My main aim when I’m photographing a wedding is to capture the feel of the day so that when the couple are looking at their photographs afterwards it brings back memories of what it was like.
That sounds great but what does it really mean?
Well, I photograph in a style that is documentary, taking photographs all through the day, from when the bride is getting ready to late into the night. Also, I take candid unposed photographs, ones that show what was going on, rather than only who was there.
So, don’t you take any posed photographs?
That’s entirely up to the couple. I think that it’s nice to have a few posed photographs, so that you have something to put on your desk at work and give to the parents. When doing posed photographs it only takes 30 minutes at the most as I know most couples don’t want to be away from their guests for too long. Anyway, how often do you have a professional photographer at your disposal? You might as well make the most of it.
So how long do you stay at a wedding?
With my style of photography I believe that it is important to be at the wedding from beginning to end. What this means is that I normally arrive while the bride is getting ready. This gives me a chance to photograph the dress, shoes and can also be a good time to get photographs of the bride with her bridesmaids. I then follow everything through till there’s nothing left to photograph, that’s normally when everyones drinking and dancing. So on average it’s about 10 - 12 hours.
For me the most important thing in photographing a wedding is that the couple are comfortable with me as a person. This is why I try to recommend getting together a few times before the wedding. Also that the couple like my style of photography. I recommend that they look through a couple of whole weddings to get an idea of the photographs that they will get.
