Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/05/17
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]- -- On Wed, 17 May 2000 08:40:50 Brian Reid wrote: >Most of the photography that I do is portaiture, either formal or >informal. I've done a lot of weddings, though none in the last 20 years. > >Here is my perspective on the posed vs unposed issue. > >Weddings are complex symbolic events. If all you want to do is become >married, you can do this in a courthouse with one witness. If you have >a wedding ceremony and party, it has social and symbolic purposes as >well as legal purposes. > >One of the symbolic purposes of weddings, especially church weddings, >is that they are cultural links to the past and future. It's not just >that someone is getting married, it's that they are getting married >using an ancient ceremony that their ancestors used, and that their >desendants will use. It's part of the link to their cultural identity. >It ritually joins the couple not just to each other, in a vacuum, but >to the larger context of the society in which they will be living. > >Posed wedding pictures are part of the tradition, no less so than the >flowers, the clothing, the music, the spoken words, the rings, and the >cake. It's not just that the pictures are posed; there are traditional >poses. When I ask the bride and groom to pose with their mothers for >Traditional Shot #5, "Bride and Groom and Their Mothers", I am not just >asking them to pose. I am asking them to show the world, by their >willingness to participate in this ritual, that they subscribe to the >traditions of the culture in which they are getting married. There is a >clear hierarchy of ten posed pictures for the wedding day itself: > #1: The bride in her dress, without veil > #2: The bride and groom in their formal clothing > #3: The bride and groom and their witnesses > #4: The bride and groom and their witnesses and attendants > #5: The bride and groom and their mothers > #6: The bride and groom and their fathers > #7: The bride and groom and their parents > #8: The bride and groom and the groom's entire family > #9: The bride and groom and the bride's entire family > #10: The entire collection of people in one big picture >In some religious ceremonies we add #2a: The bride and groom and the >religious leader who married them. Then after these 10 or 11 ritual >pictures, which are as much a part of the tradition as the exchange of >rings, various people and family members can take advantage of the >photographer's being there by posing for other shots. > >Some people choose to get married without subscribing to the tradition. >That's fine. It's not for me, but it's fine for them if that's what >they want. The posed formal pictures are just part of that tradition. > >Brian Reid What if they gave a wedding and nobody came? What if we reject the whole wedding industrial complex: no rings, no pictures, no bachelor parties, and just concentrated on what a wedding is supposed to lead to: MARRIAGE. Ancient classical cultures got along fine without without the wedding industrial complex. The whole thing's just gotten out of hand. When you need a wedding coordinator that's too much. Why not just friends, wine, and food. Get your FREE Email at http://mailcity.lycos.com Get your PERSONALIZED START PAGE at http://my.lycos.com