This is an candid environmental portrait of the bride and her father at Holy Rosary Church in Toronto. For a Toronto wedding photographer, the processional is one of the most important parts of the wedding when everything has to go perfect from a photographic standpoint. Every bride requests a perfect photo of her walking down the aisle accompanied by her father.
As a Toronto wedding photographer who wants to deliver the best possible images for his clients, I always research the church and the venue where the wedding will take place. That allows me to gauge the quality of the wedding photos taken at that venue and assess the strength of other Toronto wedding photographers. Without any doubt, I can declare that this image is an outstanding wedding picture taken at Holy Rosary Church. It is portraying the bride, Renee, holding her wedding bouquet with her left hand and hanging onto her father with the right hand while walking towards the altar.
There are a few aspects that make this image memorable. First, the low point of view. The shot was taken at the floor level, which is unusual and differentiates this wedding picture. Next, the bride and her father are placed exactly in the centre of the image, and have a multitude of leading lines surrounding them. That makes it clear they are the subjects of this image. Even more, the arch behind them acts as a framing device, another compositional element that increases the value of a wedding photo. This is a perfectly symmetrical shot and the bride and her father are placed in the centre of the frame. If you place the picture upside down, a technique I often use to select my best shots, this is still a very appealing photograph.
Holy Rosary Church is one of the most beautiful churches in Toronto. However, it is one of the most difficult locations to shoot. One of the challenges of shooting at this location is the light colour. Because the church boasts massive stained windows, the ambient light presents a challenge. We, photographers call the situation a mixed lighting scenario. In other words, the tungsten light coming from the chandeliers is mixed with a blue/red/green light provided by the stained glass windows. Also, the quantity of light in this church was very low. To compensate, I used a prime lens which I shot wide open to allow a lot of light to come in.
Because of the mixed lighting situation, I applied a black and white processing to this wedding picture. Also, I added a vignette so that the subjects of this photograph are even more visible.
There are a few things I wish I could improve: first, there are a few iPhones on the left of the frame which are somewhat distracting. Unfortunately, that is the reality that we wedding photographers have to face these days. Despite the fact I chose a very low vantage point to take this photo I could not avoid having those iPhones in the frame. Second, and just because I'm a perfectionist, I wish I took this image from a point half a foot to the right. That would increase the symmetry along the horizontal line.
Location: 354 St Clair Ave W, York, ON M5P 1N4.
