THIS IS A PHOTO by THE WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER IN PORTUGAL

A photo on the ramparts of Alandroal Castle, Alentejo, with the bride and groom descending a staircase

• Pode ler este artigo em Português. 

From the perspective of a wedding photographer

What must a photograph have to be appealing to us? It depends on what we expect from it. It’s a bit like music. It’s not whether it’s complex, like classical music, or simple, like a popular ballad, that makes us lean toward it. Many times, I see someone delighting in a photograph that, when I look at it, doesn’t seem at all worthy of that satisfaction or even attention.
 But surely, I must be the wrong one. I may be looking at the photograph, perhaps, from my perspective as a wedding photographer, and it has nothing to do with that, or I’m analyzing it based on my aesthetic knowledge, and that might not be where its value lies. I might have no connection to what’s in it, no empathy, and once again, that photograph doesn’t speak to me.

Any photograph can attract any observer

Many times, when selecting photographs I’ve taken during a wedding, I come across some that attract me much more than the others. I wonder if my clients will also pay attention to it the way I believe it deserves. It’s the same issue as that one photo, I see no value in considering.
 However, there is a kind of standard, and once a photograph belongs to it, any photograph gains the status that allows it to catch the attention of any observer. These are the ones I’m always on the lookout for in my work as a wedding photographer.

Point by point:

• Photographs have become, since their invention, an important part of our lives:
  • For what they can represent
  • For what they can show us
  • For the memories they can bring
  • For the importance of who’s in them
  • Or simply because we like them
• We don’t always know why a photograph is important. Many times, it’s only important to someone for deeply personal reasons.
• But there are those photographs that are universal:
  • No matter who sees them
  • Because they tell something important to the world
  • They helped change mindsets
  • They exposed injustices
  • Or simply because they are beautiful
• Many times, when selecting wedding photographs, I wonder if the one I choose will be important to the client.
• That will always be a dilemma for the wedding photographer:
  • To choose a photo that is not very meaningful to the clients
  • Or to reject one that could be of great importance to them
• Of course, there’s a kind of rule set that the wedding photographer uses based on experience, the couple’s reactions, and common sense. It usually works.

You need to know:

Photographing on a wedding day is an act of immediacy. It’s about observing events, establishing a strategy, and reacting by photographing in the moment. Many times, speaking for myself, I rationalize very little while photographing, because thinking takes time.

That’s why I’ve trained myself so that the gap between detecting an event and photographing it is as short as possible.
 But that time must also include choosing the subject, composing the image, and capturing the right moment for it to be a photograph. If we have to rationalize every step of taking a photo, we’ll miss a large part of the story we’re there to tell on the wedding day.
I

It’s precisely the story of your wedding day that I want to be able to tell you. I have the tools—both material and mental—to do it effectively. I invite you to a meeting so I can show you how. I’ll be waiting for you.