When Marcus Bell creates a bridal portrait, he begins by observing the bride, making mental notes of what he’d like to see. Then, if he can’t replicate the nuance, he’ll ask the bride to do what he saw. For instance, he once saw a bride walking with her head down, then look up and smile at just the right moment. Marcus tried having her replicate the walk a few times, hoping to capture a similar spontaneous moment, but she didn’t look up. So he simply asked her to look up while she was walking. This kept the flow going while allowing him to capture a nuanced and genuine moment.
Greg Gibson, an award-winning photojournalist turned wedding photographer, has a similar unobtrusive approach. As he says, “My clients are professional people. They want to enjoy their day and not be encumbered by posing for pictures. So I try to take advantage of the resources at a wedding. If a bride is getting dressed in an area with bad light I may say, ‘Can we come over here and do this?’ I don’t try to create moments, though, or impose something on their day by saying, ‘Let me get you and your mother hugging.’ I try to let those things happen spontaneously and use my background and experience to put myself in the right position to anticipate those moments.”
Greg Gibson, an award-winning photojournalist turned wedding photographer, has a similar unobtrusive approach. As he says, “My clients are professional people. They want to enjoy their day and not be encumbered by posing for pictures. So I try to take advantage of the resources at a wedding. If a bride is getting dressed in an area with bad light I may say, ‘Can we come over here and do this?’ I don’t try to create moments, though, or impose something on their day by saying, ‘Let me get you and your mother hugging.’ I try to let those things happen spontaneously and use my background and experience to put myself in the right position to anticipate those moments.”
As if invisible, Greg Gibson captures a splendid moment on the wedding day. A slightly longer than normal lens removed him physically from the scene. The rest is just timing and intuition.
