Wedding Photojournalism

Richard Waits For His Bride to Come Outside the Lake Union Cafe Richads waits patiently for Anne to finish getting ready for him to see her for the first time.

More photos to come as I continue the editing process.

Daniel Sheehan is a Seattle wedding photographer. His wedding photography at A Beautiful Day Photography is in an artistic photojournalistic style. He photographs weddings with a subtle, unobtrusive story-telling approach and delivers documentary wedding photojournalism.  

October 1, 2008 | Categories: Wedding Photography, wedding Photojournalism | Tags: seattle wedding photographer, seattle wedding photography., wedding photographers in seattle | Leave A Comment »

Seattle Wedding Photography Styles

Finding the Style of Seattle Wedding Photography That Works For You.
Not Every Style That Looks The Same At First Is The Same!

In the beginning, wedding photography was in black and white and the cameras were big and bulky so most wedding photographs were carefully posed. Then came color photography and smaller lighter 35mm cameras and more photographers began to try and shoot candid pictures. Over time, different styles have developed and you may find yourself attracted to one style over another. All of them can be in black and white or color. With the coming of digital, all photos are made in color but can be converted to black and white without any degradation, so it is just a matter of your taste and the style you find yourself attracted to.

Traditional and Photojournalistic are the two primary approaches to wedding photography that the majority of wedding photographers practice today. Classically posed images and a great deal of photographer direction and interaction on the day of the wedding are the hallmarks of the approach of the Traditional Wedding Photographer. The poses dictated by the photographer have been practiced since the days of the big bulky cameras by traditional wedding photography studios and have served them well over the years. Your parent’s wedding was most likely photographed in this style.

Editorial photography style with an emphasis on telling a story of the day with unposed candid pictures, with little photographer direction and interaction best describes the Photojournalistic Wedding Photographer approach. The emphasis in photojournalism is on capturing the story, atmosphere, details and emotion of the day, so the viewer has an appreciation of what the wedding was like, rather than a series of pre-determined poses.
Photojournalism is easier to define, as the term infers the photography is by its nature similar to journalism, where the emphasis is upon reporting and recording events in a newsworthy manner and the photos are more about you than a predetermined pose.

There is now a new approach that sprung up in the last couple of years. This third style of wedding photography, which has lately been gaining popularity, is a contemporary fashion magazine approach. This approach blends elements of the editorial photojournalistic approach with the kind of highly styled posed fashion pictures that find their inspiration in magazines like Vogue or Elle or Vanity Fair. Most of the photographers who follow this approach rely heavily on post-production processing in Photoshop to give their images an over saturated romantic look, sometime layering texture patterns over the picture. Just as the fashion magazines use Photoshop to digitally enhance all of their pictures, this style leans in the direction of fantasy, depicting the bride and groom as glamorous models in an exotic location. Contemporary fashion wedding photography may include an element of photojournalism but is not exclusively that style of photography. The digital manipulations create a more artistic and dreamy look than straight, non enhanced photojournalism alone conveys.

As a matter of course, some photographers blend elements of all these styles in their practice of wedding photography. In fact, due of the rise in popularity of the photojournalistic approach which has been considered hot the last five or six years, many traditional wedding photographers have adapted to the times by creating poses that mimic the look of candid photojournalistic pictures. The poses often look stiff compared to true to life candid pictures, but they offer a different look from their older poses. A number of straight photojournalistic photographers are adopting elements of the fashion magazine approach to some of their photographs.

Consider all three approaches when you look through the online portfolios of wedding photographers before you find the one who you think will best convey the elements your own style.

Daniel Sheehan is a Seattle wedding photographer. His wedding photography at A Beautiful Day Photography is in an artistic photojournalistic style. He photographs weddings with a subtle, unobtrusive story-telling approach and delivers documentary wedding photojournalism.

September 26, 2008 | Categories: Wedding Photography, wedding Photojournalism | Tags: seattle wedding photographer, seattle wedding photography., wedding photographers in seattle | Leave A Comment »