All images by Alexander Lupascu. Used with permission.
Photographer Alexander Lupascu is a photographer based in Romania with a specific skill for creating stunning portraits of a married couple on their special day. He started shooting back in 2006 and got into wedding photography in 2009–three short years later. And what he’s always valued is intimacy in moments.
Phoblographer: Talk to us about how you got into photography.
Alex: If I remember correctly, I started way back in 2006, I liked it a lot though I didn’t have any camera of my own, every time one of my friends was around and had one, I’d abuse theirs 🙂
My first DSLR was a Nikon D40, a 6MP entry camera with an 18-55mm kit lens…I got it with a bank loan… I didn’t have the cash to buy it by my own.
Phoblographer: What made you want to get into wedding photography?
Alex: I got into wedding photography by chance. In 2009 I think one of my friends gave my phone number to a wedding services agency, the owner called me and asked if I would like to shoot a wedding for him. I said, why not and I was hooked, collaborated for about 2 years until I decided its time to work under my own brand.
Phoblographer: Tell us the story of your first wedding. What was it like for you? What would you have done differently?
Alex: My first wedding? Lol…that is a funny one. It was a wedding in a small city ,30km away from my town.
The most fun fact about that one was that after the preparation part someone from the wed party had to drive me to the church but forgot. everyone left and I was left all alone in the middle of nowhere…they had to wait for someone to come back and pick me up, fortunately I got to the church in time.
That was a somehow scary experience but in a weird way I liked it. I don’t know if I’d change anything. I think everything happens for a reason and its all part of a learning process, from what I’ve experienced as a photographer in the past as, made me the photographer who I am today
All you can do is let others learn from your experiences.
Phoblographer: What do you feel are the absolute essential shots for every photographer to get at a wedding?
Alex: Oh this is a nice list, though I think it’s somehow dependent on the photographers preferences and storytelling style but here it goes–the preparations, details on the hair, the makeup, the dress, the rings, environmental portraiture of the bride getting ready with the help of their friends and family…really love this part by the way.
Here in Romania it happens early in the morning, in certain cases the bride goes for the makeup/hair session at 5AM–the church ceremony – here, again it can be really specific for each shooting style, mine consists mostly of portraiture and details/reactions of the close friends and family, it’s really nice to get that awesome shot when a bride or mother starts to cry with emotion–the reception, while many photographers think from here on it’s a piece of cake actually, at least from my perspective, the fun starts…a lot of people in one place, a lot of distractions. Details of the venue, table arrangements, the whole environment. Of course after the party mode kicks I always play with exposures, flash, etc..really love to take those crazy dancing photos
Phoblographer: Wedding photography is very much a business of dealing with people; lots of them! So what tricks and tips have you learned to use when photographing the ceremony, the reception, etc?
Alex: As a general tip: always smile, always be happy, or at least pretend to, your bride and groom, although are reasonable human beings, should not care about your problems, if any (I’m just hitting a worst case scenario here) it’s their big day and your confidence should help and support them..
At the ceremony, stay out of the priest’s way :)) be mindful of what’s around you, especially if you don’t know the church, you don’t want to trip on some old rug and fall to your demise in front of all the wedding party…aaaannndd i’m not even mentioning about damaging your gear in the process :))
Reception.. as soon as you got checked all the points from above, one can experiment and do whatever you feel like trying,
As a last tip, if the bride/groom or anyone for that matter asks you to take a picture of them with their aunt X or uncle Y ,remember it and BE SURE TO INCLUDE that image in the final product, you’ll hate it when the bride asks you about it and you forgot to edit it or even worse, it turned out of focus :))
Phoblographer: What do you do to try to give each client a unique wedding experience through their photos? Indeed, lots of your ideas don’t really seem to be repeated at all.
Alex: Well this one is really client specific, it depends mostly on how I communicate with them, I can’t stress this enough. Good client communication is key, be really transparent in your work, your needs as an artist and ask the same in return. explain each step of your creation process so they know exactly what to expect, what you’re willing to do (for example heavy skin retouch) or don’t.
And also it depends on how they are as a person, what they like, how they show each other their love…things like this inspire me: people, places and their feelings
Phoblographer: Talk to us about lighting. You use a combination of natural light and flash; so how does it help you get your creative vision across?
Alex: I tend to think of myself as a natural light photographer with the help of some flash here and there, mostly 80% of my work is made with natural light(I consider reflected light natural too) the rest are those specific situations when just a hint of fill light does wonders. At weddings I tend not to use flash at all until the church ceremony where I use them for the sole purpose of rim light and the reception where I have 2 setups, one for ambient light and one with of camera flashes.