Why Photography Matters.
One of the best parts about photography is the fact that many photographers can see the same thing, same scene, and shoot it in completely different ways because of our individual experiences and different levels of expertise. One small part of why photography matters.
Moral of the story, choose your wedding photographer wisely of photography matters to you.
Photographers bring their perspective and voice to your wedding day, and remind you why photography matters more now than ever before.
Photographers that specialise in wedding photography have different skills and expertise that say a fashion photographer doesn’t.
Wedding photographers have to react to constantly changing lighting from room to room or inside to outside and adjust settings quickly to compensate, unexpected things arising, and often working with people not familiar, and even hate being in front of a camera, in order to catch the moment. No backup crew assisting.
While fashion photographers are on location with lighting setups, crew of assistants and experienced models in front of the camera with ample time to create an image.
Photographers each have their way of telling visual stories, they might have a documentary approach for storytelling, fashion editorial with a more art direction style, or traditional portrait photography, some even mix various styles for different parts of the day.
Documentary photographers, known for their ability to move around in the shadows as if hidden from view, have an instinct for decisive moments. That approach and awareness can work nicely in an environment such as a busy wedding day. If you lean towards documentary wedding photography, the photographer doesn’t become part of the day speaking with you and guests, rather capturing the day discretely
Which ever photographer you choose to capture your special day, its important you and your photographer have the same shared vision.
The whole point is you are getting married and that always should take precedence. It’s not a photoshoot for the photographer, practice for an amateur photographer or portfolio building exercise. It’s their job to focus on capturing your wedding day as it unfolds full of authentic emotions.
The photographer should set out to capture heartfelt human moments and meaningful memories as well as the important events from the ceremony and reception and the in-between moments, which can be the most-important memories of them all.
Our tips for finding the best wedding photographer to capture your big day
Avoid using your amateur photographer friend
- Sure its tempting to get a free wedding photographer. Yes you want to help out your friend or family member who has taken an interest in photography, even pursue wedding photography as a career, but your wedding day is not a portfolio building exercise. Your wedding day is a one-time event that you cannot do-over. If the wedding photographs they deliver are not up to your expectations, or your families, you don’t want to risk ruining your relationship. Okay we just had to get that one out of the way to save you making one of the biggest mistakes of your life.
Follow photographers whose wedding photos inspire you
- Follow the photographers your drawn too on Instagram to stay up to date with the images they are creating to get a feel for their style. Remembering Instagram is a best-off portfolio, so you’ll need to dig deeper.
Deep dive into the photographer’s style
- Gather a bunch of photographer websites you are most drawn too, and do a deep dive into their style. Particularly pay attention to full galleries to see how they shoot all parts of the day. Some photographers can excel at the creative portraits and less so around candid moments, and vice versa. Naturally you’ll want a photographer that excels at the kind of images you are drawn too.
Discover what images are important to you!
- Learn what images are important to YOU! You might prefer a more natural documentary approach, so avoid hiring a photographer that focuses on romantic posed portraits. Make sure your and your photographers vision align to avoid being disappointed with your photos because you CANNOT do-over your wedding day.
Meet-n-greets with your shortlist of wedding photographers
- Once you narrow down your photographer choices to 3-4, you’ll want to arrange to meet them, in person is best but its very common to do a meet-n-greet over Zoom. Make sure both you and your partner are their for this meeting, so you two are on the same page and both comfortable with your final choice.
- A big part of being photographed is being comfortable in the presence of the photographer and having complete faith in their abilities, so on the day you can relax and let them do their thing. A photographer thrives at capturing their best images when they are left to do what comes natural to them.
- Once you’re both happy with the same photographer, make sure they are available on your wedding date and within your wedding photography budget. Lock them in. All photographers will require a booking fee to secure the date. The amount of the booking fee varies from photographer to photographer, some 10% and others 50%, with the balance due prior to the wedding day is industry standard.
Expectations vs Reality
- Going into your wedding, you are going to have expectations of what you want out of your photographer and photographs. Make sure you have open communication with your hired wedding photographer and provide a clear indication what photos are important to you.
- Ideally, a variety of images will ensure the day is covered well. For each part of the day — bride and groom prep, first look, ceremony, family portraits, couples photo shoot, wedding party photo shoot to reception, you will want a variety of candid images, in-between moments, details and portraits.
Build rapport with your photographer
- Being super comfortable with your photographer needs to be emphasised. Awkward in real life, translates into photographs tenfold.
- After a few conversations if you don’t have a good rapport with the photographer, Id be putting up the red flags. But once you have the rapport, from that moment on, you will fully trust the process and definitely change your perspective of being in front of the camera. A good photographer knows how to make people feel comfortable and that translates in the photos.
Embrace spontenaety
- While you are planning your wedding down to the nth degree, also try not to go into the wedding day too attached to a fixed vision. Allow for spontaneous moments to unfold. The best moments almost never come from a shot list and the best way to destroy a photographers creativity is giving them a long list of required photos and poses to follow.
- The family photo list is the exception here — you don’t want to leave out Aunt Mary or Uncle Fred, the family will never let you live it down.
- Professional photographers spend so much time practicing their craft, so when it comes down to game time, they have to be able to just go out and perform. Seasoned wedding photographers are hardly surprised by anything. Trust their instincts. This isn’t their first wedding.
Collaborating with a filmmaker/videographer or content creator
- If you are planning on having your wedding filmed, whether a full cinematic production or simply for social content, its a good idea to discuss this with your photographer. They may even being able to recommend a supplier they’ve previously worked well with before.
- What ever team you build, them having a great rapport and similar approach on the day only benefits you.
- Typically one of the team, usually the photographer, will be the one directing as nothing ever works well when their are too many cooks in the kitchen. If they have a great rapport they can even tag team to ensure all suppliers achieve the best results with you in mind.
