Wedding Photography Tips with Kiel Rucker
We recently had a deep dive with Kiel Rucker, creator/owner of Head & Heart Photography. Kiel made it his mission when he started Head & Heart Photography to pair talented, up and coming photographers with couples who understand the importance of finding the best balance of talent, experience and ability that their budget will allow for. Read on to find out more from Kiel and hear wedding tips from this über talented photographer.
What are your top 3 wedding locations you have ever photographed a wedding or elopement at, and why?:
For me, my passion for photography is born out of nature and landscape photography, so my favorite venues to photograph weddings/elopement at are those that have beautiful, open property maps (Vineyards, ranches, farms, private estates) as well as beautifully designed and executed homes, cottages and gathering spaces. These properties also typically have at least a few big, beautiful oak trees, pepper trees or weeping willows to provide shade and beautiful backlighting during the brightest and warmest parts of the day. As for the inside of the homes and rooms, I love to photograph clients and couples with large stone and tile surfaces, exposed and natural wooden beams and with lots of big windows, vaulted ceilings and natural light. The following three venues are the BEST places to find everything I most like to have present for a wedding or elopement.
Kestrel Park
San Ysidro Ranch
Sunstone Villa
What is the #1 advice you give to couples about wedding photos?:
It's all about relationships and rapport. And relationships are all about trust. It doesn't matter what your personal vibe is, it's crucial to find and work with a photographer who has 2 fundamental qualities:
They have sufficient experience as a professional photographer and you connect with their aesthetic and imagery in a personal way.
Ideally you want to contract a photographer who is easy to trust, and is someone who feel like you could be friends with even if they weren't your photographer.
What is your number one engagement session tip for couples?:
Just have one. The amount of comfort, trust and familiarity gained with your photographer, their process and just getting familiar with how it feels to be in front of a camera for a prolonged period of time are actually of far greater value than the images that will come from the session. But, of course, you also get an additional, beautiful set of images as part of the deal ;)
What are 2 things you wish couples would do regarding photography?:
1. This is more of a basic etiquette thing, but I would be super grateful if couple's would follow up with photographers/vendors even if they decide not to work with them. It's kind of a big ask, and I'm not perfect at it, but it always sticks with me when someone lets me know that they've decided to work with someone else but thanks me for my time.
2. I really wish people would buy more prints. Not for the low-hanging-fruit reason of wanting to make more post-shoot income, but just so that the work I create is turned into physical media that you can see, touch and share. Not a TON of images, but just a few of their favorites. Coming from a nature/landscape background, I shoot with goal of creating images that people want to print and frame at 20x30 or even larger - again, not every single images, but there are at least a handful of images from every wedding or elopement I photograph that would make a beautiful large format print.
What is your favorite wedding you have ever photographed and why?:
I honestly don't think I have a single favorite. There are many favorites. But having been a wedding photographer for over 10 years, I really look forward to creative, and/or multiple day weddings that are geared more toward creating new traditions rather than following old ones.
