I met Florin Stefan (https://florinstefan.ro/) for the second time at the Fearless Conference 2019 in Aachen (https://www.fearlessphotographers.com/). The conference is always a nice opportunity to see friends from all over the world again and share our photographic experiences with each other.

With Florin, we got to talk about our plans for 2019. He told me he was traveling to Italy in May to photograph a wedding in Tuscany. Obviously, immediately I offered myself immediately to come as a second photographer and he quickly agreed.

So here we were in Tuscany, pouring rain under the cloudy sky. But this didn’t affect anyone’s attitude or mood. That´s one of the things I love more about destination weddings. Everyone is there on holidays but on top of that, they have the opportunity to enjoy a wedding with family and friends in a completely different context as they usually would. The bride and groom, Rumanians based in The Netherlands, they got a good mix of friends from back home and from all over the world.

From the very beginning everyone made me feel very welcome and part of the team. One of the things I love the most about being a second shooter at a wedding is that you can take off your back the responsibility that comes as the main shooter. You are there to help in anyway you can, but also to enjoy and have fun photographing, almost as doing it for pleasure. You can find angles, perspectives and moments that otherwise, being the main photographer; you wouldn´t always have the time and the patience to spot.

The weather forecast wasn´t very optimistic, but that didn´t stop the bride and groom to have an outdoor wedding. It was an orthodox ceremony and I loved it. It is always very interesting to see different kinds of religious celebrations rather than the ones we are used to.  It´s a privilege to observe and learn from different cultures and traditions by being an spectator in such an important day of their life and also to have the luxury to capture it.

By the time we were ready for the cocktail, Florin had already ordered the clouds to open up (there is nothing he cannot achieve) and we enjoyed the last rays of sunshine before dinner. By the end everyone was ready to party to commemorate these amazing few days in Tuscany.