I was lately hired as honeymoon photographer by a just-married Russian couple. The couple was spending a few days in Venice before leaving the city for a honeymoon cruise and wanted to have high-quality pictures of their stay.
We started our informal photo walk in the city, stopping in some romantic spots to shoot the couple and, in some cases, letting the bride posing alone.
We arrived at the Chiesa della Salute and had some shots thereas well, with the couple sitting on the stairs or standing with the Canal Grande on the background.
Then, while I was not looking at her, the bride approached the statue of a young boy holding a frog which was standing there and touched the frog. Was she posing as Cinderella and trying to kiss and turn it into Prince Charming?
In any case, she was immediately reproached by the statue’s watchmen.
As we later learnt, the statue is an important piece of art by the American artist Charles Ray sponsored by the tycoon François Pinault. Some critics find it a very creative piece of modern art, other consider it too provocative; some argue that the statue symbolize a look at the future, others argue that the frog hints to water, a key element in Venice … well, in my client’s eyes, it was just something like a toy to play with!
- The bride touching the statue before being seen by the watchmen
It is so easy in Venice to let art enter as a key actor in your shots….
For more examples of couple photo portraits in Venice have a look at my web site.
post by Metella Iaconello
My own strategy to overcome this problem is to spend as much time as possible with the couple and let them relax and get used to my presence. First of all, I propose to meet well before the photo session for an informal interview: while chatting in a café, we can get a bit more acquainted with each other and I can get important pieces of information about the couple’s wishes and personality.
