Before you get the totally wrong idea about the title of today’s Sterling Photography blog, we must define the word sensuous: It means “taking delight in beauty.” Mankind does this through his or her gateways to the world, the five senses: Sight, sound, smell, taste and touch.
Sensuous Curves play in ribbons of shadow and light!
This is not the same as the word “sensual,” which is best described as sultriness or passion. We leave that definition up to the bride and groom as a couple. Sensuous photography, however belongs to the wedding day. It is as much a part of good wedding photography as focus, angle and lighting, but it is more difficult to measure.
At Sterling Photography in Orlando, we create story-telling photos that tell the sensual story of a moment. In other words, we enrich the photograph not only with visual appeal, but with the intense elements of sound, taste, touch and smell.
All photographers seem capable of capturing the sights of the day with one degree of skill or another, but we want the rest of the senses involved whenever possible.
Sensuous Technique: Sterling’s Secret
For example, any photographer can photograph a beautifully created wedding cake in this digital age. But with the right training and temperament, a photographer can capture all of the senses.
One – Smell: The photo of the wedding cake almost smells of vanilla warmth and freshness.
Two – Taste: You can almost imagine the sugar-sweet-sparkle of the taste of the cake.
Three -Hear: In other accompanying images, we might almost hear the appreciative reactions of the guests, before, after, and during the cake-cutting.
Four – Touch: In this case, notice the various textures of the cake. We can almost feel the coolness of the reflective surface of the crystals mirrored base, the crispness of the sugar-sculpted flowers.
Five – Sight: Do you notice the cake is neither all white, nor does it appear to be flat? Visually, we notice the how the delicate treatment of light and shadow gives the cake design and its circular shape and deep three dimensional quality.
The Sensuous Still Shot: Evoking Memories Through the Senses
The still moment, frozen in time, becomes a tapestry of the experience.
Sensuous Elegance
When viewed, a sensuous photograph can stimulate a viewer’s memory in a way a mere visually-oriented image cannot.
It’s simply a wedding cake, but the Sterling image crystallizes the sensual essence of the moment. Forever.
The great photographer Dorothea Lange stated, “While there is perhaps a province in which the photograph can tell us nothing more than what we see with our own eyes, there is another in which it proves to us how little our eyes permit us to see.”
Such photographs are symbols of valued moments and details. They are planned for, and well-observed,with professional expertise, for memory’s sake.
This cake pictured above, like all wedding cakes, was eaten. Yet, the photo of it never changes. It is the same way with people and portraits. Albert Einstein said, “How nice to look at a photograph of mother or father taken many years ago. You see them as you remember them. But as people live on, they change completely. That is why I think a photograph can be kind.”
Music Notes In The Pixels
Embraced By the Light: Sensuously Golden Moment
In Sterling’s image at the right, can you hear the music? The couple will hear it every time they see this image. The groom will remember the scent of the bride’s hair, and the velvety texture of her skin. She will always feel the gentle power of this embrace.
Seeing Sensuous Images:
The senses of hearing, smelling, touching, are present in the golden light of this image, which an amateur flash could have easily ruined. The direction of the light shapes the curve of her youthful shoulder and accentuates the athletic angle of his body.
Gentle subtleties can be missed by human eyes, but artfully interpreted by skilled imagery. Note that his shadow does not obscure her face. That’s photographic skill.
A Sensuous Private Moment
We can almost hear the Groom Sensuous Secret .
Sensuous Images are more than meets the eye. They work through the gateways of our sense memories to slow down and freeze time.
In the image at left, technical choices like the darkened, softened back ground are part of the photographer’s artful eye. It all goes together; observation, concentration, technical skill and use of the senses.
We can almost hear the groom’s secret whisper to the bride. We see them sharing the satin light through the 50 shades of silver-gray of Sterling’s skillful black-and-white treatment.
We can almost feel the brush of his breath, the flutter of her eyelashes.
Although similar poses or positions are caught in the moment or coached by Sterling, every couple speaks their individual, sensuous story through the magic of fine wedding photography.
