GETTING NOTICE by THE WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER 

A photo of the bride talking to guests after the wedding ceremony

• Pode ler este artigo em Português. 

A photograph greater than others

There are things I still don’t understand. Despite the years I’ve spent photographing, I still can’t figure out what makes a photograph carry such an energy charge that it becomes far more captivating to the eye than others. Of course, it can be explained afterwards. It will have those fundamental elements necessary for a more refined reading

But at the moment when the wedding photographer decides to press the shutter button, often in situations where he must react to a great number of stimuli, a kind of inexplicable thing happens where everything aligns. The moment, the posture, the look, the smile, the background, the framing, and the colours, which are not always a photographer’s friend. And when all of that happens, it must be celebrated—in a photo.

A photograph before it ever was, at the wedding

I’m not too fond of giving opinions about the value of my work. That’s up to those who see it. Of course, I draw my conclusions, especially from what I know didn’t turn out well, but when everything clicks, I’m sure it worked—and that it wasn’t by chance. I saw that photograph exactly before it had been. I believe that’s one of my best qualities as a photographer, and in a wedding, that is fundamental.

Point by point:

• I’ve been a photographer for quite a few years now, and there are still some mysteries I haven’t been able to unravel:
  • What are the necessary elements that make a photo attract the eyes?
  • It can be more or less explained in hindsight once the photograph exists.
  • But in the moment of capture, how does the photographer know?
• When the moment to photograph is right in front of the wedding photographer’s eyes, it’s true they sense it’s the time to shoot. But why?
• Of course, there are elements in the composition that help them perceive this:
  • The moment itself
  • The posture of the person being photographed
  • A smile in the perfect measure
  • The surrounding space
  • The colours and tones
• All of this can make the photographer intuit that the photograph is right there, ready to be captured. But is that all?
• What mystery allows the wedding photographer to know that? It can’t be chance because it happens too often.
• What is certain is that often, I see the photograph—whether at a wedding or not—a moment before I make it one.

You need to know:

• The act of photographing comes from a mystery that draws me more and more into photography. I think it has to do with the challenge of not knowing exactly what happens at the moment of capture. Observing the moment, composing the shot, and waiting until it’s time to press the shutter button.

• I’ve always questioned that moment, that perfect timing. How do I know it? Through intuition? Through experience? Maybe. But without a doubt, it’s this mystery that makes me want to get it right on the next one, as if all the photographs I took before were just an approach. The next one.

Don’t worry about the wedding photographer’s doubt. It’s just a reflection of what fascinates him—the moment of a photograph. It won’t be resolved in yours, but it will get you closer to understanding it. Let’s talk in a meeting, and I will show you many photographs and wedding albums.

• Photo from a wedding at Montes Claros Restaurant in Lisbon.