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cardiff city hall
Wedding photography at Cardiff City Hall
For me, wedding photography is all about capturing the real emotions of a wedding day. Its not about asking couples to pose and "look happy". Its about genuine moments. Moments which will become lasting memories.
Here are two from the same wedding day - two extremes of emotion, captured and recorded with no need for me to do anything other than be in the right place at the right time. No fancy technique or photoshop trickery - just awareness, positioning and timing.
Wedding photography at Bully's restaurant, Cardiff
Neeta and Nigel's second wedding took place a week after their Hindu ceremony at Grafton Manor. They were married in the Council Chamber at Cardiff City Hall and then had the reception next door in the National Museum of Wales, where the drinks reception took place in the art galleries.
Ceremony venue : Cardiff City Hall
Reception venue : National Museum of Wales, Cardiff
My approach to wedding photography relies almost completely on capturing natural, unposed moments. Sometimes though, a picture works so well that the result actually looks like it might have been posed. Here's some examples to show what I mean.
Wedding Photojournalism at Cardiff City Hall
As far as I'm concerned, this picture is just about perfect. Everything about it is right - the light, the surroundings, the expressions, the composition, even the way Claire's foot is showing from under her dress. If I'd tried to pose this picture it would not have been this good.
Again, this moment is great. Its a chance capture - I had no idea it was going to happen. It looks like I could have set it up by telling them that I was going outside and then giving them a signal when I was ready for them to kiss.
Rudding Park wedding photography
Coed-y-Mwstwr, Bridgend - Documentary Wedding Photography
Here again, there's was nothing to stop me asking Eluned to spin around a couple of times when I was ready and in position.
But the important point I want to make is this : The people in the pictures know whether I posed them or not. They know that these are natural, unposed moments, captured as they happened, with no intervention from me. When the bride and groom look at their album, they know what they're looking at.
I don't shoot wedding pictures with the intention of writing magazine articles about them, or sending them in to wedding blogs, or entering them in competitions. I don't care whether other people think that I posed them or not. My photographs are for the bride and groom. All that matters is what they feel when they see their pictures and they wouldn't feel the same way if they had posed for them.
So, to answer the title of this post, yes, it matters.
Laura and Phil were married in the council chamber at Cardiff City Hall and had their reception across the road at the Park House Club - a lovely venue, but very dark from a photographer's point of view.
This is one of my favourites from the day, showing Phil having a "moment" with his mum towards the end of the meal.
Getting pictures like this means watching people carefully and being ready to take the picture if something happens. But you have to be careful to not be seen as staring or glaring at people! I'm often conscious of the fact that I've been standing, concentrating intensely on a particular person or group of people, but I have try to make sure I'm also aware of what else is going on around me.
Taking this documentary approach to wedding photography means that I'm always going to miss pictures. I can't be everywhere at once and I can't be watching everybody at once. Its about getting a well-rounded, interesting selection of pictures with which to make up the final album.
