It goes without saying that the big things that make up a wedding need pictures, stuff like the first dance, walking down the aisle, confetti walk, cake cut, first kiss etc.
For me though they’re the easy things to take pictures of, even though not directed or set up by myself it’s pretty simple - walking down the aisle, kiss after ceremony, walk out and people throw things at them, if they have a cake they cut it - all pre-determined all very easy to get pictures of.
Pictures of weddings aren’t just about those things though, they’re about the feel of it, the people at them, their relationships with each other and the couple, the cute things that happen, small exchanges, ordinary things with big meanings to the people there, someone’s smile in a picture perhaps their only one for a long time because they suffer massively with depression or anxiety - to an outsider it’s a picture of someone smiling, to an insider it’s the most important thing in the world, funny things, sad things, poignant things, the party, a little bit of irony or humour never hurt either - that’s what I’m there for, the real important stuff.
You see, the traditional stuff is easy your guests will take pictures of that too, a lot of them will be half decent as well. For me the story is more important- the traditional pictures make up around 10% of the pictures I take, the other 90% make up the important things, stuff you’ll look back on and smile at.
Memories matter and often it’s the little personal memories from your day you’ll look back on and smile about, I think it’s nice to have pictures of those things, not staged, not set up, not contrived and all taken without realizing they are being taken. That’s the beauty of real candid photography, let moments be moments, people be people. This is where a low-key approach is invaluable, look at the image above. If I were to approach this little personal moment like a wedding photographer, I’d most likely take a series of images of this conversation, sometimes up to 100, it’s called ‘shooting through the moment’ and the premise is to capture a series of images over a period of time, so I could go back and select the best one. Great from a picture perspective, however a photographer stood or squatting in front of this scene taking lots of pictures would intrude and cut it short, that’s not how I like to operate - I want people to enjoy their little moments uninterrupted, oblivious to the fact I’m even taking a picture. So I don’t do the wedding photographer thing, I take a single image, no squatting, no lingering, I don’t even look through the camera, it’s all done in a split-second and in this case while I was chatting to some other guests and eating 29 canapés (I didn’t actually eat that many).