We’re stuck at home. Time to have a fun FaceTime photoshoot!

With all this time on my hand, I have a lot of room to think about what the future will hold for my loved ones, my clients, and the wedding industry.

How can I keep shooting if we can’t all be in the same room? Weddings and family photography are all about contact and intimacy. And don’t get me started on the sweaty dance floor dance parties. But then it dawned on me that physical distancing didn’t have to be the end of people-related photography.

It was late one night and I was going down an Instagram rabbit hole (who hasn’t, since the beginning of lockdown?! Don’t lie to me.), thinking how strange it was that I could just dive into someone’s personal life so easily; looking at their pets, their kids, their home.

That’s when it all started to make sense. My phone was the answer to bridging the gap between my couples and me. I researched it a bit, and found out that FaceTime allows one user to take a photo of the other user’s screen when they are on a video call. Creep-much? Yes. But also very useful.

 

 

How does a FaceTime engagement or wedding work?

I did a test with my husband Chris, which was a bit ridiculous since we were in the same apartment. Then I did another more serious test with my best friend who happens to have a lovely place with tons of sunlight going through her huge windows. We decided on the perfect time to catch the best light in her apartment, which was 10am, and off we went.

The shoot was hilarious and very challenging, because I couldn’t move around. My friend was my camera and my body, and I was the eyes only. I had to have her start by showing me all the nooks and crannies of her place to decide which room to shoot in, then she had to prop the phone up at various angles and distances before I hit the virtual shutter on the screen to take a picture. The pictures were taken through her phone camera but they were saved directly to my camera roll (I told you. Creep-much). It took a lot of directing on my part, a lot of “go back this way” and “pivot the phone a hair that way” but the results were surprisingly good for a first time!

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After a bit more training, I decided to make this my thing. My lockdown thing. I will be the FaceTime photographer who shoots engagement pictures and weddings via her phone. And it felt like fate when Andrew Cuomo announced a day later that he would allow virtual weddings to take place in the state of New-York.

So finally, after speaking with wedding officiant Daniela – half of the awesome duo behind Once Upon a Vow – we decided to join forces and offer virtual weddings to our couples.

Daniela and her sister Karla were as excited as I was to hear Cuomo’s big news, and in the next few days they will be sharing a bunch of cool and useful information for couples to get hitched over Zoom and how to proceed. Stay tuned, because those two are a well of information.

And if you want somebody to take pictures of your big-small day, I am available to be your gal for the photo portion of the day. I am offering ceremony-only FaceTime coverage for $50 and ceremony + a choice of FaceTime engagement pictures or wedding pictures for $125.

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So hit me up if you want to get married in 2D! We might all be stuck at home, but FaceTime engagement shoots and weddings will connect all of us again.

EDIT: you can find a complete FAQ on virtual weddings over here as well as the procedure to follow to make your FaceTime wedding official.

 

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