Jenny Sun

Wedding photographer, Jenny Sun, shares with us the true rewards of photographing weddings and how to find the perfect photographer for your big day.

This July, we shine the spotlight on those who work behind the scenes to make a wedding the joyous and memorable affair everyone knows it to be. Having spoken to wedding gown designer, Celest Thoi, we now speak to a wedding photographer, who freezes in time the stolen kisses and sacred moments between couples in the days leading up to their big day. 



Jenny Sun of Jenny Sun Photography needs no introduction as one of the most sought-after wedding photographers across the world. Her job has taken her from her home in Sydney, Australia, to the most exotic locations in Asia as well as the most breathtaking landscapes of Europe. She has even been flown out to places as far as New York by clients who believe in no one else but her to record their love on film. A quick flip through her gallery shows us clearly why.

“There is just something magically arresting about catching people, their expressions and their emotions, within the frame,” she shares on her official website, www.jennysunphotography.com. “I love the buzz of being there to seize those moments that they will remember and want to keep for the rest of their lives.”

Ironically, the petite photographer, who was born in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, before moving to Sydney at the age of 3, didn’t start out aiming to earn her living with a camera. Quite the contrary, she was all ready to jump head first into business and finance in university. 

“To be honest, I never really considered myself creative at all, in all my life, even all through high school,” she says with a cheeky grin. “My first stint at anything creative was when I decided to do a last minute university course change from business and finance to graphic design at the end of high school.”

A chance encounter that saw her trying out a hand in photography for a short stint during university opened to her a door that would change her life forever. “I dabbled in film photography while I was there, but it wasn’t until a few years after I graduated that I found out I really loved photographing people.”

She touched many different areas of photography from the moment she got her hands on her first camera – a Canon 350D -- from still life and landscape to travel and street photography, but it was ultimately people and wedding photography that stole her heart. Spurred on by little else other than pure talent and a spoonful of natural instinct, her camera began to bring her recognition beyond the likes of anything she ever imagined.


Preserving memories and freezing love

Today, armed with a Canon 5D Mark III, Sun is part of the International Body for Wedding and Portrait Photographers and her work has garnered numerous accolades from the body, including a Top 3 placement in the renowned ‘’Bride and Groom Together’ category of the print competition. On top of that, her photos have also been extensively featured on internationally well-known wedding editorial websites like Green Wedding Shoes, Junebug Weddings and Ruffledblog among others.

Love, as subjective as the word is, is the main reason why she does what she does.  As a photographer, she can materialise and freeze forever even such an intangible emotion.

“I love being able to preserve love in frames that people cherish more than almost any other physical possession,” she divulges. 

Of her photography style, she describes it as “simple, romantic, timeless, and dreamy,” a winning formula that has seen countless satisfied customers. Many appreciate her works for the simplicity of her shots, most captured in a sensitive, expressive style, but many more love her for her work culture. She is ready to direct her subjects when they are at a loss of what to do, yet, at the same time, more than willing to step back and let love speak for itself with couples who are more comfortable in front of her lenses.

“It comes down to how well a photographer communicates with the subjects they work with, and just how comfortable they can make them feel,” she shares. “When couples feel good and feel at ease, the moments unfold on their own and couples are much more able to just relax and let go in front of the camera.”

 


"You can’t share a memory, however you can share a photo"

The professional photographer who has been in the business full-time since 2008 does not believe in bending her style to suit a client’s taste. In fact, when it comes to choosing photographers, she encourages couples to find one who already shoots in the style they prefer so as to keep to the integrity of both the client's taste and the photographer's style.

“I really encourage couples to really sit down and work out what style they love in photography and then find a photographer who does exactly that,” she states. “All the couples that come through the Jenny Sun Photography door are very in tune with our look and style already, so what I already do, is what they want.”

Once clients have decided it is she who they want photographing them, however, her ability to create magic through her lenses is infinite. Friends and strangers alike have come under her eye and she derives pleasure from photographing both, although photographing people she knows on a personal basis gives her a little more pressure than complete strangers. 

“I like that strangers are a blank canvas, and that I can build from there,” she tells. “With people I know, it's like painting on an already used canvas. The starting block is already full of history and things I know about the couple, which can actually cloud my natural instinct on how I want to communicate and pose them.” 

At the heart of her job beats the knowledge that she is helping to create and preserve some of the most cherished memories of people’s lives that they can return to over and over.

“Photographs are the only physical piece of a memory that has already happened that cements it in the exact way you remember it,” she says.

“You can’t share a memory, however you can share a photo for years and years to come. That is priceless.”

 

All photos in this article and gallery belong to Jenny Sun. 

 

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