An emotional day

I met with two brides-to-be this weekend – one a confirmed client, the other a potential client.  Both are getting married in Galway, where I spent yesterday and today.  Meeting brides and chatting to them about what they want from their wedding photography, and to some extent what I want to achieve with their wedding photography, caused me to remember this photograph, which I haven’t previously posted here even though I captured it almost 9 months ago. It’s an image that deserves to be blogged.

I captured this at the wedding of Aileen and Neil in Holy Cross Abbey last November, and the main reason I didn’t post it at that time is that I wasn’t the primary photographer on the day – the primary photographer was a friend of mine John Williams, and I was tagging along as a second-shooter.

As second-shooter, I was focused on getting the shots that John couldn’t, or on occasion by supplementing the shots he was getting by shooting from a different angle.  This photograph was taken while fulfilling this second duty – John was shooting from the other side of the altar, where he was getting a good angle on the bride’s face.  My aim was to get some complementary shots of the groom during the vows and the exchange of rings.  That approach was preferable to either of us crossing in front of the altar.

While I was focusing my attention on the groom, my eye was drawn to the groom’s sister, who was sitting with the rest of her family, and who just happened to be in my line of sight.  The look on her face, captured in the image above, is full of emotion and perfectly sums up the emotion of a wedding day.  Happiness, pride, sentimentality, perhaps even a little sadness (but the happy “look how my brother has grown up” sort of sadness).

Why this image works well, in my opinion at least, is that not only is the sister’s emotional expression framed by her brother marrying his bride, but to the right of the frame you see a look of absolute pride on the groom’s mother’s face, and out of focus, but still distinguishable, a look of total happiness on the groom’s face.

Throw in a scattering of other expressions amongst the assembled guests and you have, what is for me, a winning shot. If I captured an image like this at every wedding I shot, I’d be one very happy photographer.