Why Wedding Photography

Anyone who wants to be a Photographer eventually choose's which direction they wish to go and what type of photography they wish to do.

So why did I choose Wedding Photography? To many it would be the last path they would take in Photography as there's so much responsibility, and you only get one chance to get it right. You never know what the weather will be like, or if the lighting will be any good.

There is also a lot of competition from other Wedding Photographers, which I put into three different catagories.

The Poor Traditional Wedding Photographer

As a traditional wedding photographer you would have set poses in mind, and use them at many weddings.

It was seeing traditional wedding photography that almost put me off being a wedding photographer full stop. Instead around 15 years ago I decided I wanted to do weddings but my way.

I was sick of seeing the same poses used over and over again. The poses themselves were wooden and also dare I say a cheesy.

You could also see that some of the couples were not comfortable in the poses they were put in.

There's nothing wrong with portraits done at weddings as long as the couple's themselves are comfortable and there are the dynamics between the couple and the photographer.

I still even now see very little that has changed here up North.

As the years have gone on I have seen that the same Traditional Photographers who's work I hated are now offering a reportage option.

Looking at what they class as reportage is laughable at the best of times. They seem to think turning a digital file from colour into Black and white suddenly makes it reportage.

They don't even get their blacks and whites right. Instead they look like an awful washed out grey.

This often shows they have either never printed black and white prints themsleves whilst in their days of using film or that their transition from film to Digital is not working for them as they have no understanding of computer programs such as photoshop.

The new breed of Uncle Bob

Yes there is another new breed of Wedding Photographer who never ever used film but became interested in photography since Digital has become so accessible.

This is often the Uncle, the Friend or just the guy who wants to have a crack at it because they think they can make some easy money.

They often have no real understanding of photography, but think they can just take hundreds of photo's at a Wedding so they know some of them will be ok.

They don't charge much, but their Photography reflects this with bad composition, overuse of flash and out of focus rubbish.

The Skilled Wedding Photographer

Although here up North they are few and far between, there are actually some good wedding photographers about. Unfortunately there are so many rubbish one's its hard for the good ones to be found.

The Skilled Wedding Photographer can call themselves Traditional but have that dynamic that although the main body of their wedding photography is Portraiture, these portraits do not look wooden but natural.

They can call themselves Wedding Photojournalists and simply capture all of the moments beautifully with portraiture being only a small percentage of what they take on a wedding day.

They can think fast, use natural light and superb composition in the blink of an eye.

So with all this competition, and hard conditions to deal with, Why would I choose Wedding Photography? And what category am I in?

I will tell you in my next post!