Neil March 24th, 2008
I listen to the Camera Position Podcast by Jeff Curto and thought listening to it and thinking it through would help all of you making decisions about what type of wedding photographer to hire.
Entry #62 poses the question - Is Beauty Enough?
Visit his page to download from his site.
“Why do most great pictures look un-contrived? The deception is necessary if the goal of art is to be reached. Only pictures that look as if they have been easily made can convincingly suggest that beauty is commonplace.“
This simple quote strikes to the heart of the struggle of ‘choosing a wedding photographer’ when the issues of budget and beauty, of posing and photojournalism collide in your mind.
I hope you enjoy the podcast and this bit of art theory and criticism as you contemplate your photography investment and how it might pay off for you in the future. I hope our pictures look easily made to your eye, because the beauty I see is all around me.
For us, beauty is not in the way your wrinkles can be erased out of the way, but how they can so easily be overlooked when the picture is of a genuine moment or thought - and thereby looks so easily made. While photojournalism is a good word for what we do, it’s become an overused catchphrase in the wedding industry - but an understanding that we strive to make our work as ‘un-contrived’ as possible every time we shoot is probably the best way to understand what we do. The most common, and the most satisfying complement we get from our photos is “it feels just like we were there!” And that complement may not be coming from someone who attended the wedding!
If you are considering spending 5-10,000 on wedding photography and are unsure of what style photographer you want to go with, maybe you should consider reading Robert Adams short collection of essays on Beauty in Photography to find your personal preference for beauty and meaning in photographs. Maybe you’ll even decide the most lasting perspective or approach for capturing your family memories. I would not wish for you to have a personal preference of ‘romanticism’, where you prefer imaginative poses or very stylized images, and hire someone who spends their time finding unique moments of personal interaction. I would equally regret for you to be enticed by overtly romanticized wedding photos and 10 years from your wedding regret that a more inclusive approach had been taken that captures how much your grandmother appreciated being a part of your wedding.
I intend for you creative blessing and peace in your choice,
Neil March 10th, 2008
If you’re looking through Neil’s photos, you might see some weird looking blur…
Why’s this image blurry in a funny weird way? I used a Canon 90mm TSE lens which allows me to tilt the glass elements that form the image on the camera sensor. The lens can then focus on more than one place, which is why it’s more than just blur……
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Neil February 8th, 2008
how do the details that we shoot add up?
how sensitive are we while we are shooting?
Liesl was picking up on the eyes that Christine was giving her man during cocktails. If you care for someone, you know their moods during a party, you keep your eye on them, maybe you give them ‘eyes’ across the room to spice it up, maybe you keep tabs on whether they’re ready to go, maybe it’s the simple things that really show love, and maybe it’s these deeper more sensitive details that you’ll be able to cherish from your wedding photos when you hire a careful and sensitive artist like Liesl. It’s not an earth shattering picture, but it’s one that shows what your real-ationship looks like.
Maybe we need to go to the extra effort of helping you illustrate your feelings for your spouse, by facilitating time for you to find that special spot of being held by the one you love. As we earn your trust, you can give yourself over while we are working with you - and the magic is made.
Sometimes the photographer has to be the ‘bad guy’ and ask you to have a moment to yourselves on your wedding day!
Tomorrow I’m off to shoot an engagement session, and am asking myself and my clients the same question “what does your relationship look like?”
You can answer in the comments if you like - or wait until we ask you when we shoot your engagement session.
Neil February 2nd, 2008
Tanya’s thank you card design:
When Tanya ask me for ideas for her thank-you card I recalled the sign welcoming her guests to her reception tent shown in unaltered form below and above cleverly pixel pushed to show a “Thank You” where it used to say welcome (and the pole disappeared).
I believe that the long-term value in my photographic services resides in their documentary strength. To expand that thought I believe that the images you will cherish in 12-13 years when your daughter finds your wedding album will be the gestures of love and tenderness your family extend, and the details captured at your event from every angle with those acts as the centerpiece of the stage. It’s somewhat funny, and somewhat depressing, but I often ask clients what their favorite image is from their wedding and it always surprises me! Every wedding I’m proud of a few images for artistic reasons, documentary reasons, and unintelligible reasons. But after a few years of entering contests, and winning, I quit entering for these last two years because I felt ’shooting for the contest’ was warping my approach, and could take me too far away from the images my clients hold most dear.
Out of this breakdown, came the new business and redoubled approach that I needed to re-build our business into “Make Love Real”. The pictures my clients love most are the simplest ones, the truthful ones. So is PhotoShopping an image truthful?
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