I've always love magic hour's delicate palette and ephemeral light, the kaleidoscope of subtle, yet striking colors that transform like a cloud changing shape right before your very eyes. I had been shooting the couple's portraits along the beach at the Surf Club in New Rochelle NY as the sun was setting and was presented with this rare and amazing opportunity to make this image. It was not preconceived - I simply looked up as the bride/groom were making their way back into the reception hall and I saw the shot. Immediately, I called out for them to "freeze" - I quickly mounted my camera on my tripod, changed out lenses and captured this stunning image. I stopped down for greater depth of field and to also lengthen the exposure time, thus creating drag so there would be slight motion in the figured moving about on the balcony. It was completely unexpected and without planning, like many of my most favorite images.

I positioned the bride to face the window that I had behind me so that the natural light would fall nicely on to her face. This bride was very photogenic, so she took direction really well. I directed her to look at me without a smile, but like most people, as soon as I said "don't smile" she smiled. So I asked her to find my lens, close her eyes and then on the count of three to open them. I got my shot lined up and clicked my shutter on "3" and got this wonderful, relaxed expression. This was shot at the Ritz Carlton in Laguna Beach, CA. B&W conversion with a little Rusty texture added in Photoshop.

I was second shooting this wedding as a favor for my second photographer, Jim Dolan, when part way through the reception, the bride came up to us and said to get ready, because she was going to smash cake in her husband's face. Knowing what was coming I changed my batteries and put on a slightly wider lens than usual.

Since Jim was covering the obligatory cake cutting, I positioned myself to capture the after effects. With my ISO turned up and my flash outputting just a touch of light, I was ready for some quick captures. Somewhere around 6-8 solid images came out of the food fight, however, knowing that the moments immediately following peak action often illustrate the story better than what actually happened, I kept my camera trained on the bride. What I saw was better than expected: the bride started cleaning herself off with her tongue! At the exact moment that I took this photo, a guest's camera happened to go off, providing the great rim light around her head and arm.

This file was processed using the custom designed action: Paul's Speciality X-Process 03, from WeddingPhotographyWorkshop.com, which is available for 30% off to WPD members with the coupon code WPDCONTEST.

My background is documentary photography and my client list includes The New York Times, TIME, Newsweek and various other news publications. I try to bring that documentary style to my wedding photography and I'm always striving to come up with unique photographs for my clients. The bride here was just so beautiful in front of the camera so it made my job easy.