Note: Photographers’ Friday is a weekly blog series directed toward professional photographers, and in some instances, serious amateur photographers. All Photographers’ Friday blog posts will assume that readers have a basic working knowledge of digital SLR cameras, but if you’re left with questions or don’t understand any of the information, don’t hesitate to ask. We love e-mails!

—

One morning this week, I stepped outside — and it smelled, for the first time this year, like spring. Spring, with all its bright young greenness, its neon azaleas and sinuses stuffed with pollen. Well, maybe we could do without that last one. But it’s the season when it makes sense to literally stop and smell the roses. And lately I’ve been thinking about the way that old adage applies so vitally to photographers, and wedding photographers in particular.

Wedding photographers are a special breed. Or at least a slightly crazy one. We merge so many types of photography into one day-long shoot — we’re fine art still-life photographers, we’re family photographers, we’re photojournalists, we’re portrait photographers, we’re food photographers, we’re off-camera-flash specialists and natural light aficionados. All at the same time. And with so much going on, it’s easy to get wrapped up in all the trappings of the day. Making sure we capture the bride’s details in just the right light. Making sure we’ve got the very best angle when the guests are dancing the latest YouTube sensation. Making sure everyone is looking at the same camera during family portraits, with eyes open and no one hidden behind anyone else’s head.

In all that bustle, it can be easy to miss those real moments that mean the very most.Don’t get me wrong — brides and grooms (but especially brides) pour their heart and soul into creating a wedding that is a beautiful reflection of who they are. As any wedding photographer who wants to see her work published will tell you, the details are absolutely essential. And as wedding photographers, it’s our job to not only capture the details and design of the day, but to capture the essence and beauty of it all.

But even more important, it’s our job to capture the essence and beauty of the people.

We can get caught up in the details, in completing our mental checklist of the must-have shots at every wedding, in searching for new and creative ways to tell a  new-but-very-familiar love story. In the meantime though, we as photographers have to be grounded in every moment, always looking for those spontaneous bursts of love that showcase why we’re celebrating a wedding at all.

It’s love that brought these families together, after all. Not the pretty details.It’s the love that is going to matter to couples, and to their families, and to their children and children’s children long after all the details have crumbled and yellowed.

It’s the love that is going to see couples through the hard times, and inspire their children to pursue a life of equally admirable love.

It’s the love that we as photographers are so blessed and privileged to witness and share in on such a monumental day in each couple’s life.

That real, joyous, unscripted love is the wedding celebration.
~ Laura