DOCUMENTARY WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY
Documentary wedding photography captures moments as they happen, without intervention, or posing. Your day won’t be filled with off-camera flash and people telling you what to do.
It is simply about capturing the fleeting moments of interaction between people in a natural and unobtrusive manner.
Is documentary wedding photography suitable for my wedding?
If you love photography but hate posing, the answer probably is yes. Documentary wedding photography can also be known as candid wedding photography, reportage wedding photography, or wedding photojournalism. The photos you see above have not been staged, they are authentic moments of people during their wedding.
One of the key moments that defined my approach to photography was a quote from Robert Capa “If your pictures aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough.” This is almost like a mantra to me, at a wedding I need to be in the mix with people but at the same time be inconspicuous. I’m not using huge zoom lenses to photography people from 10m away, but using short focal length lenses of 24mm and 50mm to capture these fleeting moments. This gives my photography a personal feel, that you are there with these people experiencing these emotions.
HUGS!
As a result of this intimate style that my photography has, one of my favorite parts of a wedding to capture is people hugging. I honestly can’t get enough of photographing people hugging, and as a result has become something of an obsession. Hugs are absolutely my favourite part of the day to capture as it's a genuine emotion between two people being expressed, which I kind of see as my job as a wedding photographers to capture. I have put together a slideshow below of some of my favourite hugs
Although the central focus of my work is documentary wedding photography, that doesn’t mean I ignore the more formal elements of wedding photography which include couples photography of the Bride & Groom and group photography.
COUPLES PHOTOGRAPHY
Over the years I have crafted an approach to the more formal aspect of couples photography i.e. the photos of just the Bride and Groom which satisfies the “mantelpiece” photography that we all desire in someway from the photography of the day, whilst still being genuine to my roots as a Documentary Wedding Photographer.
My approach is to plan a 20-minute period of the wedding day where the Bride, Groom and I go on a walk together. When this 20-minute period is planned is critical to the success of the photos. This should not be straight after the ceremony for example, as this is the emotional core of the day. The family and friends of the Bride and Groom are all desperate to congratulate them, and this is where I do some of my documentary work and get lots of photography of hugs! Whisking the Bride and Groom away at this point (I have seen other photographers do this!) is robbing the day of its momentum.
I have found the best part of the day is after the ceremony and before the wedding breakfast, after the Bride and Groom have been talking to everyone for at least an hour, and the wedding day is in full swing and is fairly hectic. A 20-minute period of just walking and talking to your partner is usually a pleasant part of the day, to take some time as a couple, to quickly reflect on what has just happened. The timing of the 20 minutes is reflected in my photography, the couples are relaxed and happy. I don’t ask them to pose, maybe just to hold hands as they walk together and I capture these moments.
