I had shied away from photographing wedding because I never thought I was qualified enough to deliver pictures that would make the bride and groom happy. I thought that I needed experience first, perhaps as a back-up photographer or at least, to have been part of a full day’s run (one of the “brothers” perhaps), before being qualified. Because so many things are happening, I often shudder at the thought of missing THOSE crucial pictures if I had no inkling of what was important and necessary. What is attractive to me might be total crap for the couple.
I got my first break shooting for a lovely couple who are friends of Tristan, a dear photographer friend of mine. Tristan said they were looking for someone with a photojournalistic style and he thought it would be so sexy to get a real photojournalist. Anyway, despite my apprehension, I could not say no to them because that would have put Tristan to shame. When I met the couple, Mary and Presley, they proved to be a dream couple to shoot for. Simply because they were quite OK with the idea of not directing the photographer. Basically, I had the licence to roam.
And I must say it was really fun. So my apprehension has been uncalled for. In fact, there are so many climaxes that it is impossible not to get decent shots, unless of course you are totally switched off.
Then I move into the realm of pre-wedding shoots, something I tried to avoid in the past because it deals with one thing that I felt I was never very good at – posing people. As a photojournalist, I never had to worry about shifting people. “Sir, please tilt your head this way, now smile. Good, now smile again, without the teeth.” And I never had to worry about making people look good. But for pre-wedding shoots, that would have been suicidal. I have noticed that when a bride first picks up a picture, the first spot she zooms in on is her looks and whether she looks thin enough. It doesn’t really matter if it was shot against the backdrop of Alaska, the Grand Canyon or the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. “Geez, my arms are fat.” That’s it, the picture is going into the recycle bin. Nothing wrong with that of course. In fact, it is incredibly important. It’s just that this requires a skill that doesn’t come instinctively for me.
But when Fong and Rachel approached me for their pre-wedding shoot, I again couldn’t say no. Fong is like one of my best buddies during National Service and he has character so pure and untainted and I find it difficult to describe him without using superlatives. I would have shot pro-bono for someone like him, for the many ways he has inspired me and helped shape my behaviour. So I said yes and we started conceptualizing about the shoot, because unlike an actual wedding day, we have to make things happen for ourselves on a pre-wedding shoot. His wedding will be running on a theme of “All Things Above”, a line from the bible, which they have also adopted as their love mantra because, in their own words, “it conveys our hearts’ desire – not to be waylaid by the many earthly matters that can serve to distract us from our true purpose of loving God, and through that, loving each other.” And so we planned for a series of pictures that will hopefully convey that when put together in an album, designed by Shu Yun, my lovely companion. It is still in the works, so I will give an update about it when it is ready nearer to their important day on July 3. Even though I cannot post any pictures here because Fong and Rachel really wanted it to be a surprise offering, I am very optimistic about its eventual look, the way the pre-edits have come out.
And of course, one week after Fong and Rachel’s shoot, I have another pre-wedding shoot of Jih Shin and Kelvin, a couple who has approached the multimedia studio which I co-run with my friends. In fact, Jih Shin and Kelvin approached us long before Fong and Rachel did. No one was really assigned to photograph for them. Even though all the people at the studio photographed professionally before, the job just came naturally to me for some strange reason (most probably because I was had more prior involvement with commercial photography). This shoot was not as ambitious as Fong’s and we kept it to basic. Three-four locations through the day with ample resting time between the sessions. I ended up with many shots I really like as well.
I guess wedding shoots are about experience. The more you do it, the better you get at it. I realised two things after the two shoots. The best moments are those where the couples were just into themselves after being asked to carry out some lame poses by the lousy few-ideas photographer that is me. Posing helps, but not in its immediate effect. It is useful because it gives the couple a situation to laugh about, especially when the poses suggested are corny as hell.
And I also realise that I cannot do too much of it, because when it becomes a routine, it becomes unenjoyable and I think that will show in the pictures. If I were a full-time wedding photographer, I would be racking my brain everyday trying to think of new ways of conveying love in pictures. But I ain’t one.
