How to be creative with iPhones at your wedding

It's 2014 and everyone seems to have an iPhone or some kind of smart phone, so it's no surprise at all to see them popping up at weddings. Being a Professional Photographer, that shoots weddings for a living, I see them all the time. I have absolutely NO PROBLEM with iphones being at weddings! In fact I actually like to use them in my pictures to get some creative shots like this one below.

You have to be quick to get this shot ;)

The problem I've been having lately is hearing all my Photographer friends complain about iPhones at their weddings. So, today I am hoping to give a different perspective that will push you, as a Photographer, to stop complaining about these devices being in all your pictures and start using them to your advantage ;) 

First off, have you ever tried to take a picture of someone else taking a picture with an iPhone at a wedding? It's not easy! You have to be really fast! For me, it's a challenge to see if I can refocus, expose, and recompose my shot properly before they put down their phone! Here are some instances at previous weddings where I've done this.

low light iphone shots are the hardest.

This is probably the most common iphone pic I will capture at a wedding

The iPhone selfie is also pretty tough ;)

None of these pictures were staged. I see someone taking a picture and I get my camera their fast to capture the shot! 

Second, unless you have an "Unplugged Wedding" you're going to have to deal with iPhones, so please stop complaining about it. Have fun and get creative with them! The following examples aren't the best shots in the world, but hopefully they give you a good idea of where I'm coming from.

I had the Bridesmaids at this wedding all take a selfie of themselves, since everyone of them had an iPhone, and I had them turn their phone's to my camera to get a shot of all of them together. It was fun and didn't turn out exactly the way I thought it would, but I took a chance at it and tried to be creative with it.

the selfie before the group shot

The group shot of the Bride and Bridesmaids together with their iPhones.

I love this next shot.... it was at Scarritt Bennett and I had some time on my hands, so I decided to place their iPhone up against the stain glass window! As you can see, it's on the camera app, so what you see on the iPhone is exactly what's going on outside and that's my favorite thing about it! It really helped to have a talented Groom that could hold the iPhone up and kiss his Bride at the same time ;)

The bride and groom kissing while holding up the iPhone.

My whole point is that we, as Photographers, should stop complaining about the things that are in our way while taking pictures and start using them to our advantage. I know a lot of people might disagree with me, but I would like to think that the whole reason you got into photography in the first place, was to be creative. Here's your chance ;) 

I love the technology that we get to play with and I think it's such an amazing time to be a Photographer! I hope this post helps you to bend your thinking a little and do something creative at your next wedding! If you come up with something completely awesome, let me see it! Let's all push each other to be better at what we do. joe@joehendricks.com