This is the type of wedding photograph I love to take…..something different from the normal side of wedding photography. I’ve mentioned before in previous blog posts, that wide angle lenses can be some of the most challenging lenses to use correctly. They enhance distance and it can be very difficult to obtain clean lines and backgrounds. They have a greater depth of field, so it can be hard to clean up the background. The bride had just arrived and I was photographing the family in the house entertaining the kids and preparing for the day. I had the brides father, the owner of the house, and a nephew in the room. I was watching carefully trying to compose what I wanted in the scene and to keep the vertical lines of the windows straight by not tilting the camera vertically at all. I was on the ground to keep the head and shoulders of all three subjects above the horizon line, a technique used to show respect in photography. As I was composing, someone walked in the room….I don’t remember who because I noticed it caught the attention of all three of the subjects. They all turned and I made the exposure. There was a window to my right that gave wonderful side lighting on their faces and a visible window behind them that added a back lighting element. One second, one exposure, and the moment was over.