How a War Photographer kickstarted my Wedding Photography life.

A moment that organically happened in front of me - no direction, no styling. In this scene, the bride is looking at her sister in law, while the brides sister is looking at her sister. I found this moment quite beautiful and meaningful.

Many years ago, when I was working for a commercial photographer as his retoucher, I came across a movie DVD in his studio called War Photographer. It was a documentary about James Nachtwey, a conflict/war photojournalist.

It was around this time that I’d also attended a family wedding with a few rolls of black and white film in an old Canon A1 with a 35mm lens.

This documentary, as dark and serious as it is, captured my attention. The way he got so close to such hostility and still managed to make such beautiful and riveting images really inspired me. This, in my opinion is photojournalism. While his presence in the scene does alter things slightly, he never directs, or talks to the people infant of him. He is there merely to observe and direct.

During a wedding, try as hard as we can, we can’t be completely unobtrusive or a “fly on the wall” - it just can’t happen. There is always some sort of conversation and discourse between the people in the room - it’s just human nature to engage in conversation, and a big part of what I do is engage in conversation with people in the room with me because it allows for more intimate and close imagery. If I were to simply show up and ask people to ignore me, it would feel awkward for everyone there.

I’ve done this for twenty years, and I have a pretty specific method of working that works for me.

This in my opinion is what wedding photojournalism is - arriving, getting to know those in the room, getting a feel of the level of emotion and stress in the room, and figuring out how close I can get without things getting awkward.

No matter what we do as wedding photographers, the second we arrive at your home, the energy of your wedding day changes. “The photographer is here” is often recited several times, and then in that instant, people often act a certain way knowing that they are being photographed. Eventually, everyone lets their guard down - and that’s when the great images are made.

Wedding photojournalism is NOT about “creating” images, directing people where to be, how to act, what to say to each other, or to re enact scenes that may have just happened. If you missed something - you missed it. Move on. As soon as you say “Oh that was cute do THAT again” - you’re a director, not a photojournalist.

Here’s a clip from War Photographer - be warned - some sensitive and potentially difficult subject matter may be shown.

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