Image Focus

When capturing a bride on their big day, I look to create a vision of the kind of wedding shoot I would like for myself. I want it to feel playful and free, all while still retaining the beauty and regality of the setting.

I took this particular image in Rome, in the beautifully landscaped gardens of Villa Borghese – one of the largest parks in the city. When I found this location, I knew it was perfect. In particular, the long avenue walkway that stretched almost the entire park sold the location to me.

We wanted to do something creative and fun, so we had the idea for a shot with a ‘runaway bride’ kind of style to it. I shot with the Sony Alpha 1 and the FE 50mm f/1.2 G Master lens. It’s my favourite combination – I shoot almost everything with that lens, and I’m usually shooting between f/1.2 and f/2.

On an older camera, it would have been nearly impossible to get the focus perfectly precise but with the Alpha 1, I never have to worry about getting these shots in focus thanks to Sony’s impressive Eye AF technology. I love using those large apertures and creating a shallow depth of field.

Building a connection with my subject is everything. I talk to them and get them in the mood for the type of image I want to capture, so when that little second of magic happens I am ready to fire the shutter. Having the Eye AF gives me this freedom to create and play with the person in front of the camera. It’s also important for me to spend a lot of time connecting with the subject to get the best flow during the shoot, and I can do this because I’m not stressing about ensuring that the eyes are perfectly focused.

It was raining slightly for this shot, so I had to be quick. In situations like this, the 30fps shooting rate of the Alpha 1 really comes into its own. With kit this good, it’s always hard to choose a single image! A few of the shots we took were more classic portrait shots, but I love this one with her back slightly turned as the long pathway has that ‘runaway bride’ feeling of freedom. I just really resonated with that. It’s just one single image, but it tells a whole story.

When I edited the image, I wanted her to pop out of the scene and be the sole focus. She has a gorgeous white dress, so the background needed to be secondary so as to not take away from the design. To do so, I pulled down the greens during editing to make everything in the image about her.

I love it when a moment like this happens, and you just know you have ‘the shot.’ It’s more of an intuition than something technical. As photographers, that’s what we’re all looking for – the shot, and then that gut feeling that you’ve captured the perfect scene.

Dress:  Millia London

Hair & makeup:  Alessandro Mancino