserving the ambiance of the beautiful architecture with old school chandeliers and incandescent lighting was also paramount for me. So, I opted to photograph in mixed lighting - ambient incandescent plus daylight strobes feathered in intensity. The set up I went for consisted of two radio controlled strobes on opposing sides, or cross-lighting. Although I was permitted to use free standing light stands just for the wedding, I needed two assistants for safety (avoidance of tripping incidents), and for the light nearer me to be directed by the assistant to where my camera would be pointing.

Stress not withstanding, the occasion was happy and joyful, even cathartic. You could feel it from everyone - friends and family who showered the couple with love, and even among each other. The positive feeling was contagious, and I felt that.

During the design of this little piece of video, I wanted to convey that beautiful feeling, that happiness and catharsis, to the viewer; and I would not have settled for any piece of soundtrack other than this song by Streisand and Adams. It just drips with love, and so fitting in telling the story of our couple.

So, go ahead; turn the speakers on and enjoy the 3 minutes and 40 seconds of good feeling. Feel the love. Be in-love. Be inspired. You can always come back for seconds or thirds, or as often as you want.
P.S. Click on the video first, then hover your cursor on the left upper corner of the video screen and a drop-down menu will appear - choose Dim the Lights for effect.