equivocality » Blog Archive » Photographing Couples

08 May 08

Posted in: Photo/Misc, Random | Tags: photography

Been working on photographing couples the past few months. It’s more difficult than I initially thought. You want to express love, but there are only so many ways one can do so without kissing.

You’re no longer photographing an expression, as with a single person portrait, but an interaction.

Having two people express themselves in such a way can be tricky too. Many are too shy to kiss in public, let alone on camera.

When it works, though, it works. You can see it in their faces. The way their eyes shine. It’s almost like they lose themselves, because they’re drowning in each other, and nothing else in the world exists.

And, of course, best viewed large and on black. Click through for full size.

7 comments — Follow the feed

#1Lucy

I love it when I can look at a picture and see the unspoken devotion between two people. Its like everyone and everything around them doesn’t exist and all they are focused on is that particular moment. What I wouldn’t give to have someone look at me like that….*sigh*

#2joe

Sounds a bit of a surprise to me that people nowadays are too shy to kiss in public, or on camera.

Beautiful pictures, and beautiful couple.

#3Zaira

ok,

anytime you post about relationships, kissing, love, any of it, I swear I feel like I’m falling in love.

There is something about your posts of the subject that I want to jump headlong and willy nilly into love. Just give myself into the the feeling of love and loving.

These photos are so fantastic and so intimate. The first one best of all - I want to be kissed like that.

I’ve forgotten what love is like, and how consuming and life giving it is…sigh….more photos and posts like this!

#4Jeff

@Lucy — When we’re able to read two people in such a way, it’s as if they’re speaking without words. There’s nothing more innocent and pure.

@Uncle Joe — Perhaps it’s just my friends, who act conservatively when we’re together. The only time I see them kiss is once a year, when the New Year’s countdown reaches zero.

It’s the couple that makes the pictures. There’s only so much a photographer like me can do. The real beauty is in them.

@Zaira — Recently, I’ve been feeling the same way; like I should dive headfirst into love. Perhaps this is coming through in my writing/photos.

#5Sophia

I’m so in love with black and white now, I’m glad I took that class, some of my favourite pictures came out of it. I love your black and whites, especially the one where they’re both looking at the camera. So beautiful. You also have a very nice tone to your pictures… man I still need to get a flash.

#6loo

i love how he’s holding her in the first b&w and how she was biting his lip in an earlier photo.

I wonder, do you coach or talk to the people you take pictures of, as you capture them?

#7Jeff

@Sophia — I find black and white to be difficult to work with actually. There’s so much to it, and no set of guidelines I can follow for consistent results. It makes me want to take a black and white course. It terms of the evenness of tone though, a flash does make a big difference.

@loo — I generally don’t coach people, because I prefer candid shots. Occasionally, if someone has absolutely no idea what to do, I’ll give them a bit of advice on how I want to see them, and hopefully they take it from there.