May 10, 2011

Photography: Seeing the Whole Picture

Since this is the month we celebrate 16 years of wedded bliss, I thought I'd scan in a photo of our big day.  When I took a look at the photo, I had to laugh.  And wince.

My parents made me feel like a princess that day.  They didn't hold back when it came to the dress, flowers, food, or photographer.  Looking at this photo, though, I think they should have gotten some of their money back from the photographer.  This is my favorite shot of the day of just us ... and the trash can in the background.

Really?  A professional photographer didn't look into the viewer and notice the trash can and plastic lawn chairs in the background??


I'm sure you have a photograph somewhere in your house similar to this one:
a once in a lifetime moment captured
with the less than desirable item in the background


Long before I became an MWAC (mom-with-a-camera) this photo bothered me.  Maybe because I'm a detail person.  Maybe because I'm picky.  Maybe because there is a TRASH CAN in my wedding photo.  

Now that photography is a passion hobby of my own, I have learned to make sure I am seeing the whole picture when I take the shot.  You never know when that quick little click might capture your favorite photo of all time.

Let your eye dance around the viewfinder of your camera before you snap that shot.
Watch out for plastic lawn chairs unwanted background items!  They may haunt you!

5 comments:

Samantha said...

This made me laugh sooo much. My husband and I had a relativly small wedding and it took place in his parents beautiful backyard. We had a beautiful arbour with flowers all through it, their gardens were in full bloom and because they didn't get along to well with thier neighbours they decided that they would take it out on me and ruin all of my cerimony photos with thier laundry blowning in the gentle breeze right behind our heads. For a very brief moment I thought about egging their house that night;) Instead I only chose the B&W photos from the cerimony. Thank goodness we had our other shots taken in another location which only had beautiful gardens. Your photo is still beautiful even with the garbage can in the background. Happy Anniversary! Congrats!

Jodee said...

Happy Anniversary! You were a beautiful bride! I especially love your dress!

Anonymous said...

I was just thinking about this in a much smaller way. One of the pictures Griffin picked for 6th grade graduation has the bathroom door open and the seat is up! But he looks cute and I didn't have time to crop the photo b/4 he took it to school.

mer@lifeat7000feet said...

Beautiful photo, Gretchen. What a gorgeous couple!!! Honestly, the first thing I noticed though was the lawn furniture and the trashcan!

This is precisely the reason that I get annoyed when I hand the camera to (ahem) certain members of my family. I end up with crazy background stuff. We went skiing over Christmas break and a certain inlaw snapped a picture of my family of five. The background? About 4 dozen other skiers AND the lift line. I know it captured the day and the experience, but a couple of minutes later when I was handed the camera, I took it from another angle and they had beautiful snow-capped evergreens and mountains in the background that equally captured the experience. I was too frustrated about my crappy family pic to let them take mine again. (I'm so mature!)

Mom said...

Beautiful then, beautiful now...
I'm happy with the photo... especially on my blog.