I prefer candid photographs to staged ones. But doesn't everyone, really? Everybody wants to get their best friend with an expression of natural happiness instead of applied toothiness. Not very easy to do, though. It's pretty easy to get one without the other. Most people opt for the "happiness" half, which explains the ubiquity of lean-in-and-smile shots. Probably a good thing, too. I have loads of "natural" shots that are far less pleasing to look at than those. People being naturally bored, or naturally blinking, or naturally in the middle of talking with an expression more grotesque than conversational. It's the combination of the two that is so elusive. I have a few, and I do love them.
What I like about this photograph is that is exactly how Meg laughs. Well, not all the time. Mostly just when someone's telling a really good story. But it isn't an exception. Like a tabloid photograph of the normally beautiful celebrity caught without their makeup and a fleeting grimace on their face. On the contrary, this matches wonderfully the image I have in my head of my sister letting out a serious guffaw.
What I like about this photograph is that is exactly how Meg laughs. Well, not all the time. Mostly just when someone's telling a really good story. But it isn't an exception. Like a tabloid photograph of the normally beautiful celebrity caught without their makeup and a fleeting grimace on their face. On the contrary, this matches wonderfully the image I have in my head of my sister letting out a serious guffaw.
