Wedding Photography Reminds Me of Acting in Live Theater

Wedding photography reminds me of live theater. As a photographer, weddings bring me back to memories of participating in community theater. When I say that, I dont mean to imply that weddings themselves are theatrical or what is happening is contrived or the emotions we witness are not real.

Let me explain…I lived in Illinois for two and a half years. I relocated from Long Island and found myself in a new small town, with no friends and without a creative outlet. I was told about an upcoming audition for “Lost in Yonkers” and decided to give it a try. To my surprise, I discovered I had no stage fright and I had a talent for acting. I was rather shocked when I was offered the part of Bella—a significant role in the play. I had some other nice roles in local theater companies and found that I loved live theater and the challenge of reacting to my partners on stage.

For me, the most exciting thing about acting was being able to react to mistakes and remain in character. Sometimes there was a major prop malfunction, or another actor forgot a line, missed their entrance or exit, or someone said something which was out of context to the scene—without realizing it— causing everyone else to make an adjustment. The audience is listening and if you just say your next line regardless of what your partner just said, the audience will know there was a mistake. The challenge is to react to what has just been said to you, and continue in character, moving the scene forward—without drawing attention to mistakes.

Wedding photography has many parallels to acting. You think you know what will be next, but someone changes the script. The wedding party walks a bit too quickly down the isle, a guest stands up in your way at a critical moment, the bride and groom just want to get the photos over with and get to the party, the groom had a bit too much to drink and doesn’t want to participate in any more photos.

Getting the shot means you have to know your camera, know your settings and quickly react to the changing scene or situation to correctly capture the moment. Like acting, the more practice, the more live experience you have, the better you get at quickly adapting to the next situation or challenge. Your repertoire grows; you start to learn how to make people feel comfortable infront of the camera. You learn how to create flattering light or poses for varying types of people. Your creativity is not limited by an unattractive location or bad light. You learn to help people feel confident and comfortable infront of the lens. Oh, the possibilities!

Does practice prevent mistakes? Unfortunately, no. The unexpected and continual adjusting to circumstances can be unnerving, yet exhilarating. But in the end the issue is: can you process the photos you did capture into something lovely, something magical? Can you take something that starts out looking flat and ordinary and process it into a work of art? Can you take that line in a play that seems flat and meaningless and imply emotion and depth through the unspoken?

I think processing the image is similar to the “unspoken” in acting. As an actor you interpret your lines, and add the unspoken— a gesture, a pause, an inflection— that gives depth to the scene, and tells a story beyond the words. Processing an image is like the unspoken. You start with an image file that might seem a dull and uninteresting and through processing and retouching, you change the story. You create a mood, an emotion in the photo that didn’t exist out of camera. You create a new reality within the image.

Photography, like theater, can create a reality beyond the written word, beyond the captured image. It is the processing, the “unspoken” that gives the richness, the color, the life to both the image and the stage.

Tags: photographer, long island, weddings, wedding, events, photography, portrait, bride, groom