A well-known wedding photographer that I respect, Cliff Mautner, summed it up best: “we don’t get to choose our brides and grooms…”
I consider myself not just a photographer, but I consider myself an artist. And it is a privilege for me to photograph weddings, and beautiful brides… all of which are beautiful. It is not a matter of treating our brides as beautiful, we must believe in it, and I do. To me, all brides are beautiful. Period. It doesn't matter, fat or thin, economically wealthy or poor, PhD or no... Everyone is entitled to their moment, and a client is a client regardless... I am proud of my work and nobody can denigrate it based on my subjects... They are all beautiful.
A friend recently told me of his nephew, who’s getting married, and he and his bride recently had an engagement party photographed by another photographer. The couple was not too pleased with some of the photographs, and voiced their concern to the photographer. The photographer supposedly told them, “look what I had to work with,” meaning them as subjects. This is a terrible thing.
One item about me you can take to the bank… I love my brides, and my grooms. I love my weddings, be they in a pavilion at a public park or at an upscale winery in a fashionable neighborhood, it doesn’t matter. I’ve been hired to do a job, to create as an artist, and I give it my all. And I love it all. I love making them shine in their wedding day vulnerability… that’s art, that’s my high fashion. That’s why I do it.
