As this bride was getting ready in her hotel just outside London, photographer Libby Christensen was taking in the surroundings. The space was a large conference room with white walls and grey carpets. “There was nothing personal for me to draw on. The room was very bright with no shadows to play with,” she explains. But that only gave her more reason to think outside of the box.

Christensen noticed that the bride’s face was reflecting off of a propped-up hand mirror on a white desk in front of an enormous window. “Because it was such a bright day, I was able to completely blow out the background,” the photographer says. “What I like about this shot is that, even though most people aren’t quite sure exactly how it was made, they still understand the story and know what they are looking at. I like the use of negative space and the simplicity of the composition, which highlights the bride’s calm expression. For me, that perfectly encapsulates the ‘calm before the storm’ feeling that you so often get on a wedding day.”

(Captured using a Canon 5D Mark III with a Canon 85mm f/1.8 lens.)

Photo © Libby Christensen

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