Category: Wedding

Losing My Religion

Over the last couple of years I have gone from lukewarm Christian to resigned atheist (in a family of Christians), so when it comes to taking pictures with a religious theme I’m sort of conflicted — I like the grand traditions of Christian art, architecture and music (especially the latter, and I don’t mean Christian rock!), but I am now considering it from behind the glass window of non-belief. I took this picture a couple of weeks ago  — I was part of the choir at a wedding in the chapel of Trinity College, University of Tor0nto. the choir stalls are in a raised gallery at the back of the chapel, as as I was early I had time for a few pictures. For me, the image is symbolic: the setting and architecture have beauty, but it is empty.

Trinity Chapel, U of T, Toronto

A Happy Exception

In the past, whenever I have been asked to shoot a wedding, I have politely declined (while resisting the urge to run away screaming). It’s pressure I don’t need, and the modern day wedding for many people has been turned into a spectacle bordering on an ordeal — a display of conspicuous consumption and bad taste, from the stretch SUV in the morning to pulling off the garter at the reception. Add an overwrought bride (often referrred to as a “bridezilla” in the business) and the recipe for disaster is complete.

The wedding I shot yesterday was a happy exception: the wedding was low key but beautiful, with the service just as (if not more) important than the reception.   Just two people obviously very much in love, and very happy. The air was filled with a quiet joy, and I am glad I made an exception when it came to photographing this wedding.

From the first wedding I've ever shot