A wedding photographer’s job is to capture a wedding day in all its love and significance. Add to that a setting as breathtaking as the Sunshine Coast’s natural beauty and you have images not soon forgotten.
Sherry Nelsen, principal photographer and owner of Fresh Air Photography, fuses her passion for photography with her love of natural landscapes. The result? Photography that is simultaneously intimate, emotive and that celebrates the outdoors.
Nelsen started out as a self-taught photographer and continually takes photography workshops to boost her skills and keep them fresh. She has been photographing couples since 2013.
Her first priority for a wedding is capturing the day’s events so her clients can look back at their photos and relive all the details and emotions. She often sees what a couple might not have noticed but will delight in seeing soon afterward—and for many years to come. “Often, they’re not necessarily going to remember or see all the little things I can see, like Grandma wiping a tear from her eye. I have to be their eyes and tell the story for them.”
Nelsen describes her style as timeless, staying away from visual trends that could date her photography. “I want my photos to stand the test of time. I want my clients to look at their photos thirty years from now and be taken right back to their amazing moment, that amazing place,” she says.
Part of achieving that timelessness is ensuring that her clients’ personalities shine through in the photographs. Nelsen’s wedding packages include an engagement session so she can build rapport before the wedding day and help her clients feel comfortable being photographed. As for location, since many couples choose places that have personal significance, Nelsen strives to honour that by highlighting a setting’s natural beauty, in balance with emotive captures of the couple.
Nelsen has recently started offering “adventure elopement” packages. She is available to travel anywhere in the world for a couple’s nuptials. This can mean a remote location on the Sunshine Coast or anywhere further afield: a tried-and-true, tropical destination spot or a bespoke, outdoor adventure. “People are realizing that weddings don’t have to be traditional. You can make the rules . . . I want to help people figure out what they want to do and then help them make it happen.”
Nelsen’s wedding vendor connections stretch far and wide. For a small adventure elopement, she is able to help a couple plan logistics such as the officiant or flowers, in addition to taking the photographs. For her part, she arrives at a location a day or two in advance to scout and decide exactly where and when is best to photograph the couple.
No matter where her wedding photography takes her, Nelsen’s favourite part of the job is connecting with people, “I get to meet new people–the couple, their families—and build relationships. I feel honoured to be there for one of the most special days of their lives.”
Words | Nancy Pincombe
