Most Wedding Photographers do the art of wedding photography no favours…

I was lecturing to a small group of photographers the other day about the art of wedding photography and faced something of an uphill struggle.

You see, these graduates of the arts had some preconceptions.

Fashion photography, Fine Art Photography (what’s that I said…. nude photography was one answer), commercial photography and landscape photography… These are the genres most photography students aspire to. Wedding photography is perceived as something to do to earn a little cash on the side. Basically put the camera on Aperture Priority mode and shoot a bunch of incredibly dull formals with a smile on your face as if you enjoy it and take the money and run. (Oh, and of course offer a book full of these characterless pictures and charge double for a leather cover)

I’m not surprised by this attitude, just a little saddened by it. You see, most wedding photographers do the art of wedding photography no favours. Many have been photographing weddings for years and take the same pictures week in, week out. Many couples have been raised with this expectation in mind. Their parents’ albums contained a lot of pictures of family members standing straight, side by side, inanely grinning at the camera, because that’s what people do when photographers stand in front of them and tell them to smile.

The good news is that things are rapidly changing.

Photographers like Annabel Williams (as seen on telly…many times) introduced the concept of ‘lifestyle’ into wedding photography. A more relaxed, natural style of photographing events as they happen. Capturing the moment. A few photographers such as Jeff Ascough and Joe Buissink have become legends in the field, simply because they capture moments perfectly. They have an inate ability to make the mundane seem special. The trouble is of course, that anyone with a camera can take pictures of moments and call themselves a wedding photographer, without paying any attention whatsoever to the rules of composition or knowing anything about the quality of light. (any light, not just sunlight) – I believe an extra fundamental requirement is to be passionate about people and their stories. If a photographer isn’t passionate then they’ll find it difficult to capture perfect moments if every perfect moment seems rather dull.

In Australia, master photographers like Yervant and Jerry Ghionis added yet another take on the wedding photography genre. They don’t merely wait around in the background hoping for something to happen. What if it doesn’t? What if the wedding day really is a little… well, dull? Do they simply charge less money for not capturing great moments on camera? No, this group of photographers would step in and actively create the magical moments to ensure they get what the bride and groom pay for. (Go on… click their website links to see how beautiful their work can be)

Yet a third group who completely makeup a fantasy based around the wedding day have also come to the fore in the last few years. Photographers such as John Michael Cooper have completely redefined the wedding photography genre and turned it into a stand alone art-form.

Wedding Photography has truly come of age. Discerning clients who have grown up reading quality glossy monthlies, fashion magazines and Photo led colour supplements are now expecting better, more natural, more glamorous images for their wedding photography. They know all about photoshop and its magical enhancing power and can spot a ‘bad skin job’ as easily as an I-phone wannabee. Really, I believe that todays photographers should start treating their clients with a little more respect and realise that churning out the same old stuffy poses, group shots and ill-executed grab shots is unacceptable in an age where every guest at every wedding has a pretty decent camera.

To illustrate what I mean, here are some images from Surrah and Paul’s wedding at SOUGHTON HALL in North Wales. There can be little doubt that a photographers job is made a little easier when the bride and groom look so good together, the setting is as beautiful as Soughton Hall and Jimmy Choo/Hugo Boss lend a hand as well. A wedding photographer’s job though, is to make every wedding day look perfect. When it rains, as it did throughout much of the day, it’s important to never let it dampen the pictures. The light must always be amazing, no matter what time of day it is and the composition of each picture should be good enough that it could withstand being placed in a frame and admired on a wall. (If not, why offer it to the client in the first place?).

We all hate those smiles we put on for the camera. Our ‘camera face’. We hate it and it’s the reason we often don’t like our picture being taken. Well, a good wedding photographer should manage to capture our ‘real face’ and not our camera face. Natural smiles. It’s an art and not something they teach you in photography school. It comes from liking people.

Sometimes images need to be set up and posed in the minimum amount of time. Wedding photographers need to set up the lighting conditions to ensure faces are lit properly and conduct the pose so that a couple doesn’t look stiff (as we all do without some direction) but instead looks relaxed, natural and in love.

In short, what I’m looking to achieve is a collection of images in a beautifully laid out wedding book, that would be so highly cherished, a couple would want to run into a burning building to save. (Yet common sense would stop them when they realise that they could get another copy from me. No crazy heroics over my pictures, please.)