Before and After: Phil Wenger

“We left the Location through the back door and ran through the rain for 30 meters”

An image broke the record books of our groups this week and we are happy to tell you the story about it. Phil Wenger took this awesome shot in Switzerland on August the 1st. Let him tell us the story about it !

1/40sec, f1.4, ISO 2000, Flash Power Manual: 1/32 - Kodak Ektar 100 Cool

It was a very Special wedding day for me. First it was August 1st, that's the National Holiday (Like 4th Juli in the USA) in Switzerland, plus the groom is a very good wedding photographer himself. So I felt some pressure on my shoulders and I really planed some exceptional shots, something unique and something i havn't tried bevor.

We spent a wonderful wedding day and had a great bridal shooting in the morning where i was able to already take one of my unique shots through an old Rolleiflex (loaded with a Illford BW film) which they already loved very much. 

Taken with an old Rolleiflex

At about 10pm in the evening it started to rain again, a little more than on the rest of the day. That's when I walked to the bridal couple and asked them, if they are willing to do a special shot in the rain. They did not hesitate and told me that they fully trust me and if I think it's worth it, they will follow me.

I prepared the wireless flash trigger, set the camera to the settings i believed might work and grabbed one of the guests and asked him if he is willing to join us for a very short rain photo session. His job was to stand behind the couple and hold the Flash. He was like: "Oh that's great, that sounds interesting". For the bridal couple I gave the instructions that they just should stand still, look at each others, maybe give a little kiss and only move very slowly.

So we left the Location through the back door, ran through the rain for like 30meters and stopped in a very dark place right next to a patch of grass. I tried to autofocus but it was too dark. We didn't had the time to look for a mobilephone or some other light source  so i switched my lens to manual focus. I took the first image and quickly checked the camera display. Sadly. it was a little bit too bright.

First shot, ISO too high ( Pretty awesome anyways !!! ) 

So i lowered the ISO to 2000 and took another image. It looked good on the display so I shot around 10 Images while moving the Manual Focus ring slowly Forward and backwards. From the first Picture to the last it only took 20seconds. After that we ran back to the house. 

Some of the other shots from the series

The gear that he used

• Canon 1dx
• Sigma 35mm Art f1.4
• Canon EX600RT Flash
• Phottix Strato II Wireless Flash Trigger

We were all very wet. The camera and flash were totally covered with water drops. I quickly looked through the images and showed them to the bride and groom and we were all totally blown away.

We went back in and a lot of guests looked at us and asked: "Why are you guys so wet?"
I really appreciated the couples trust and believe in me and i'm really thankful for moments like this. I always try to go a Little further than others and this time it really worked. I know, the idea of a rainshot is nothing new, there are a lot of other artists who did that before and maybe more professional. Nonetheless,  i believe that this picture means a lot to the bride and groom and also to me.

I'm really thankful for all this.
 

Unedited - SOOC image

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