Portrait“Yes, I do” (5/6). The arrival of the Internet in this Asian country about ten years ago shattered the codes of wedding photography: fewer posed portraits, more spontaneity. The two photographers, couple in life, are also inspired by the biography of the bride and groom to restore “authentic emotions”.
” How did you meet each-other ? Who applied and where? Tell us everything! We will make it a unique story! » In Bombay, India, a couple who wants their wedding to be photographed by Sam and Ekta must fill out a long form. Like a promise.
The duo of photographers, couple in life, want to know everything about the desires of the future spouses. They take notes, draw inspiration from the smallest biographical detail: what music they like, what their hobbies are. Meetings, sometimes in video, are essential to understand the body language of each, who speaks the most, who is shy… Everything is good to glean, in order to identify the two heroes of the day.
These demands espouse the logic of Sam and Ekta’s photographic style: capturing “real moments” of a wedding, as they mention on their website. They do not direct anyone, refuse the staging and the studio. The snapshot captured on the spot, the street photo and the“decisive moment”, theorized by Cartier-Bresson, form their course of action. A promise to which is added the possibility of making videos.
“On site, we have carte blanche and work according to the principles of reporting and storytelling. Everything is spontaneous. We make history as we see it, and capture authentic emotions, to provide memories for life”, say Sam and Ekta. Color is in order, black and white sometimes arises to “emphasize the dramaturgy of the scene”.
This style has been on the rise since the internet spread to India about a decade ago. “The traditional studio posing sessions have been swept away since every Indian spontaneously appears on social networks”explains the couple from the digital generation: 35 years old for Ekta and 38 years old for Sam. “We naturally fell into reporting, which we apply to the tradition of marriage. » With around twenty annual orders, this is their only professional activity.
“At the service of the family collective”
Marriage in India is a major celebration, less the union of two individuals than of two families. Even two clans: parents, friends, friends of friends… If the rituals differ according to regions and religions, this ceremony is always sacred. Parents prepare for it from the birth of a child. They save, put aside jewelry, furniture – the wealthiest as well as the most modest. “It’s the project of a whole team, for whom the event must be an unforgettable success. So, we put ourselves at the service of the family collective before the celebration »explain Sam and Ekta.
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