Photojournalist Wedding Photographer
Melbourne & Mornington Peninsula
There are so of buzz words regarding the various styles of wedding photography - wedding photojournalist being one of those terms.
What is wedding photojournalism? Essentially, photojournalism is telling the real story of an event. Photographic coverage is unobtrusive and importantly there is no direction from the wedding photographer. Wedding photojournalists won’t get you to pose, they also won’t take you away from your wedding guests for hours to photograph traditional, posed wedding photos.
“Wow – What an amazing photographer! Al’s photographs have a timeless quality & his approach means you don't need to worry about a thing on the day.”
Charlotte & Alan Pomroy
Wedding photojournalism, contrary to what most photographers will put in their portfolios, isn’t isolated portraits of smiling guests from 100 yards away, but it’s not a series of moody black and white wedding pictures. Far from it. Being a good photojournalist requires the photographer to work close to the action. This intimacy helps understand the atmosphere of not just an event, but an individual moment or interaction. Working in close means that conversation can be interpreted, punchlines and relationships appreciated.
Personally, I use small and discreet cameras and quite wide-angle lenses for my wedding photojournalist work (also known as reportage, documentary), this approach allows me to work very close to people, discreetly. It's not just about cameras and lenses - understanding and reading body language of subjects is also important. A combination of these elements, plus experience photographing lot’s of weddings, means that I look and act similar to a wedding guest. As such, wedding guests ignore me!
This simple approach means my photojournalist photos a personal and intimate feel. My priority is always to depict the mood in an honest fashion - genuine and authentic moments, no awkward or forced smiles. These natural wedding photos stand the test of time and will be an amazing record to look back on in many years to come.
Wedding photojournalistic photography is much more about clever observation and importantly, being discreet enough to not have any impact on the atmosphere. Photojournal coverage should document moments authentically and within the context of the scene.
Many extreme, photojournalism advocates, believe in a totally hands-off approach during the day, with some wedding photojournalists not prepared to photograph any formal family photographs as they want to avoid impacting the flow of the coverage and narrative across the final collection of pictures. I’m not extreme, my work as a wedding photojournalist will usually see me produce a handful of family photos, plus some bride and groom portraits.
It’s worth mentioning that the combined time I spend arranging these structured, more traditional wedding photographs is typically no more than twenty five minutes. I limit the time spent so as not to impact the photojournalistic coverage.
Interested in me being your wedding photographer in Melbourne, regional Victoria or anywhere else in Australia?