The Runaway Bride — Act One: The Escape

The Runaway Bride was the first project I approached completely differently from everything I’d done before. It wasn’t about individual frames — it was about a story. One photo on its own is just a photo. Several photos placed together start to become something else. Something that takes on a life of its own.

The story is this: a woman runs from the church steps in the moments before saying “I do.” She chose a different life — or so she believes in that moment. Because as you’ll find out in Act Two, which I called “Nostalgia,” the escape was an impulse. And impulses rarely come with ready answers.

The project has three acts. This is the first — the escape itself.

Where the project came from

The idea had been following me around for a while. I knew roughly what I wanted to say, but didn’t have all the pieces yet. When the picture finally came together, I also knew immediately who I wanted in the role. I reached out to Malwina with the full plan — locations, the story, the kind of frames I had in mind, everything we’d be doing. She said yes without hesitation. She called it a brilliant project. It’s good to have people like that on your side.

Then came weeks of preparation. Scouting. Checking the light at different times of day. Test shots on my phone to see how the architecture would sit in the frame, how the background worked, whether the proportions made sense. Finding a dress that would fit Malwina. Locking in every detail of the shoot day. This was my first project I prepared for so long and so deliberately — and I felt that preparation was worth it.

Shoot day

We started with makeup. Alina did it — a trusted friend and makeup artist who understood the makeup needed to hold through a full day outdoors, across different conditions and locations. She delivered.

One organisational detail worth mentioning: we shot Act Three first — which I’ll write about in a separate post — because that location had significantly better light in the morning. Later in the day, we drove to the church and Act One began.

The challenge I’ll remember

Act One had one central task: Malwina had to run down the church steps while holding the dress and throwing the veil behind her at the same time. On paper, that sounds manageable. In practice — dozens of attempts, just as many frames that didn’t work, and a steady accumulation of exhaustion. I was aware throughout that running down stone steps in a wedding dress, veil overhead, repeated over and over, is a serious physical demand. I cared about Malwina’s wellbeing — the last thing I wanted was for the session to end with an injury. That’s why I planned Act One for later in the day, after the calmer scenes were already behind us.

In the end, three frames came out the way I wanted. The fourth photo here is a portrait from the same location — a different approach to the same place. Sometimes it’s worth staying a little longer.

Gear:

Nikon D750, Sigma ART 50mm f/1.4, Sigma S 70-200mm f/2.8