Father and Daughter Outside of the Church

 
I mentally build my images in terms of layers.  I often start my images from the stand point of light.  If I have good light, then I look for a good background, something that frames and brings out the subject.  Then I place the subject into the light, in front of the background, and wait for emotion to capture.

For this image, I was very lucky.  The perfect light and background just happened to be at the doors to St. Mary’s Church in my town of Breckenridge, Colorado.  What enabled this photo to happen was simple.  It was the fact that I was photographing this particular wedding with my wife and partner, Carin.  Since she was ready at the front of the church to photograph the doors opening and the bride and her father walking down the aisle, I was able to stay outside with them, and capture this moment between father and daughter when light, background, and emotion all came together.

This particular image had the added benefit of being photographed using Kodak’s TMax 3200 black and white film.  This film is high in contrast and grain, which is creating the soft natural look of this image.