Images with REAL style…. | Defining Wedding Photojournalism

What style of wedding photography are you looking for?  As you navigate through a sea of choices for your photographer you will be asked this question repeatedly.  Terms will be thrown at you like candid, editorial, traditional, glamour, lifestyle… just to name a few.  Photographers pick and choose these titles at will and sometimes pick a couple just for …. well, their own reasons I guess . My biggest advice is always to choose your photographer with your eyes NOT your ears anyway.  The style should be evident and consistent in the work. However, for the sake of this conversation, what is our style?  Well, our title of choice is Wedding Photojournalism but what does that really mean?  I can tell you in one word… REAL.

We are unabashedly smitten with capturing the REAL moments and REAL emotions of your REAL wedding day. We have this crazy idea that what you should remember from your wedding day is the person you are marrying, the family and friends you have invited and the celebration you have planned. The more we interrupt, stage or adjust moments or events the less REAL they will feel.  Not only now, but every time you look at those images.  Granted, there are some elements of capturing the day that we must influence.  Portraits are not going to create themselves so in those moments we step in to create a beautiful bridal portrait, groom portrait or family portraits.  Beyond the portraits we take a fly on the wall approach to your day capturing every deliciously REAL moment.

As The Decisive Moment team leader, Jenn Linke says, “We feel like our job is to capture the beauty that is already there. As soon as we insert ourselves into the situation, we disrupt the memory associated with that image.  The idea is to capture the image without interrupting the truth of it.”

Getting ready before you walk down the aisle, sharing giggles and tears with your mom, dad and/or bridesmaids plus all of the moment-by-moment interactions with your friends and extended family are better caught unposed. Seeing that in a picture, after the fact, sparks memories of what you were actually giggling about, tearing up over or saying with your sideways eyes. And with that comes the fondness that lasts a lifetime.

Jes McGowan says, “Being a photojournalist, I see the world as it is and don’t want to make it something that it isn’t.  My objective during a wedding is to tell the couple’s story and capture the emotions of the day in images.  Every couple knows how they felt on their wedding day and I want my images to remind them of those strong feelings.  If I set up a scene or recreate it, it wouldn’t be real moments or even real emotions.  I capture the beauty the way it is.”

Melissa Bugg says, “I tend to be more self-conscious when I am having my own picture taken, so I approach taking photos of my clients with this in mind.  I have found that if I’m unobtrusive and more reactive than proactive, I can capture much more natural expressions because the client typically has no idea I’m there and therefore isn’t thinking about me – they’re simply wrapped up in their own moment.  This approach, to me, tells me a lot more about someone’s personality than any posed photo ever will.”

Enjoy a few more moments that show our REAL style of wedding photography…