How to get the best Snowy Elopement and Wedding Photographs
One of the main reasons I moved to Colorado was the mountains and the main season that I was drawn to this beautiful Colorado state was the winters. I grew up snowboarding on ice so the thought of being able to snowboard on a soft, fluffy, POWDER really excites me! So obviously I love to photograph couples in the snow because it’s one of my favorite seasons!
We want you to be comfy and cozy and all bundled up but not like Joey in the Friends episode where he puts on everything he owns, LOL! The main thing to remember is the appropriate layers. You need lots of layers for all the changing weather conditions if you to want to feel comfortable. Remember cotton is death in the wilderness and certainly in the cold! I like to wear a wool long sleeve undershirt and long underwear then my mini puffy vest then a hard shell jacket and pants.
Sometimes, the girls will wear a dresses for some of the photographs and I always recommend that you wear long johns under it. No one will see them and you will be so much more comfortable! I want you to be cozy! Finding a cute shawl to wear also does wonders for looking cute and staying warm! This is also where we will utilize cute gloves, hats, scarfs and hand warmers all around! It's also really cute just to bring blankets to have both of you snuggle under.
Guys, your outfits just might need a pair of snow boots, jacket, hat and gloves. Your main job is to snuggle up to get your bride warm if she gets cold. Also, you are usually the one carrying the pack if we are snowshoeing in a little bit so that little extra weight usually keeps ya warm. Someone has to bring the water, extra layers and beer!
But if it’s a sunshiny day I’ll typically wear high snow boots with leggings and a puffy jacket. Or If we are going to be really hiking a bunch I’ll wear leggings with my snow hiking boots paired with gators because I’m always running all over the place.
When it's sunny outside and it's snowing you'll definitely need some sunglasses! We’ve got to protect those eyeballs! And speaking of sun it's always a good idea to wear sunscreen in Colorado! That’s ALWAYS a thing! No one wants to get winter tan lines!
As for gloves... when it’s really cold I’ll wear the snug liners under my mittens and then have hand warmers in my mittens because I love mittens. My fingers tend to stay warmer in mittens than gloves and the gloves that do work I can’t wear while shooting because they are too cumbersome.
THE SNOW MUST HAVE LIST:
Snow boots
Extra pair of socks
Gloves
Hand warmers
Hat
Scarf/balaclava
Water
Shawl
Jacket
THE SNOW MAYBE LIST:
Snowshoes/skis
Poles
tea/hot cocoa
Beer
If your a photographer, photographing in the snow, you have to slightly overexpose the images in order for the snow to be white because your camera automatically wants the snow to be gray. It doesn’t understand snow, so I do two stops and that seems to be perfect on the snow day! if it’s really dark out because it’s still snowing you might have to do three stops but in the digital age with cameras and light meters, it’s easy to double check your exposure!
We’ll check the weather! We have to make sure we can actually get to our destination! That's usually the biggest problem in the winter, not the snow falling but the car is actually getting us to the location! I’ve got lots of ideas when the snow is falling really hard, one of them is we head to the trees for a bit! I’ve got rain gear for my camera and it works great in the snow! But just remember, you can’t hide a snowstorm from the camera. If the wind is blowing the snow sideways… it’s going to look like the wind is blowing sideways.
So just always, bring lots of layers, just in case! Oh, and along with a beer we might also want to bring some hot cocoa because everybody loves hot cocoa on snow days! And I just love snow days in the Colorado mountains because they are the best!
