Piękny, Polish translation to the English word beautiful, is one of the words I can use to describe June 16th 2012, the day on which Jakub & Izabela were pronounced husband & wife. With a great couple for an entire day, allow me to express myself & my experience the write way!
Expressing myself?
What makes a picture beautiful? Since the definition of the word beautiful varies from one person to another, so does the definition of what a beautiful picture really looks like. As a creative & highly imaginative person, I truly enjoy asking the couple about whether or not they would be interested to allow me to express myself the artistically creative way. Whereas some couples prefer the more typical/conventional kind of pictures, others seek originality & images that will stand out. As a photographer, no matter how crazy my ideas can be, I have to adapt to the style of pictures that the couple is searching for or expecting. After hearing how Jakub & Izabela defined what for them consisted of a beautiful picture, my mind took a flight of ideas. “Vanessa, go as creative & as crazy as you want, we trust your work”: said the couple. A recipe of creativity, innovation, imagination, passion & photography? Deliciously exciting! I was now ready to express myself & my personality. The Polish lovers & I would share ideas, which were to be later realized. The question to myself now was: to prepare my creativity or to improvise it? My answer? Why choose one when i can choose both? After answering my “art expression dilemma”, my brainstorm began. Thinking outside the box, one of my favorite mental activities… After generating hundreds of ideas, I communicated with Jakub & Izabela to share & narrow down my ideas with them. Umbrella, sunglasses, newspaper, hockey jersey, board with words…those were amongst the ideas we had agreed upon.
On the wedding day!
To make your thoughts & ideas come true, what an amazing feeling! Camera around my neck, ideas/objects in my backpack, off I went to concretize our exciting thoughts. It’s an exciting challenge to find the nice angle, the nice postures, the best action image & to add a creative touch to the entire moment, which will probably last few seconds. Patience, determination & constantly active original thoughts are mandatory at this point. It’s all about seeing the image in my mind & reproducing or translating it to the real world. Result: beautiful success. On the right & at the end of this post, you will find very few of the pictures that I have taken on June 16th 2012.
About my experience with the culture:
Dziękuję! One of the few words I have learned during my day. Pronounced Chin-kwi-ye, this word means thank you in English. As a person who fluently speaks 4 languages & who has some abilities to fairly speak 2-3 more, it was a highly rich experience to listen to a completely non-familiar or strange language. The church ceremony was held in Polish. Polish… A soft Russian maybe? A blend of Spanish & German? Not really. According to my hearing, Polish is simply unique. But why am I talking about the language? As a photographer, I personally think it is important to be a culture-chameleon or ethnographer, to some extent. For those who are less familiar with the term, ethnography is: “exploring cultural phenomena which reflect the knowledge and system of meanings guiding the life of a cultural group”. Observing & learning about other cultures is interesting. I really appreciate not only trying to feel the culture surrounding me but also truly appreciate & enter a state in which I become the observer, the photographer but also part of the culture. It’s one way to reach different artistic perspectives, expand or stretch the horizon of image possibilities & gain knowledge with a cultural flavor. Learning few Polish words has obviously also helped me communicate with the Polish strictly speaking wedding guests. Although holding a camera & body language can be predicted as “time for picture”, knowing few words was slightly more advantageous especially when approaching & making the “photographee” smile!
Small interesting cultural fact: Towards the end of the night, I learned that the Lebanese & Polish culture shared something very interesting: 3 kisses! Indeed, when Polish people greet each other, they give 3 kisses on the cheeks.
Jakub & Izabela, it was a pleasure being your photographer & videographer for one of the biggest & most important day in your lives. Saving your memories & making them last was a wonderful experience & thank you for allowing me to share them. May your new life statuses bring happiness & may you live happily ever after :)
Can one be modern & still keep & follow traditions? It sure was possible for Siham & Charbel. This Lebanese man & his Algerian bride have gathered with family & friends to celebrate their love, June 10th 2012. This couple recently got married in a very traditional Algerian way. What makes a traditional Algerian wedding so different?
Intrigued about the meaning or value behind this traditional & luxurious dress, I asked her aunt about the symbolic importance. She replied: “This dress is to symbolize kingdom, to represent the bride as a princess. In fact, back in the days, this is how princesses would dress. Thus, our traditions require that we treat our brides as princesses.” Impressive isn’t it! It is important to note that Algerians are not the only ones to have such traditions. Many others, such as the indian culture, have similar beliefs as well.
