Juxtaposition
Yesterday was interesting as the second of 2 situations where I was NOT the photographer. My wife, Carolyn, and I attended a planning meeting at my old church for our upcoming wedding. ”What’s that? Doesn’t the word wife imply you’re already married?” Yes, you’re correct. Let me explain before I get to the subject of this post.
Nearly a year ago, on March 7th of 2011, Carolyn and I drove to Kahoka Missouri and got married before a judge. Since we eloped, nobody knew about it before hand and, thus, didn’t have an opportunity to share in the experience. When my old church advertised about a free wedding day, we applied and, though they didn’t consider circumstances like ours when they advertised, they eventually agreed to include us in the event. The church is providing pretty much everything at no cost to the couples, including the photographer.
As a wedding photographer, it was a little strange being on the other side of the table from the woman that would be handling the shoot. Several years ago, as we were just starting PhotoPicks, I attended a wedding photographed by a man I now call friend. I studied his “process”, then, and learned a lot that we eventually incorporated into our wedding shoots. Now, I was being walked through the process that would be our wedding – I didn’t fess up to being a wedding photographer until near the end of the meeting.
In a similar fashion, we were photographed recently for the church directory of our new church home. As the photographer moved us through our poses, I found myself jumping behind him in my mind and taking over his eyes and hands to do things like I would.
It’s always been very difficult for me to be in front of the camera, but it’s especially hard now that I work behind the camera. I’m sure it’s pretty much the same for other photographers – at least that’s the consensus of those I’ve talked about it with. I know I can capture the character of a person and show them in their best light (pun intended as always), but see myself as impossible for another photographer to get a hold of with a camera lens. Fact is, though, I know it can be done – the Olan Mills photographer did fine and I’m sure the woman shooting our wedding will do a bang-up job.
These recent experiences have reminded me of what life is like as the subject of a photographer’s art. Our clients are not unfeeling brick and mortar, unaffected by our judging perusal. Nor are they lifeless objects to be endlessly tweaked into position for the perfect shot. No matter where we are in our profession – amateur, enthusiast or seasoned veteran – we need to be mindful of the fact that portrait work involves living, breathing & emoting people who are likely fearful, self-conscious & anxious about the outcome. Once in a while, we need to be the client so we can make OUR clients’ experience a better one.
