What makes a photo a favorite? Allow me to explain!
What makes an image a favorite? For me personally, it’s always a combination of moment and story. Sure, composition and light and the technical side is important, but I’ll take a technically imperfect image that tells a story over a perfectly lit, perfectly framed, perfectly sharp, perfectly boring photo any day. As a documentary wedding photographer, part of the fun, for me, anyway, is delivering a gallery full of small stories that, when strung together, tell the story of the day in its entirety. I also love knowing that the couple will have favorite images that may be different than mine, or those of their parents and friends. That’s another aspect of what makes documentary wedding photography so special; there truly is something for everyone.
Sarah and Max got married on the beach in Avalon, NJ on a sunny but not too warm September day, just outside the lovely Icona Windrift Hotel, where their reception was held. They are a couple who was perfectly suited for a beach wedding, having both grown up on the sand and in the sea. Not only that, many of their guests did, too. And so the first photo you see here is Max and Sarah waving to two wedding guests, who had spent the hours prior to the ceremony surfing and were just heading back to the hotel to get ready for the official part of the day.
I love it when couples choose a location for their wedding that really seems to be a reflection of who they are, or that is actually a part of their every day lives.
The second image is mid ceremony, and is one of my favorites because it gives a very strong sense of place, from the grass atop the dune from which I made the photo, to the beachgoers in the background watching the action, there is no doubt where we were. Sense of place is super important to me as a documentary photographer, and in weddings it’s maybe even more important. Close up shots are great, but to tell a story you need context. This is also why I don’t manipulate a scene or move items to make a “cleaner” image. The story isn’t the story if it has been manufactured.
Then there are the guests. I always tell couples that as a documentary wedding photographer I’ll do my best to make sure I have at least a few photos of everyone who attended. That said, there are always one or two people who are really good at avoiding the camera. And then are always guests like the one you see in the third photo. This is the guest who seems to know where the camera is at all times and puts him or herself in front of it, whether blatantly, like this, or by just hanging next to the bride and groom for most of the night. And yeah, you don’t want to deliver 100 photos of the same guest, but I love these people. They always add energy, fun and laughter to the day, and you can’t have too much of that at a wedding.
I really, really love this fourth photo. It pretty much incorporates everything I want a photo to be, as a documentary wedding photographer. It wasn’t posed, and I didn’t call out to the bride and groom. I don’t even really remember why they looked back at me, only that they’d just finished their first dance and were making their way back to their table. I love that we have the context of location, and can see most of the bridal party and many of the guests as they applaud and cheer. It provides everything that people try to get when they pose groups at a wedding, and none of it was planned. I couldn’t re-create this photo in any satisfactory way, which is the mark of a true documentary wedding photograph.
Later in the night - the bride has changed clothes, the reception is in full swing, and it’s all about the music and the atmosphere. Who doesn’t love a few fun reception photos? There are always one or two that become favorites.
I’ll end with a photo from the beginning of the day. Full of motion blur and less that perfectly framed, but I love it. It is the perfect photo of Max and Sarah with their dog River, who was so excited to be there with them on the beach. For me, it’s a perfect documentary wedding photo, because it’s all about a feeling.