The anticipation has got me blue

On the iPod: "Expo '86" - Death Cab For Cutie

They say if you don't have anything nice to say, you shouldn't be speaking at all, hence the silence the last few days. But I'll brake it momentarily to talk about my best friend's wedding (no, not the movie). My buddy Andy got married on Saturday to his lovely (and absolutely perfect for him) new bride Amy.

It was a fine afternoon. I stood in the wedding party and also acted as chauffer from the church to the reception and reception to hotel. Andy and Amy had the sort of wedding I would hope to have. They shared these intimate moments. There were whispers, smiles and touches that made me wish I was acting in the capacity of photographer. While I think their photographer did a fine job, I would have been stealing those private little moments, because those private little moments are what are burned into my thoughts of that day.

And seeing those moments made me realize what a special talent and gift photography really is. There are all these basic rules that need be followed, but at the same time, the process is totally subjective. I find it fascinating to learn about why a shooter might decide to open up to f 2.8 in a bright light setting or why depth of field is so distorted for a certain shot.

For me, (and this probably comes from dating a woman for the better part of three years who shot in this fashion) full frame photography is incredibly impressive. So few shooters do it well. In fact, many books seem to avoid teaching good full-frame shooting practices. They focus more on developing the shot into the rule of thirds as opposed to finding the way to best use the negative space.

Maybe digital is slowly killing off the need to shoot in full frame, which I think is a shame. You can really get the most out of your shots, digital or otherwise, when you know how to properly frame a moment. It requires the shooter to be more thoughtful, more creative – to be an artist. So many "photographers" today aren't artists. They know how to make a picture, but not how to work in the medium of photography. So many of today's shooters seem to be better with Photoshop and not so great with the camera itself.