SOME THOUGHTS ABOUT THE PORTUGAL WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER
An old text I have found in the archives but good to be here:
“I have the satisfaction, and the cross, of loving what I do. I assure you that it is not easy. I could have that candid satisfaction, some call it passion because when we do what we like should be enough to do good work and put the bread on the table.
Wedding photography allowed me to do, in a single job, almost all kinds of photography: photojournalism, portrait, architecture, details, social, etc. That makes me feel fulfilled about my work and I just walk on this path. Maybe I exaggerate a bit but, for now, it is good.
However, if you think that I am a very happy guy at the end of the wedding day, where I was with my loving clients and their families and friends, I am afraid to undeceive you. Well, yes, I was doing what I like and everybody treated me well, I am not sad about it. But tomorrow is the day to see what I did and, until there, the expectation is the word. Download the files with the photos, start to choose them, organize them by place, and select them by quality, moments, and some…trash. So this is the part of the job that this wedding photographer does not like so much. Why chose this one and not that? Oh!…no…not on focus, great I did that, ah!…could be better, love that one, great. So, as you can see, the wedding day is very emotional for the wedding photographer.
I think when we like to do our best, we are very unsatisfied with the final result of the work we do. And, sometimes that hurts. And if does not, well, maybe we are just happy and goofy, just because we have the “passion”. If it is, you need to change the way.
Well, all this writing is because when I am working in the editing of the photos, of the wedding, all the time I question myself about the reason I did that photo, why choose that point of view, if the triggered moment was the perfect one, if I did this one with the perfect frame, etc.
We can do this exercise: in the classroom, a group of students learns how to photograph. Everybody has the same camera, the same lens, and the same object to photograph. As a result of that, we have, always, different photos of each student. Because one used a different point of view, another changed the direction of the light, that one has some special taste for composition and, finally, someone feels that vibe that makes him feel, even if he does know that, and turns the best of the group.
We can learn all the photographic technics and apply them all well and nothing good will be watchable. I think everything we do, will not work only with the passion we have for that, but with some natural inclination. That, when mixed with the technic knowledge allowed us to be good, as I like to say, artisans of our trade. We all have the example of that auto mechanic when he listen to the sick motor and, just with a touch in the right bolt,…fixed, it after everybody in the garage, with all technological tools, tried. Well, he just has…the thing.
I think this example is worth, almost, everything we do. We must feel what we do and, with the use of the technic, we can achieve the best. That is what I have been feeling about my process as a wedding photographer. Learning the technic only put us on the path, and only leads the way. Finding a good result is something that we only achieve with time and, mostly, evolve without noticing that. It is something that is happening day by day, feeling the right way to do it, being critical all the time and we will achieve feel the best frame, the good use of the light and we will serve our clients the best we can do.
So, I believe when the photographers, wedding ones include, find the right photo with hard work, great critical capacity, especially being very, very resilient and, always, with the knowledge, our next client will receive work better than the last one. This is the way, maybe utopian, to a perfect photo.”
Text and photos
Fernando Colaço
