HIGHLIGHTS by THE WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER IN PORTUGAL

When a girlfriend of the bride shows another the photo she took at the wedding ceremony in Nazaré

• Pode ler este artigo em Português. 

The Kodak Moment and the Wedding Photographer

Since the beginning of photography, the speed at which an image reaches the eyes has always held great interest — both for those who practice it and those who look at it. Sometimes, a brand ends up defining a product or an action.

Even today, there are countries where people call a photocopy a “xerox,” the Kodak moment is well known among photography lovers, and the Polaroid instant shot was only defeated by the digital generation. Even now, the camera is starting to bow out shyly, being overtaken by the mobile phone, which, besides making calls, is now the tool of choice for stealing photographs.

Everything Is Part of the Wedding Day Story

That’s why the wedding photographers constantly finds themselves surrounded by glances over smartphones — “look how it turned out,” “take another,” “this one’s better,” “oh how cute,” “show me show me show me” — while the wedding photographer moves silently around with nothing to show… for now. They could feel out of place, maybe a little down, and lose interest in continuing to cover the wedding they were hired to capture.

But that’s not what happens. For the one whose job it is to photograph the wedding, everything is a subject, everything is interesting, and everything is part of the story of the day. If the wedding photographer is a hunter of moments, storing them away on the memory card of their camera, then people’s reactions — feeling photographed and immediately looking at themselves — couldn’t be better for a camera that will only show its results later.

Nothing is left out.

Point by point:

• Since it first appeared, photography has become so ingrained that we can’t live without it.
• I still hear — and enjoy hearing — people talk about the “Kodak moment.” The moment of a photograph.
• Today, mobile phones are the main stars of those moments, especially at weddings.
• That’s why it’s so common, on a wedding day, to see people pointing at others, at themselves, or gathering in groups to check the photos they’ve just taken.
• Instead of feeling jealous or left out — because the photos I’m taking at the wedding can’t be seen right away — I take the opportunity to include them in mine. It’s part of the day’s story.

You need to know:

• The love of photography is something that already lives in all of us, no matter the intensity or level of interest. As a photographer telling the story of a wedding day, I constantly come across “colleagues” who will complete that story in their way. I never see them as competitors but as complements — and I often take advantage of them to snap a photo of someone taking a photo. Most of the time, it works beautifully.

At your wedding, the photographer should document everything that happens throughout the day — including others taking photos, too. It’s become such a part of the celebration that it deserves to be in the story, just like anything else. Let’s meet so I can show you the stories weddings hold and how I tell them in the wedding albums.