Let us get rid of gloss…

My hat goes out to James Day; he is a wedding photographer who took pictures of the bride and groom Adrian & Roslyn.

His facebook reads: I was setting up those grand sunset scenes… you know the ones… the little people in a big scene… I love those kinda shots… but tonight that just didn’t seem enough. Just as the light became amazing I scrapped everything I knew and I walked up to them and said, “guys, stop posing. Just enjoy your first sunset together as husband and wife”.
They then held each other in the most beautiful way… It was so much more beautiful than anything I could ever set up.
Then I said to Adrian, “I have a question for you, but I want you to tell the answer to Roslyn and not me.” I continued, “Out of the billions of people on the planet, you’ve chosen to spend the rest of your life with Roslyn. Can you tell her why?”
In a matter of moments I could start seeing Roslyn’s eyes glisten, then the most beautiful tears streamed down her face.
Then I found myself crying.
Oh Love, You are oh so precious.

Whoa! Have you seen most wedding pictures: glossed over; overly joyful; very staged etc. Pictures filled with poses and staged instances. Most wedding pictures do not capture the reason why most couples are getting married. Most wedding pictures do not ask these questions: ‘Do you love me?’ ‘Why are we getting married?’ Most wedding pictures gloss over ‘I am afraid!’ ‘I am not really ready!’ ‘I do not really love you!’ ‘I can’t breathe.’

But James had a bulb go off! He wanted more in his pictures! He wanted his picture to capture what most pictures left out. He did not just want the smiles and the plastic feel of wedding pictures. He wanted his picture to have a soul. Most couples laugh on their wedding day. They smile from ear to ear. James wanted his picture to be more meaningful than that; he wanted to capture more than what his lens could. And so he prompted the groom to ask that profound question: “Why. Out of the billions of people on the planet, you’ve chosen to spend the rest of your life with Roslyn. Can you tell her why?”

This question triggered a unique response from the bride. Tears. Contagious tears that caused the groom to tear up and the photographer to tear up too. The reaction was not glossed; it was real. The reaction captured the reason why they were getting married. And the reason captured the moment when all the gloss broke down for realness to be free. And so James’ camera did not have to do much work because raw feelings make a pic whole.

All of us can learn from Adrian & Roslyn’s magical moment; when they let go off those staged poses and those forced moments to allow a snap of why they really got married. If we will let go off our poses and our acting, and our onstage behavior – then we too will have truly real magical moments, and share such magical moments with those we love. And then our lives will be more impactful, just as Roslyn’ tears were so powerfully impactful on Adrian and James, so will your realness be powerfully impactful on others around you.

Linda Faith

Linda faith is the Editor in Chief of Jewels Magazine. She has authored eight books. She is a prolific writer and powerful speaker, inspiring many women to be all God has called them to be. She is the founder of Joy Women’s conference which reaches out to empower, inspire and motivate women in their faith walk. She was a software developer before she started writing.