At my wedding last weekend, the make up artist was putting the finishing touches on the bride. As always, I stood quietly shooting away. As he finished, he insisted that she smile for the camera. I replied that she didn’t need to do anything for me, this was all for her & her husband-to-be. The makeup artist shot back, “Everything is for the camera.” I didn’t respond. He didn’t get it.
At a wedding last month, an outgoing bridesmaid was dancing & being extra silly during the bridal preparations. I saw it from the other side of the room and quickly started to approach and shoot but she stopped. I turned to go back to what was doing but another bridesmaid said “Oh, do that again for the camera!“
During a summer wedding, one of the caterers was instructing the couple on how to cut the cake. Their instructions included that they stop and smile for the camera. I quickly told them they didn’t need to stop for me and to cut the cake as if I wasn’t there.
For the camera (or photographer). These are three words that I dread to hear on a wedding day. My clients hire me because of the emotion and spontaneity they see in my images. They want the joy & excitement captured. They dread the idea of long portrait sessions or contrived set-ups. But there are always well meaning people at every wedding that make suggestions for the sake of my camera. They might be a family or friend whose done or seen something similar. Or they might be another vendor who suggests something they’ve seen another photographer do.
To my brides (and any other bride who hired or intends to hire a photographer for the ability to document your day unstaged), it’s okay to politely decline someone’s suggestion to perform for the camera on your wedding day. You can even minimize this by instructing close family & friends to ignore the camera & photographer on the wedding day. I promise I won’t feel bad if everyone ignores me. I already had my wedding day. Your wedding isn’t for me, so nothing that happens should be for my camera.
