Today’s Image of the Week was created at an intimate blessing ceremony where I was one of only four people present. Marianna and Phil‘s wedding took place a few weeks before, and I’d been asked to create some contemporary wedding portraits as a contrast to the wedding day images.
It was taken with a 50mm f1.2 lens and shot wide open at f1.2, the shutter speed was 1/800th, and ISO 400. I love the bokeh in this shot – the out of focus background. It almost looks like a heat haze and yet it was a very cold day indeed.
The composition breaks many rules, and yet acknowledges them. The couple are in the left hand third of the image, a classical position, but they are in the bottom half of the frame, allowing a lot of negative space above them. I wanted to use the strong upright shapes of the silver birches, and this is emphasised by having the trees rise above the couple. Although your eye is drawn back to the couple, the upright stripes of blacks and whites make the visual journey around the image a stilted one.
The image worked well enough in colour, but in black and white it has a light/dark/light vibration which carries your eye across the composition and back again. I like the subtle diagonals either side of Phil’s arm that echo the shape he’s making. The couple look calm but the space around them seems to buzz. The shot is uncropped, and converted to monochrome in Lightroom.
If you’d like to discuss your wedding or portrait photography, please contact me here.
