Documentary Wedding Photographer
Melbourne & Mornington Peninsula
What is documentary wedding photography (and what it is not)... and why I choose to photograph weddings with this particular style and approach.
I have been a documentary wedding photographer since 2004. During that time, I’ve seen a lot of misused terms for wedding photography styles, but none more so than ‘documentary wedding photography’.
Unfortunately, it is now a term that has been so distorted that it conjures up an inaccurate understanding of the precision and art behind the style.
Finding the right wedding photographer is an exceptionally important task, with the right documentary wedding photographer, you can achieve the lasting capture of important memories that convey your special event to a number of audiences and across generations.
Wedding Photography Documentary
A documentary wedding photographer, more often known as a ‘reportage wedding photographer’ or 'wedding photojournalist'. However, they all essentially mean the same thing: a real and authentic approach to photographing a wedding. In other words, and contrary to the misuses of the term, the approach is to capture your special day as it naturally unfolds. It does not seek to direct or dictate or falsely create moments for the camera.
If this wedding photography style is mastered, the individual pictures, as well as the collection as a whole, will convey the subject and scene honestly and with true authenticity. Subjects, as with any documentary style photography, need to be captured with context to help depict the true story and atmosphere in the frame.
Documentary wedding photography should be able to show the viewer what is happening in the moment. From pre-ceremony nerves to the laughter during speeches; from charismatic dancing to the touch of sadness often felt by those being reflected upon. Weddings are an absolute gold mine for the discerning documentary style photographer. It is the people, colour, emotion, texture, and intimate events that occur throughout the celebration that create the composition.
Furthermore, this hands-off approach allows you to completely enjoy what will no doubt be one of the most important days in your whole life. It also allows your guests free to engage and create genuine, special moments that can be captured whilst you are busy being the bride and groom. This approach often leaves people wondering if there was even a photographer documenting the wedding at all.
My documentary style
I’m exceptionally proud to have been hired to document such a critical and personal moment for so many people. For me it not just photography of a wedding, it is documenting the celebration of life at its most wonderful poignancy.
That understanding is reflected in my approach. I focus on a storytelling aspect, creating a truthful and elegant record of your whole celebration as well as the little moments unfolding around you that you did not necessarily see on the day. Capturing your celebration in this way creates an emotive, beautiful and elegant set of timeless wedding photographs that sensitively reveal the whole story of your wedding day.
The result is that I produce a treasured family heirloom that will be looked at time and again throughout the years, taking you and your loved ones back to the day with total clarity and an honest emotional impact.
To recap on what documentary wedding photography is:
Essentially a storytelling wedding photographer, presenting the narrative of the day through a collection of documentary photography. Though at an individual level, each unique wedding photograph needs to work on its own and depict real, observed moments, and not just singled-out headshots
Individual documentary pictures honestly depicting subject and scene, with authenticity and importantly with no interference from the photographer
Subjects photographed within context to more genuinely convey narrative
Photographs should show the viewer what is happening in the moment or scene, without the need for further explanation on what an image represents. It’s not just about being an unobtrusive wedding photographer, there’s more to it than that
It’s a focus on storytelling, producing a faithful, elegant documentary record of the most important day of your life. Professional documentary wedding photographers will even find moments and stories you didn’t see on the day, telling a story that you may have been too focused to see unfolding around you.
“Al has a unique, elegant and discrete documentary approach to weddings.
If you want boring photos don’t give him a call, however if you want something exceptionally special then we cannot recommend him highly enough. A talented documentary wedding photographer.”
Graham & Georgina Hodgson
Interested in me being your wedding photographer in Melbourne, regional Victoria or anywhere else in Australia?