Friday Photo: A Beautiful Commotion

MC Motors Wedding Photography

I suppose the things that immediately strike me about this photo are, first, the joy of shooting with a large depth of field (this was shot on f11), and secondly just the joy of serendipity. By shooting like this you’re able to capture so much more of the story than had the aperture been wide open and the camera hovering around f2.8 or lower. Not only do we have the brilliantly funny central scene of the poker-faced little girl attempting to drag one of the guests off by her dress (she was not the girl’s mum), but we also have, quite separately, the bride consoling her overwhelmed young daughter to the left of frame (which nevertheless ties in with the flower girl at the head of this story), along with reaction shots of other onlookers — the little boy in green and the background guest in red. It’s a frozen moment of everything. And the second thing which I touched on at the start is luck, serendipity or happenstance. I do believe that by paying close attention to the things around you you really can make your own luck. You develop a kind of sense for things and maybe on some level learn to read the subtle energies in a room. But nevertheless this is also just out and out luck. If I’d been standing anywhere else in MC Motors’ large open space I just would not have got this shot. You can’t do anything about that. You’re either where a photo is or you’re not. But when you are lucky enough to be there, be ready…