On Wedding Photography

Katie, this one's for you.

I've been thinking about photography lately, but wedding photography in particular, probably for two reasons. One, Katie's getting married, and so naturally I'm thinking about weddings in general, but there are other reasons too. In my class on Monday we talked about media and history, and our text book (which is in my office, so I'm going to approximate) poses the following thought: these days (and really, since the invention of the camera), cameras are so present to document things, it's almost as if something unphotographed is something that never happened.

We do all sorts of things for cameras that we wouldn't do otherwise: most notably, we are almost always smiling. Around many of our personal photos and snapshots, there is an air of artificiality. Did we take the photo because I was in the turtle, or did I get in the turtle so we could take the photo?

So, here the question emerges: what is photography for? Documenting a moment or creating one?

In my opinion, few types of photos typify this artificiality, this show we put on for the cameras, more than wedding photography (I guess I should be specific and acknowledge that by 'wedding photography' I specifically mean 'wedding photography that I see in Utah'). The notion that you're documenting an event is almost completely bogus--who naturally wants to spend time in a wedding dress walking around the temple and posing in random doors and windows and flowerbeds? If I recall, Brent and I actually had to climb over a flower bed to get next to that window for that picture above that I love so much. This is not documenting the event, it is creating one.

If this is the case, and wedding pictures are just a big show, why did I so insist not only on having them but on paying a good deal of money to ensure that I had nice ones? Why do I love them so much if I find most of them to be patently fake-y? The truth is, I think that wedding pictures play a very important role, especially in the LDS wedding.

First of all, when you take wedding photos, you are creating family art that can be enjoyed for a long time. But, I also feel like the process of taking posed wedding photos actually helps make the wedding feel more real. I'm sure that I'm not the only person who, after a lifetime of wondering what it would feel like to be married, was surprised to find that being married initially felt exactly like being single. I expected the marriage ceremony to be something amazingly transformative, and I was a little disappointed to know that despite the dress, the hair, the bouquet, etc., I didn't actually feel like a bride. It wasn't until I started acting the part in the photos that I really felt like I started to take on the role, to actually believe that I was married.

So, this is what wedding photos did for me--in posing as a bride, I started to feel like one. And this is why wedding photos are great. But don't mistake me--wedding videos that (ab)use this sort of artificiality are abominable.

And now with that, here is a shameless way for me to share some of my most favorite wedding photos with you.

Okay, due to technical difficulties of the "taking forever to upload pictures" variety, this is all you get.