The Ability to Idealize. Another trait that separates the competent photographer from the great one is the ability to idealize. The exceptional photographer produces images in which the people look great. This means that the photographer must be skilled at hiding pounds and recognizing a person’s “best side.” This recognition must be instantaneous and the photographer must have the skills to quickly and fluidly make any needed adjustments in the pictures. Through careful choice of camera angles, poses, and lighting, many of these “imperfections” can be made unnoticeable. This is especially important when it comes to the bride, who must be made to look as beautiful as possible. Most women spend more time and money on their appearance for their wedding day than for any other day in their lives, and photographs should chronicle that.
Creative Vision. David Anthony Williams, an inspired Australian wedding and portrait photographer, believes that the key ingredient to great wedding photos is something he once read that was attributed to the great Magnum photographer Elliot Erwitt: “Good photography is not about zone printing or any other Ansel-Adams nonsense. It’s about seeing. You either see or you don’t see. The rest is academic. Photography is simply a function of noticing things. Nothing more.” Williams adds to this, “Good wedding photography is not about complicated posing, painted backdrops, sumptuous backgrounds, or five lights used brilliantly. It is about expression, interaction, and life! The rest is important, but secondary.”
Immersion. In talking to Williams, and a great many other very successful weddin photographers, another common factor in achieving success (and an experience they all talk about) is total immersion. They involve themselves in the event and with the people. Celebrated wedding photographer Joe Buissink has described this as “being in the moment,” a Zen-like state that at least for him is physically and emotionally exhausting. Buissink stays in the moment from the time he begins shooting and will stay in that mode for six to eight hours. It’s interaction and communication, but also a little magic. (At the same time, of course, you cannot be drawn into the events to the extent that you lose your sense of objectivity or stop paying
attention to what’s going on around you.)
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