The glamour and
the terror

>> Wedding photog makes even
Bridezillas sexy on their big day

by CHRIS BARRY

Name: Chelsea Gray

Age: 29

Occupation: Photographer

Bio: This gregarious, fun-loving St-Henri chica “has always been a creative kind of person,” having rocked her native Vancouver as a teenage sax player in ’90s ska band the Skavengers, and previously coming this close to a career in dance with Ballet BC. Armed with a BA in psychology and French lit, Chelsea came to Montreal with the purpose of studying photography at Dawson, and upon graduating in 2005, soon found herself apprenticing “under one of the best, most reputable wedding photographers in Montreal” and loving it, realizing that she’d found her niche. Describing herself as “a punk-assed, fashion-forward photographer with a modern, sexy approach to wedding photography,” in the slow winter months, she helps pay the rent by shooting endlessly exciting promo shots and the like for local rock and hip hop acts.

How can wedding photography ever be “sexy”? “Well, I’ve got a background in fashion photography, so I take women and really make them look glamorous. I’ll take the natural beauty of a woman and shoot photos from various angles that accentuate her best features.”

What if the bride is a hound whose best feature happens to be her penis? “Listen, Photoshopping away wrinkles or a mole in a place where you don’t want one is really easy, it takes two seconds. Most clients, actually, want their pictures Photoshopped to some extent. They all want to look glamorous. So if someone asks me to take 20 pounds off their frame, sure, no problem, I can do that.”

So how does any of that differ from the next wedding photographer? “Look, Montreal is oversaturated with these old, greasy dudes who are just really cheesy, making everybody pose in these weird ways, you know, old school and tacky. I mean, a lot of these guys don’t even know how to Photoshop, the quality just isn’t there. Whereas I just like to let ladies let loose and do their thing, looking beautiful on their own while I sort of try and be unobtrusive and just take pictures of them. You know, I’ll hide in the bushes and jump out when they least expect it to take their photos, and yeah, the women love that.”

One creature every wedding photographer gets to know sooner or later: “A Bridezilla.”

What a Bridezilla is: “It’s a bride who calls you every week leading up to her wedding obsessing over every little detail and who always winds up running around screaming on the actual day of the ceremony. They get absolutely crazy, these girls, running around their houses with their family trailing them, screaming at their mothers, it’s insane how some girls can get. My job, of course, is to make them look glamorous while they’re running around screaming and stuffing bocconcini in their faces.”

How often she meets this creature: “Oh, I’d say one out of every 10 weddings features a Bridezilla, they’re pretty rare.”

How to hire her: www.blushingbridestudio.com.

Childhood ambition: To marry a surfer.

Last book read: Notes From Underground, by Fyodor Dostoevsky.

Musical preferences: The Clash, Elvis Costello, Crystal Castles.

Words of wisdom: “Honesty is the best policy.”

Comments: dimwit@hdot.net