The Proverbs 3:17
Brides
You can see it clearly on the faces of all John Brandwood’s bridal photographs: she’s having fun, she is enjoying every moment of her Big Day; ‘the main event’, months, maybe years in the planning. Her smile is unforced and her eyes tell you that it’s real and not just a gesture for the camera.
As for the camera, it’s as though she hasn’t noticed it. It’s as though the man behind the camera is invisible. That’s what they call the service you get in the better, more discrete restaurants: ‘invisible service’. You know, when your glass is filled unnoticed and if you should rise from your seat a person appears to guide your chair?
‘She had that indefinable beauty
that comes from happiness,
enthusiasm, success – a beauty
that is nothing more or less than
a harmony of temperament
and circumstances.’
Gustave Flaubert,
‘Madame Bovary’
John’s there, she doesn’t see him. Not until something happens that worries her. A bit of bad news: Auntie Jane’s last-minute cry-off; a crying page-boy; pinching shoes a bitchy bridesmaid... Then John makes his presence felt, appearing as from a magic lantern to dispense advice, encouragement and action to eliminate any danger of anything going wrong.
Twenty, forty years on, she’ll remember his name. Can you remember the name of your wedding photographer?