What is documentary wedding photography?
We are passionate about photographing weddings in a documentary style. There are lots of different words photographers currently use to describe their style. Probably no term is more misunderstood than ‘Documentary Wedding Photographer’.
Standing afar off, with sunglasses on the head, they are snapping everyone from a distance. Sorry, but no, I mean, really?
We are on a mission!
We are on a mission to smash that image! Documentary wedding photography is about a totally unobtrusive and completely natural approach to wedding photography.
Actually, we actively want to avoid being noticed and dictating what people do and how they do it.
Your special day is about you, it is NOT about being photographed!
Your day should unfold naturally and without our intervention. Be yourselves and enjoy your day. As a result, we want people to think at the end “was there even a photographer here?”
So many different terms, it’s confusing!
Documentary wedding photography is often referred to as “reportage”, “candid” or “wedding photojournalism”. Basically, these mean pretty much the same thing. A style of wedding photography that is about observation, not instruction. We approach each of the weddings we shoot with the same vision. We do not to pose, direct or control your day. Rather, we record it with skill and sensitivity. This frees you to completely enjoy you day and not be concerned about giving the photographer instructions or getting instructions from your photographer.
Documentary wedding photographs preserve, forever, real moments that happen spontaneously throughout the day. Usually, the bride and groom will miss many of these moments. Consequently, if the documentary photographer has the vision and skill, image galleries, as well as each individual image, will portray the subject and the scene with honesty and authenticity. This for us is what weddings are about. Sure, some portraits and group shots are nice, but the emotions and memories captured by true documentary wedding photography will go on to have a lasting emotional impact for many years to come.
Stories without words.
Your images will convey the story, atmosphere and emotion of the moments they capture without the need for explanation.
Weddings are a paradise for the observation of people and their interactions. True documentary wedding photographers thrive on these opportunities. The range of emotions on display is one of the things that makes a wedding day totally unique…..
The pre wedding build up and anticipation during the preparations, the intensity and the the joy of the ceremony, followed by poignant moments during the speeches. The cherry on the cake is the sheer energy and exuberance of the evening party and dancing!
Creating a legacy.
We feel hugely honoured when we are commissioned to document a wedding. It is a big responsibility but also a real joy to record these precious moments and emotions forever. Presenting you with images with real emotional impact which will go on to give you happiness for a lifetime. This is artistic, creative and raw, documenting those little things that often go unnoticed, those subtle emotions and nuances unique to each wedding, to each family and to every couple. It’s humbling that people trust this responsibility in our hands. We feel incredibly blessed to make a living doing this incredible job. “Do what you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life”, how true that is!
We always want our work to illicit a reaction from the viewer. Honest, emotional and authentic images always do this. It is precisely these kind of images that we produce for all of the couples we are privileged to work with.
Photography matters!
Ultimately, it is about creating a beautiful, elegant and completely timeless set of emotive images. Images that fully tell the story of your wedding day. A skilled documentary wedding photographer will produce a collection of images that you as a family can look at time and time again throughout the years to come and allow yourselves to be transported back, in an instant, to those moments from your wedding day. You can’t do this with endless posed, directed and contrived images.
We focus on telling your story without words, creating an authentic documentary record of the most important day of your life. The best professional documentary wedding photographers will find those other incidental and often unseen moments. Mini-stories that will take your breath away when you see them for the first time!
Raw emotions. Beautifully captured.