When a giraffe photobombed her wedding shoot, East London wedding photographer Stephanie Norman had no idea the picture would go viral and be in demand from media houses the world over.
Norman, 28, who was a Daily Dispatch news photographer for five years until 2016, now owns Stephanie Norman Photography and has shot scores of weddings, but none of her pictures have ever caused a global stir of this magnitude.
The picture of massive giraffe Abby looming over bridal couple Tristan and Luke Karshagen has set a new standard for iconic wedding pictures and has been featured in several international television news broadcasts and newspapers as well as raking in thousands of hits online.
Norman has been fielding a constant stream of calls from the BBC, CNN, ABC, Al Jazeera, and publications like Huffpost, Britain’s Daily Mirror and Daily Mail, and newspapers in Sweden and Denmark, all wanting to know how it came about.
Even a reporter from the Ellen Degeneres Show wanted the story for the hit show’s online platform.
An overwhelmed Norman said on Tuesday she had taken the wedding party to Areena Riverside Resort on August 18 because conditions were less windy than at Cypress Dale, where the couple had exchanged their vows.
“I was taking photos in an avenue of trees when suddenly this huge giraffe popped its head over the trees,” she said.
“We didn’t know how to react, as giraffes can get quite violent if you get in their way.
“Everybody was nervous, but he just loped calmly towards us, stood there and watched us.
“He just seemed inquisitive. Then he went to the bridesmaids, drooled on one of them and tried to get at their rose bouquets.”
The giraffe was Abby, a 15-year-old male, hand-reared at the private game reserve after his mother was shot.
Five-metre-tall Abby is comfortable around people to the point that he used to pinch campers’ sandwiches and has since been encouraged to roam the reserve.
Norman decided to make the most of the situation and asked the bridal couple to pose in front of the lofty mammal – which is when the magic happened.
“The giraffe stepped closer to them, lowered his head and started nuzzling Luke’s head.
“We were all just speechless. Then Luke started laughing and patted his nose.”
It was only when Norman looked at her photograph after the wedding that she realised how special it was.
“I posted it on Facebook and things went crazy – I got 262 shares. I realised people like giraffes. A lot.”
Next she posted the photo on the Looks Like Film blog for wedding photography.
“Within 45 minutes I had 2,000 likes.”
When Norman received a message from an American online blog with 8-million followers she realised what an effect the photo was having, especially when the story racked up 2,500 likes and 250 shares.
“People were saying that the giraffe had blessed this wedding couple, but I also wanted people to know that this was a natural interaction and that this was not set up in any way.”
For Norman, the fact that the image has caused happy ripples all over the world is reward enough.
“Animals set an example to the world because they show nothing but love.”