The Men's Side
Tuesday, October 30, 2012 at 7:23AM 
It has been almost three years since I have set foot in the "Golden" cage as we all like to call it, back then HD photography never existed nor was even a thought, now I look back and wonder who would I have trusted to shoot my wedding, its not an easy decision for any photographer to make I'm sure.
I always found that the Men's side in weddings never had anything special going on other than a group of men standing in opposite sides in a straight line singing and playing different beats and sounds of our cultural, that part was fun. Then came the food which many actually are there for in the first place :) , but other than that the Men's side was quite boring to be honest.
I attended enough weddings to realize that the photography is the last thing on people's mind, all photos taken at weddings looked exactly the same, 3 to 5 men stand in a straight line and a photographer with his speed light mounted on the top of his camera flashing away making everyone look like ghosts, plus almost everyone has a straight face and no emotion is allowed, that actually bothered me, I thought to my self How can a special day like this go to waste? a lot of the Groom's cousins and friends have come from across the country to share a special day that will not be repeated, well unless he gets married again :)
I started sketching out ideas and trying to look for a way to convince people that the Men's side is just as valuable as the ladies side at weddings and that it should not be considered a corporate event yet a day to celebrate and a day to remember with pictures that don't make you look like a robot.
Since that day a couple of years ago I have managed to convince almost 10 Men to let me shoot their weddings in the style i thought reflected the happiness and joy of the Groom and his family and friends around him, I wish to influence other photographers to change the habit of documenting an event and actually living the moment and translating the emotions into their pictures.
This is a video where I take you behind the scenes at one of the weddings and I talk you through my experience:
For more pictures from the Men's side please head over to the Gallery.
Reader Comments (1)
Proud to witness such youthful talent taking its profession into another level. Your enthusiasm to add life to pictures is surely to be awarded some day. I'd suggest you try to attend some weddings or engagement parties in different parts of Saudi especially Jeddah since quite bigger range of traditions is being practiced on the day. I assume you'll be inspired with new ideas to make wedding-pictures more worthy of the name. BTW in Jeddah, we place more emphasis on engagement parties than wedding for men-side since the groom can be on duty full time all night to celebrate the event. Unlike in weddings where you can hardly locate the groom.