Today’s interview is with Douglas Levy Photography. Douglas has quite the story to how he got his start into being a wedding photography! We love to learn about our vendors, thanks so much for sharing it all with us today. Now, onto the interview and photos that’ll leave you wanting more.
It’s been an interesting trip, probably a bit atypical of most photographers, that’s for sure. After graduating from college in 2003 I went to umpire school and spent six years umpiring minor league baseball. I’d always umpired as a side job through high school and college and thought, “Why not see if I can make this a career?” I remember a conversation with my grandfather, right before I left and he said to me, “You just spent $120,000 on college, and now you want to be an umpire?” I’ve never been the kind of person who could sit behind a desk all day, and it seemed like a great way to make a living. What they don’t tell you is that while the baseball part of the job is some of the best fun you’ll ever have, you pack your bags in March and get home in October.
Toward the end of the 2007 baseball season I was starting to get more into photography and I e-mailed a local wedding photographer asking if I could assist him at some weddings that off-season. I assisted a few and loved it, and shot my own first wedding on Cape Cod that fall.
That’s a tough question! But I’d have to say the toasts, I love hearing my clients’ friends tell stories, and the reactions from the bride and groom have resulted in some of my favorite images in my portfolio.
It was at my first ever wedding – I did the, “I’ll knock and open the door at the same time,” thing and caught a less than fully dressed bride by surprise – a lesson quickly learned – always knock then wait!
I’ve seen some really creative dessert bars the last couple of years, it seems like more and more people are moving away from having only a cake and including more creative dessert options (which can make for fantastic photographs). I’ve seen a couple of s’mores bar setups lately, which make for a great end-of-wedding snack!
There are so many great venues to shoot at in the Boston-area, and what I love about photographing weddings is that they’re all different. One day I could be on a farm shooting a barn wedding and the next day on a rooftop in downtown Boston. That said, I’m definitely a fan of shooting at Nashoba Valley Winery, it’s gorgeous, the staff is always on top of their game, and it’s less than 15 minutes from my house.
Nikon, but I think, especially with the most recent generation of cameras, that we’re past this mattering. The cameras are so great that they really just get out of the way and let us make photos, which is awesome, because that hasn’t always been the case.
It’s not a short list! But locally I’ve always wanted to shoot at Fenway Park. I second shot a wedding there with a friend years ago, but I’d love to have another opportunity to shoot there again. In college I did a semester abroad in London (before I even owned a camera), and I’d love to go back to shoot a wedding there.
I’ve never been interested in celebrity – any wedding where the couple says, “We trust you, shoot whatever you want,” is a dream day at work for me. I was a journalism major in college and worked for newspapers for years, I’ve always been much more interested in story than celebrity.
Though I will say Mark Zuckerberg’s recent wedding must have been interesting – I was just reading this morning how his photographer was told she was going to be shooting a graduation party and showed up and it was actually a wedding.
This might sound fairly simplistic, but it’s not as easy as it sounds – take better photos. Show more people.
Check out Douglas Levy on WeddingPhotoLove or visit his site (and blog!) for more.