We recently connected with Elena Gera and have shared our conversation below.
Elena, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?
Moments hold immense significance to me when it comes to weddings: the groom’s tearful eyes as he beholds his radiant bride for the first time in her wedding gown, the infectious joy and spontaneity that the children bring as they lead the conga line, and the tender affection shared between the bride’s parents as they steal a kiss during their dance. These are the moments that I strive to capture, moments that are not just pictures but emotions frozen in time.
These irreplaceable moments are the heart and soul of wedding photojournalism, where I thrive. I’m like a gardener, meticulously sifting through the vines to uncover the ripest fruits beneath the surface.
My passion lies in capturing those fleeting yet deeply significant moments that make a wedding day special. I focus my lens on these moments, immortalizing them for the couple. This is the essence of my style: photojournalistic and observant. I am fueled by the exhilaration of hunting for the perfect moment, so I named my business Focus on the Moment.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I am Elena, a professional third-wheeler, also known as a wedding photographer. My job is to capture every moment of a wedding day. I accompany the couple, spending more time with them than their guests or family members. I document emotions, details, and festivities—from the bride’s precious jewelry to tears at the ceremony and crazy dancing at the reception. I aim to create timeless memories the couple can cherish forever. My work has been recognized by The Knot and the Portrait Masters, and I am proud to have been featured in prominent bridal blogs and print publications such as Brides&Weddings, PrettyPear, and Let’s Get Rehearsed.
I photograph weddings, engagements, and surprise proposals on the East Coast, focusing on three neighboring states: Virginia, Tennessee, and North Carolina. The never-ending beauty of the Appalachian mountains is a constant subject of my pictures, along with the happy couple.
My clients are easy-going, outdoorsy people who, like me, are passionate about planning creative aspects of their weddings. They are not just looking to save money but to infuse their special day with their unique personalities. It’s not uncommon for me to photograph a wedding where the bride bakes a masterpiece cake or crafts her wooden flower bouquet, or a groom plays a guitar and sings at his wedding. This mutual passion and creativity make working with them a joy; this shared energy draws them to me.
The main problem I solve for my clients is being natural in front of the camera. My couples are never professional models, and relaxing when the camera is pointed at you is hard. Believe me, I know – I have been on the other side multiple times. I achieve this natural, relaxed atmosphere by giving easy prompts, joking, laughing, and never holding my couples in one pose for over five seconds. We moved through the poses quickly and seamlessly, and the couple didn’t even notice sometimes what a great variety of poses we had achieved in a short period. My favorite time comes at their ceremony and reception – me just being a fly on the wall and hunting for the right moment, where all my skills and natural light would create a one-of-a-kind masterpiece. I also offer pre-wedding photo sessions to help couples get comfortable in front of the camera before their big day.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
My love for weddings is born from my passion for a great story. It still surprises me how I ended up in the wedding industry. Weddings were something that I was shying away from throughout my photography career. Being a graduate of the Photojournalism Program of the International Center of Photography in NYC, I was sure I was on the path to becoming a war photographer. I longed to tell deep, heartbreaking stories in black and white, where every frame screams of unheard voices and people’s suffering, as the best documentary photographers such as Sebastiao Salgado or Eugine Smith were telling. Do you remember the iconic photo of the Vietnam girl covered with napalm? This photo of Nick Ut helped to stop the war! I aspired to do like.
Yet, I am glad I didn’t follow that path. After photographing the Arab Spring in Cairo in 2010 on a newspaper assignment and narrowly escaping severe trouble, first with the unruly mobs and second with local police, I realized two things. First – I am not brave enough; second – I can not handle tragedy. Call it selfish, but I wanted to be surrounded by happy people. Did I switch to wedding photography at that point? No. My photojournalist peers regarded wedding photography as something shallow. Commercial and at the bottom of the photography world. I had the same idea.
My Russian background was not helping; weddings were something I had witnessed all my childhood in Moscow, and they were different from the epiphany of beauty and grace. They were loud, messy events full of silly traditions like drunken relatives trying to “steal the bride” and asking for “ransom.” These weddings often ended with a big fight. Or, less tragic, just were quite boring events with people sitting at the table and overeating, occasionally stopping to demand the newlyweds to kiss. I was so scared to have a wedding that when my time came to get married, I vetoed any festivities with the two of us, just signing papers in court and calling it a day.
My career as a photojournalist for GEO, a European travel publication akin to ‘National Geographic,’ spanned a decade and took me to over forty countries. This global exposure allowed me to witness and document various social and cultural phenomena, from burial in a fire in India to a whale greeting ceremony in Australia. I relished the opportunity to share these unique stories with the world, using my camera as a tool and drawing on the knowledge imparted by my teachers. This experience laid the foundation for my approach to wedding photography, where I strive to capture the unique story of each couple’s love.
I wanted my viewers to see what I had been lucky to witness. I wanted to share how multi-faceted and diverse the world is. How giant our planet is, and what wondrous things can be found on it. My approach to wedding photography is actually no different because LOVE is the most extraordinary thing we humans have the fortune to experience.
Throughout my photography career, I have met many incredible, talented, inspiring people who have helped shape the person and photographer I am today. I have photographed architects and archaeologists, fishermen and firefighters, scientists and circus workers, ministers and models. Believe it or not, I even photographed the man operating the first moon module from Earth! Yeah, his business card actually said, among other things, “Lunar Rover driver”!
The turning point was in 2017 when my best friend invited me to her wedding. It was my first wedding in the US, and I realized how much beauty and happiness it holds. Watching her photographer, I realized I already had all the necessary skills (and gear!). In 2018, I photographed my first wedding and fell in love with it!
Having worked with so many different people, I have come to realize that couples who speak the language of love are now my absolute favorite subjects. This is when, in 2018, I started “Focus On the Moment,” my own wedding photography business.
My love for weddings is a kaleidoscope of emotions and experiences. It’s the purity of a bride’s dress, the reception hall’s shimmer, the wedding cake’s sweetness, and the bittersweetness of the love songs. It’s the sparkle in the bride’s eyes and the tear in her father’s. It’s the joy of watching little children dance and the reverence of a flower girl taking tiny steps, fully aware of the moment’s significance. I even love the pressure and stress – they fuel my creativity and drive me to deliver my best work.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
Freedom is the greatest reward a creative receives. It is freedom to choose your working hours. They can be very long working hours, but I enjoy every minute because it is my choice. It is freedom to choose the people you work with. It is also the freedom to create something out of nothing. It’s freedom to grow and learn. However, it is also the freedom to make a wrong decision and lose. But being an artist also means unspeakable joy when you feel you have done something unique. This feeling gets me out of bed every morning – the unearthed possibilities I haven’t yet discovered.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.focusonmoment.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ellengera_/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/focusonthemoment
Image Credits
They are all mine