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The New Art of Capturing Love: The Essential Guide to Lesbian and Gay Wedding Photography
The first guide to posing and sensitively capturing same-sex couples on their big day, The New Art of Capturing Love equips semi-pro and professional wedding photographers to enter the exciting new LGBT wedding photography market.
These are exciting times for marriage equality — but capturing memorable LGBTQ portraits requires a novel approach to posing, which until now has been nearly exclusively oriented toward pairing a taller man in black with a smaller woman in white. What works for Jack and Jill won’t necessarily work for Jack and Michael, let alone Jill and Louise. The New Art of Capturing Love shatters the “old standards” of wedding and engagement photography by showing how inappropriate they can be for today’s diverse couples, then shares easy-to-implement poses and techniques that can be applied to any couple (and wedding party), no matter their orientations, to create lasting memories.
Featuring a collection of more than 180 same-sex portraits from 46 photographers, this guide is proudly the first—and most comprehensive—of its kind. Whether you are a wedding photographer looking to enter this burgeoning market, or a gay or lesbian couple looking
for visual inspiration, these gorgeous images will both instruct and inspire.
These are exciting times for marriage equality — but capturing memorable LGBTQ portraits requires a novel approach to posing, which until now has been nearly exclusively oriented toward pairing a taller man in black with a smaller woman in white. What works for Jack and Jill won’t necessarily work for Jack and Michael, let alone Jill and Louise. The New Art of Capturing Love shatters the “old standards” of wedding and engagement photography by showing how inappropriate they can be for today’s diverse couples, then shares easy-to-implement poses and techniques that can be applied to any couple (and wedding party), no matter their orientations, to create lasting memories.
Featuring a collection of more than 180 same-sex portraits from 46 photographers, this guide is proudly the first—and most comprehensive—of its kind. Whether you are a wedding photographer looking to enter this burgeoning market, or a gay or lesbian couple looking
for visual inspiration, these gorgeous images will both instruct and inspire.
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2014
8 people are currently reading
43 people want to read
About the author
Kathryn Hamm
3 booksA natural educator, entrepreneur and public speaker, Kathryn Hamm joined her mother, Gretchen, in the family business, GayWeddings.com, in 2004 (then, operating as two boutiques — TwoBrides.com & TwoGrooms.com) and became a full partner and president in 2005. Since then, she has overseen the operations of the company and played an integral role in the acquisition of GayWeddings.com and in the partnership development with WeddingWire, Inc., the nation’s leading technology company serving the $100+ billion wedding, corporate, and social events industry.
She is co-author of The New Art of Capturing Love The Essential Guide to Lesbian Gay Wedding Photography (Amphoto Books, 2014), and she writes, speaks and consults nationally with wedding professionals and engaged couples about why same-sex weddings are meaningful and why marriage matters. Kathryn is an Education Expert for WeddingWire, and also writes for the Huffington Post, Wedding Aces and WeddingWireEDU.
Kathryn was raised in Dallas, Texas, and received an undergraduate degree in Psychology and Women’s Studies from Princeton University and a master’s degree in Social Work from the Catholic University of America. Prior to her work with GayWeddings.com, she worked for ten years at independent schools in the Washington DC area and was a member of the front office staff for the WUSA’s professional women’s soccer team, Washington Freedom.
Kathryn’s 1999 wedding to her partner, Amy, served as a catalyst for her mother’s inspiration for the business and, in 2013, after twenty years together, Kathryn and Amy got legally married in Washington DC with their young son serving as Best Man.
She is co-author of The New Art of Capturing Love The Essential Guide to Lesbian Gay Wedding Photography (Amphoto Books, 2014), and she writes, speaks and consults nationally with wedding professionals and engaged couples about why same-sex weddings are meaningful and why marriage matters. Kathryn is an Education Expert for WeddingWire, and also writes for the Huffington Post, Wedding Aces and WeddingWireEDU.
Kathryn was raised in Dallas, Texas, and received an undergraduate degree in Psychology and Women’s Studies from Princeton University and a master’s degree in Social Work from the Catholic University of America. Prior to her work with GayWeddings.com, she worked for ten years at independent schools in the Washington DC area and was a member of the front office staff for the WUSA’s professional women’s soccer team, Washington Freedom.
Kathryn’s 1999 wedding to her partner, Amy, served as a catalyst for her mother’s inspiration for the business and, in 2013, after twenty years together, Kathryn and Amy got legally married in Washington DC with their young son serving as Best Man.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
May 26, 2014
I picked up this book because I saw a bunch of images from it on Buzzfeed. I'm a sucker for wedding pictures and photography in general, and same-sex wedding pictures in particular make me all gooshy inside.
In addition to being a great coffee table book of wedding pictures, this is also an advice book for wedding photographers on how to photograph LGBT weddings, and as such was an eye-opener. I didn't realize what a fandango wedding photography is in general, what with having to photograph the dress and other accessories, the wedding party and family members, and capture all the special moments, planned and spontaneous. Not to mention making everyone look great while making them not look posed at all. And those are just the problems of photographing every wedding; there are special considerations for an LGBT wedding, like how to light and photograph two white dresses without them blending into an amorphous mass, or how to photograph two grooms to make it clear that they're not brothers or buddies. (Hint: get them to stare smoochily into each others' eyes.)
My ulterior motive for getting this book was to leave it around so the girls would look at it. They are starting to get into the homophobic ages at school and since we have basically no LGBT people in our social circle they don't have any exposure to different families or relationships. My ruse worked: both girls looked at the book and we talked about wedding stuff in general and why LGBT weddings are special and interesting, and I hope it planted a seed in their minds that LGBT love and romance is as legitimate and beautiful as the straight kind.
In addition to being a great coffee table book of wedding pictures, this is also an advice book for wedding photographers on how to photograph LGBT weddings, and as such was an eye-opener. I didn't realize what a fandango wedding photography is in general, what with having to photograph the dress and other accessories, the wedding party and family members, and capture all the special moments, planned and spontaneous. Not to mention making everyone look great while making them not look posed at all. And those are just the problems of photographing every wedding; there are special considerations for an LGBT wedding, like how to light and photograph two white dresses without them blending into an amorphous mass, or how to photograph two grooms to make it clear that they're not brothers or buddies. (Hint: get them to stare smoochily into each others' eyes.)
My ulterior motive for getting this book was to leave it around so the girls would look at it. They are starting to get into the homophobic ages at school and since we have basically no LGBT people in our social circle they don't have any exposure to different families or relationships. My ruse worked: both girls looked at the book and we talked about wedding stuff in general and why LGBT weddings are special and interesting, and I hope it planted a seed in their minds that LGBT love and romance is as legitimate and beautiful as the straight kind.
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June 30, 2014I received a copy of this book for review via BloggingforBooks.org.
The photographs are superb. Pages feature large, vibrant photographs that anyone would be proud to display in their home gallery or professionals would love to have in their portfolios. Rather than get in to nitty gritty techniques, this book assumes the reader has an awareness of photography and the business of wedding photography. This book aims to offer some practical advice about posing same sex couples to avoid them looking like siblings or composing balanced shots when outfits may be similar. I was especially impressed with the addition of a glossary of LGBTQ terms and inclusive wedding language to give photographers a sensitive and appropriate vocabulary when working with gay and lesbian clients.
The photographs are superb. Pages feature large, vibrant photographs that anyone would be proud to display in their home gallery or professionals would love to have in their portfolios. Rather than get in to nitty gritty techniques, this book assumes the reader has an awareness of photography and the business of wedding photography. This book aims to offer some practical advice about posing same sex couples to avoid them looking like siblings or composing balanced shots when outfits may be similar. I was especially impressed with the addition of a glossary of LGBTQ terms and inclusive wedding language to give photographers a sensitive and appropriate vocabulary when working with gay and lesbian clients.
July 25, 2014
Anytime I look through photography books, I want to snatch up my camera before I forget all of the great ideas. Not only did I feel that way with this book, I also feel that I need to make a project of photographing the glbtq community.
July 31, 2024
As a Hobbyphotographer I am always looking for Inspiration for my Shootings and when a friend of mine told me she was going to marry I had to get this book.
It gives you some nice advices for what you should look out for when doing a same sex photoshoot and also provides you with some really good posing ideas and the instructions.
It gives you some nice advices for what you should look out for when doing a same sex photoshoot and also provides you with some really good posing ideas and the instructions.
March 17, 2019
Don't know anything about photography but the pictures were lovely. :)
June 30, 2014
How refreshing to see conventions fall and be replaced by the new images that reflect our evolving culture. Here is a guide that tells gay and lesbian couples how to create beautiful, poignant, romantic, funny, authentic wedding photos – from the moment of their engagement to the preparations, the ceremony and celebration to the final toss of the bouquet. Couples who plan to get married and are seeking inspiration for the best possible documentation of their big day can turn to Kathryn Hamm and Thea Dodds: they are in expert hands. Gorgeous photography (by a number of photographers in addition to Thea Dodds) and beautiful writing by Kathryn Hamm (gayweddings.com) guide the reader.
The book begins by discussing the differences between same-sex and traditional wedding photography. Same-sex couples, for instance, may not have family present for their wedding, they may prepare together, they may have married the same person already multiple times, may have been together for decades, may not be comfortable with public display of affection, and might not be legally marrying at all. No more big groom in black hovering over little woman in white. LGTBQ couples see themselves, present or pose themselves, differently. Nothing can be assumed. Will all gay couples want to hold hands in public? Capturing Love teaches wedding photographers a new sensibility toward a topic that has only existed for ten years and opens new doors every day.
There are tricks and techniques to loosen couples up and get them ready to be their authentic self in authentic photos. And of course there are props, costumes, unexpected weather, spontaneous responses to a rainy wedding day, unusual and arresting stagings like rooftops or a fire escape. There are humorous snapshots, like the two ecstatic newly-wed lesbians on a New York escalator. The gay men in this book adopt eye-to-eye and tender skin contact, not standing shoulder to shoulder, as men so often do, looking out into the middle distance as they converse. Great care is taken to show the couples’ natural affection by giving them permission to be affectionate.
So many of the photos in this album are effortlessly sexy and romantic, with their playful focus on shoes, for instance, or their commitment to breaking the "bridal bias" so that the focus in this egalitarian photography is always equally on the two people getting married.
The technical quality of the photographs is superb, with a natural and spontaneous look, although most of the photographs are posed. There's an inimitable photo of the bride in flip-flops surrounded by her male fashion police, pointing with comic outrage at the shoes. Or, how about flower-boys to give you a sense that the world has changed? Or male nymphs in a romantic outdoors wedding, doting mothers and grandmothers, and double bouquets being tossed in the air. Just turning the pages of this book is an exercise in consciousness raising, an enchanted tour through the creation of a new gay, visual culture.
- Renate Stendhal & Kim Chernin, relationship experts & authors of Lesbian Marriage: A Sex Survival Kit (http://lesbiansexsurvival.com)
The book begins by discussing the differences between same-sex and traditional wedding photography. Same-sex couples, for instance, may not have family present for their wedding, they may prepare together, they may have married the same person already multiple times, may have been together for decades, may not be comfortable with public display of affection, and might not be legally marrying at all. No more big groom in black hovering over little woman in white. LGTBQ couples see themselves, present or pose themselves, differently. Nothing can be assumed. Will all gay couples want to hold hands in public? Capturing Love teaches wedding photographers a new sensibility toward a topic that has only existed for ten years and opens new doors every day.
There are tricks and techniques to loosen couples up and get them ready to be their authentic self in authentic photos. And of course there are props, costumes, unexpected weather, spontaneous responses to a rainy wedding day, unusual and arresting stagings like rooftops or a fire escape. There are humorous snapshots, like the two ecstatic newly-wed lesbians on a New York escalator. The gay men in this book adopt eye-to-eye and tender skin contact, not standing shoulder to shoulder, as men so often do, looking out into the middle distance as they converse. Great care is taken to show the couples’ natural affection by giving them permission to be affectionate.
So many of the photos in this album are effortlessly sexy and romantic, with their playful focus on shoes, for instance, or their commitment to breaking the "bridal bias" so that the focus in this egalitarian photography is always equally on the two people getting married.
The technical quality of the photographs is superb, with a natural and spontaneous look, although most of the photographs are posed. There's an inimitable photo of the bride in flip-flops surrounded by her male fashion police, pointing with comic outrage at the shoes. Or, how about flower-boys to give you a sense that the world has changed? Or male nymphs in a romantic outdoors wedding, doting mothers and grandmothers, and double bouquets being tossed in the air. Just turning the pages of this book is an exercise in consciousness raising, an enchanted tour through the creation of a new gay, visual culture.
- Renate Stendhal & Kim Chernin, relationship experts & authors of Lesbian Marriage: A Sex Survival Kit (http://lesbiansexsurvival.com)
July 1, 2016
I received his book from Blogging For Books in exchange for a review. All opinions are my own.
The New Art of Capturing Love is a really nice book. It explains how photo shoots for gay and lesbian couples need to be shot differently than ones for straight couples, some ways to make the couples comfortable and idea for photos. It also has a glossary of LGBTQ terms, which I liked.
The photos in the book are all really nice and were perfect examples for each of the things that the authors were demonstrating (lighting, height difference, poses, etc). Below each photo the authors have included what kind of camera they used and what the settings were. One of my favorite photos in the book is of the male couple walking while one carries a large rainbow umbrella. It's a great photo!
I think this book is an excellent guide for professional and amateur photographers, whether their photographing weddings, couples or any other subject.
The New Art of Capturing Love is a really nice book. It explains how photo shoots for gay and lesbian couples need to be shot differently than ones for straight couples, some ways to make the couples comfortable and idea for photos. It also has a glossary of LGBTQ terms, which I liked.
The photos in the book are all really nice and were perfect examples for each of the things that the authors were demonstrating (lighting, height difference, poses, etc). Below each photo the authors have included what kind of camera they used and what the settings were. One of my favorite photos in the book is of the male couple walking while one carries a large rainbow umbrella. It's a great photo!
I think this book is an excellent guide for professional and amateur photographers, whether their photographing weddings, couples or any other subject.
June 17, 2014
I'm impressed! This book speaks to so many people without talking down to anyone. Photographing a queer wedding and unsure of what might offend? Read up! Planning an lgbt wedding and want to know what will make you shine in your pics. Grab this book. Interested in sociology and how we "read" relationships in photos? There are plenty of conversation starters in here.
I loved this read! I have my fingers crossed that an lgbt family photography book is next. Can you please include a chapter on maternity photo shoots.
I loved this read! I have my fingers crossed that an lgbt family photography book is next. Can you please include a chapter on maternity photo shoots.
August 28, 2014
The perfect coffee table book! The photography was so beautiful and captivating and I'm also happy that they didn't steer away from the purpose of the book: a guide to taking great wedding photos. Great for conversation.
FTC DISCLAIMER:
I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.
FTC DISCLAIMER:
I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.
March 4, 2015
This book is truly inspired. We will definitely bring a copy of this book to our consultations with the wedding photographers we consider.
July 27, 2014
absolutely beautiful
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews