Monday, 10 July 2017

The joy of candid wedding photography

I have been the main (I guess you could say “official”) wedding photographer for a few of my friends weddings (and friends of friends weddings) and whilst I enjoyed the experience I will no longer take on the responsibility as the main wedding photographer. I will still take photos at weddings, if asked, but I will now only take candid wedding photography shots letting the official wedding photographer do everything else and no more.

When I act as the second photographer I work totally independently from the main photographer and have nothing to do with them. I will not be the main photographer’s skivvy - I have had a friend engage an official photographer who had the nerve to say I could only take photos if I held backgrounds and lighting equipment, organised the guests and got them in front of the camera when needed etc. Needless to say I told the woman in question where she could stick her lighting equipment and photography list right away. To say I wasn’t impressed is an understatement.

When I take candid wedding photos I take the kind of shots I like to take, when I like to take them and also how I like to take them. If the bride and groom aren’t happy with this arrangement that’s their look out and I won’t take any photos – simple as that. When I get asked to take candid wedding photos I explain how I work and the bride and groom are, more often than not, cool with this – especially when they see a sample of my candid wedding shots.

If the official wedding photographer doesn’t like the arrangement then it is up to the bride and groom to get the official wedding photographer on side or I don’t take any photos. This may seem like I am awkward, but I can assure you I am not. It’s just that I work alone and will leave the official wedding photographer to do what they want to do (and not interfere in any way) whilst I take my candid wedding photos.

I used to find a lot of wedding photography pretty dull and boring, and I could never get too excited about it. I liked photographing the bride and groom getting ready for the big event, I liked photographing the bride and father of the bride approaching the church and walking down the aisle and I enjoyed photographing the ceremony and the saying of vows, i.e. the un-posed, natural and candid shots. It was the posed photos of family members and guests at the church/chapel etc. I found boring – and this is often the most important bit. Organizing people, arranging them in to groups, getting them to pose etc. is not my thing, and this is what I didn’t enjoy.

Candid wedding photography was my niche and I find it easy to mingle with the guests, blend in to the background and capture photos of guests behaving naturally – leading to more engaging, meaningful and memorable wedding photos.

Selling candid wedding photography services to couples outside my circle of family and friends is very difficult. Most couples don’t want to pay two wedding photographers and they prefer to deal with one wedding photographer prepared to do everything – which is not me. Because of this I don’t bother advertising my candid only wedding photography services. The only way I get paid candid wedding photography gigs is via word of mouth through friends of friends, but this suits me as I don’t make a living from wedding photography. Now I don’t offer the full wedding photography package I have seen a huge drop in the number of weddings I photograph, but given I have made myself so niche I guess this is to be expected.

Candid wedding photography is cool and it is something I recommend. Even when I used to shoot entire weddings I always found the best photos of the day were my candid shots.

Related reading

Below are some links to other wedding photography related articles, posts and tutorials you may find interesting/useful. Please do feel free to head on over and check them out:-


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