Photojournalistic means a ‘hands-off’ approach to photography, where your photographer is there to observe and document your day as it happens without interfering or interrupting the events to say ‘cheese’. In essence, it is a very sincere way of capturing the story of your wedding day, as a true story-telling of the event.
Photojournalistic wedding photography is great… especially If you guys are animated, excited, and are willing to be yourselves. By ‘you’ I mean not only the bride and groom, but I also mean the bridal party and even your guests. If you guys are not afraid to show your sincere emotions (whether it’s happiness, excitement, nervousness, sadness, etc), then photojournalism is a great approach for you. If you know that your family, your bridal party, or even you and/or your fiance are shy and are a little embarrassed in front of the camera, then that means they might not be willing to be themselves when they sense that they are being photographed. Some people show their emotions in their eyes… in their smiles… in their expressions (I know I’m like that) – but then when the camera is around, they’re afraid of looking odd, or of looking imperfect (that’s me too) – in this case, a 100% pure photojournalistic approach might not be the best choice for the entire event. I know we have all seen those amazing photojournalistic photographer’s websites… with their images full of emotion and drama… and we all want to look just like that!!! Keep one little thing in mind… even the best of photographers only display the best of the best of their work… so out of hundreds of weddings, they can only display a few of them, which would always be their best work – and some of that work might not have been 100% photojournalistic… some of that work might have been ‘guided’ or they might have taken an ‘editorial’ approach instead.
Editorial photography is different in the sense that it is posed, but the poses are not traditional poses, they are guided and have a specific ‘look‘ to them. Think of editorial photography as the style that you see all throughout the wedding magazines.
A truly 100% photojournalistic approach does require that everyone in the event is aware of the photographer and his camera. Even though the photographer won’t be interfering in the event, the bridal party must be aware of the camera, so that they don’t block him/her off or prevent access to intimate moments. Not that these moments would be prevented on purpose, but in social situations most people get really excited in their little group and we tend to form a circle of conversation - keep the photographer’s presence in mind so that that circle doesn’t close him off. Give the photographer access to your fun and to your intimate moments – because those are the moments you’ll want to remember forever! Keeping that in mind will give you a better understanding of what you are asking your photographer when you ask him/her to take a photojournalistic approach.
I personally love capturing intimate moments – they’re so full of sincerer and emotions!!! But I do have to admit that most of the brides that I encounter do not request a 100% photojournalistic approach, but rather a combination of styles throughout the day (photojournalistic, editorial, and even traditional – all in one event). And I do think that this combination works great and gives you the most complete and rounded portfolio of images to choose from.
During the getting ready portion, I do try to stand back and capture the excitement of the beginning of the day. Although I am known to throw a few directions/suggestions in the mix. It might be that the bride was leaning down as she was putting on her shoes, and the light hit her hair ever so perfectly… I might say ‘hold it right there for a moment.’
During the ceremony it’s all photojournalistic, as you can imagine.
During the formals is usually where the more guided poses take place. A wedding is a joyful event when family and friends get together to celebrate the happiness of the couple… and this coming together may not happen often (sometimes weddings are the only time when they get together, and is therefore the most convenient moment for a long-overdue portrait). Because of this, parents of the couples usually want to have formal family portraits – which they like to be traditional and posed. So we take care of these, of course. For the bridal party shots we take a couple of formal posed shots; then, if the bridal party is ‘game’ we’ll do some fun shots or unconventional posing – editorial style. Once again, we try to read the bridal party to see what they are comfortable with… and if they would prefer simple, traditional, posed shots, then that’s fine – if they feel like having fun and jumping around, then we’ll jump right along with them (and capture great shots along the way!).
As for the bride and groom portraits… once again, I like to take the formal portraits (although I do try to make the shots more modern and editorial in style so that even if the pose is a little traditional, it will still be an amazing portrait). So I do take traditional shots of the bride and groom, but I definitely try to bring out their personalities as much as possible – so we make the shots fun and exciting, with a hint of romance and love of course. I also play with different angles to give the shots a more modern look.
The reception is definitely all photojournalistic; I definitely focus on capturing the fun and excitement of the reception. I might give directions for the cake cutting (only if I think a certain angle will work best for the lighting), but for any other event of the day I try to blend in and just capture the events as they happen.
So what is best for you? If you are very particular about what you want to see in the final images, then that is something you want to discuss with your photographer. Remember to keep your family and friends in mind… if you want a truly 100% photojournalistic approach, and you know your bridal party is shy and you know they might not wear their emotions openly – then keep in mind that your photographer will most likely have to interfere here and there to capture the best shots for you.
Whether it’s photojournalistic, traditional, editorial, or a combination – my main goal is always to tell the story of your wedding day, so that one day those images will tell the story of your wedding day to your children and to your grandchildren. I think that is the main goal of all photographers – to capture those special moments so that they can be treasured for generations to come.
An amazingly fun and funky first dance to remember!!!
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