What do we mean by documentary wedding photography?

 

I’m involved with helping other wedding photographers develop their craft and establish their businesses, so I get to meet lots of photographers. Some give themselves labels that help to define their approach. I have heard “reportage”, “photojournalistic” and “documentary”; those are just some of the words that describe our own approach. Often though, even photographers using the same words do not have the same approach or philosophy. So it must be confusing for couples looking to book a photographer.

Twenty odd years ago, when I set out to work the way I do now, I made some choices about the way I would approach wedding photography. In those days all wedding photography was posed. The photographers, and I was one of them, used big cameras the size, shape and weight of a house brick. The camera was usually mounted on a tripod and the film that it was loaded with was not particularly sensitive so the photographer often had to resort to flash. Because the camera was often tripod mounted the photographer could not be very mobile, so in general, the subject came to the camera. Each image was staged and arranged, it had to be, and that meant the photographer had control.

I talked about wedding portraiture in last week’s post on here because we do get asked to make some posed portraits and group pictures at most of the weddings we document. Twenty odd years ago though every picture we made at a wedding was posed for. Back then I remember hearing people say that they didn’t want to book a photographer because they thought all of that posing and interruption from the photographer would spoil their day. Venues often complained about photographers who held up proceedings by taking time over posing pictures, guests got bored and Ministers banned photographers from their Churches. The photographer often dominated wedding days, no wonder we had such an awful reputation.

So, as a wedding photographer and one who was interested in documentary photography I thought there must be a better way. That was when I started approaching weddings the way I do now. At the same time others were realising the advantages of working that way too. At the same time film technology took off allowing us to use more sensitive films in more portable cameras.  There are two facts that feed the whole of my personal philosophy of wedding photography.

1 I won’t interfere with proceedings.

 

2 The images I make must have integrity.

So, that means I will not stop, create, recreate, pose, arrange or manipulate any scene. Here’s the caveat again, when requested we will make portraits and group pictures that will have to be arranged. That means to do what we do we have to approach our subject, the wedding day, with a velvet hand and a hawk’s eye. As documentary wedding photographers we are responsible for seeing and recording individual moments that, when arranged in context of others, will relay a factual account of any given wedding day.

The approach, as you would imagine became very popular and wedding photographers up and down the country were asked to make wedding pictures in the style. The trouble was that most wedding photographers understood the technical, compositional and aesthetic aspects of wedding portraiture. They knew how to arrange shape, form and colour to make pleasing individual pictures but were not versed in the technique of story telling or shooting for the decisive moment. They were trained to control all of the elements of each picture and to create or recreate events for the sake of photographs.

It is not easy to make wedding documents the way we do but other wedding photographers were under pressure to try. When I look at a lot of wedding photographers work I see now, a mix, a hybrid of style has evolved. I have seen pictures of Brides apparently applying make up in a mirror but their expression appears uncomfortable, often a self-conscious smile reveals that the photographer has arranged the image. There is a clear distinction between a smile for a photograph and one that has occurred because the subject is happy. On any given wedding day there are the full range of emotions on display. Only a documentary photographer with the integrity we have will document them all.

While I believe there are a number of photographers now who make images that allude to narrative, appear natural and are not as stiff looking as the ones we made in the old days they will stop and influence the story that they tell.

What do we mean by documentary wedding photography?

 

It’s pure story telling that is unobtrusive and with integrity. We will document your wedding the way it is, but with a compassionate eye so your memories will be of your day not of having your photograph taken.