Don McCullin wrote "if you can't feel what you're looking at,then you're never going to get others to feel anything when they look at your photographs"
Yes, I've used that phrase before and I make no apologies for doing so again for I do believe that it is an absolute must for those who wish to have others feel something when they look at a photographer's work.
Of the many questions I ask myself as I shoot are a couple of mainstays that help me focus on what I'm doing are; "What am I attempting to illustrate?" and "What is the feeling, of the scene that I wish to show?"
In the following images captured at a recent wedding I wanted to convey several things: the importance of the music to the couple, the dedication and skill that the musicians all demonstrated and also the art that I witnessed there.
This first frame was captured when I found the groom working off some excited energy in the early morning. The faith of both the bride and groom was in my mind as I framed the image to include the cross on the right side.
Watching and listening to the musicians in the wooded area where the ceremony was to be held I was struck not only by the beauty of the setting but also by the music so the challenge for me was to a). show the setting and
b). illustrate some of the detail as well as
c). the concentration of the musicians.
The challenge again was to show some of the "art" that I witnessed:
For the above three images I wanted to show the movement of both the fingers and the strings so I kept my shutter speed low enough to allow some movement blur yet fast enough to keep overall sharpness. 1/60 sec.
In the first two of the next three images the framing excluding the face is deliberate as I wanted to draw attention to the fingers on the sax.
For this last frame I did pull back a little in order to include the face as I was drawn to his concentration.
For these last three I used a slightly faster shutter speed, 1/80 sec, to allow for the movement of the player.
