The Photographic Glue
When I feel no connection with the bride and groom ... it makes what I do into a job. A job that I am good at, but something is missing.
I believe I have their trust and I am able to do a fabulous set of pics for them but if I know very little about them (... what makes them laugh, what makes them cry, how they see themselves, what they love about the way they look and the things that they don't like, are they afraid of heights, do they like architecture/vast landscapes/ ... all of these things ... ) then the thing that is most important, the connection, is not there.
I want to know what they love about each other and I want to watch them interacting when they feel they are not under public scrutiny. I would prefer not to be the complete stranger with a camera.
By doing this I earn permission to partake in their intimate moments. I earn permission to record their emotions.
And together we can do great things.
I have also written about this here, in my role as a Queensberry advocate, in two parts The Strangers part 1 and The Strangers part 2