You just can’t help but totally fall in love with wedding photojournalist, Kevin Weinstein. He’s real, honest, passionate and immensely talented. Not to mention hilarious, fresh and brutally frank. Kevin is dedicated to his art and takes immense pride in capturing your wedding love story through a lens. {or several, as the case may and probably will, be.} His goal is singular: never go for cliches, but catch the split seconds in between. A notorious fly-on-the-wall (ask guests who accuse him of disappearing), Kevin will photograph your wedding using the most candid approach possible. The results? Moments suspended in time, stunning images, and elated clients. Seriously. He’s the real deal, a true artist that knows EXACTLY who he is and what he’s there to do. And he eats it up. Of course, that means he’s now collected some fabulous clients, like the recently hitched Courtney and Mario Lopez. Kevin was kind enough to share their engagement photos with The Bridal Circle, so by all means, enjoy Kevin’s different photography styles as you check out his revealing responses to our questions… we wanted to know it ALL and Kevin didn’t disappoint.

{THE BRIDAL CIRCLE}:  WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO GET INTO PHOTOGRAPHY?

{Kevin}:  I am approaching my 12th anniversary in wedding photography and coming up on twenty-seven years as a photographer. Two very significant events happened in my life that brought me to where I am.

The first one happened when I was in high school in San Francisco. I went to a very hippyish, very West Coast college-preparatory boarding school and lived in a dorm. During that time one of my close dorm-mates named Cory hung himself in our dorm and died. Cory and I were the two sole sophomore’s elected to run and be the “big brothers” in the Freshman dorm. The Freshman had lights-out at 11, and Cory and I would stay up all night laughing, drinking and listening to Pink Floyd. When he died, I was left alone in the dorm at night. A couple of weeks later I went to the yearbook staff to get a picture of my friend to keep. The person in charge was busy so she showed me to the dark-room, put a negative in the enlarger and provided cursory instructions regarding the process. I recall her saying, “If it is too light, add time; if it is too dark, take away time.” Eight hours later I came out obsessed with photography. I then went on to work for a variety of newspapers, and to get a Bachelor’s degree in photography from San Francisco Art Institute. While studying at SFAI, I completed two very long-term traditional documentary projects on transsexual prostitutes and then teenagers living on the streets in San Francisco’s Tenderloin district. The teenage series won me an award for first place in the United States in the documentary category. As a result, I was led to, and provided with a scholarship to get my Master’s from the top journalism school in the country. Today I’m a photojournalist, and my focus is weddings.

The second event that led me to wedding photography happened on June 1st of 2001. I lost my job that morning due to a buy-out, was burned out with the newspaper industry and looking forward to finding a new direction. I was incredibly distraught by my time at newspapers in the 90s and felt damaged artistically and as a human being. Especially the job I had just been let go from. While searching for a new career completely away from photography, a friend of mine called from San Francisco who had just hurt her back. She was shooting a wedding for a couple of graphic designers in Wisconsin and they wanted a photojournalist to shoot their wedding in a documentary style. I had never shot a wedding before, nor attended a wedding in my life, but my friend pointed out to me that all I had to do was tell the couple’s story which was what I had always done with my photography. I shot the wedding and I loved it! It brought the style that I loved about newspaper work (candid photography), and added a whole new dimension. People were thrilled to have me present and, most importantly, I had the time to really connect with my subjects. My passion, like most photojournalists, is long-term stories. I found a marriage between my passion for photojournalism and wedding photography. A one-day photo essay. Day in the Life.

{TBC}:  WHAT CAN A COUPLE EXPECT WHEN WORKING WITH YOU?

{Kevin}:  A person blessed with an obsessive passion for perfection and will hold his breathe as long as it takes to make a stellar image. I am hard on myself, and you will rarely find myself complimenting my own work. In the end, I am always pushing myself and I never lose steam.  This means my client benefits from absolute attention to detail.  For me, photography is a process of elimination. A shoot, for me, is all about challenges, obstacles and how to work past each and every of those: the venue is too dark; there are people in my way; the subject is back-lit; I can’t get across the room quick enough; there are awful fire doors and exit signs littering my background; the layout of the room is difficult to navigate without sticking my behind in people’s dinner and so forth. Not a moment goes by working an event that I don’t have at least one thing working against me. But I thrive off that. If everything was easy, perfect and challenge-free, I would be bored just showing up and clicking a button to fire off the shutter. But that is what makes my art mine, and why people invest in my work: because they like the decisions I make to tell their story. Clicking the shutter happens after a zillion decisions are made in my head (shutter speed, choice of f-stop, lens choice, distance to subject, position to the subject, lighting, anticipating key moments, etc). That is what challenges me and helps me stay creative. I enjoy knowing that I can work through whatever conditions are working against me and still get the best shots. Photography, for me, is a slightly painful process in my head. If people could witness the conversations in my head while at a wedding, I bet I would never get asked back. Never bored, always challenged.

{TBC}:  WHAT IS YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY PROCESS?

{Kevin}:  As cliche as it might sound, painful and emotional.  Creating is never easy.

{TBC}:  HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY STYLE?

{Kevin}:  I have always been interested in art and culture. When I was a child, I couldn’t wait to receive the National Geographic in the mail and go through the photos. They opened up my vision of the world and taught me about how other people live. Also, when a child, my favorite thing to do on my birthday was to dine at a fancy restaurant in downtown San Francisco and follow my parents in and out of galleries throughout the evening. From the moment I picked up my first camera when I was 15, I never liked when people posed for the camera. I’ve always been a photojournalist from the beginning, I guess. My passion is shooting unscripted moments and long-term photo essays.

Soon after, I found that my camera allowed me to learn about people and cultures other than my own. It was a license to intrude and learn about the people around me. While I am not interested in social documentary projects any longer, my camera still allows me to witness incredible moments in strangers’ lives. I guess you could say I am kind of the stereotypical photographer: shy, with social anxiety, yet gregarious. And a full-fledged voyeur.

My style comes from within. It is always evolving and never the same from year to year. Some years there are minor tweaks; other years there are major overhauls to my approach and style. It is the challenges/imperfections of photography and the equipment along with my ideal outcome that push me to grow and change. I have an idea in my head how I want my images to look (color, composition, distance) and it is my job to figure out how to make that happen for my clients. If that means newer gear, or more people brought on a shoot, then that is exactly what I will do. I rarely find inspiration from other shooters. Rather, I find other’s work which I admire, and use that to ignite passion to go further.

{TBC}:  OKAY, CAN YOU DESCRIBE YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY STYLE IN THREE WORDS?

{Kevin}:  Timeless, bold, emotive, stark, classic.  I get five.

{TBC}:  WHAT LESSONS HAVE YOU LEARNED ALONG THE WAY?  

{Kevin}:  I haven’t made any bad business decisions in my 12 years.  I think things through pretty well, and really let my gut guide me.  Knock on wood, the gut has guided me well.  The one thing I use to inspire me when I am tired and feeling down is reminding myself that it doesn’t take a lot to be mediocre and be self employed.  But it takes all you have to be self employed and noticed.  If the pack turns right, I will find every way to go left and survive.  I gave myself many goals to lead myself to where I am today.  It took 7 years to figure out how to get that ball rolling.  Through the good, bad, exciting and painful, I learned that it is rarely what I expected.  And that is not a bad thing.  Believe me.

{TBC}:  WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PART OF THE WEDDING THAT YOU LIKE TO CAPTURE?

{Kevin}:  For me, it’s probably the preparation. It has all the anticipation, excitement and even fear that makes weddings so emotional. I also like the first dance. But again, there are so many different environmental and physical elements that can change that: too small of a hotel room, challenging lighting, people in my way, etc. This changes for me quite often. I’m Jewish, and I shoot a lot of Jewish weddings. I feel very at home in that environment. I understand the culture and the interactions, and I can relate to the rituals as well as to the people. Some of my favorites things to photograph are the traditional Tish and Bedeken, where the bride and groom are separated and the groom along with his family and groomsmen come dancing to the veiling of the bride.

I also enjoy photographing the Horah and the Ketubah signing. Photographing the Horah makes me reflect on my childhood celebrations. Plus, it reminds me of some of my newspaper assignments: it can be dangerous!

{TBC}:  WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO A NEWLY ENGAGED COUPLE ABOUT PHOTOGRAPHY?  

{Kevin}:  Look for someone’s work who is unique, not trendy.  Trends fade and look silly and unimaginative.  Timeless will last a lot longer, and date better.  A wedding is truly an event meant for a trained newspaper photojournalist or documentary photographer.  It is an entire day of key moments happening in real time.  Dig deep into photographer’s portfolios and make sure they can not only take a compelling portrait, but make equally gripping imagery from a ceremony, cocktail hour, first dance, toast and cake cutting.

{TBC}:  WHAT IS YOUR GREATEST JOY?

{Kevin}:  Personal: Spending time with my husband dining, drinking whiskey, playing with our two dogs and sitting next to him.  Business: Not just making a perfect picture, but creating a mesmerizing story at an entire wedding.

{TBC}:  WHEN YOU TRAVEL, WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE THINGS TO TAKE WITH YOU? 

{Kevin}:  My Ezekiel bread muffins.  I clearly suffer from some OCD and my routine is important to me.  I eat the same thing for breakfast every morning.  But I can’t exactly travel with egg whites, Tabasco and Ricotta, can I?

{TBC}:  WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CITY?

{Kevin};  Where I was born, San Francisco.  I left during the rise of the dot com, and while I was excited to experience other parts of the country, I have spent a lot of energy wishing I were home.  I am 100 percent a West Coaster.  One of the most difficult experiences for me is when I visit home.  I am torn up when I leave.

{TBC}:  WHAT’S NEXT?

{Kevin}:  I can’t really say.  It is not public yet.  A few people know my plans, and are helping me.  The support has been incredible.  But like every other business decision, the gut says not right now.  I am a private person when it comes to what I am mulling over in my head.

{TBC}:  DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE QUOTE?

{Kevin}:  “My name is Davenport. Dawn Davenport! I’m a thief and a shitkicker, and, uh, I’d like to be famous.”. ~ from John Water’s film, Female Trouble

Kevin effortlessly combines the worlds of photojournalism and artistic photography to create memorable images for his clients. For more information about Kevin Weinstein Photography, we encourage you to review his wedding photos in his Creative Partner Profile, or hop over to his website, or reach out to him personally at 312-342-6562 or kevin@kevinweinstein.com.