On Portraits

There are posed portraits and there candid portraits.   The latter are not something most people think of when you say "portraits".  Those are done without the apparent knowledge of the subject.  The former, posed portraits, are clearly with the participation or what is sometimes called the 'camera awareness' of the participants.  

Not many people take the latter...they are, frankly, harder to see - fleeting as they are - and harder to capture. 

Posed portraits can be fun or serious but there always seems to be a direct connection with the poser. They are, for the most part, what the subject wants you to see - what they project, not who they are. Not everyone projects well.  On the other hand, like the charming bride and her father below, when they do, it makes for a nice shot.

On the other hand, when a photographer captures a candid moment, a look, a gesture, it can be magic.  These can be an unintended revealing of something more personal, more intimate in a person or between people.  No amount of posing will create the subtle body language that speaks with such emotion...well almost no amount of posing, there are some masters of posing that can recreate candid moments, given enough time.

In any case, the picture above was taken in a graveyard, just outside the church, just before the bride and her father went in and down the aisle.  The time for chatting was over and their gesture were a very personal communication between two people. 

The difference is subtle but something is going on in the second shot that wasn't happening in the first.  Both were taken just before the ceremony.  One will be a favorite of the both of them for a long time. Guess which one?

Oh yes, it's not just couples.  The photograph below was taken when another photographer had been posing the bride for close to an hour.  Bless her heart, the bride had held up wonderfully.   While the other photographer was directing the groom to do something, I forget what, the bride became lost in her thoughts, lifted her bouquet and this quiet moment happened.

I don't think you plan these kinds of photographs, it takes trust and a certain attitude on the part of the photographer.  Maybe we should talk about that in the future. . . DD