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Text by
Elizabeth Friszell • Images by Marie
Labbancz
A
grandmother sits with her grandchildren, smiling as she
flips through her wedding album. That’s the scenario
wedding photographer Marie Labbancz shoots for.
"My primary goal is to tell the story of a
couple’s love and their wedding to their grandchildren.
I fantasize that in 30 years they are sharing this day
and everyone goes back in time."
What Nature Gives
You
"I’m
the warm and fuzzy type," says Labbancz. "I recall
flipping through my mother’s and grandmother’s wedding
pictures. It was wonderful to see them so young and
fun-loving. That’s what’s important. I want to give this
memory to each of my couples."
To
capture the love story of each couple, she unobtrusively
documents the day as it unfolds, carrying three cameras
around her "neck of iron," as her assistant totes
another three. Also on hand: an array of lenses. "I
particularly like to use zoom lenses, such as the Nikkor
80-200," Labbancz says. "And I favor the Contax 80mm for
depth of field.
"I
bring a camera for each lens, the Nikkor 80-200, the 60
macro lens, black & white photos, and infrared
photos. I’m artsy, more photojournalistic. It’s not like
portrait photography where everyone is seated and posed.
If you stop to change the lens, you’ve lost the moment."
Labbancz relies on the dedicated TTL flashes with
her three Nikon F100s and Contax 645, which free her to
savor the emotions and beauty of the day. "I can’t be
bogged down with technical things and equipment. I focus
on composition and creativity, not metering and setting
up light stands."
Ten
years ago, she says, that trust wasn’t there. But today,
cameras are far more advanced. While she hasn’t gone
totally digital yet, Labbancz recently added the Nikon
D100 to her cache of equipment. While she’s "dipped her
foot into the digital waters," she isn’t quite ready for
a full immersion. "There’s a learning curve," she says.
"I didn’t learn film photography in one day, and I’m not
going to learn digital in one day."
For
a typical wedding, she brings eight to 10 types of film:
100-1600 color, 3200 black & white. "I use it as my
palette," Labbancz says. "I know what I’m going to get
from film. And the high-speed films of today allow me to
catch the natural ambience of each place. With lighting
constantly changing, I think the best pictures come from
what nature gives you. I’m driven by where the light is
falling at that time of day and the weather conditions
that exist."
Labbancz often uses a video light to capture the
glow of an evening reception that room lights lose. "I
use 1600 color with on-camera flash and black &
white film without flash. I have my assistant follow me
with an adjustable video light to enhance the ambient
light in the background. It makes the reception pictures
really glow. It’s also great for black & white
outdoor pictures at night, to shine a little light on
the couple, and for rooms so dark you can’t focus."
Romantic Moments
As
the exquisite images in this feature illustrate,
Labbancz captures the magic and intimacy of a wedding
day with the eye of an artist and the heart of a soul
mate.
"In
the opening photo (p. 30), the bride was getting
dressed, standing backlit by the window, waiting for her
bridesmaids to fetch her veil. I grabbed my F100 loaded
with Tri-X set at 320, and focused on the detail of her
neck."
Using her Contax camera, 80mm, and Portra 400VC,
Labbancz catches brides in intimate moments, as in the
photo on p. 32.
"The
bride’s father came into her dressing room before the
ceremony. When he told her how beautiful she was, she
burst into tears. I used available light from various
sources to capture this special moment for daughter and
father."
At
some point during every reception, Labbancz and the
couple escape for some quietude to capture their first
moments as husband and wife.
"I
put the bride’s veil over their heads and tell them to
chit-chat (above). For some reason, couples get the
illusion of privacy and just light up with each other."
She
captured this image with her F100 in program mode using
Tri-X. "I hid the couple in shaded, reflective light."
Printmaker Robert Cavalli helped create the final image
by flashing brown-toned light in the sky to invoke a
feeling of sunrise.
Labbancz’s couples know precisely why her
photographic love stories have the power to live
on.
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MARIE LABBANCZ'S GEAR
BOX
35MM CAMERA
Nikon F100s with
numerous Nikkor lenses
MEDIUM-FORMAT CAMERA
Contax 645
AF with 80mm and 45mm lenses
DIGITAL CAMERA
Nikon
D100
LIGHTING
Nikon SB80DX and SB28
Speedlights
Contax TLA 360 TTL flash
Frezzi
100-watt Dimmer Mini-Fill video light
FILM
Kodak Portra 160VC and
400VC
Fujicolor NPZ 800
Fujicolor Press
1600
Kodak T-Max 100, TriX , T-Max P3200, and
infrared
DIGITAL DARKROOM
Epson Stylus
Photo 2200
Nikon Coolscan IV
Epson
Perfection 2450
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For
more of Labbancz’s images, visit http://www.artoflove.com/
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