A short foray in wedding photography

I don’t think I’d ever be a wedding photographer.

Like anything new to me, I probably would enjoy it at first. Novelty always moves me. I can imagine myself contorting in unusual positions and challenging normal conventions so as to cook up the most unusual of compositions and the most intimate of responses.

However, I would not have the patience to capture all steps of the ceremony and the party thereafter, nor could I prevent myself from getting bored in doing the same stuff all over again. Any couple who are about to enter a most important chapter in their lives deserves a photographer with more commitment than my fleeting cursory interest. Hats off to the all event photographers for enjoying the rote and always finding something fresh.

Anyway, last May 24, I found myself invited to the wedding of Keith, a colleague. As he’s a fellow chemist who used to work with me in the lab, I could not say no but decided to come only for the church ceremony.

I’ve already heard mass inside the Guadalupe Church several times in the past but that was before flickr. Having been built after the war, the church is fairly new by Cebu standards. It does have an interesting central dome which helped me from getting restless as I whiled away my time by photographing it at several angles.


Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/60s, f/4.0, 18mm, ISO 100, +2/3EV (as-is, uncorrected)
the dome of Guadalupe Church, Cebu City, the Philippines


However, the wedding ceremony started 30 minutes late. I then decided that I might as well photograph the couple, not really during the mass as I don’t have an official photographer accreditation which is now required by the Archdiocese of Cebu, but at least in the minutes leading to the part when the wedding party would walk down the aisle. I did not really photograph the rest of the wedding party. I did not have a good vantage point as I was sitting at the back pews and there was a rope cordoning off the aisle. Besides, their official wedding photographers already covered them. I took some shots of Keith and waited for Angel, the bride to arrive.


Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/40s, f/5.6, 220mm, ISO 800, +1/3EV (as-is, uncorrected)
Keith, just before his wedding at the Guadalupe Church, Cebu City, the Philippines

As customary in the Philippines, the bride was the last to come out. When she only got off the car, she was a vision in white. Against the strong afternoon light glaring out of the wide church doors, she seemed to be floating in air. My initial shot was of the bride being attended to by her bridesmaid. I love how the color pink was cast over her gown, as reflected from the dress of the bridesmaid.


Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/125s, f/5.6, 55mm, ISO 800, +5/3EV
at the Guadalupe Church, Cebu City, the Philippines


My best shot however came when she already was alone. The curtain of rope hanging at the door which is to keep birds from entering and nesting inside the church became a dramatic background. And when she slowly began to walk down the aisle, she beamed a wide smile which distilled the joy of the occasion.


Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/200s, f/5.6, 55mm, ISO 800, +5/3EV
Angel, the bride, just before walking down the aisle at the Guadalupe Church, Cebu City, the Philippines
phototip: The strong backlight here was pushing the exposure compensation to +5/3EV. Except for the conversion to b&w, this photo has no other post-processing.


I took a few more shots of her as she marched towards her waiting groom. Everything else was denouement for me and I did not lift my camera again. Wedding photography still escapes me.