I love the entrance to the Reedley Mennonite Brethren church. The light coming through those doors is dramatic, and all that drama just made me want to put Kaylie’s wedding dress right in the middle of it. The first problem is that it’s a heavy dress. The other problem is that I wanted the dress RIGHT in the middle of all that light-induced drama. So my ever-willing assistant (Lisa) hauled the dress up a flight of stairs and hung way over a rail at risk of life and limb to give me what my petty, petulant aesthetic demanded. But it wasn’t quite good enough for me. I wanted to drop the dress and watch it flutter serenely to earth. But that’s where my ever-willing assistant drew the line: we would NOT, she firmly told me, be dropping anyone’s wedding dress from the height of a one-story balcony.

I wasn’t ready to give up so easily. I talked with Kaylie, the actual wearer of the wedding dress. And she cheerfully agreed to give me the power to ruin her wedding day AND her beautiful dress solely for my crazy little artistic whim. Kaylie’s the kind of person I love shooting weddings for: beautiful, happy, and willing to really let us unleash the creative genius at almost any cost.

So we launched the dress. We only had to do it once, and came out with a beautiful progression of pictures. The imagination is what makes a picture, but technical execution makes it possible. Enjoy!