Should photography, as a memory element, represent the most faithful possible reality, the event, or take advantage of the subject you have in front of you to recreate it?
It is an issue that has set me up early, as a wedding photographer, and that, once in a while, returns to my mind. By assuming myself as a wedding photojournalist, that is, a photographer who follows what is going on around him, captures and does not intervene, so as to be as faithful as possible to reality, will be enough this attitude or the photographer can titling itself as a photojournalist, forgetting the institutional connection to the representation of the profession, but rather to its way of doing.
Example: When I arrived at the house of João or Catarina should I reproduce as close as possible to what my eyes saw or, as I did, use the tools of my profession, the cameras, and the lenses, to dress differently what was going on around me? I assume that photographic equipment alone has limitations in capturing the images: captures with much more contrast, is much more sensitive to color variation and the lenses that I use can completely change the field of view compared with our eyes. From the wide-angle to the telephoto lens, it completely alters the relationship of “seeing ” compared to our eyes.
So why not the wedding photographer take that difference and make it a factor of creativity? Profiting the distortion factor of the wide-angle lens and producing images of great tridimensionality and depth. Everyone remembers the photograph of a particular square seen in a magazine and when visiting it, is amazed at how small it is. Or use the telelens to separate what you want, and still take advantage of the “blur” factor to dress and engage the bride and groom in a cloud that just shows them only.
That’s what I’m counting on to tell my stories about the weddings of my brides and grooms. Show them their wedding day in a completely different way than the eyes of the wedding photographer and your guests or family. However, this cannot be done free of charge: images can not lie. The moments have to be those moments.
The image achieved must have correspondence to what was crystallized and count in a way that the harmony and good use of the composition give, finally, the event and the very truthful image that results from it. That’s my goal and my constant research. Rigor in the composition and efficacy in the uptake. Only these two conjugates allow a good final result.
There are some images of Catarina and João’s wedding.
From a wedding in Casa de Reguengos, in Vila Franca do Rosário.