Professional wedding photographers specialize in location and environmental photography. No matter how extensive your wedding planning may be there are always unknown and unplanned factors in your day. Your photographer should be able to quickly assess the situation and know how to work within the limitations of your chosen locations. Another important part of my job is suggesting photo locations for my clients. I have lived in Chicago for my entire life. I know the city well enough to respect that it is constantly changing. I am always looking for new places to shoot and confirming that my old favorites still exist. One luxury that Chicago wedding photographers do not have is a lot of time to make location decisions. I would love to spend a few hours photographing the bride and groom on their wedding day. Most of the time I am lucky to have a fraction of that. Therefore, location scouting is always necessary. When I knew I would be shooting in Panama I booked my tickets to arrive a few days before the event specifically to familiarize myself with the area. Also, it is 90 degrees there in January so it was a good excuse to spend a few days in the sun. Maylin and Mike wanted to take photos in Casco Viejo, but were unfamiliar with the area. I spent three days exploring the neighborhood to find the best locations. You can view their wedding images in the previous posts. During this time I also found what I consider to be the Holy Grail of photo locations. The El Club Union was the most exclusive social club for the wealthy elite of Panama City. On December 20, 1989 Manuel Noriega’s regime was toppled and Club Union was abandoned. Today, the crumbing facade hosts a much different kind of crowd. Graffiti artists and local kids have turned it into a makeshift skate park. It’s amazing!
Ultimately, we decided not shoot here on the wedding day. With crumbling staircases and holes in the floors, there were too many safety concerns to make it an appropriate venue for wedding photos. I loved the locations we did use, and I am so glad I had the opportunity to explore El Club Union.
no comments