Sometimes I have those discussions between me and my photography about the color and the black and white photo. It is not a great conflict because my tendency for black and white photos is very biased and, sometimes, when I need to resolve when the color gives me some trouble.
I explain. When I am photographing I come across problems that deserve a fast solution. What is the best framing, inside that framing what is the best composition e what is the right moment to press the camera shutter button? When framing I decide what part of the scene, in front of me, I will choose to put inside the viewfinder of the camera.
After that, I need to decide how I will compose that, which lens to use, from what point of view, which angle will give more authenticity if the scene contains joy, emotion, satisfaction, or restraint, and from where the light is the right light, that mysterious click that will transform that stream of decisions in a beautiful photo. At least it is the best wish of the wedding photographer.
But it is not as easy as the last paragraph may show. That desired harmony sometimes does not work. The colors inside do not agree with each other to appeal to the senses of the viewer. Sometimes, the color, better, colors fight each other for the protagonist and the result of that competition is a complete cacophony of colors that make us look elsewhere. So the solution is asking for the help of the black and white and that fight, with the parts of the photo, give us a beautiful all that makes us happy to observe.
With that method, one by one, I edited the photos from the wedding of Susana and Edgar with a ceremony at the church of S. Pedro de Penaferrin, in Sintra, and the party in Casa de S. José. During the day I was deciding the best framing and compositions and in the calm of my computer desk, as if every photo was a song and I was a music arranger, I was observing and deciding if the color of black and white to better preserve the essence of each photo.
I know that Susana and Edgar loved my decisions and they realize that the wedding photographer is a bit more than just pressing a button of a camera during the wedding day and I wish them, for their life, the same kind of harmony that I what in my photos.
