Return to beauty (redux) - Trang

Welcome.

Since my February post on beauty (and addiction thereto), I have had the pleasure of photographing Trang, an acquaintance of whom I have the highest esteem.

We met nearly three years ago and clicked almost immediately. In that time I have watched as she has gone through various situations including personal tragedy, career changes and recently, marriage to a wonderful young man, Han.

No matter what the situation there remains a certain constancy about her. She is kind, gentle of nature, funny, caring, generous of spirit, strong and loving.

She is the epitome of beauty in more ways than one.

A couple of months ago she asked me to photograph her wedding. In the ensuing discussion it became apparent that Trang had a distaste for the current in-vogue style of wedding photography practiced by most wedding photographers these days.

Instead, she preferred the images to capture what happens on the day. This fitted in with my own strongly held beliefs on wedding photography.

My personal philosophy is that once the photographer takes charge or 'directs' the scene, it is no longer the couple's day, but the vision of the photographer. My own preference is that the photography should record the authentic happenings of a sacred event on a special day.

Of course that does not preclude making a few formal or semi formal portrait images on the day. After all, weddings are a great opportunity to get images of family and friends who may not have come together for some time.

So a handful of so-called 'setups' may be ok. What I seriously object to is the overwhelmingly staged, contrived, controlled images which are a product of the photographer's idea of how the wedding should be, rather than a genuine, respectful observation of the day.

Now, that is not to decry the very talented practitioners of the other style. Far from it. I am in awe of the talent that some of those photographers possess. It is the style that I detest, not the talent or the photographer.

An analogy could be that while I acknowledge the great talents of musicians, there are obviously, like everyone else, some genres that I cannot stand. Likewise with photography - I can respect the artist, if not the style of the art.

So I was somewhat pleased when Trang voiced the same preferences.

Prior to the wedding day the three of us spent an afternoon in Melbourne as a kind of pre-wedding shoot. Ironically, this involved more 'direction' than the wedding shoot itself. Most shooters have it the other way around - a semi-relaxed pre -wedding shoot and a highly directed wedding! You just got to love irony.

Anyway, to cut the story short - the wedding was a delight. I spent the day with Trang and her lady companions (there's that addiction to beauty again) photographing whatever happened pre-ceremony, the actual ceremony and the reception. It was a joy to witness the event and I am grateful for the experience. It was one of the best weddings that I have ever attended.

As a bonus, they loved the images. Now that is always a relief!

Thank you both.

A little footnote for the photographers. The light at the reception was so low that the ISO was often around 4000 or so, lens at f2, shutter at 1/25th! Low is not the word!

This is where the recent tools such as the D700 come into their own.

The image below was 6400ISO, 1/200th at f2.8 on the 24-70 nikkor (set at 35mm), auto -white balance. Pretty capable little camera!

To Trang, Han and all lovers of beauty -
Stay safe

Return to beauty?

Welcome.

For all of you who place special importance on this date - February 14th - here's an image.

This was taken a few months back while I was engaged in my usual evening walk along the local beach.  I saw the young couple who appeared to be tourists from the Far East.  They walked out toward the water's edge and when they stopped I made the photo.

So, for all of you who are in love with that someone special, or who ever have been - this shot is for you.

In the previous post I touched on what I consider the importance of 'getting the shot'.  I mentioned that we are surrounded everyday by beautiful things as well as things that are not so beautiful.

Kinda gets one to thinking about beauty itself.

My dictionary defines it as "That quality or assemblage of qualities which gives the eye or the other senses intense pleasure; or that characteristic in a material object or an abstraction which gratifies the intellect or the moral feeling."

Does that mean that in the non-beautiful there is beauty if it gives intense pleasure? I don't know.

Perhaps the old adage is true - "beauty is in the eye of the beholder".


One thing I do know is that each of us interprets it differently.  Reckon that may be a good thing.

For some, beauty is found in the face of their newborn child.  For others, a glorious sunset or other wonder of creation.  Yet others find their beauty in music, whether it be Mozart or Led Zeppelin.

All of those things bring some sort of joy and pleasure and I always enjoy anything that brings a smile because of some indefinable aesthetic, but for me the holy grail has always been and probably will always be the smile of a pretty woman.

I have known many beautiful women in my time. For each that came into my life in a meaningful way I can actually recall where we met and what I thought the first time I saw her - except for one who left me void of all conscious thought for about ten seconds (and we still laugh about that!)

The thing is, after a while you don't notice the physical beauty. It becomes secondary to their character. Tell me - isn't that a more important kind of beauty?

Then every now and again you might suddenly catch a pose or look or a glance which brings the beauty crashing back upon you.  

Kate Bush sang about "beauty's potency".  How right she was.

 It can be a powerful thing, whether in a person, in Art or in nature itself.

Me, I'll always been in awe of the beautiful things I come across or in the beautiful people I meet or know.  It's just the way it is.  

I guess photographers, along with other visual artists notice the everyday beauty more than those who are not inclined toward an artistic or creative way of thinking. 

 It may be that you simply notice the light.  Or perhaps some overgrown statue or figurine catches your eye. 

It could be the pattern that the receding tide makes in the sand. It could be anything at all.

That's why I love to carry a camera with me at all times.

Perhaps it is a passion - although I think it may have gone beyond that to become an addiction.

Perhaps my attempts at photography are nothing more that a vain attempt to capture it for all time, to prevent it leaving.

Or, perhaps, I am merely one of those whom Leonard Cohen described as being "oppressed by the figures of beauty".

Stay safe.