Wedding photography today

To start, a quote from UK Photographer Jeff Ascough ,i just read on the Canon photographer's network website.Good ressource for photographer's with interesting article, even if you happen to be a Nikon shooter.
"... The documentary approach to photographing weddings has become extremely popular in recent years, attracting many freelance photojournalists to the field. And Jeff worries that quality is suffering. “It’s in danger of becoming a commodity rather than an art form,” he laments. “We’ve now got a lot of people shooting weddings who think you can just turn up with a digital camera and take pictures of people having a good time. If you want to take it to a level where it becomes a valuable form of art then it requires a higher level of skill and understanding of light, composition and technique. Doing weddings you have to be so many photographers rolled into one. A photojournalist might have a week to get 20 pictures to tell a story. We’ve got four to five hours to get 150 pictures that all have to be good. It’s a tough profession...”



Those were just a few thoughts from Jeff about the way he approaches wedding photography to which I can relate, his photography and style; quite classic and simply beautiful. It seems that there is only a few wedding photographers today that thrill at bringing this genre of photography as an Art Form. I am a bit concerned at the lack of individuality. And there lies the challenge and thrill of being a photographer and shoot weddings. As the story of life goes, always seek at excelling and making sure the best is going to come out of your photography with no compromise. Wedding photography is a beautiful genre of photography, it allows photographers to express themselves fully, their only aim is producing life long compelling images.

To young wedding photographers today, I would simply say: Create your own identity, do not look at what others do so much, take pictures, free your mind, risk and experiment away from main mass wedding propaganda and trends.


I keep on seeing photographers website today that all look the same, nicely packaged, formated, produced by the same web designers in California. Everyone is coming out with the same Albums and photography all look alike it seems - It is all a bit strange really - I have seen Wedding photography grow tremendously these past 10 years. A few wedding photographers from L.A have somehow become "GURU'S" of the wedding industry. They have become the driving force of an industry that generates millions of dollars each year. A few have come up with a great marketing package that a young photographer "Must have" to compete in an ever growing industry. ( That's what they are being told anyway ) Ten years later, we see an industry that has become formated, quite clinical and dry.

Other great professionals have worked really hard at bringing wedding photography to a real Art form.
Like jeff Ascough,I do believe that everyone should look up to masters of documentary style photography such as Henri Cartier-Bresson, Sebastian Salgado, James Nachtwey as well as Irvin Penn, richard Avedon and may be not so much focus on few trendy photographers that seem to dictate the market on US national trade show!



Lastly, I just want to thank my clients who trust me in photographing their wedding! Who has great understanding of photography and appreciation for the subtleties of lights falling on a wedding dress or the 1000 words that convey a beautiful photo.


Quote from Henri Cartier-Bresson"To take a photograph is to align the head, the eye and the heart. It's a way of life."



photographe © Olivier Lalin © photographer
view site at weddinglight.com