Devil's Details

These photos are from the first wedding I ever shot. I haven't done many all up, four or five I think, plus my own, but the experience was a good one to have, though stressful. What is perhaps interesting about these particular ones is, the bride likely didn't even know I was taking them, as they are all candid snaps of things going on while she was getting prepared or waiting to walk down the aisle.

The first one has been cropped to hide her face and the actual shot is much nicer in my opinion. But, I think it serves well for an image for a post called, Devil's Details.

You know,

Purity, original sin and all that...

And, I like that the apple is held upside down.

I have never seen an apple eaten that way by anyone and it feels unnatural to hand an apple to someone that way too. This adds to the image in my opinion, but it was something I didn't realized happened until I looked back at the images later, as I wasn't very close to the subject at this point, as I was shooting with a longer lens.

Candid photography is so much nicer than set shoots for the most part, because it is all about the moment, no setup, no control, just right place at the right time photography. However, for the same reasons, it carries a massive amount of risk, because, what happens if those moments don't happen or, they are missed?

There is no retake, no "do that again" - the opportunity is gone.

Hence the stress.

While these photos aren't taken for the bedside table as a testament to the marriage, they are among my favorites. And while the groom didn't care much, the bride was really glad that she has them in her collection, because they are a reminder of all the work that went into the organization, the preparation, the many people involved and the details that most people in attendance will never have seen, but she knew were there, because she put them there with intention.

None of this is important to their relationship, but it shows how we can apply meaning to what we do and how we do it, so that we ourselves become more connected. We dive into the details of what we care about and become at least for a short time, an expert on the subject, the one who knows the most about the current situation. It is challenging and stressful, requires decisions and costs and in the moments leading up to the event, it feels like if anything is out of place, if anything goes wrong, the world is caving in.

It isn't true.

But it feels it.

Perhaps this is one interpretation of the Devil in the details.

All that attention focused into details that at the end of the day, most people will not notice at the time and even if they do, won't likely remember after the fact. All that concern put into what is fleeting, stress and money, running errands, late nights, broken meetings, wrong materials...

It could send a person insane.

The Devil isn't trying to make things go wrong based on what people forget to check, he is sending them crazy by making them try to remember to check everything. Care about everything. Apply importance to everything equally, even the most useless of details.

And, I think that this is also why I am glad that these images exist, as while even the bride will unlikely remember all the details that went into the planning, these shots are the outcomes of the lengths she went to in order to look and feel the best she could on the day. When she looks back at them, she will remember the early morning at the hairdresser, the hunger at having skipped breakfast and lunch as there was no time and the moment she waited nervously to walk down the aisle.

Was it worth it?

That depends on what has happened since this day.

Taraz
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