I was recently chatting about my work with Evan Cohen, a retired advertising photographer of 40 years, who remarked that “your photos are so beautifully understated… like you’re doing nothing special… but you are!“. He’s a really kind and generous guy. But I found his perspective interesting as it points to my philosophy and fundamentally how I’m not a ‘wedding photographer‘. I don’t identify as a ‘wedding photographer’ and don’t believe I ever have.
I believe it’s essential to create organically. To not constantly mimic other people who work in the same area as you, but to seek inspiration outside of your niche. For me, this has always involved creating personal projects, as well as researching and discovering artists who work in relating (or sometimes quite different) areas. Having that drive helps shape my minds eye, so that when I pick up a camera, I have an open mind about the possibilities, rather than just seeing ‘that standard wedding photo’ we’ve all seen a hundred times.
Let’s look at this photo below.
We can see this is a train station platform by the graphics above, the usual structures, and people hanging around waiting. Not an exciting event, it’s a mundane routine for many people. The subject is obviously the couple to the left – why? Because they’re sharing an embrace, a delicate kiss. In the most ordinary of places. You’ll also notice the blurred, reflective object entering on the left, which we can guess is a train arriving at speed, enhancing the feeling of something becoming. And just as quickly as it arrives, it can be gone… or in this case obscured by the view of the passing train, assuming we see such moments at all. You can see the older gentleman sat right next to them looking quite begrudged at the idea of others sharing romance in such circumstances. The man at the back lost in his phone. And the person to the right waiting patiently for his next destination.
You can’t love the photograph without realising the idea of such a moment coming and going so quickly amongst such everyday circumstances. The thought that even when we’re caught barely engaging with the world, fiddling on our phone (without doing anything at all), waiting for something to happen for us, or even when we’re just caught in our own frustrations… the thought that a photograph can pull from the world such a beautiful moment in such simple and mundane situations.
It’s not a wedding photo at all, but it helps inform my eye and open my mind to what might be possible.
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