Moodboarding as World Building Not a Shot List: A NY Wedding by Kyla Jeanette

‘BASKETBALL MOMENT’
“Our vision for their portraits was to embrace the edge & architecture of NYC. Their ceremony and reception were in a warehouse, so leaning into the brutalism of the city just made sense. On our planning call prior to the wedding, they gave me two hours for portraits and basically said, "we trust you." I took creative control and we spent a good amount of time in the Financial District with no plan to follow beyond eventually making our way back to 9 Orchard. When I realized we had extra time, I decided we should make a surprise stop at a local park. I noticed the wall ball courts first, but then saw kids playing basketball and immediately thought, wait... this could be so cool. I positioned Leslie and Luke within everything already happening around them and let the basketball game continue. That's probably one of my favorite things about photographing New York. Sometimes the city gives you the picture and you just have to notice it.”

The Gear and Details

Camera & Lenses:
Canon r6 + 24-70 2.8 + 24mm
FujiX100VI
Contax g2 28mm + Portra 400

Coverage: 3 shooters over 12 hours

Photographer: Kyla Jeanette

‘POOL SHOT’
“During the after party, I was getting ready to head out when I noticed some of the guys playing pool. Two of their heads were already perfectly positioned under the lamps, so I directed the third guy to stand under one too. They were all drunk and truly had no idea what was going on, lol. But I saw the composition before I saw the moment, made one tiny adjustment, and it ended up being one of my favorite frames.”

Setting the Scene

“For nearly every wedding, I build a moodboard from Pinterest using mostly non-wedding imagery. Campaigns, interesting lighting, composition, architecture, movement, literally whatever makes me stop scrolling. I organize everything into sections in Canva and then incorporate the planner's design deck so I understand how their actual wedding will live within that inspiration.

I don't use the moodboard as a shot list. It's more about putting my brain into their visual world beforehand so that when I'm actually shooting, I can react instead of reference.”

“Artistic, fashion-inspired and a little moody, but still timeless. They really embraced the rawness of 99 Scott rather than trying to completely transform it. There were darker colors, sculptural florals, draping, stainless steel and really intentional lighting. It felt very them. Stylish and unexpected, but still very much a wedding.

Rebecca Marie Weddings absolutely slaughtered the vibe. There was so much creative range without anything feeling like it was there just for the sake of being cool.”

Getting Ready

I usually start getting ready with still life imagery and accessories. I can easily spend 45 minutes there depending on how much there is. I love pulling surfaces and elements from the actual space rather than bringing in a flat lay roll because I want those images to still belong to the environment they're in. I'll also take stationery home with me whenever possible so I have the time and creative freedom to really give it its own moment. For this wedding, I actually photographed the stationery at the wedding location (99 Scott) because the rugged, brutalist background felt much more interesting against something so refined.

“From there, I don't really look at getting ready as something I just need to document before we get to the "real" portraits. I want that part of the gallery to have range too. I'll photograph the actual process candidly, but I'll also step in when I see an opportunity to make something more intentional.

Leslie's suite at 9 Orchard gave us SO much to work with. The couch, vanity, windows, rug, all of the color and texture in the room. Her outfit was also incredible. So instead of defaulting to the typical PJ photos, we played within the space and made portraits that still felt relaxed and natural to her, but visually could stand on their own within the gallery. Some were a little more fashion-forward, some were quiet, some were just her actually getting ready.”

“I don't want to force a fashion shoot into someone's morning, but if the person, wardrobe, light and environment are giving me something, I'm absolutely going to use it. Then she gets dressed and voila, we're onto the next part of the story.”

Ceremony

“I had an assistant and second with me for the first half of the day.. Then once guests started arriving, a third photographer joined. My assistant also helps with drone, lighting, additional gear and, very importantly, keeping me on track.

I bring a very intentionally curated team because I need space to breathe creatively. A lot of what people value about my work are the more signature images, and I can't make those if I'm constantly worried about whether every other part of the day is being covered.

I usually build my photography team around two priorities. One photographer is essentially an extension of me. I trust them to see what I would naturally gravitate toward if I were there. The other is an amazing documentarian. I trust them with the people, relationships and all of the meaningful moments happening around us.”

Portraits

“Portraits were a huge priority for this wedding. Leslie and Luke gave me two full hours to basically run around New York and do whatever I wanted, which is a dream. I knew I wanted a ton of range though. Classic, edgy, romantic, a little weird, fashion, movement, New York. I didn't want to spend two hours creating different versions of the same photo.

‘A FAVORITE’
“Backlight is such a simple and obvious concept, but I love this image because it happened so quickly. I had been walking in front of them while they were in direct light and loved what I was getting. Right before we entered the hotel, I jumped behind them and quickly told Leslie to look back at me as they made the turn.”

❝

“Sometimes I'm very intentionally creating something, and sometimes I'm just noticing what's already happening and making it a little better.”

- Kyla

“I like to scout the day of, or maybe a few days before. I want the freshest perspective possible based on what the location and conditions actually look like. Especially in New York. Construction pops up, the light is different, streets are chaotic, and changing, etc.

I also don't like going into portraits with every photo already planned. I want to know what I have available to me, but still leave enough room to get inspired in real time. The basketball photo is a perfect example. That was absolutely not on a scouting list haha.”

‘LESLIE IN THE SUNSET’
“Leslie's welcome party outfit was to DIE for. The organza silk moving in the wind with all of her accessories needed its moment. I kept looking for opportunities to juxtapose the fashion with the reality of New York. For this one, I literally just had her stand at the corner of an intersection.

‘CLOSE ON THE COUCH’
“After the basketball court, we headed back and photographed around the hotel. At that point I knew we already had the classic, the edgy and the romantic images. What I felt like we were still missing was closeness. The room was dark and dramatic, which is an environment I thrive in. I had Luke pull Leslie close and grab her chin, then positioned myself so her face was fully in the light while Luke fell into shadow. I think part of creating range is knowing when you already have enough of one thing and looking for what's missing.

‘UNPLANNED EDITORIAL’
“While we were waiting for an Uber from the hotel to the reception, Leslie sat down on a luggage cart while Luke called the car. Nobody styled it. They just naturally composed themselves into this perfect little story.”

Reception

“The lightingggg. 99 Scott is massive, and instead of trying to fill every corner, they let parts of it fall away and used lighting to create these different pockets of energy. As a photographer, that gave me so much to work with.

I didn't use much flash during the reception itself since The AV lighting was so intentional. If someone has gone through the trouble of designing beautiful light, I don't automatically want to add any other additional lighting unless I absolutely NEED to for a moment.

Once dancing started, though, I wanted the photographs to get rougher with the energy. That's when I leaned more heavily into flash.”

THE WAITER
“Leslie and Luke really wanted negative space prioritized throughout the imagery. During cocktail hour I saw this waiter from above and loved how small he felt within the frame and how much emptiness surrounded him. I actually expanded the background slightly in Photoshop afterward to push that isolation even further. I'm not opposed to manipulating an image especially when it's supporting something I already saw in the frame.”

THE TOAST SHOT
“During toasts, it's so natural to stay in front of the speaker. Why wouldn't you want their face? Well, I did. AND then I moved behind them. I already had the obvious photograph, so I started looking for another perspective that could add more narrative to an otherwise repetitive set of images. The three things I really prioritize when delivering a gallery are narrative, range and transition. I never want 20 technically beautiful photographs that all tell me the exact same thing.”

Closing Thoughts

“I think what makes my work mine is less about having a specific "look" to every single image and more about how I see things. I don't really want someone to be able to predict exactly how I'm going to photograph their wedding. That would honestly bore me, haha.

I'm really inspired by who I'm photographing and what they created. Their taste, their clothes, their friends/family, the space, etc etc. I want all of that to influence how I photograph it rather than coming in with this predetermined idea of what a ‘KJP wedding’ needs to look like.

I come from a fashion background, so I definitely have that part of my brain that's always looking for an interesting composition or thinking about how I can make something more visually interesting. But I also really love people and the completely normal, unplanned parts of weddings. I think the fun part is figuring out how all of those things can exist together and still feel cohesive.

I don't want to make the same gallery twice. I want someone to hire me because they trust my perspective, and then give me something completely different to respond to.”

— Kyla Jeanette