Dani & Shane
Tide rocks, flat water, and a walk out to the edge of it. Sound on.
Out on the shelf.
Dani and Shane were married in San Diego in August, and their portraits were made out on the flat tide rocks where the beach gives way to shelf and the water goes still behind it.
Walking a couple out onto wet rock is worth the time it costs. It puts them somewhere no one else at the wedding has been that day, and it gives the film a frame with nothing in it but the two of them and open water.
Notes on the light.
Filming the San Diego coastline means working to the tide rather than only to the sun. The rock shelves that make the best frames here are underwater at high tide and slick for a while after it drops, so the window that works is narrow and it moves by about an hour a day. We check the tide table alongside the sunset time when we plan a coastal San Diego wedding, and we keep the walk out short and deliberate rather than making it a long session.