One Perfect Moment – wedding photography
I have opinions. This time, wedding photography. Greg Riccardi, one of the top wedding and event videographers in north Jersey, asked me a few questions in this interview – my start in photography, as well as what a bride and groom should look for in wedding photographers. He also asked me about trends I may have noticed in wedding photography.
My business name is One Perfect Moment for specific reasons. The name is derived from Henri-Cartier Bresson’s ideal of the decisive moment. That slice of time when everything just comes together perfectly for an image that resonates with the viewer. The other reason, as you can see from the video titles, is that everyone struggles to spell my name correctly. ‘One Perfect Moment’ is so much easier.
I want to expand a little bit on my off-the-cuff replies. I mentioned that there is a trend away again from details-heavy coverage. This isn’t something that affected my own style or approach. It is an observation on the influence of wedding blogs and wedding magazines, which tended to feature detail heavy coverage in their articles. This is because these magazines and blogs act as idea-reservoirs for their audience – the prospective brides. I have noticed a trend with photographers where there is a kind of push-back against this – that it is more important to capture people and moments which help relive the emotions of the day, rather than focus so much on the wedding reception details.
The part of the wedding day that I enjoy the most as the photographer, are the romantic portraits with the bride and groom. I feel this is one aspect of the wedding where the photographer can really show a distinctive style.
I also try to look for sequences of images. This especially helps us connect as the story-tellers of the day.
An easy example would be this sequence from Tressa & Tyler’s wedding. I made the road trip up to Wisconsin to photograph their wedding, and the best way to describe this is to say that the entire bridal party were characters! So much laughter from everyone there. This sequence is from the toasts at the reception where Tyler’s other brother took over, regaling everyone with anecdotes. Tressa’s expression says it all.
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- Wedding photography – A photo-journalistic style, or more posed?
Pity about focus drift……
…..great tips though.
Neil – I’m not a wedding photographer, but I can use your thought about capturing an event in such a way that the event organizer or person who hired me can look back on the event and get to experience it. Often times these people are so busy with organizing, they miss out. Thanks.
Dave