A lot of people think that documentary photography is about luck. Sure, sometimes luck plays a part, though as the saying goes: it often favours the prepared.
Anyway, here’s a photograph that looks lucky. In fact it wasn’t. It was anticipated.
(c) Roger Overall 2010
I took it at a wedding last weekend, while waiting for the bride to arrive.
The flower girl and pageboy were running in and out of the church – you’ve gotta do something to stave off boredom, right? I reckoned that if I could get somebody, preferably the bride with her dad, on the right of the frame and either of the children on the left we’d have an interesting photograph.
In Ireland, guests have a relaxed approach to turning up at the wedding ceremony. I’ve seen people, crowds of them, arrive half an hour late. Usually, things work out OK. Brides are, as is their prerogative, sometimes even later, which balances things out. So while I was anticipating the bride, four guests appeared instead.
Now all I needed was one of the children and I was in business.
Easy enough you’d think, but I was shooting with a Canon 5D II, which has the response of tortoise – a very lazy tortoise on Valium at that. I practically had to press the shutter release while the child was still in the building. I was a little late, as the girl’s bouquet is just nudging out of the frame. Nevertheless, her stance is good and I like the interaction between the outermost guests on the right.
Lucky? Hah!
