Mint

WE’RE REALLY BACK! Thanks so much for your patience, kind notes & congrats while I was gone. Everything went beautifully and our honeymoon in Bonaire was filled with good sleep, good food, and some amazing snorkeling.

We haven’t gotten our professional wedding photos back yet (soon!) but in the meantime I thought I’d share these gorgeous photos my friend Amy Jones took, along with her process. You might remember Amy from previous posts (her talented self pops up all over Mint – like here, here, and here.)

The photos were taken on our wedding day at the reception site where we were setting up, and in the dressing room before the ceremony. Today I wanted to just share a glimpse, but I’ll share details next week.

So the process, straight from Amy:

“I used a TTV setup to take these photos. A TTV setup involves 3 things: A top camera, a bottom camera, and a contraption to block light. TTV stands for “through the viewfinder,” so what you’re actually doing is using the top camera to take a photograph of the bottom camera’s viewfinder.

Usually, the top camera is a digital SLR – and it works best if you have a macro lens or at least a macro filter (which is what I use) since the viewfinder you’re taking a photo of is at close range. You could do this with a point & shoot, but the final image will be really small because the image you’ll finally use is only usually 1/2 the size of the image your top camera produces.

The bottom camera can be any twin-lens reflex (TLR) or pseudo-TLR camera. Probably the most common bottom cameras are the Kodak Duaflex (which is what I used at Ellie’s wedding) and the Argus 75, but there are tons of different kinds, and they all produce much different shots depending on how the viewfinder glass is made, etc etc… I also shoot through a Voigtlander Brillant, whose viewfinder has these nice little crosshairs!

The contraption is something you make to block out the light between the top & bottom cameras. I use a neoprene wine sleeve which I cut a hole into, which is nice because it transports easily, but everyone’s contraption is different! (Here are some examples)

TLR cameras actually reverse the image you’re shooting (which is why you can’t help but look ridiculous when you’re framing your shot).

I guess the beauty of the shots comes from the distortion created by the curved viewfinder, the dirt that’s usually on the lens, and the rounded corners of the little black frame. You really can’t go wrong if you take enough shots! And you do have to be okay with looking pretty stupid when you are shooting in public, that’s for sure. But it’s worth it!”

Thanks Amy!!! I’ll be back on Monday with more photos of our wedding, the details, the invitations, and all kinds of other fun stuff. Happy Friday, and as always thanks for reading Mint!