Showing posts with label Blog. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Blog. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

The same BUT different!


No two people are alike.

We have all heard that statement. It also applies to snowflakes and fingerprints. However, it also applies to weddings! This wedding season (yes, there is a wedding season!) I have had the pleasure of shooting some truly different types of weddings and it's been quite interesting. I have already written about the Brown Wedding and how that came together. Each event brings a new and fascinating aspect to experience and varied point of view. As the photographer, my goal is to be omnipresence and to be unobtrusive as possible. As you can image, those two beliefs don't always mesh with each other. I am always proud when I see pictures from the guests of the wedding and I am in NONE of them! I know I was there and I took a picture of the same thing that the guest did but I managed to not be PART of the proceedings. It involves a certain amount of stealth.

That said, it is almost impossible to not be involved in what's happening. The words of the officiant will move you whether you are single or married. If you are of that faith, you find yourself mouthing the words of the ceremony, right along with the cleric! The joy of the couple is infectious and you would have to be a stone wall to not smile when the bride comes marching down that aisle. On top of all of that, sometimes you get to capture images of the most spectacular and beautiful settings. The last wedding was a good example of this. The couple got married in one of the most simple yet ornate church's that I have been to. R and J were married in an Anglican church in Brooklyn NY and you could imagine stepping out from the doors onto the English countryside. It was gorgeous and the couple took full advantage of the beauty of the space. So did I.

If you have ever attended an Anglican or Catholic wedding, you know that there is a mass included. Translation: the ceremony is long! I guess that's the trade off: Protestant and evangelical churches have long services on Sundays but short weddings and Eucharistic churches have short services on Sundays and very long weddings! But the length of the wedding allowed me to fully shoot the church, the wedding party, the guests, and all the little details that I would have had to rush with a shorter event. R and J were a regal couple and emanated a love that with carry them forward and that, coupled with a great setting, made for excellent images (or at least, I think so).

My hope is to one day be the photographer for an Indian or a Greek  Orthodox weddings! Those are spectacular visually!

I wish them well and pray that their relationship will always be housed in beauty in the same fashion that their wedding was housed in a beautiful house of God.

Staying in focus...on to the next frame.

Greene Light Photography would like to thank the Pearsons for permission to images and descriptions from their wedding for this blog.

Monday, December 5, 2011

Any ear will do...

Have you ever been out minding your own business and a random stranger strikes up a conversation with you? Before you know what's happening, they are telling you their ENTIRE "story" as if you are an old, trusted friend. I think it has happened to all of us at some point and if it hasn't happen to you, just wait. Pretty soon you too will have the joy of having to listen to someone pour their soul out to you and your only recourse being to grin and bear it. The sad part is that it's almost always a sob story, the old someone-done-did-me-wrong song. Today, in an elevator, a women said "today's a nice day. It's still nice even though I just got a pay cut!" As she got off, I stood there wondering what was that about and why she would even share that with me! Was there an applicable response that I was supposed to deliver? Would a "those BASTARDS!" made her feel better about her situation?

There is something underneath all of that: we as humans need to share our thoughts. The preferable option is to tell someone who cares, about them and/or the situation. Often though, some of us don't have that luxury and in those cases, any ear will do. Beware if it happens to be yours. The flip side of that coin is that there are people who PREFER not to speak to their loved ones for fear of judgement or reproach. We have a whole profession dedicated to listening to people so that they don't have to talk to their family and friends! When you spill your guts to a stranger, they don't know you enough to critique your point of view. In fact, if you're truly a random stranger more than likely you will just stand there and listen while as we rant and, for a lot of people, that's all we really want: someone to LISTEN while we go on about how bad our lives are. It makes us feel better. Kinda.

So the next time you get confronted with a drive-by counseling session, just listen and nod, or do what I do...try to out "whoa-is-me" them and tell them about how bad YOUR life is. Even spice it up and make up maladies! Let's see how they like it for a change!

These are my thoughts...what are yours?