Untitled

Creative.... evocative image... very nice

I like how you have managed to convey emotion without a face, an eye, in view - the sign of a great picture I think. You can see their smiles without seeing them. Beautiful. Thanks for posting this.

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This stikes me as one of those images that needs to be seen in the context of a stylized layout (a photo book of the event, etc). The composition/cropping and slightly funky tone curve would probably work well to punctuate part of a two-page spread, but don't do as well for me in a vacuum (and I get the feeling that the groom's elbow is itching a bit from the proximity of the right edge of the image!). The moment and sentiment are, of course, pleasing. As a lead-in image, placed before another series of shots that give me the relief of seeing the couple's faces, I can see it working really well. It plays as a graphical element in a larger work, not as a stand-alone photograph for its own sake.

On the one hand I tend to agree with Matt. The photo would need a context. However, the tonal characteristics give it a certain abstract flavour which makes it self-standing.
Actually there is some feeling of passion, which could be the key visual message of the picture.

Given the relative position of the grooms arms I am left wondering where this would leave his face planted and whether his left hand should consequently be be a bit lower.
The lighting and the processing leave a somewhat unconventional feel to the image so kudos on originality for that as well as the idea for the pose. One of the consequences of the lighting and PP is a rather harsh look to the skin which beyond looking unnatural is also unflattering. Ultimately this could be a good thing or not dependant on the wishes of the clients and how fond they are of edgy results.

Actually, I think it a rather creative composition. Maybe a little high-key for me, but that's a personal taste thing. For me, it is cropped maybe a skosh too tightly on either side, but again I think the artist is striving to keep the viewer focused on the moment, and Marc is quite successful in that. There's really nothing more for the viewer to contemplate here. I give it high marks for creativity. Congratulations on the POW, Marc! Cheers! Chris

The idea itself is creative, the high key might have effected the contrast here, specially the white dresses, the hot light spots on the left and the distorted upper portion of the back ground above the head is also a means of disturbance for me, may be this POW is did not work for me but I congratulate the photographer, having his image selected and wishing him all of the best.

Just an idea to improve this image, I am not good with digital software that why if I did a wrong job here, I am sorry for it.

The image was not posed, it was part of a candid coverage of a reception ... so positioning anything like an arm/hand wouldn't happen during a spontaneous display of emotion. You take what you see.

The cropping was indeed done as part of an over-all story line involving a number of images on one page. Some wedding images stand alone, and some play a supporting role in the emotional storyline.

Thanks for the comments ... all of them.

I like this. I like it because it's real and not a setup. A moment captured in or out of context to a larger event. It's a moment real photographers love to capture. I don't look for "perfection" in a shot like this, I look for meaning...and there's meaning here that can be interpreted different ways by different people. It doesn't need any additional digital manipulation to get the point across...it stands alone for what it is. Well done.

Thanks Mark for the about, very much appreciated and well done in having your image been selected as a POW.
I understand that there been some corrections to enhance the white dress by having the surrounding darkened to black, this is evident around the lady’s left hand, there mark of brush is there and the touch wasn’t so fine to clear that effect, although it is too small.
Thank you again my friend Mark and again well done.

I knew straight away it was a wedding, and she was a bride. I wouldn't second guess it too much Marc, after all, you didn't choose it as the POW. Lovely catch, well seen.

Precarious perch... and she looks as if she's slipping down! So great timing on capturing this one. The post processing looks a bit strange, like cardboard cutouts... I wonder if that's an effect of a straight on flash or some micro-contrast adjustment. Nevertheless, great exposure and view!

Very creative Marc. One knows the story without a word being spoken. A bit harsh on the lighting, I think I'd have cloned out the background lights

Very beautiful/emotional candid picture. It appears that you had to sit down to get the shot. I also like the simplicity of post process in the picture. The only thing I may do is take away the lights on the top left that is in the background.
Cheers
Arnav

I like the power and strength conveyed by the hands and the back and the arms of bride. The layered color of the bride's hair is in contrast of the subtle layer of the gowns. It is also interesting to see the groom is "overshadowed" by the bride, at least from this angle.

It's funny, but I kind of wish we had a bit more around the image to give us a bit more ambiance/context, but then that is what Marc was doing with the other images in the spread--but I actually love the lights.

As a stand alone image, I was first struck by the odd crop. A panoramic format employed vertically and intuition tells me that it wasn't that, but a crop. I immediately(personally) do want to know what was cut out. I like the lights, especially the chandelier(?) and with such shallow depth of field, would love to see the other transformations around the couple. Knowing what we know now, I don't know if there was a reason for the crop other than how it fit the layout intent. Before knowing it was part of a specific layout, I would have given Marc credit, based on his overall work, that there was a good reason to make this crop--although I still think it would be fun to see what was eliminated.

Again, as a stand alone, the lack of context can create some ambiguity in the image. For instance, was this after the ceremony--when they got to the back of the church, on the dance floor and were they both standing, or was he kneeling etc. The clues for me were her hair, which looks like she has been sweating/dancing and the gathering of the fabric above his left hand--a spontaneous moment sometime later in the reception where he has picked up his new bride--we have been led to believe it was on the dance floor by the spread in which it was included that Marc has provided.

Even as a stand alone image, I think this would be an image the couple would like very much regardless of the processing--or whether it had been sharp, in color or had more or less context. It captures emotion and a special moment that will never replay itself.

As an outsider, not emotionally connected to these people, I think it ends up being a bit of an awkward image on its own due to the tight crop, but still carries enough emotion that I think it can be enjoyed for what it is.

Marc William does outstanding wedding photography. At his best it has a wonderful candid "street" quality. This is one example of what I am talking about. The image is fresh. It is spontaneous. It has that necessary bit of roughness that makes it alive.

That said, this is not Marc's best work. It is good. It is very good. But it is not quite top drawer.

Why?

I believe one reason is the absence of faces. We see the bride's bare shoulders and arms and someone's (the groom's, I presume) arms. Somehow this is not enough to epiphanize this moment of passion. The woman's shoulders are scrunchy and her arms seem to pudddle. We get white on white with his shirt and her dress. The degree to which this white on white works is amazing, considering how overwhelming it is. Against my will my attention goes to the watch.
Yet it works. Not perfectly. But it works. The roughness works for the image. There is a certain awkwardness in the whole thing that is endearing--and sums up, I guess, the whole business of being in love and getting married.

But it's not quite enough. Or actually too much. In this case another problem is that the photographer is too close. A little more distance might have added more poignancy. Here we are so close we can almost smell them. And that damn watch intrudes. Further away more might have been left to the imagination. This is the sort of photograph that begs the imagination to activate.

On the technical side, I prefer the original to Marc's revision. There lot of picky things one might say about the intrusive background, but I really don't think it matters that much, if at all. It adds to the poignant roughness of the image, which really is its strength.

Now let me pretend that I am an editor. Would I publish this photograph? Yes. Yes, I without hesitation. Why? Because it grabs me, it sticks in my memory, it grows on me. It is like dried squid: the more you chew it the better it tastes. The more I look at it the more I like it. It's not top drawer but it is fun. If I put it on the cover of my imaginary journal I know it would sell copies because it so unusual and daring.

And thank you elves for saving us this week from mannered and stilted pictorialism.

[And pardon the typos; it's 1:50 in the morning over here and past my bed time.........]

Frankly, the photo initially struck me as somewhat humorous, with the woman seemingly towering over a much shorter man, and he was hanging on for all he was worth. While it may have had this humorous touch in my mind, it was also a sweet image of two people dancing, and I assumed this was at a wedding - that was the context into which I put it. I saw it as a fairly straightforward candid shot and nicely done. I thought Matt Laur made an excellent point about this particular photograph doing better in context with other photographs of the same event, and the concerns on the close cropping that have been voiced might be addressed by seeing this as part of an album, as Matt suggests. I've photographed a few wedding receptions like this and find it to be a very fun exercise of roaming around looking for candid shots that capture the spirit of the joyful event, and I think Marc has an excellent example in this photo.

Extraordinary sensuousness conveyed through the imagination of the viewer. An outstanding composition and example of art!! ---- for me.

Uplifting Experience?
It looks to me as if the gentleman had lifted the young lady and was holding her aloft; often done as a sign of affection. This photo is not self-explanatory, and I like that.
Regards, John

I think the photograph does very well within the greater context, that Marc Williams posted earlier. Very well. I don't however, like it terribly much on its own. It is quite clear, that the bride is being lifted by her groom (or someone else, of course), and yet the cropping of the image makes it seem to me like we are dealing with a towering 8 foot woman and her tiny husband.

It's interesting (to me, at least) the varying degrees to which people are willing to make assumptions about what's going on in a photo and treat that assumption nearly as a fact (and the same goes with the photographer's intention(s) that was discussed last week). It is possible that the woman, presumably the bride based on the style and color of dress, is being lifted in the air by a man, presumably her husband (but we don't know for sure). It's also possible that she is standing on a step, perhaps much to the relief of the man. It's also possible that she truly is much taller than the man - she could be tall, or he could be short, or both could be true. Some evidently enjoy the speculation, others will make a single assumption and treat it as fact, while other are not so prone to speculation and it remains an unknown part of the photograph. That aspect of unknown may be distracting, neutral, or even positive, depending on the circumstances of the photo.

It's a photograph. What's "really" going on doesn't matter always matter. What you think is going on and what appears to be going on matters. How it strikes you matters. Viewing a photo is often metaphorical. The way it gets to be metaphorical is through some amount of projection (into your own mind . . . to how it strikes you). Who made the rule that a viewer can't make up a story about what's going on in a photo? Many photos are purposely ambiguous just so viewers have a lot of latitude in using their imaginations. Imagination is one of the keys to good photographs. Without the imaginative aspect, we are looking at photos forensically. What a bore.

Two quotes by Garry Winogrand: "

• "A photograph is the illusion of a literal description of how the camera 'saw' a piece of time and space."

• "Photography is not about the thing photographed. It is about how that thing looks photographed."

Now, I don't think Winogrand had it completely right or right for all instances. I think sometimes a photograph is very much about the thing photographed (especially documentary photography) but I think there is much to think about in his two statements and it certainly provides a good counterpoint to Stephen's thinking.