LOOK…THIS ONE by THE WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER IN LISBON

From an unexpected photograph in a hallway mirror at the
Vila Galé Collection Palácio dos Arcos in Oeiras

• Pode ler este artigo em Português. 

When photographing a wedding

Sensation. Maybe because I’m used to the quick reactions required when photographing a wedding, I’m always a bit surprised when reviewing the photos during the editing phase, and I come across one or another that I don’t remember capturing. I’m not sure if this happens to all wedding photographers, but for me, it happens quite often.
This was one of them. I remember being in the space, having choreographed others that are part of the collection, but this one—I don’t recall the moment or how it came to be. So, from here on, it’s the fantasist wedding photographer who describes, and not the other, the mere wedding photographer, who takes no responsibility for the description. So here it is:

To end the photo session

One afternoon, the wedding photographer was explaining to his favorite couple, at the end of the session and already eager to sit at the table where delicacies awaited them, how they should sit on a very old sofa, worthy of being captured, to wrap up the session. He noticed there was a mirror, and in that mirror were two characters who were perfectly placed for… well, you know what.
So the wedding photographer raises the camera to his face, takes the shot, and continues to direct how best to cozy up on that sofa. It must have been so quick that the memory didn’t have time to hold on to it. Sometimes that’s just how it is.

Point by point:

• It often happens to me when I’m editing wedding photos:
  • I don’t remember having taken some
  • I see one or another very different from how it seemed at the time of capture
• I know they are part of a group of wedding photos taken at a certain moment or location, but:
  • They don’t always match the idea I had retained
  • Many times they surprise me, in a good way, with their quality
  • They end up being must-haves in the final selection
• Since I don’t remember having taken them, I can only imagine, recalling the moment in which they might have occurred:
  • A mirror reflected the couple’s image
  • A photo from an unexpected angle, very quickly captured
  • Perhaps it was the last shot of the session, which explains why I don’t remember
• So I stopped worrying about not remembering some of the shots. I prefer to be happy they show up… out of nowhere.

You need to know:

• A wedding day allows for so many photographs that not all stay in the photographer’s memory. At least not in mine. It’s rare, but it happens. Almost always, I can describe where, how, and when each photo I took at a wedding happened. Even years later.

• It’s probably to make up for a shortcoming that often puts me in awkward situations: my struggle with remembering people’s names. The number of times I’ve mixed up the names of the couple, called them by something else, and when I see them again years later, I can describe all the moments I spent with them and the photos I took at their wedding. But their names… no.

• It used to be an embarrassment every time I showed up as a wedding photographer, until one day I learned it wasn’t just me, that it’s a syndrome with a very long name. I could solve the embarrassment by telling all the couples that came afterward that, no matter how many times they told me or how many times I wrote their names down, it was very likely that on the wedding day… I wouldn’t remember. No worries, we just want the photos.

Everything we agree on, talk about, and I show you during our meeting, I’ll remember it all for years to come. As for your name, I can’t promise. But if it’s wedding photos you want, then that—I’m very good at.

• You can see a full wedding story:

• In Vila Galé Collection Palácio dos Arcos Paço de Arcos, Oeiras, Portugal