this is our moment; the others can wait

I am in love with the candids. The posed portraits, though they may be gorgeous, funny, inspired, technically well done and all that stuff, they are always lacking something–something very specific. What they lack is that little spark that is shared between people, or within someone who is sitting alone, that happens when nobody is looking. It’s like the old riddle: “If a tree falls in the forest and nobody is there to hear it, does it still make a sound?”

Hmm, if a spark is shared and nobody is there to see it, or to capture it, does it still light? I think it does. I know it does.

For this month’s “Be the Bride” series shot, I chose our backyard. I got a few props and I had meant to do something very fancy with the light set-up. Well I’ll just confess that that didn’t really work out. I’m sure we could have done it, but honestly, walking around barefoot in the dark in the wet, freshly cut grass while wearing a 25-pound wedding gown was taking me out of my happy place. I did have everything set for this shot, but when the lights failed to go off, I stayed there, with my cheek pressed against my husband’s, and I said, “let’s stay, just like this, for a minute.”

So what was meant to be a staged portrait turned into 30 seconds of exquisite silence between me and the love of my life; all I could hear was our breath and we tried to stay as still as possible. The moment became so intimate and precious, and it reminded me of how fleeting these moments are, so I stayed long after I needed to for the exposure. I stayed because I was sitting in the dark, in my yard, in a wedding gown, with my face touching my husband’s, and all I could hear was the tree falling in the forest.