Part one of an occasional series on my thoughts behind a photograph.
I’d just arrived at a country house in Devon that was the location for this wedding, the groom said he was about to take a bath before getting dressed for the ceremony, having seen this beautiful bathroom I asked if I could pop in once he was in the bath and take a couple of photographs. I didn’t want to be too intrusive so I took maybe two or three frames before leaving him to enjoy his bath in peace.
The photograph is unusual as it is not every day you photograph the groom having a bath before the wedding, but it works well as part of the storytelling of the day and is the sort of image I’d use big in the wedding album on a page opposite smaller images of the groom getting ready. Colour works really well here as all the colours are fairly muted and do not distract from the composition. I used a variation on the rule of thirds composition, normally with the rules of thirds you might have the subject in the middle of the frame but I composed the image with the subject lower in the frame and the window taking the centre. Your eye is drawn to the groom in the bath and then out to the window behind. The window is open which shows it is a warm summers day, all part of the story telling.
Because this image is slightly unusual it is one that often gets talked about and sticks in peoples minds. As a documentary wedding photographer I’m always looking for something a little different that you won’t find on other photographers websites.
Shot with a Canon 24mm 1.4 Lens on a Canon 6D.
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