Photographic Flow
I read the book ˋFlow: The psychology of Optimal Experience′ by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi some years ago. I discovered the theory about this particular state of ˋFlow′ that you get when you do an activity at the right level of skills and challenge, the state of mind and being when you lose track of time, forget about your basic needs, get really focused on what you do. It is a situation you should try and reach as often as possible if you are in search of happiness.
I realised last summer that photography does just that to me.
I was invited to take some wedding pictures in Hamburg, in Germany, at the end of July 2019. I accepted the offer right away as it was a great opportunity, it was for a friend and I had heard so many nice things about this city, its architecture, atmosphere and cultural life. We decided to spend a long weekend there to do some tourism before the actual wedding.
Of course, we tried to squeeze as much as possible within a few days and walked everywhere. I had these trendy sandals bought in a fancy department store on Oxford Street in Central London, and of course, they were not suited for long walks.
The evening before the wedding, I had an atrocious pain under my right foot, that had swollen with the biggest blister I have ever had in my life. I was wondering how I would cope at the wedding, but fortunately, my husband was my second shooter and assistant on big assignments, so I knew he would be able to get at least a few shots and save the event.
I tried to rest as much as possible. On D-day, we had an early rise. The blister had not disappeared and was still really painful. I put my most comfortable pair of shoes on, hoping for a miracle.
We arrived at the venue, Schloss Reinbek, early, and walked around to check the best spots for group pictures and bride and groom pictures. And by the time the first guests arrived, I was in work mode and ready for action. The Morning flew by. We had a few hours in the afternoon to change outfits and had to get ready for the second venue, in a completely different area of Hamburg. We took pictures of the restaurant, the tables, the guests, the speeches, the show, the singing, the food... We tried to capture every single moment, glimpse of happiness, conversation. We tried to capture the atmosphere and also every single detail that could be evocative and would potentially remind the bride and groom of their special day.
We reached the time for the first dance, and the lovely bride told us we did not have to work anymore, that we could just relax and enjoy. We danced a bit and had a bit of food and head back to our hotel room.
It was maybe 1am in the Morning, and I had thousands of pictures to process. We posed the camera bags on the floor and removed our shoes, and it‘s only then that I remembered about the blister. I had completely forgotten about it and had completely forgotten about the pain.
So yes, I had got the miracle I had wished for, and this miracle was photography.
Annie Gentil-Kraatz in London on the 3rd of June 2020