Waiting
Why I love this Wedding Photograph
Waiting for his bride
I see this moment at most weddings, everyone reacts differently waiting for their bride to enter the church for the ceremony, but sometimes it is less the groom’s reaction & more the wedding guests around them that can be interesting. Sam’s brother (& best man) Ben, reached across and held Sam, clearly a reaction Sam was comfortable with & was expecting. It says so much about the two of them, not just on the day, but about their relationship before & after the day. The groomsmen’s reactions make me smile, as does Sam’s dad, but his mother is unequivocal in her silent delight at seeing both her sons helping each other through an exceptionally emotional moment.
Sussex Documentary wedding photography
Many in the congregation will have missed this moment, & of course Hannah, his bride will not have seen it, so it’s emotional connections like this that I look for on the day, that go above & beyond just documenting the Sussex wedding itself. I like to get a good shot of the groom & his best man together on the day as well, but nothing will beat getting a shot like this that shows not only the help they give each other, but also their stories before & after the day.
How I shot it
Getting a shot like this while I am waiting for the bride to come in the door of the church is always a bit nerve wracking. It’s important I am set up to get good strong shots of the bride coming in. For that I need to have a reasonable depth of field as well as a decent shutter speed in the often low available light. I use fast lenses so that isn’t too much of an issue. However, a shot like this one requires me to move my focus point over to the left of the screen so I can get the groom & his best man in crisp focus whilst getting the reactions of as many guests as possible. That means I have to adjust my settings quickly & efficiently in time to get both shots. Having two cameras helps, but so much of a photographer’s work is to be in the right place at the right time with my equipment set in exactly the right way.
Camera – Canon 5D MKIII
Lens – 35mm
Shutter speed – 1/160 sec
Depth of field – f/4.0
ISO – 3200
This wedding was shot at a Sussex wedding venue