HOW TO PHOTOGRAPH THE FIRST DANCE BY THE WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER IN LISBON
The wedding day is a sequence of small rituals and symbolic moments. That is why the wedding is a commemoration day. The first dance is one of the last of the days. For the first time in their life and, after the ceremony that declares them husband and wife, the couple will perform for everybody, as stars of the day that belong to them.
It is a moment of great responsibility for the wedding photographer and, as it is a concern to me, I have no problem saying that it is the only moment, of the day, that I do not have a clue how it will happen in the next minutes.
All the techniques of the wedding photographer must be at the service of that moment, special the capacity to guess and react to the fast movements that will happen in the moment to come. I assure you that it is a fight against the unexpected and wish that somehow, those two faces will give me a together that deserves a great photo.
Pursuing all the twirling and twirling myself, faces that never are in the right position for a photo, the low light does not let me react with the speed that the situation asks for and, in the end, sometimes, the couple stops suddenly because we are no great dancers. I will not say that is my desperation moment of the day. It is not. I just love that.
That lack of total control gives me additional energy to find the right way to do it. Until today, when come the moment to show the album to the couple, I always see a nice smile on their faces when they see that chosen photo. That is how I know, seeing their eyes looking for a moment if my eyes saw what they should see. And, in the end, my eyes become very glad, a lot.