You know those quiz questions on Instagram, the ones where people try to guess the right answer? I shared several recently about my photography journey, and one of the questions was:
"Which is my favorite to photograph on a wedding day?"
So people had to guess which of these four I enjoyed photographing the most. The options were:
Details
Getting Ready
Ceremony
Send off
You know what? The majority of people guessed details, and it wasn't really even close. I felt like it was a great opportunity to explain myself because I think this reflects my values and philosophy of wedding photography.
I'll start by saying, I do enjoy shooting details. It's a chance to be creative and to get really pretty editorial-type photos that look awesome in a blog post or gallery. It's also a nice way to start the wedding day. HOWEVER:
I often end up feeling rushed and wishing I had more time for details.
And there are no people involved.
One of my biggest goals in my photography is to create a space for interaction and real emotion and then to capture that real emotion on camera. I am big on capturing real emotion as opposed to fake or forced emotion which I feel like can often happen in photography. I've been on the other side of the camera when I think that was the case.
In fact, let me share a little story with you. On my wedding day, during our bride and groom portrait time, one of my photographers got all excited because she suddenly remembered a prompt she could tell us to do. She jumped and clapped and told Kris to do this prompt. You ready for it?...
She said, "Whisper what you had for breakfast in your most seductive voice!"
And that's not the only prompt out there like that that photographers are using. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with silly, meaningless prompts, but I am saying that there could be a better way.
I want to create a space where people can appreciate each other and interact with each other in a relaxed and enjoyable way so that I can capture candid and natural photos that reflect the true emotion of what's really happening.
I don't want you to walk away from our time together feeling awkward and relieved that it’s over. I don't want you to look back on your photos and think about the cringy thing your photographer made you do.
I want you to walk away from your portrait time cherishing each other.
Now that you know that, here are 3 reasons why ceremonies are often my favorite part of the entire wedding day:
1. The ceremony is the reason we’re here...the wholeee reason for the wedding day is the sacred moments that happen during a wedding ceremony.
2. Truly it often causes me to worship. Being a part of so many ceremonies that make much of Jesus has been one of the coolest things about my job. With my camera in hand, I really do often find myself worshiping.
3. The ceremony provides one of the best opportunities to capture raw, real emotion on a wedding day. When I walked down the aisle to my husband, I wasn't thinking about the photographer. And I hope people aren't thinking about me during those moments. I hope they're reacting in a real way without the pressure of the camera. I get to creep around and capture those moments and emotions as they unfold.
So there you have it, an impromptu blog post that I hope sheds a little light into my values and philosophies of wedding photography.