I was on the blog of photographer Emma Case the other day, reading a post in which she opened up and answered questions from her readers about her business, style, beginnings etc. One of the questions that particularly resonated with me was on the subject of formal shots, and how wedding blogs and magazines are filled with images of details and couple portraits, but group shots (which nearly everyone will have in some form or another) are rarely seen. Emma posted a few lovely group images from her weddings, and it got me thinking about a particular image that I glance at nearly every day.
I have a Samsung Galaxy S2, you see (don’t pity me iPhone users- I actually really like it), and one of the features I particularly love is a gallery on the home screen that continually flashes up your favorite images from your phone. One such image is a picture of a picture, taken at my Granny’s funeral in November where lots of pictures of her life had been pinned up on the wall. I took lots of pictures of pictures that day, but my favorite is one from my Mum and Dad’s wedding thirty-odd years ago.
This, in my mind, is the perfect family shot.
That’s my Granny, on the right, being chastised by my Uncle Chris for not looking at the camera probably (she hated posed shots!). My gorgeous Grandad is standing proud in the centre, surrounded by his sisters and nieces, and there’s my Mum and Dad at the front, looking relaxed and vibrant and just joyful.
There’s no pretentiousness, no awkward posing; just a gathering of family members, some careful framing, a rallying cry and a click of the camera.
For all the work I’m doing creating beautiful details for my wedding day, I hope that, at the heart of it, there are beautiful family shots like this.
Sama xxx
P.s. This isn’t the blog post for the week. I’m in the midst of another ‘detail’ post, and didn’t manage to finish it time. Whoops. Come back on Friday for my usual non-soppy detail-related diatribe
