DOCUMENTARY WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHERS: EXPLAINING OUR STYLE & APPROACH

OUR APPROACH

What is documentary wedding photography and how does our street-inspired approach differ from other documentary wedding photographers?

What is it that sets our street-inspired reportage style apart from other photography and even from the ‘classic’ documentary wedding photographer?
Read on to find out …

“Without doubt, “Is This Something” has just become the definitive go-to book for documentary wedding photographers.”

– DocDay Photography Conference

Even though black and white is seen as the more classic and perhaps more emotional choice for the documentary or reportage wedding photographer, we find colour brings out a humour and emotive imagery that we truly adore. Black and white of course has its place and can in some circumstances help to make an image even more provocative but we find that colour brings out an energy, light, excitement and truth to a moment that we love to explore.

This means that we try to give a lot of depth to our images and tell a story from background through to foreground often with many elements in between. We wedding photographers (and reportage wedding photographers in particular) often talk about capturing ‘moments’ but at a wedding, surrounded by guests, each moment is experienced differently by many different pairs of eyes. By focussing not just on the obvious central characters but also on the reactions to what is happening, or in some cases the many simultaneous yet individual interactions around us we can tell multiple stories in one single image. We try to lead the viewer through the image from edge to edge and create almost a series of images within one frame.

Ironically this is actually firmly rooted in the traditional mantra of a documentary wedding photographer but over the years photographers have been reaching more and more for the flash-guns, in part to assist with darker and fast-moving scenarios and in part as an aesthetic choice. For us though to use a flash is to alter the true conditions and to take the subject out of the moment almost as much as if we were to have physically moved them into ‘better’ ambient light. We want to capture the real feel of the wedding day and lighting is hugely important to that, even if most of us don’t necessarily realise the part it’s playing.

As we’ve established we believe that lighting is very important, but equally as significant is the absence of light. We choose to embrace the darkness and use shadows to help accent the depth of an image and highlight the areas we want the viewer to focus on. By allowing the shadows to fall where they may and then incorporating that into the composition we can create a more dynamic and visually exciting image with far more depth than the flat, even light that the more portrait-orientated or in many cases even the fellow documentary / reportage wedding photographer might seek to find or create.

A wedding day is often defined by those big traditional set pieces – the entrance of the bride, the rings, the first kiss, the cutting of the cake – these are the foundation of the day for the reportage wedding photographer. But whilst these are all of course important photographs for us and any other wedding photographer to capture they are merely the baseline of what we’re looking for. After all, however tasty a loaf you’ve baked it’s what you put between the slices that makes things interesting. We love to get under the skin of a wedding and take what might easily be dismissed as a ‘nothing’ moment and find a ‘hero’ shot within it – taking everyday interactions and finding the personalities behind them. Ansel Adams once said “You don’t take a photograph, you make it.” The big moments are there for the taking, but it’s the shots we make that truly excite us.

Whilst we’re privileged to work in all kinds of incredible settings and with couples who often put so much thought and effort into making their venue spectacular for their guests, for us as photographers where we shoot is almost irrelevant. Whilst we will always photograph the venue and details as part of the record of the day, by focussing primarily on the people in attendance (and that means ALL the people, not just the bride and groom) we try to create photographs that could exist in any space and are equally powerful wherever they are taken. Sometimes venues, locations and decorations can become additional characters of a wedding but, as part of our mandate as reportage wedding photographers, our aim is to use them as a context to or reflection of what the couple and their friends and family did or who they are as people, not as the centrepiece of the wedding. It’s our belief that as a documentary wedding photographer no two weddings should ever look the same in the photographs and by focussing on people and personalities, not venues or poses, we can ensure that in our photography every wedding is completely unique to the couple.

One reason why the term Reportage wedding photography is often used in place of the word documentary is that ‘Documentary’ can be a misleading title – if you were to watch a documentary on TV in most cases you’d probably be expecting to simply watch a factual record of someone or something that has happened, whereas watching a movie with carefully directed actors you’d probably expect something a little more imaginative and creative. Whilst in our definition of the documentary wedding photographer role we indeed seek a truthful representation of an event based on real people rather than actors, we also want to capture images that stand out every bit as much as a directed portrait and photographed with just as much flair and creativity. Though we’re lucky enough to be able to call it a full time job, our wedding photography is a creative pursuit, not simply a financial one.