THE CEREMONIES by THE WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER IN SINTRA
The groom and the bride in photos in front of the altar at the São Pedro de Penaferrim Church in Sintra, during the wedding ceremony
The subject
I have, in my time as a wedding photographer, a fairly large amount of wedding ceremonies captured as one of the chapters of a day with several of them each with very specific characteristics. This is not the first time I have written about this, about the whole story of the day or about each of the parts and the way these interconnect.
Also, what should I write about if I photograph weddings for a living, if this place has to do with the way I do it, how I think I should show it to possible clients and, I should also say it without any sense of guilt because I like to write about it? The big problem is that so many times I’m back on the same subject and between so many articles it can start to be repetitive and massive for those who like to scroll between the various pages of my Blog.
The repeat
But, at least so I like, and need, to think. The same could be said about the fact that a photographer during the several years of his professional life is constantly entering and leaving churches, Quintas, or other spaces, with ceremonial tables and arches decorated with flowers and rows of chairs filled by those who like them, the bride and groom, and witness that they have sworn love and accept what the priest, or another officiant, has just described to them and be sworn as truth.
Why would a photographer who goes to weddings to bring photos of the ceremonies, and the other stuff, at some point not repeat himself for always walking on the same subject? This was a question I was asking myself in my early days as a wedding photographer. Think about it, it’s always the same thing, and sooner than you think you get fed up and can no longer see bride and groom sitting in front of priests, or other officiants, and you might as well not start then give up.
The smiles that are never repeated and photographs
But after all these years, I still haven’t given up, nor does it cross my mind to stop wanting to go to wedding ceremonies to bring them as photographs. What’s so interesting about them? The smiles. I challenge anyone who has the patience to go through the pages of my blog, and there are many, and read the wedding ceremony photos that I have here, to find two repeated smiles, that are boring or demonstrate that the wedding photographer is always doing the same thing and might as well change his life.
All you need are those ever-changing smiles, some from ear to ear, others of those who close their eyes in such a way that it also looks like they’re laughing, and still others that you barely notice but you can see that they’re about to explode with joy and emotion, so they keep quiet. Because of this, the wedding photographer will never get tired of going back there or writing new articles on the same subject. So I believe.
