The term Documentary Wedding Photography is a bit niche. Photographers know what it means but photographers think everyone knows what exposure compensation is. My daughter is doing a photography GCSE and she doesn’t know that either of these terms mean ( to be fair, she has only just started the course !). So what does it mean?
This is not a documentary wedding photo
What it is not
The photo above is a very nice portrait of Gareth and Natalie on their wedding day. It was set up and posed by me, I asked them to stand there and it’s a photo that probably was printed out and sits somewhere in their house. There is nothing wrong with it. But it is not a candid, in-the-moment shot.
What it is
A candid moment at Perpetual and Thabani’s wedding
The image above is a documentary wedding photography image, taken last year at a wonderful wedding I shot. The kids had just gotten into their formal wear and were looking in the mirror having a bit of a laugh at how different they looked from their normal attire. I didn’t set it up, just observed the scene and took the shot at the appropriate moment. I used the mirror as it was the best way to be unobtrusive. I could have lined them all up and carefully posed them for this shot. That could have been a lovely shot, but it would be more editorial, classic wedding photography, which is not what I prefer. The other factor was time, by this time we were running very late ( not unusual ). Setting up a shot like this would have taken even more time.
My approach to documentary wedding photography
Some photographers take this approach to the extreme, and won’t pose anyone or set up any shots on the day. I admire this, but I think for me this doesn’t quite work as pretty much every couple who have hired me have expected some formal shots, and I’m quite happy to do them. I prefer to shoot 90% of my shots as candid, documentary shots. I find that invariably these are the shots people love the most from the day. If this approach sounds good to you, then get in touch here to discuss your wedding:
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Debi and David having a moment on their big day