Article provided by Steven Taylor Mentoring
In the past 20 years, wedding photography has gone through more than one
revolution. At one time a couple that wanted to have their wedding
photographed chose their photographer on cost and how good their portfolio
was. That was it. Pretty much all wedding photographers did the same thing;
some were better at it than others. It was portraits of the main protagonists,
some posed, re-enacted events like exchanging the rings and cutting the cake,
family groups and a posed portrait of the newly married couple. There were
some style differences between one photographer and another but the
differences might have been too subtle for most couples to spot so, wedding
photographers competed on price and reputation alone.
Now, there are many styles and approaches but one style that has endured for
the past 20 odd years and still commands high fees from discerning couples is
the style that I work with. It has been called “reportage” after the French for
journalism, it has been called photojournalistic after the… well, obvious really
and it has been called documentary. There is no definitive explanation or
definition of “reportage”, or any other style of wedding photography any more
than there is a right way or a wrong way to photograph a wedding.
I choose to photograph weddings in that particular style because of my
influences as a photographer.
Imagine how something written in 1952 should have such an influence on the
whole life of one photographer. That is the way it has been for me.
When I was still a fresh?faced art student back in 1976 I started part time work
for a wedding photography studio. Then, when I finished my formal education
(or thought I had) it was at that studio I took my first full time job. So I was a
wedding photographer. In those days wedding photography was not the coolest
job around but I was getting paid for making pictures and that was what I loved
to do.
My early influences were not wedding photographers, still aren’t. I hungrily
consumed everything I could find by the great photojournalists, W. Eugene
Smith, Margaret Bourke?White, Elliott Erwitt, Ian Berry and my absolute hero
Henri Cartier?Bresson. It was Cartier?Bresson’s essay, “The Decisive Moment”
written in 1952, that impacted so powerfully on the way I approached wedding
photography.
I was interested in story telling and honesty. Cartier?Bresson might have been a
great wedding photographer.
“…Our task is to perceive reality, almost simultaneously recording it in the
sketchbook which is our camera. We must neither try to manipulate reality while
we are shooting, nor manipulate the results in a darkroom. These tricks are
patently discernible to those who have eyes to see…”
Henri Cartier?Bresson, from “The Decisive Moment” 1952.
Almost as soon as I got the chance to work under my own name, find my own
clients, I began to establish my personal philosophy, manifesto if you like, of
wedding photography and it was the great man’s words that shouted loud in my
head.
“…In whatever picture story we try to do, we are bound to arrive as intruders.
It is essential, therefore, to approach the subject on tiptoe – even if the subject
is a still life. A velvet hand, a hawk’s eye these we should all have…”
Henri Cartier?Bresson, from “The Decisive Moment” 1952.
For just two days in November 26th and 27th we are going to let our fellow
photographers into our studio in the English Lake District. We will show our
work and methods and we will talk about our philosophy of narrative wedding
photography. We will also have a presentation by Megan Henshall, who is a
specialist Photography Business consultant, about how to run a successful
wedding photography business.
There are more details here.
www.steventaylormentoring.co.uk
