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CNN Saturday Morning News

Photographer Captures Memorable Moments

Aired May 05, 2001 - 08:37   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, can you believe one billion rolls of film were sold last year? Now, think of all the pictures that were taken and moreover, the number of shots that probably didn't turn out the way you wanted them to -- vacation pics, family get- togethers and weddings.

Well, imagine being able to take a picture like this. Do you remember this amazing candid shot of JFK, Jr. and his wife, Carolyn Bissette? Well, nationally renowned photographer Denis Reggie took these photos, in addition to many more that you may recognize, and he's here this morning to tell us about a new project he's involved with, Takegreatpictures.com. Now, it's a free service provided by the Photo Imaging Information Council and famous photogs like Denis offer tips on everything from techniques to where you can try out your new skills.

And good morning to you.

DENIS REGGIE, WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER: Good morning. Great to be here.

PHILLIPS: What a pleasure.

REGGIE: Oh, you're so kind.

PHILLIPS: Oh, it's great to have you. It's an honor.

REGGIE: Thanks.

PHILLIPS: I've got to ask you about that shot because that just riveted America, even across the world.

REGGIE: It was a powerful moment.

PHILLIPS: How did you prepare for a photo like that or do you prepare for a photo like that?

REGGIE: Well, I was so honored when they called me for the assignment, of course, and to keep it secret and hush-hush, which I was happy to do. This was during the Olympics, actually, here in Atlanta, which is where I'm based. And they called and said we've got this big secret. We want you to come there and do the photographs. I had done John's sister Caroline back in '86, I guess 10 years before. But that night was a magical one. It's down in Cumberland Island, Georgia, sort of near Jacksonville, Florida on this little remote island that's almost uncivilized -- wild horses running and very, very magical. It was a quiet evening and of course the candlelight and all, and now a bittersweet moment, almost, when we think back on it because of their awful tragedy years later.

PHILLIPS: Yeah.

REGGIE: But that night was not, you know, anything but magical. I mean I'm sure that Mrs. Onassis was looking up from wherever and seeing what, how just wonderfully tasteful and quiet and romantic the whole evening was. It was understated, but it just worked beautifully.

There were just 38 people there. For some of the moments, like this one, I actually stepped outside and wanted to sort of witness what was happening, the exchange of vows, without saying a word. My style has always been to be a quiet...

PHILLIPS: Be invisible, right?

REGGIE: Exactly. The quiet observer, the finder, the capturer, the historian to capture moments like this. Now, they had said to me Denis, we want just one photograph. Later, they changed to two, but initially one photograph to be released and of course...

PHILLIPS: Wow, what pressure, though. One photograph.

REGGIE: Yeah, to select one and tell the whole story, and, of course, I wanted one that showed that magic when he sort of unknown to his bride in a princely way reached for her hand and brought it to his lips and kissed her hand. And gosh, you can see she's elated and didn't know it was about to happen and I was watching through the view finder of my camera almost in silhouette from the candlelight and I saw what was going on and I thought oh my gosh, this is so magical, you know, to myself. I said nothing, of course.

Click, you know, click once and maybe click a second time and I had saved that roll of film in my shirt pocket, knowing that this one would be one that I think had the magic that I would consider for release. And it wasn't until the next day when we processed the film I said let me look for that one when he reached for her hand and that was the one I thought wow.

PHILLIPS: And there it was.

REGGIE: Exactly.

PHILLIPS: Now, you think that everybody has the, you know, we're going to roll some other pictures of yours, OK?

REGGIE: Great. Sure.

PHILLIPS: We're going to kind of flip through and take a look at these as we see them come up. But you think everybody has the gift, OK, and is able to capture moments like this.

REGGIE: Look at her excitement. I mean to me, finding people when they're not expecting or not relating to the photographer, you know, the wrong thing to do at such a thing would have been to say hey guys, look here and smile or in any other way build attention between the subject and the camera or the photographer. That's not my way.

I much prefer to find moments and to show people when they're not relating to the camera. I think people in general look better when they're not thinking about the photography.

PHILLIPS: The candid moments.

REGGIE: Yeah. They're not trying to primp and watch...

PHILLIPS: Let's see the next one.

REGGIE: ... and so on. How about these two kids? These are sisters and the one on the right is, of course...

PHILLIPS: Look at that face.

REGGIE: ... is totally, she's daydreaming because she's waiting for the priest to, and the minister to finish and, of course, he wouldn't finish. So her sister decides to take one of her flowers. But nope, didn't get away with it. Look at that. Caught in the act. Give those flower petals back. That, to me, is a magical moment. Of course I'm in the back of the church ceremony with a long, long lens watching these kids, because they were just so interesting and, of course, their parents loved it, as did the bride and groom.

But it's finding people having fun, like this one. I mean...

PHILLIPS: So what, are you sort of observing everybody? Are you...

REGGIE: I'm the fly on the wall. I'm sort of a professional historian, I guess, to get moments like this one. If you look at each of the faces, the bride, the groom, those watching them, no one's relating to the camera and that's what I think makes it. It's a moment that's captured, it's the real thing. It's not fiction. You know, wedding photographs of 20 years ago, even our parents, or 30 years...

PHILLIPS: Oh, they were so posed.

REGGIE: Yeah.

PHILLIPS: So formal.

REGGIE: The bride gazing at bouquet and, you know, groom looking at his ring, you know, should I or shouldn't I? I don't know what they were thinking. Or those horrible double exposures from the '60s and '70s. We sort of laugh at them now but it's because at that time it was more a portrait, sort of a make things bigger than life sort of a mind set. Well, nowadays, you know, life is good enough. Reality is king. Letting things happen as they are is plenty good enough. So a photographer's mission has sort of changed, at least in my world, from being what used to be 25 years ago leading the wedding to nowadays following, quietly observing and sensing, and all of these right brain things, anticipating, capturing, documenting the moment as it happens without manipulation, without making it bigger than life, just life. Life is good enough. And gosh, at a wedding I mean wouldn't reality make all the sense in the world?

PHILLIPS: Hey, that's the best time. Well, we're going to talk about more of your photos...

REGGIE: Great.

PHILLIPS: ... in addition to this Web site that you are involved with...

REGGIE: Great. Thanks.

PHILLIPS: ... when we come back right after this break. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, we're talking with Denis Reggie this morning, nationally renowned wedding photographer to the stars. The Kennedy family photos are just a few of his most famous jobs. He's sharing some tips with us this morning and talking about a new Web site, Takegreatpictures.com, a resource to help us all capture those memorable moments even if we aren't a picture pro. Thanks again for being with us.

REGGIE: Great to be here.

PHILLIPS: All right, here's the Web site. Now, tell me, first of all, why did you get involved with this Takegreatpictures.com?

REGGIE: Well, it helps everyone regardless of their age, children, of course, included, or regardless of their level of expertise to take better photographs. That's sort of the point of it. It's a not for profit site. They've got a number of experts, even some celebrities like...

PHILLIPS: That's right, Tyra Banks I saw was on here. Jeff Bridges...

REGGIE: Yeah. Great photographs done, exactly, of her camp. Jeff Bridges, scenes behind some of his movie making, some nice portrait work and some documentary work.

PHILLIPS: Here's one.

REGGIE: Isn't that a great shot?

PHILLIPS: Tyra Banks took that. REGGIE: Tyra Banks, yeah. Outstanding.

PHILLIPS: Pictures really tell something about the photographer's soul and what's important to them?

REGGIE: Absolutely. Just giving the viewer of the site ideas and, of course, we're -- many of us are parents and have kids. It might be on the soccer field, how do I get better pictures on the soccer field or maybe at a wedding of a family member or maybe at the birthday party. So all of us -- Mayor Rudy Giuliani showed his favorite buildings of New York. So it's sort of fun there as well. So...

PHILLIPS: I saw that up right here. See if your mayor was photographed.

REGGIE: They gave cameras to various mayors across the country and they, of course, showing off their towns, as we would expect them to do. But some of the shots were just amazing by non-professionals just using good sense and good angles and good compositional skills that I guess are inherent with some tips maybe learned from this site and were able to document their favorites.

There are a few of mine. They interviewed me.

PHILLIPS: This is your page, right?

REGGIE: Right. Last year.

PHILLIPS: OK.

REGGIE: And updated it since. But just some images that I've done through my career and just talking about getting better photographs at a wedding. And not just geared for the professionals who may visit the site, but even those that are just a little bit more serious or maybe thinking about photography with a little bit more seriousness to get better tips on taking photographs.

PHILLIPS: What's the best kind of camera? I mean can I get really great candid shots like this off one that I buy for $5.99 and...

REGGIE: Well, you might. You might have a little problem there. But, you know, nowadays -- there were four million digital cameras sold last year and I'm sure that number will almost double this year. So digital is a hot thing. And I'll tell you one of the things about digital, you can take a photograph, look in the back of the camera if it has one of those little screens, and most of them do, and you can see how you've done and maybe tweak it or try a different angle and maybe move or change lenses or zoom out or so on.

So you can almost teach yourself nowadays with digital because of the immediacy of feedback, tweak it, adjust it and so on. So great photography now is not waiting a day or two or a month or whatever it takes to finish a roll of film. You can actually find out immediately and work it from there. There are some great tips on this site in terms of more flattering angles...

PHILLIPS: What is a flattering angle?

REGGIE: Well, I think certainly one at eye level is a good one. A wide angle lens tends to distort just a little bit. We talk about even, there's another area of the site talking about travel photography and some of the tips there are like, you know, of course include your subject or your loved ones in the picture, not just a photograph of the great building or of the great bridge by itself, but, of course, have someone -- and that's where a wide angle lens actually can work quite nicely.

A small camera rather than one where you're fumbling with lenses all the time, one that can fit into your pocket -- I just took my kids skiing a couple of months ago and it was so fun on the slopes, even, to pull out my little digital camera, a little tiny one, and get some great shots of them in action. Sometimes having all of those gadgets, and I certainly have those in my profession as a wedding photographer...

PHILLIPS: And you've got them all, of course.

REGGIE: But sometimes they're not appropriate. Sometimes it's more appropriate for simplicity and making sure that we can capture the moment as it happens. So sometimes less is actually more. A zoom lens makes sense for travel and that's where you'll maybe use the wide angle lens a bit more, but portrait work, you know, longer lenses, but again these tips and others are on this Takegreatpictures.com. Kind of a cool site, isn't it?

PHILLIPS: Denis Reggie, thank you so much.

REGGIE: Well, I've enjoyed it.

PHILLIPS: What a pleasure.

REGGIE: You're very kind. Thanks for having me.

PHILLIPS: All right, I'm sure a lot of people will be logging on. Can people communicate with you by chance through this?

REGGIE: Actually, yes. I think they probably can.

PHILLIPS: OK, very good.

REGGIE: Or through my own Web site, Denisreggie.com.

PHILLIPS: What should -- terrific.

REGGIE: Great. You're very kind.

PHILLIPS: Thank you very much.

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