Pyrgos Bride and Groom
One thing you see a lot of on the island of Santorini is brides. Technically, of course, you see a lot of couples doing their wedding photo shoots, but let'...
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One thing you see a lot of on the island of Santorini is brides. Technically, of course, you see a lot of couples doing their wedding photo shoots, but let's be real - the brides are much more noticeable.
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Mar, 2019Views
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Awards
Top Shot Award 22
Spring 21 Award
Judge Favorite
9Teen Award
Contest Finalist in The Shades Of Blue Photo Contest
Peer Award
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Outstanding Creativity
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Magnificent Capture
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Behind The Lens
Location
I took this photo in the town of Pyrgos on the island of Thira, also known as Santorini, during a month-long trip in October 2014 to Greece, Italy, and France. The first 8 days of my trip were spent on Thira as part of a photography tour of the island. The tour was led by a Houston-based photographer who leads workshops and classes and also leads tours in a number of different countries. In large part we learned as we went, with the tour leader pointing out interesting sights and giving us tips on how to compose our shots.Time
We made the town of Fira our base of operations while on our tour. Each day we took half-day trips to other towns on the island, including this one, Pyrgos. We made it to Pyrgos in the early afternoon and spent several hours there just wandering around the town. By this point of the trip, I had learned a lot more about composition and lighting in particular, and that knowledge came into play as I took this photo at a little less than half past 2 in the afternoon.Lighting
At somewhere between 2:00 and 2:30 in the afternoon, the lighting on a sunny day in a town full of white-washed buildings might have been harsh. But not when you throw clouds into the mix. As beautiful as a sunny day in October can be, a slightly overcast day can make for better lighting, especially in a place like Santorini, where the whitewashed buildings would get washed out by the sunlight and where they have lots of curves and angles that would make for harsh shadows. Here in this photo the clouds contribute to a scene that is almost dreamlike, where the church seems almost like another cloud with the blue dome resembling a patch of blue sky peeking through.Equipment
My camera is a Nikon D5100. The lens is a wide-angle I bought specially for this trip after the tour leader told us that wide angles are the best lenses for photographing landscapes and architecture. I debated renting a wide-angle lens for the trip but I decided that if I was going to travel half as much as I wanted to in the future, it would be a good investment to just buy one. I used no other equipment for this shot, though I carried my tripod, a regular 55-200 zoom lens, and polarizing filters with me.Inspiration
One thing you see a lot on the island of Thira is brides. Santorini is an exceptionally popular destination for bridal photo-shoots at the very least, if not the entire wedding event. It seemed there was a different couple every which way we turned, and it was amusing and a little off-putting to see how many of the brides seemed like such bridezillas, smacking their grooms around and making demands of them and of their attendants and photographers. This bride, at least from what I saw of her, didn't seem so high-strung. She and her groom seemed to be really enjoying themselves and each other and their frankly incredible surroundings, and I think I subconsciously picked up on that and wanted to capture a little bit of that magic.Editing
When I photograph, I want to capture the scene as I see it with my eyes. I want to immortalize the beauty of a moment, though of course a photograph can never completely convey the wonder of a place like Santorini or a moment between two people who love each other. I never like to do anything to really change a photograph and make the scene seem different from the way it actually was. So I limit my post-processing to things that make up for the inadequacies of a device that can't always capture a scene just the way you see it. In this instance I did little except increase my clarity and saturation a little to make the blue dome pop and highlight the difference in the shades of white in the bride's dress as opposed to the church walls, and I reduced the noise as much as I could without sacrificing sharpness.In my camera bag
For this day trip we traveled fairly light. I took my Nikon D5100 body and two lenses - my wide-angle and my 55-200 zoom - polarizing filters for each lens, and my tripod. But since then, I have acquired a macro lens and a 200-500 telephoto zoom lens, which brings all my photography equipment to about 15 pounds. Together with the bag I carry a total of 18 pounds of equipment, which makes hiking uphill a real workout. Traveler's insurance is essential, because I'm carrying several thousand dollars worth of equipment, and I never put it into my checked baggage, it's always carry-on for the same reason.Feedback
To be really specific, I'd say go to Pyrgos, find yourself a random street with a blue-domed church at one end and just wait for a bride to show up (chances are pretty good). Make sure you're positioned so you get both the blue dome of the church as well as the much smaller bride in your shot. Account for the rule of thirds so neither your couple nor the blue dome is dead-center. Don't try to get the walls of the buildings around you out of the shot, instead let the lines lead the viewer's eye around the image. In this case the eye probably wants to start with the blue dome and then follow the wall to the right of the photo down to the ground where a line of cobblestones leads to the wall of the building to the left, which then leads up toward the center of the photo where a window in the wall of the church leads back down to the bridal couple. I could also say that any Greek island might work just as well, because Thira is not the only one with blue-domed churches, although the other islands might not have as many brides because they're not as popular with tourists.
