WELL, THE LUCK for the WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER
A photo, at Quinta das Riscas in Montijo, of the father taking his daughter to the wedding ceremony
Shining eyes
This is one of those photographs that I’m proud to be able to say you see this one, I did it myself. It has all the elements that interest me when I set out to be a wedding photographer. It’s of people engaged in a process that is wanted and with the importance it has, to them.
It’s part of one of the most emotionally charged moments of the wedding day, both because of the anticipation of the moment that comes next, and the strong bond between the two characters in this wedding photo. The daughter who will give herself for the wedding and the father who, containing his emotion, takes her with conviction and to whom she looks with a delighted face, with shining eyes as if to say don’t worry, I’m still your daughter who loves you. Seconds later, she will take her place in the front row of the ceremony venue and stand next to the one to whom she will say yes, I do.
Photo Release
You have no idea what goes inside the wedding photographer when he follows this path, accompanying these main characters of a story that will be told with his photographs, and knowing that on this journey, like butterflies that cross our path and enchant us with their beauty, so some photos will be released in the direction of his lens so that they will indeed be so when printed on a sheet of paper or part of a story on a page of a book that will be made.
He, the wedding photographer, knows this, knows that these wedding photos will happen at any moment and only expects to have the clairvoyance to notice them and the knowledge to, at that precise moment, capture them and make them fly, like butterflies, through his chosen lens and quiet them inside the camera that had the wisdom to keep them as a precious possession.
The luck of the photographer
One often hears, from those who see them already as photos, that the wedding photographer was lucky because the photograph gave itself to him, the merit being hers alone. On the one hand, this is true. It was lucky that the wedding photographer was there, that the couple chose him to cover their wedding ceremony, that the weather, or rather the sun and those who accompany it, offered him that light that settled on the faces with so much truth on them, that the place where things happen offered him a scenery that knew how to fill the spaces around it and, of course, that the main characters of that scene, in their natural improvisation, did not fail to manifest what was in their souls at that moment.
Now was the moment for photography
Of course, it was luck. But as they say, luck only comes to those who play. And the wedding photographer of course played the game. He chose the lens that would best read this part of the event, he knew how to follow the event from the right angle, and he had the clairvoyance to realize that now was the moment and the knowledge of photography techniques to make it all happen.
That’s why he was chosen by the bride and groom. He was not there by chance, that would be luck. It was his obligation, his duty, to know how to bring with him the emotions that these characters manifested during the various stages of the wedding day. This is also why he doesn’t rest until he meets them, the photos, at the next wedding.
- In Quinta das Riscas in Montijo, Portugal