Wedding Photography Style
If you are new to the wedding photographer search, it probably seems like a million buzz words are being thrown around, with not much clarity as to what the difference is. You’re not wrong! Let’s break it down.
While some artists identify with one particular style, the truth is a wedding photographer needs to flow from one to another as the day unfolds. My approach as I am saying hello and setting up detail images is much different than when I'm with the couple for portraits or later in the day when I'm on the dance floor with your guests. There is a huge variety of skills to master in order to accurately cover the day from beginning to end. Here are a few key buzz-words you may run across.
Editorial wedding photography
Editorial style photography shows the photographer's vision, and can include posing and lighting in the setup. These images highlight the fashion, style, and details you have worked so hard to put together in magazine-worthy images. The veil all spread out showing off lace edging or details perfectly balanced on each other are both examples of editorial photography. This style tells a highly-curated story, and is used a lot in portraits on the wedding day.
Documentary wedding photography
Documentary photography captures moments and people in an authentic way. Storytelling that is camera-unaware but not completely hands-off from a photographers perspective. The setting may be set up to be just-right, with the photographer altering lighting or suggesting the subject move, but the moment itself is real. It tells the story that the couple wants told. You likely know you are being photographed, but it is still a moment shared and real story captured. These images may feel real but are set-up and camera-aware. In this image below, the toasts were happening and the scene was "set up", but this moment where he leans over to her while she's laughing is very real.
Photojournalistic wedding photography
Photojournalism is capturing life as it unfolds without any photographer interaction at all. Completely fly-on-the-wall approach that is honest, beautiful, and appropriate for parts of the day but probably not all of it (in my opinion). A photojournalist will not remove a bottle with unsightly label that's on the table in their shot, they will make a decision on how to frame the image so that it is either included in the frame in an interesting way or crop it out. A documentary photographer would just move the bottle in the way. Photojournalism tells the truth no matter what.
The photojournalist approach, for me, comes out a lot on the dance floor.
Traditional Wedding Photography
The boring stuff? Not necessarily. Traditional wedding photography still has its place in the wedding day. I consider all of the family group photos traditional, and knowing how to do this efficiently, with enough assertiveness to get everyone in line and with a detail-oriented eye takes practice.
Many clients want family photos where the details they have worked to bring together are in perfect order. These portraits become a part or your families permanent library, taking their place with nearly identically styled wedding photos from generations past. It's nice to have these in addition to the more modern, emotion-filled images, however they take up a very small percentage of the final gallery that I deliver to my clients.
But where do I fit into those as a photographer? Great question!
The truth is that all of these styles are called on at different times in the day, with carrying weights on each one depending on the couple and their style. All of these skills are all necessary to accurately capture different parts of the day.
But if asked I call myself a documentary photographer as it most accurately represents how I approach most parts of the day, where the client may be camera aware but I am searching for the candid moment within that. It's hard to describe but if you like what you see, you know what I'm talking about!