There are three dominant styles of photography for weddings right now. These are the traditional, photo-journalistic and combined styles. We want you to know the characteristics of these styles so you can match one of them to your personal artistic preferences. You’ll have your wedding photos forever so it’s important to apply that preference to your choice of a wedding photographer.
The traditional style has been around since wedding photography began decades ago. It developed during the tough depression and World War II eras and leveraged the beautiful lighting setups of the great movies of the time. Recall those wonderful old portraits of Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Becall and Audrey Hepburn where the light was directional and created dramatic images.
The style of the day was reflected in these photos. The pose of the personalities was completely controlled so the subject would be in the exact position to engage the lighting setup. In these shots the hair and makeup were flawless and the smallest detail such as jewelry and ties were carefully chosen. These photos required a tremendous amount of time to produce but the results speak for themselves. This was the golden age of photography.
The advantage to hiring a traditional photographer is repeatability. This kind of photographer knows the look he creates and works tirelessly to make sure your photos have that look. The lighting and poses in your photos will be perfect and because this photographer uses a shot list, he/she will cover all the bases. This means you will certainly have stylized photos of all the major touch points of the wedding like the rings, the cake and the bouquet throw.
The downside to using a traditional photographer is the control they may have to insert into your wedding in order to create all the photos on his shot list. These kinds of photographers require that you work with them to create the images that he usually creates. This puts the photographer in control of your event but this may be something that works for you. It’s an issue you need to consider.
There is another disadvantage to using a traditional photographer and that is the potential loss of spontaneity. The traditional photographer will be concentrating on getting the photos on his shot list and may completely miss the interactions between men and women in the wedding party, the emotional parents and the guests.
The wedding photojournalist employs a completely different approach. The best wedding photojournalists quite often earned their stripes“ working in the newspaper or magazine business. This means they were assigned to breaking news events or feature articles. The essence in this type of photography is to catch human emotion as it happens and use the surroundings to make an artistic statement in the photos.
Photojournalists returned their photos to a professional picture editor. These editors are demanding and know the quality of the photos they are looking at. There is no place to hide for this style of photographer. They had to be good or they would be looking for a different line of work.
Wedding photojournalism requires fast reactions and anticipations. They must keep a wide angle of attention in order to capture moments as they happen. There will be many special moments throughout the day and this type of photographer is more likely to capture them.
Spontaneous photos are the benefit of hiring a wedding photojournalist. Always on the look out for fast breaking emotions and action, they will deliver you a unique and energy packed set of photos.
The downside to the wedding photojournalist is he/she doesn’t work from a shot list. If requested he will take standard set-up shots but he will use the venue’s features to create an interesting set of more formal photos. The upside to wedding photojournalism is the energy level of the photos. Since these photos are being captured when interesting things are happening the energy exuding from the subjects is transferred to the photos. A set of photos created by a good photojournalist will be a unique and lively recording of your wedding.
The most popular style now is wedding photojournalism. Brides are asking for it and traditional wedding photographers are claiming they can deliver it along with their prepared set up photos. Some photographers can accomplish this and some cannot. It’s a difficult task to be good at both styles of photographer but it’s not impossible.
Your photography style choice should be based on your own personal aesthetic. Know what you want and select the type of photographer that can deliver it to you.
Learn more about San Francisco Wedding Photography. Stop by John Santoro’s site where you can find out all about wedding photojournalism and what it can do for you.