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Making Sense of Photo Styles
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Photo by
James Hazelwood
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Article
written by James Hazelwood,
James Hazelwood Photography
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Have you looked at your parents or grandparents wedding
photos lately? What do you notice about the clothing, the
hair styles? Anybody seen "That 70's Show"? Hard to
believe guys actually wore those leisure suits!
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Just as hair styles and clothing fashions change, so do
styles and approaches to Wedding Photography.
Understanding these trends is an important factor in
selecting a wedding photographer. You want to make sure
your vision of your wedding matches that of your
photographer. Every couple must find a match with their
wedding photographer. That match includes two equally
important factors.
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First is personality. Do you feel comfortable with
your photographer. This is an important but sometimes
neglected factor. After all, you'll be spending more time
with your photographer than any other single vendor on
your wedding day. Does he/she make you feel comfortable?
Do you just plain like this guy or gal?
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Second is style. Every photographer has a style,
and that style reflects their own vision, training and
approach to wedding photography. There are three main
styles that are dominant in today's wedding photography.
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Traditional or Classic Wedding Portraiture -
This is the classic wedding photography that still
dominates the market today. Hanson Fong (www.hansonfong.com)
& Clay Blackmore (www.clayblackmore.com) are most well
known for this approach. This approach includes many posed
photographs of the bride, groom, couple, bridal party and
family. Typically, the photographer is very involved in
arranging individual and group photographs. This approach
may also continue in the reception when the photographer
asks the couple to look into the camera during their first
dance or cake cutting ceremony.
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The benefits are many fine portrait-like photographs, some
even suitable for framing and hanging. A second benefit is
a good, classy photographer can be helpful in guiding you
throughout the day.
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The traditional approach has its limitations though.
Sometimes those posed photographs can take a long time. It
takes a while to set up groups or help brides position
themselves for a portrait session. A second limitation may
be an over-involved photographer who is stopping events in
order to get photographs.
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Photojournalistic Wedding Photography - This is the
emerging trend in wedding photography. The phrase comes
from famous wedding photographer Denis Reggie (www.denisreggie.com).
This style has very few, if any, posed photographs. The
photographer is more like a photojournalist covering an
event for the Boston Globe. He is not guiding the action,
but documenting the events. The photojournalist
photographer is often more interested in capturing
spontaneous and real emotions.
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The benefits of this style are many natural pictures of
people interacting and enjoying the wedding day. Some
people call these "candids", because they seem like snap
shots of people. These photographers also tend to use more
Black & White film than the traditional approach. A second
benefit of this style is more photographs. Typically, the
wedding photojournalist will take two and sometimes three
or more times the number of images as a traditional
photographer. The benefit is more of a selection for the
couple. The average wedding photographer takes
250 images at a wedding according to photographer David Ziser. Most photojournalists will take at least twice that
number.
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This leads to one of the limitations of this style, which
is cost. Sometimes the wedding photojournalist will be
more expensive, and one of the reasons is all that film
that has to be purchased and processed. So if you like
this style, you might need to pay more for it.
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Wedding Portrait Journalism - This style has
been the work of Joe Buissink (www.joebuissink.com), who
has rapidly become one of the most sought after celebrity
wedding photographers. Joe's work is very much in the
direction of the photojournalist style. However, he has
added a fine art dimension to the portrait style. Time is
set aside for posed portraits of the bride and groom, but
this is done quickly and naturally. San Francisco
photographer Bambi Cantrell (www.cantrellportrait.com) has
also developed this style quite well.
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The benefits of this style are similar to the
Photojournalist Wedding photography - many photos of
people naturally enjoying the wedding. The images are
often marked with real emotion. However, the results often
include more portraits of the couple. These portraits have
more of a fine art appeal to them, and sometimes a bit of
a hip fashion magazine look. This is a great style for you
if you want something fresh and creative. They will not be
the typical wedding portraits.
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The major limitation of this approach besides price, is
people often get confused at this style. They think it's a
blending of the best of traditional and the best of the
photojournalistic style. They may be disappointed because
what they really wanted were those nice posed portraits of
the traditional style. Instead, they end up with something
much more artistic, often in Black & White - and, well not
something they feel they can give grandma for as a gift.
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Without a doubt the traditional approach is still the
dominate style in the wedding photography world. Having
said that, the fastest growing trend is the
photojournalistic approach. How do you decide which one
you want for your wedding?
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 The best approach is to spend sometime looking at wedding
photos. This does not mean you need to go around to every
studio. In fact, I'd do some research before going to
studios. You can begin by going to a local bookstore, and
in the Photography section look over the wedding
photography books. Bambi Cantrell's The Art of Wedding
Photography is a good place to begin. Second, spend
sometime on a computer with a fast internet connection and
look at various photographers' web sites. If a photographer
is showing his or her best work, and we assume they are,
then look through the web site and see what style they
have. Does it match yours?
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No style is
right or wrong - it's a matter of personal taste. I've had couples
who loved my work, but hired someone else because they wanted a
more traditional style. The key to finding the right wedding
photographer is to find a style that you appreciate and value in a
person you get along with. If you line up those two qualities,
you'll be very happy.
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