book i: pre-production

us

Love of Photography

I had never taken any form of photography class all my life.  I don’t have a top of the line kick ass monster camera.  I probably would never.  I do not have the desire to.  And while these seemingly negate what I am about to write.  It is true.

I love photography. 

I love images.  It may be a single frame from a movie clip.  It may be a polariod.  It could well be even in instagram.  Or a still from a dream—an image in my mind.  

Love.

I love looking at pictures.  Good ones.

I maybe, can spend an afternoon just taking in the beauty in frames.  I sometimes get lost looking at images.  There had been times when I just could not stop looking.

I don’t consider myself a photographer--far from it.  But I’d like to think that there are times when I am thrown a carrot.  All the elements come together and I am allowed to capture that moment perfectly.  And for me, those moments are enough.

I am an enthusiast.  Not a professional.

My Love

My husband and I hardly have any photos together.

Sometimes, a birthday goes by without one photo taken.  This bothered me. 

I think about the lack of photographs, but it had always been a constant struggle--taking photos seems to pull us away from the present.  It gets in the way of now.  

It breaks my heart, the thought of not having something to remember us by.  I mean, if we are going The Notebook here, how would I remember?

Our Love, Captured

In celebrating our love, through the sacrament of marriage, my husband and I knew that we had to find the team who could give us what me don't have, in a form that is raw and pure. 

We wanted a team who sees us--and puts us in a frame in their artists' eye. 

It almost seemed like a quest for a love.

A Journey of Love

We looked. 

Everywhere.

We looked at so many websites that it was exhausting.  I personally, was close to feeling spent.

I contacted friends who got married the last couple of years and asked them for their shortlist. 

Maybe, I thought.  Maybe we will find them there.

And just when I thought I had seen everyone, my husband sent me a web address.

Look at this.  He wrote.

That was all.  

Look at this.

It was lunchtime.  And I didn’t have the energy to look—given our track record.  I decided to wait till evening. 

Love at First Sight 

Jeff and Lisa. 

I had not come across them before.  Their names were not familiar.

But I typed into the URL and looked.

Saw.

Loved.

The images that drew me to the husband-and-wife team were not that of a wedding nor a couple.  It was a series of portraits of a young family taken in their home.

I could feel the love.  Really.  Truly. 

Pure.  Innocent.  Bliss.

I could never forget how real those images felt.  Happiness immortalized. 

The way the sunlight went through the windows, refracted by the motion of the curtains. 

The curve of the children’s feet. 

The smiles.

The imperfections of day to day life; the perfection of unconditional love.

Perfect, imperfect. 

Reality. 

Then, I knew.

New Age Love

I asked my husband how he felt about their work--Jeff and Lisa’s.

He said that when he saw it, he had a feeling I would like their style.

I contacted Lisa and set an appointment.

That meeting just validated what I already knew, the search was over.

Perhaps, this is how modern love grows.  Digital touch points.  Virtual connections.

Love Blossoms

We met Jeff and Lisa personally in Manila when we went home to attend a friend’s wedding.  By then, Lisa and I would have already exchanged long emails wedding and non-wedding related.

Meeting her in person was really exciting for me. It was like I was meeting an old friend.

The couple walked into the veranda of the café all smiling.  I bet that even if I didn’t know how Lisa looked like, the giant smile she had on her alone would have told me, it was her.

The Lovers

I can say that I like Jeff and Lisa even when they are not Jeff and Lisa, husband and wife photographers.

I like them as Jeff and Lisa, husband and wife.  Just the same.

You spend time with a couple and you get a good feel of how they are.  How they deal.  How in love they are.

This is not to say they are lovey dovey.  They are professional and appropriate in every way possible.  But, you see their love.  I think love can’t be hidden by formalities and professionalism.

And I think this love reflects on their work. 

And I think they are truly the people you want to be around you on your wedding day.

Believers.

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Note: This is the first instalment.  More entries to come as I sort though the box of photos and a flash drive full of images from our big day.