At Kathy and Chris’ wedding on the 29th of August I couldn’t help but stare at all of the old wedding portraits they had on one of the tables. These stunning portraits were their grandparents wedding photos. I must have studied them for about 5 minutes. You know the type of portraits I am talking about. The sepia toned image of your grandparent’s wedding that is probably sitting at your parent’s (or maybe your house or in my case my sister’s house). They are absolutely beautiful and I am completely captivated by them. Imagine what your grandparent’s or even your parent’s wedding day was like. As a part of their wedding day you went to the local photographer’s studio and sat for a portrait. The photographer may have taken 3 or 4 photos…maybe 5 if you brought your wedding party (which was probably just the best man and maid/matron of honor). That was it…4 or 5 photos and they may have chosen 2 photos to be printed. But look at them…these photos are timeless and were taken by master’s of their craft. Contrast that with 60 years later. Now we take thousands of photos at a wedding to try to capture every last little detail that the bride and groom spent so much time putting into the wedding…but you know what the reality of it is…most people still only print a handful of images from their wedding to put on the wall. That ONE image that defines the wedding. It’s different for each couple and each wedding. Even my wife and I only have 2 or 3 images enlarged and framed from our wedding. One is a shot of the two of us and the other is a shot of our entire wedding party. And we have literally almost a thousand images just sitting on a disc. Do we as a society think we need more and more and more? Sure it’s nice to have all of that, but what is the reality of we actually use or what is really important to us? As a photographer I want to capture that timeless photo for each of my couples for them to pass on from generation to generation. Whether it is a portrait or a candid moment I get inspired and hope I can live up to and match the craftsmanship and art that those photographers who took our grandparent’s portraits used. These were just a few of the thoughts going through my head when I was studying those beautiful wedding portraits.
Speaking of Kathy and Chris. Here is a little peek. I’ll post up more on their big day tomorrow. Enjoy
no comments