Kevin Wood’s photo in critics
Photography by: Kevin Wood
Photographer biography:
Comment: Muttley
I had a look through the 4 pictures the author sent, and I could definitely perceive what he says about his own style and approach while photographing a wedding day. I think he couldn’t say better when confessing he’s looking for humorous details, not only for the ‘pathos’, and likewise he’s developed a ‘relaxed’ attitude to that. Honestly, I had the impression that his defusing the tension during such an important day may lead to a detrimental and excessive self-confidence, thus sometimes underestimating the need of attention and the difficulties that you should always keep in mind when shooting and, especially, when you want to convey a specific message.When dealing with humor, things get even more complicated, as the image you shall not allow your images to be rough and inaccurate, worth many times the loss of strength of the message you’re conveying, or even its nullification.
I think this image could have been significantly more powerful if the author cared more about the shot, the composition and the relations among both the subjects and the spatial layers. Actually I think the image is catching a precious and hilarious moment (unfortunately I guess not everyone would have paid attention to this!), but the actors in the scene should have been framed with a little more of attention. Hands and shoulder cropped to the groom and bride, respectively, and a bad cut of the image on the left diverse the attention. It consequently appears too intricate to move through the subjects to understand what’s happening, especially because of that third ‘unidentified’ subject (besides the couple and the crying guests) in the middle of the scene, on which our gaze immediately falls and whose role in the scene is not clear. The mid-way blur contributes not to define its role in the image hierarchy and give the whole picture an uncertain cut, leaving the point hard to find. I know it’s kind of impossible to get a perfectly ‘clean’ image when having to deal with small and cosy spaces, other people standing near our subjects, being invisible and not to disturb, but try to think one minute more before shooting (don’t be SO relaxed!) and avoid at least putting in your frame pieces of flowers and part of furniture in the foreground, or cropping any of the primary or secondary subject. Maybe take a step forward, or wait for a better instant, which can enclose the essence of your message, in which all the elements are in accordance and there is nothing jarring.
[ndr: mi sono permesso di inserire altre due foto giusto perché citate e per meglio comprendere la critica. Critics si è aperta anche a fotografi internazionali ai quali va il mio ringraziamento. Voglio aggiungere o meglio sottolineare come già scritto dal ‘critico’ che la cosa che mi da più ‘fastidio’ dello scatto è quell”accenno’ di sfocato dei soggetti in primo piano. Nell’insieme lo scatto poteva funzionare, si è colto un attimo di emozione collettiva ma non si è curata con la dovuta attenzione la composizione e il controllo della profondità di campo. Credo che questo sia il principale appunto a questa foto.]
