Wedding Dress - Vermont wedding - Shelburne Farms

Congratulations, it is a lovely picture. I work as wedding photographer and I like this sort of images.

If you like wedding pictures, please take a look to my portfolio and tell what you think.

 

http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=336892

Joseph, love and marriage go together like a horse and carriage, this I tell you brother, you cant have one without the other. In the same way, an excellent photograph cant have love (beauty) without marriage (harmony of the elements) and it cant have marriage of the elements without love, or as you call it the spiritual slice of life. I understand that just as in marriage one can overlook the negative little details, but just like in marriage incongruity needs to be addresses or else the nit picks, when unnoticed or ignored, can cause turmoil in the relationship. The idea of pointing out the tiny faults is that they have an easy fix, and this is done in order to prevent their dominating the situation and becoming a focal point. Marys photograph is excellent, but without the nit picks (an easy fix) its even better.

 

By the way, if one were interested in adding a vignette to this or any photograph: all one has to do is print it on a larger paper (or file in a computer) than the intended frame will be and simply add the vignette to the surrounding empty space. The reason I say this, is that the crop in this photo is too tight at the bottom section and would benefit considerably with the addition of a vignette; IMO of course.

 

Joseph, in another one of Marys photographs (in her favorites folder) I critiqued one that I really like. Here, in my comment; you will see that Im not oblivious to the spiritual side of photography.

 

Im not drawing the guns here bro just following up on your post.

Hello Mary, I have always admired your wedding shots as well as your courage to take them. It's a tough part of the business. I hope you will post more of these detail shots. When I look at "dress", I can't help but think of the Irish tradition of hanging hand made lace curtains on windows that would also blow in the wind and become beautyful translucent lenses for passing light. Congratulations on your recent wedding and the POW. Hope your still shooting weddings when (if!) my Daughter Alanna gets married. I'd be proud to have you do the shoot. Brad

Hi Mary,

 

Firstly, Congrats for pow!

 

Secondly, Some of the previous comments have concentrated on the technical limtations

of the image. Personally, I don't care about how sharp an image has to be to be

considered good, or whether it's technically perfect. Beauty often lies in the

imperfections. If everything was technically perfect then it would all be dull as

dishwater to me. A photo should be enjoyed for what it is. Sometimes an image is

technically flawed, but it has great emotional impact. Other times a picture may have no

emotional impact, yet it has technical mastery. Both are valid on different levels.

 

So, what do I like about this image? Well, if truth be told, I think it's the fact that it

deviates from the standard / formula wedding photo. You really have taken a step back

and looked at the dress in a different way. I like that aspect very much.

 

Seeing a moment that others would ordinarily pass by - that's one of the elements of

good photography. I'm sure this is what attracted you to the dress in the first place.

Well done.

Like this image very much! Has great light quality. One comment, would have liked to see more space around the dress.

Long ago (and many washings since) we inherited some curtains made of a similar type of transparent material with lacy designs. It is very pleasant to lie on the bed in the afternoon and watch them as they billow and fall in succession, with pure white light shining through them filling the room with a soft diffused glow. Marys photo reminds me of this and other things.

I wonder if a better title would be, Her Mothers Wedding Dress. To me this dress appears to be of another era and I wonder if it was handed down after being stored away in a trunk or a hope chest for many years and is hang in the fresh air for the first time in many years. At any rate this is an effective photograph full of small details about the people who are absent from the frame. For my own reasons I like to think this was taken at someones home but it could just as easily be one of the small wood frame churches I am fond of for their human scale and unpretentiousness. The painted wood trim and the wallpaper suggest that this room is reserved for special occasions and important family events. The softness that others have derided as a flaw, suggests to me the gentle motion of a breeze, a recalled memory or an afternoon dream.

To me the play of light and shadows is quite exquisite and I really wonder that anyone who claims to be a photographer in any sense of the word does not understand that cameras do not see the world the same way that the eye sees the world. Try going from a dark basement directly outside to the bright summer sun at noon and see how many highlights your eyes can detect before they have a chance to adjust to the light. A highlight is a highlight and not necessarily a flaw or a failure.

Tilting verticals usually bother me because I used to make my living building things that were required to be straight and level. In this instance the perspective is an asset and draws the viewer into the photograph making us feel that we are passing through the room quickly on another errand and happen to catch site of this dress as we are rounding the corner towards the hallway.

Artistic Photojournalism is such a thing really possible? The two words seem to be at odds with each other. Art is interpretive and journalism is a statement of unbiased facts. I guess it is a little late in the week to begin that conversation. I only thought about it now because I have been reading the Evans/Agee book Let us Now Praise Famous Men.

I can imagine that the photograph was taken in some haste with other duties looming and that when it was made the corner of Marys lips took a slight upward turn as she pressed the shutter release. It works for me.

I have seen many similar shots done by local wedding photogs in my local city. Hence, I'm not inspired.

 

Technically it's very good though. Lighting seems right and pleasing.

Would you be so kind as to share them with us? "Similar" is a loaded word when it comes to photography.

"Similar" as in shots of the bride's wedding dress hanging. Either in color or b/w. This idea is not new. Of course, Mary did it extremely well.

The "hence" ("therefore") is the great leap of logic here, Travis.

what Im trying to say is this idea of Mary's has been done before. Personally , I have seen it many times and in fact have done a few shot of "similar" scenes myself. I might not have done them so well as Mary though, but let's just leave it as that, shall we?

 

I was only leaving my 2 cents. If anyone is offended, please disregard what I have said, ya.

 

Enjoy the picture.

Beginner student fare at best, and I'm being generous!!!

No one's offended, Travis--just the usual (hopefully) benign give and take on the PoW.

Thanks Dennis... Nice praise coming from you... ;-) I do believe that this was Holly's (the bride) Mother's Dress as a matter of fact..

Someone else made mention of this being in someone's home. This is an old mansion on a huge estate in Shelburne, VT. The name of the venue is Shelburne Farms. Though the old mansion was elegant and beautiful as well as one of the nicest wedding venues (and most desirable and expensive) it is old and after layers and layers of paint - the windows don't show well. Outside that window - not far from the mansion is Lake Champlain. Wonderful spot.

As to what I call "Artistic Photojournlism".... It is a phrase I've made up to separate myself from what I call "snapshot photojournalism". If you look out there at what some "wedding photojournalists" shoot ...you will see a lot of wide angle or straight 35mm shooting and tons of black and white and lots of DOF. I shoot with lots of zooms, I shoot color, I shoot close up and I shoot details artistically (or try) and I zoom in with shallow DOF to get expressions and emotion as well as the wide shots. I've had clients go with me because I was not what they saw out there as: "photojournalism" and they felt I needed to explain what I do in a different way.

And Dennis - yeah -- I smiled but not until I got my proofs back ;-) As with many photographers I've learned that sometimes when you think you got "it" it would fall short of what you imagined..But every once in a while, you get to say yahoo..good one. Yes, it is a shot that has been done to death by wedding photographers.. but... each one of my weddings, are all different in a special way. With the dress shot..sometimes I don't do it because the conditions are not right and other times.. the light, the environment, the dress just speak to you and you've got to have it! - it is always a new shot to me. Once again thanks to so many of you for your wonderful words of praise - it has given me a renewed jolt to go out there and do more creative work. And Michael McCullough - Thanks for your generosity ;-)

Patrick,

Thanks for the explanation on bracketed...I guess I've been doing a lot it lately and didn't know what the heck it was called, other than taking pictures!

especially because there is no human beings around!

fresh and symbolic, good eastetics and content. maybee there is too much image on the right site, to much not relavant information and by taking this rumor away the picture would become more vertical like a statue, memorable. pictures can tell a stry is n`t it. mike werkhoven

I love this shot...what more can I say. The lighting, the composition, the flow, the feminine mystique express all that is not there...

There's is something so clean, so pure about this shot. Eye catching. Great shot!

Brilliant! I always tend towards pictures of people. But this one REALLY grabs me. It stirs in me more than a memory - more like a mood or a feeling of many meories - a recognition - though I have never seen anything quite like it before. I can feel and smell the warm fresh summer air pushing out the must of the old house. I am eager with anticipation of what will happen later today. Absolutely incredible! The best of it's kind. Congratulations.

This is definitely one of those pictures that says 1,000 words. I like that it was taken in black and white for nostalgic effect. Good work, original idea.

this is so creative ... and excellent exposure...congrats,

beautifull energy