Wedding bliss and beyond
Paul Gummer talks with wedding photographer Toni Larsen about unassailable career advice — feel the fear and do it anyway
There’s a noticeable camaraderie among New Zealand photographers. It doesn’t seem to matter what you specialize in, other photographers are highly approachable, and keen to share experiences. This is significantly conducive to a healthy industry, as it becomes hard to move forward in a vacuum. Creativity is fuelled by bouncing ideas around, and gaining inspiration from others.
Although I specialize in architectural photography, the most interesting speakers I have listened to were generally wedding photographers. Perhaps this is because their work is the diametrical opposite to what I do — not least because my subjects sit still and don’t tell me to hurry up — and they bring fresh insight. If I am honest, photographing people is not in my comfort zone, and I always imagined portrait photographers to be totally relaxed when going about their work. Not so for all of them, apparently. Wedding photographer Toni Larsen told me she finds heading out on the morning of a day’s work can be daunting, but she feels the fear and does it anyway.
Toni is someone who I have seen progress from being a novice to running a successful business, all in a short time. Being fascinated by what drives people, I noticed two of her strengths are persistence and determination.
I first met Toni on a portraiture night class run by Joe Sing. I had taken my teenage daughter Annie to the sessions, as she was keen to learn how to use her new camera for talkative subjects. When she had asked me to help her buy a camera with her savings, I naturally had in mind important technical details such as a fast lens and optical zoom. However, after checking out the cameras in a shop, she told me she had a choice of two and asked if I would help her decide. For Annie, it was straightforward — they were the only cameras in the store that were pink.
During the classes, Joe frequently asked for willing participants to arrange the lights and direct the models into effective poses. Most people, of course, were reluctant to have 20 pairs of eyes scrutinizing every move, but not Toni. She was always the first to jump up and try. When she subsequently enrolled in the degree programme at UCOL after being inspired by Joe, I found out her dream was to become a portrait photographer. Leaving her job as a busy HR manager looking after 300 people in a call center was a scary decision, but one she knew she had to make. After walking away from a career she told herself there was no option but to succeed. Toni’s husband, Darron, is hugely supportive in encouraging her to follow the dream.
Although her sole intention was to shoot portraits, the inevitable request to photograph a friend’s wedding opened up a new avenue for her, and there was no looking back. Shooting weddings has shown Toni that working as a creative professional is about continual problem solving, something she learned during her studies. Despite being nervous before a wedding, she says, “It’s about being professional and staying on your ‘A’ game, focusing on doing your best.”
She tells me, “The most difficult aspect of the job is when things don’t go according to plan — like rain, for example.” Back-up plans and knowing her gear are essential so she can focus on recording someone’s special day through visual storytelling, bringing out ‘who they are’. In a sense, she feels she is shooting ‘portraits’ all day, but has grown to love the fly-on-the-wall approach to documenting the peripherals and in-between moments. It is some of these images that have challenged her expectations of what makes a ‘good’ photograph. Top Australian wedding photographer David Oliver, who came to speak at UCOL, told Toni’s class that fixed to his camera is a small piece of paper with two words on it to continually remind him of a photographer’s mission. It simply says, “notice things”.
Curiously, I have noticed that there are three factors that act as a ‘licence’ to get into the lives of people you don’t know: walking a dog, pushing a baby in a pram, and carrying a camera. Toni says it’s an honour to work so closely with people, getting into their personal space, especially in the morning as they prepare for the wedding. Some of the best images are made when people have their guard down. She has recently secured commercial commissions shooting for clients such as Massey University and tourism organization Destination Manawatu’s magazine, ThePage, using her documentary approach.
Toni’s revised dream list now includes travelling overseas to shoot weddings, with New York her ideal location. Somehow, I don’t think this will be too far away.