What Is Wedding Photojournalism?
So, it’s official – you’re getting married! Whether the proposal has been a long time coming, or one of those situations in which you just *knew* early on. Odds are, the time for decision-making is now upon you. The butterflies have settled, surprise has worn off, and you now have decisions to make.
So. Many. Decisions.
To make matters even more fun, many of these decisions need to be made quickly. Wedding vendors book up pretty far in advance. So there’s lots of pressure to pick the right people to work with, in time to make sure you lock them in for your big day.
So you scour The Google for information, and hop on wedding planning websites. And Pinterest, and read all of the magazines to pull your perfect day together. The only problem is that the wedding industry seems to have their own little vocabulary. And you’re not sure what half of this stuff means, or how to tell whether any of it is right for you. Pretty soon, all of it starts blending together, you’re not sure what you really want anymore, and you’re having midnight panic attacks because OMG what if the centerpieces clash with the table settings?!
Well, I’m not here to help you with table settings, folks. I have lots of wedding planner friends who are way better at that than I am (I’m happy to recommend a few–just ask!). But what I can help you with is decoding your photography style.
You’ve probably seen a few different buzz words since starting your research on photographers. Editorial, Light and Airy, Photojournalistic, Modern, Classic. Now you’re wondering, though. What’s the difference, and which is right for you? What is with all of the words?!
Let’s talk about Wedding Photojournalism, and how it differs from other photography styles. This style is my specialty, so let’s break down what it is and what it isn’t.
You probably see the words “photojournalistic” and “documentary” mentioned a lot when browsing through photographer portfolios. But these words don’t mean the same thing to every photographer. For some professionals, it merely means that they provide a more relaxed approach to the day. Without a lot of posing. And this is ideal for couples who feel awkward in front of a camera. And may not be comfortable acting like they’re auditioning for America’s Next Top Model all day long.
Photojournalistic photographers (including me) will often pose people for a few formal photographs with family. And the couples’ formal photographs, but the overall emphasis is on a more relaxed and un-posed feel. Other photographers do almost no posing whatsoever, and focus entirely on being a “fly on the wall” throughout the day. While an editorial or classic style tends to show off a lot of details of the wedding day. A documentary style has a greater emphasis on the people, and is less heavy on detail photographs.
Overall, wedding photojournalism is all about eliciting emotion, rather than placing a lot of emphasis on how things “look” on a wedding day. There is a lot going on all around you when you’re getting married, and you only see or notice a small fraction of it at the time. Add emotion and adrenaline (plus a healthy dose of nerves) to the mix, and you’d be shocked at how little you actually remember later, without the aid of good photographs.
Wedding photojournalism is about capturing the broad spectrum of everything happening on a wedding day–the funny things, the emotional things; catching your dad crying when he swore he wouldn’t (spoiler alert: dads lie). No matter how thoroughly you plan your day, every wedding is unique to the people in it. The little “in-between” moments that a good documentary photographer excels at capturing is what makes the difference between remembering how things looked, and remembering how the day felt.
I am very passionate about my take on wedding photojournalism – I’m a big believer in letting my clients’ wedding days unfold naturally, in a way that is personal to them. If I’m “instructing” all day long, I risk interfering with real moments that may not happen naturally if I’m setting things up to look a certain way. Although I do pose my couples for formal photographs (both family groupings and individual portraits), I try to do so artistically, and in a way that incorporates the overall feel and story of my couple’s day. It’s not otherwise uncommon for me to hear my clients tell me that they weren’t even aware that I was there at the time, when they look through their images. That’s one of the best compliments that I can get!
At the end of the day, the best photography style is the one that you respond to. You’re going to be bombarded with tons of wedding advice in your journey to make it down the aisle, but keep in mind that the only people who these photographs will ultimately matter to is you. You’ll have the wedding album on your coffee table, the prints up on your walls, and you’ll pass the images down to your family one day. Wedding photography is the visual record of who we were when we first started our lives with our forever partners – and you deserve to be the author of that story!
comments +