TWIRL OF EMOTIONS by THE PORTUGAL WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER I

The photograph is one of those that took place at Casa de Reguengos, during the couple’s first dance at the wedding party

• Pode ler este artigo em Português. 

The First Dance and the Wedding Photographer

If there’s one part of the wedding day that pushes my adrenaline to the limit, it’s the first dance. No matter how much I try to understand, together with the couple, what’s planned, things can get complicated very quickly.

Because what they ended up explaining to me wasn’t actually what happened, because someone in the room decided to turn off the lights for ambiance and didn’t warn me, because the bride, out of great love, hide her face between the neck and shoulders of the groom, he, loving it, keeps his face hidden in her hair, or because they start and… that’s it, here comes everyone. Well… I’ll stop here.

Photo of the dance at the wedding

But since I’m not the kind of wedding photographer who gives up, I’m like a playful dog on a beach on a stormy day, bringing back the stick to its owner even if it doesn’t land in an easy place to find — I don’t give up until that moment is captured properly.

Here I have a perfect sense of what I’ve written about in another post: the moment. To create a perfect photo, everything in the moment must be perfect. The position in the space, the harmony of the bodies moved by the chosen music, the glances in the right direction, and all the harmony needed so that the dance photo is… a true dance photo. And achieving that is a joy, for the wedding photographer and for those who danced.

Point by point:

• For the wedding photographer, the couple’s first dance can be a real surprise:
  • It may not be easy to photograph:
    • No one informed me about the choreography
    • Someone turned off the room lights
    • The bride hides her face on the groom’s shoulder
    • Suddenly, everyone floods the dance floor
• But, because of the duty I have to the wedding photos:
  • I never give up until I find the right shot for the first dance
  • There’s always a moment when the perfect photo reveals itself
  • It will be the symbol of that couple’s first dance
• On the other hand, most of the time:
  • It goes very well:
    • The photographer syncs perfectly with the couple
    • They draw beautiful shapes with their dance steps
    • They always present themselves perfectly to the wedding photographer
    • The photos become an unforgettable memory
• Despite the great challenge the first dance represents, I always manage to bring back photos that tell, beautifully, that part of the wedding day.

You must know:

• Two moments always test me on a wedding day as a photographer. They’re quite unrelated, but each one, in its way, puts me in a position where I almost lose control over what I’m doing. Of course, being a photographer who doesn’t interfere with the event, the only control I have is over the techniques I use to capture the photos.

• The first is the couple’s entrance into the church, especially the bride’s. The lighting conditions offered by that grand door are extreme in terms of what my cameras are technically capable of. It far exceeds what they were designed to handle. But, with a few tricks and know-how, the photos from that part of the wedding always turn out well.

• The second moment is the couple’s first dance at the start of the ball, or dance floor, as you prefer. Lighting can also be an obstacle to good photo capture, but as a last resort, the wedding photographer always has tools to solve the problem.

• At the end, its biggest mystery is the unknown. For about three minutes, I’m standing before a spinning couple with no idea what the next dance move will be, what emotions will emerge, and whether the result will be hard to translate into photos or a spectacular display to show everyone how amazing the couple of dancers — and the wedding photographer, of course — were. Or the middle ground between the two cases, the most common and seemingly the most natural.

Whatever the case, I’ll be there for your first dance with everything I’ve got, to bring you the photos to show everyone. All you need to do is book a meeting where I can show you my work, especially in the wedding albums.

• You can see a full wedding story: