OUT OF NOWHERE by THE WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER IN SINTRA
A photo guessed and made real, at the wedding ceremony at Quinta de Nossa Senhora da Serra in Sintra
Going empty, to fit all the photos
The moment I leave for my wedding day I try to go as a teacher told the class before the exam, a few days ahead: go empty. And that is true. If my head is empty and I do not think about what I may find during the day, more space I have to recognize what is photographable and react to the exact expectation of the moment.
Not thinking about it means not imagining or anticipating something that still has not happened and, for sure will not happen. Cleaning my head lets me recognize, better, what is really happening, not compare with some imaginative expectation, and be free to absorb what is really in front of me.
But, of course, there are lots of things that I can not drain out of my mind. I can not forget my mind and my body, because my body with all parts of it also knows how to photograph, and have a memory to help me to execute well, in the proper moment. This is the most important part that I must charge with me: everything that allowed me to take photos until the moment before this wedding day.
This memory of the photographer
This memory is not always present in the front of my mind, but, by magic, every time it is needed here it is the exact lesson for the necessary need. I need to carry with me in my empty head as my bag travels with my tools even if I do not see them inside, but necessary to carry on with my job.
But it is amazing what this empty head can do, for me, during a wedding day. She guides me on a long day, to various places, the groom’s home, the bride, the ceremony, and the party place. Detecting potential photos, helping me with what to choose, looking for the differences, anticipating trajectories, etc. The weddings are all the same. I am true, in structure.
But as with everything that belongs to human nature and behavior the detail and the way to move can be completely different. So, to be aware of these differences I have those little voices that I do not hear but they must be there. When I select, late, all the photos I can see that help, it must be, because all the different moments were not in front of me screaming loudly…hey…me…me…me.
Empty head but memory ready
Because I go with an empty head but with a memory always ready to fire alarm, as a fly detected by infrared ray, I show you this photo. My attention was on the girls carrying the rings. Suddenly, in the corner of my eye, I detected the groom lowering his face but I was not in the right place to wait and see. So, do not ask me how, I jumped to the left with the camera in my eye and just in time to trigger two photos, no more.
One of them was this one. I am sure that it was not possible if I had a moment to think about it. I did not, but I am certain that something did it for me. My empty head was full of memory trials. What else? A full wedding photographer.
- In Quinta de Nossa Senhora da Serra in Sintra.