25 Jul The Influence of Carrie Mae Weems on My Wedding Photography
The Influence of Carrie Mae Weems on My Wedding Photography
Looking back, I don’t think I became a photographer the day I picked up a camera. I became a photographer years earlier, sitting at my family’s kitchen table. I saw a project years ago that I absolutely loved, “The Kitchen Table Series” by Carrie Mae Weems. This black and white photo from that series has never left me. It remains one of the most profound explorations of identity and self-discovery. The morning of Ale’s wedding, I noticed the similarities in the surroundings. Ale didn’t want an unnecessary production. She didn’t need an audience or a performative scene with action packed activities. Ale chose quiet and sometimes peace has a louder presence than pageantry. It is not my job to create the story, but to recognize the familiarities in the moments that already existed.
Weem’s ordinary moments of quiet and family traditions unlocked memories that carried me back to my own kitchen table. Art and joy have always revealed more Art and more JOY. There is so much JOY that happens above the glass or wood that holds a glass. My kitchen table was a resting place for Blue Magic and Sulfur 8. It prepared me for beauty pageants and Easter speeches. Around that same table, I shielded my ears from the heat of a hot comb while being chastised for not holding still. It was the place for uncomfortable conversations and difficult truths.
The table is where my mother spread out her nursing schoolbooks while I sat beside her doing my own homework, watching determination and greatness take shape. I remember those anxious school days when my report card felt like a trial. My nervous hands would dance across the glass top while trying to explain that one grade suitable for punishment—a B.
The haven for family gossip and a gathering place for laughter, it is still the place where prayer warriors call into action.
Every Wedding Has Its Own Kitchen Table
Every wedding has its own kitchen table. It may not be a table at all. Perhaps it’s a front porch or church pew. It is where traditions carry forward and love reveals itself in ordinary ways before it’s celebrated in extraordinary ones. Perhaps that’s why I photograph the way I do. I’m still recognizing those moments that remind us who we are, where we came from and the familiar spaces that quietly shaped our lives. I’m not simply a wedding photographer, I’m a documentarian of the human experience.
The kitchen table created conversations but more importantly, it cultivated the culture.
The objects on the table aren’t props—they’re evidence of a person’s life.
Alessandra.
Hair braided to the scalp.
Rat-tail comb for precision.
Toothbrush for edge control.
Oil sheen for shine.
Let’s get you married.
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