Welcome to Italy! Yes, I have a wonderful winter prewedding photoshoot in Dolomites to share with you. Meet Kenneth and Fangs – a couple from Singapore, yes, they wanted their pre wedding photoshoot to be a bit out of ordinary, so they chose December and mountains as their prewedding photoshoot theme. Scroll down to see more photos of the day and I’ll try to give some comments so you know what’s happening.
Adventure Wedding and Pre Wedding Photoshoots
I’ve had this idea for a while – I like exploring and I love doing this through photography. This photoshoot is a part of my adventure weddings and adventure prewedding series. If you’re into something out of comfort – if you’d like to do have wedding in a remote area – be it hot or cold, water or desert – or if you’re feeling adventurous for your pre wedding photoshoot – give me shout. Since this is what I want to do more and more, I have a special offer for you! WhatsApp me at +447979974527
Prewedding in Dolomites – getting there
The original plan was a bit different though – they wanted to do their prewedding photoshoot in Hallstatt, Austria, but since Oberosterreich was closed for quarantine, I proposed to do the photo shoot in the Dolomites instead. So that’s what we did.
We met in Milano airport – they had arrived from Amsterdam – me from London. Rented a car and headed towards Bolzano. That’s about 2-3 hrs drive. The car rental gave us a car with summer tyres – we knew we were heading towards mountains and were expecting snow, but the rental place was having none of that 🙂 so off we went! Settled down in Bolzano and got ready for the photoshoot next day.
Winter Prewedding Photoshoot Dolomites
The following morning we drove up the Funes Valley, about 1 hr out of Bolzano. We were very lucky with the weather – with sun shining into the valley, it was actually quite warm, so there were no issues with cold weather and bride being in her wedding dress. Love that morning sunlight, when the sun is low it shapes the light. You can see the air is crisp, which is why I prefer the afternoon light, but hey – you can’t be picky, this was perfect!
You’ll be seeing them running and jumping a lot – since that was part of the brief – light, airy, motion, dynamic. And we love sneakers!
Yes, the sun was super strong – add some snow and you just cant help with squinting all the time, so yes, we put on the shades. Unfortunately I couldn’t use ones as it’s difficult to correctly asses lighting condition/exposure wit sunglasses on. Just one of many challenges of being a wedding photographer in winter.
Yep – matching sneakers.
Love seeing the energy between them – so nice and positive – it makes being a wedding photographer easy.
St Magdalena church.
Love this view over the valley – I hear this place is beautiful in all seasons – it’s quite popular destination for landscape photographers in autumn when leaves change colours – I wish to come back here in early to mid October as well, must be beautiful then. Just one of the ideas for your next adventure pre wedding photoshoot.
Looking back at the view, memorising it, waiting for photographs 🙂
Winter Engagement photoshoot Lago di Braies
It took us roughly two hours to drive further up into the mountains for the winter engagement photoshoot in Lago di Braies. Located 1500m above the sea level Lago di Braies was a different story. Much colder and overcast. Thank you guys for being “good sports” and still enjoying the winter engagement photoshoot.
The boat house in Lago di Braies is quite famous – as it’s the title photo of one of Adobe Lightrooms – so if youŗe a photographer, you’ll see something familiar. We were able to walk on the ice, as it was about 15cm thick and can handle people easily – so no danger there. The sign in front of the hotel says “No Picnic”.. then again, we had none planned. We werre hear for winter engagement photos. Scroll down for the set and more info on shooting in the cold.
Wedding Photography in Winter
Wedding photography in winter – what’s it like? Well, in short – it’s cold. No magic here so here is how we do it. The bride and groom usually have some heat packs with them. You can buy them in tourist shops, it’s a pad/pack that you break in half and a chemical reaction starts inside and the pad releases heat. Put few in pockets, behind the dress and unless it’s windy, you’ll be all right. Have a warm jacket or coat nearby and you’re covered.
For photographers shooting in winter is a bit challenging. First – you also have to wear something warm, as being a photographer requires patience and itš quite often you have to wait a lot for clients to get ready. So be sure to wear something warm, warmer than expected. A special note here on gloves – I have special photographer winter gloves, where you can open up your fingertips and use the buttons of your camera nearly in anormal manner – depends on camera then.
The other thing is the photographic equipment. I shoot with Nikon SLRs – the D850 and D5 – both are winter proof and tested in -25C, so it was not a problem here. The upside of shooting with pro SLRs is that they have large batteries, so you can easily shoot a full day with one set. They’re also weather sealed, so for example, when you get in a warm caffe or car, the equipment fogs and the mist doesn’t get into the cameras, so it doesn’t spoil it. Also the buttons are large and all functions are accessed through buttons, without the use of touchscreens, so yes, with pro camera bodies you can continue shooting also in a weather like we had here.
Love seeing them happy!
Singaporeans in snow! Yes, they enjoyed it that much!
Ha, here you can see me in one of the photos. Thanks to a kind tourist, I have a memory from this pre wedding photo shoot.
“This is my new favourite drink” she said – mulled wine, right on time when everyone was cold after this shooting set.
Christmas Market Prewedding Photoshoot
As it’s winter, the sun set quite early giving us time for another set of photos in a Christmas market in Bolzano.
After arriving in Bolzano, we changed sneakers and went into the town. Bolzano in night was quite nice. We did the photo shoot after the dinner, so yes, I have to admit it was a bit too late and the market was mostly closed. But still – we wandered around the old town looking for nice spots to take photos at – and we found them indeed.
If you’d like to book a Christmas Market photoshoot – there’s still time. I’m off to Budapest later this week – will have a nice set of photos there, will share with you for sure.
Thank yo guys for having me as your photographer. It was a wonderful experience and we carved a new route for my adventure wedding series. Stay tuned for more photoshoots – I’m aiming to update my blog more frequently as there’s so much to share. Real people, real weddings, real prewedding photoshoots!
Book me through WhattsApp +447979974527 or through contact form.
ps. the following morning I took the train to Vienna. 7hrs.
