Photojournalistic wedding photography is wedding photography created by a photographer who captures real moments as they happen, without engaging or directing the subject in the photo. It is also known as documentary wedding photography, candid wedding photography and real wedding photography. If you are looking for a wedding photographer who creates photojournalistic wedding photography, then there are some things you should consider when looking at a photographer's work:

1. The percentage of 'posed' versus 'candid' photos

The Wedding Photojournalist Association, of which I'm a member, clearly stipulates that WPJA photographers can have no more than 40% of images on their web site from these two categories:

Portrait and camera-aware subjects, which are photographer controlled situations, with subjects performing for or looking at the camera;
Details photos, such as flowers, cakes, rings etc..

This is important for two reasons. Firstly, it is pretty normal for true wedding photojournalists to create some bride and groom portraiture as part of the wedding day. Ditto for taking some detail photos. Both of these things help create the story of the wedding day. These photos link the other 60% of the photos, which are the real moments captured throughout the wedding day.

Take these three photos I created at Katie and Tim's Thailand wedding.

photojournalistic wedding photography

Posed or candid?

I hope you said candid! Tim and Katie giving alms to a group of monks is a photojournalistic wedding photo. I captured this moment as it happened, without any direction or interaction from myself.

Posed or candid?

This one is harder. It could have been set up by me or I could have seen Katie's four sisters lined up, positioned myself for this photo and taken it.

It was the latter. I saw this photo and took it, without any direction or interaction from myself.

photojournalistic wedding photography

Posed or candid?

This photo is candid by design. I set this photo up, so it specifically looked like the guys are sharing a 'real' moment with each other.

Like many wedding couples, Katie and Tim wanted some group shots of their friends. While I always get a shot of each group looking at the camera, there was an incredible energy to this wedding and I really wanted to show that in my group photos too. To get the guys laughing and joking, I simply asked them to look at each other. It's such a ridiculous thing to do, that they all started cracking up. And that's when I captured this photo.

Though the guys are having a 'real' moment with each other, it is a set up photo. This is not a photojournalistic wedding photo.

2. Wedding photographers that insist on an hour or more for bride and groom photos

Here's the scenario: you've found yourself a Christchurch wedding photographer and you believe they create photojournalistic wedding photography. You meet with them and they insist that you must put aside at least an hour between the ceremony and the reception for photos of you, your husband and the bridal party.

Here's the rub.

In my mind, if you are meeting with a wedding photographer and they really do shoot in a photojournalistic wedding photography style, then such a person won’t be insisting on an hour of your wedding day for posed photos.

Now this is just my opinion, but think about it.

Why would a wedding photojournalist insist on an hour or more of your day to set up photos of you both, when the photographer in question, is marketing themselves as creating 'candid', 'documentary', or photojournalistic wedding photography?

For the record, if you contact me about being your wedding photographer, I will always recommend that we do 15-20 minutes of bride and groom portraits between the ceremony and the reception. These photos are important as there is really no other time in the day when I can create some environmental portraits of just the bride and groom. And whether you realise it or not, these are the photos that some members of your family will inevitably want.

I keep the session short for two reasons:

One, I'm a wedding photojournalist and these shots will only form part of the wedding day coverage.

Two, I completely understand that there are couple's who don't want to spend ages with a photographer creating photos on one of the most important days of their lives.

If you are after a New Zealand wedding photographer that creates photojournalistic wedding photography, then please view my wedding portfolio. Thomas.

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Why I Love Being a Christchurch Wedding Photographer

March 2, 2013

Christchurch wedding photographer - I never planned on being one. Ever. I remember studying for my Diploma in Photographic Imaging at CPIT in Christchurch, meeting our wedding photography tutor Tony Stewart and rolling my eyes at the idea of having to photograph a 'fake' wedding for our class assessment. Looking back now, I can't believe I had such a clueless perspective on wedding photography.

Two months after starting our wedding photography class I handed in my final 20-wedding photos for the class assessment. In my mind, wedding photography was done and dusted. I was never going to point a lens at a bride and groom again, let alone become a Christchurch wedding photographer!

At year end I graduated. Not long afterwards Tony sat me down and convinced me to come along and see what photographing a wedding was really all about. I was reluctant, but what did I have to lose?

As they say, the rest is history. Six years on, I am more than happy being a Christchurch wedding photographer. And here's why...

1. Weddings are amazing events

No two weddings are ever the same. The bride and groom are always different; the guests are always different; the locations are different; the decorations are different and more often than not, the ceremonies are different. This makes weddings a visual smorgasbord to photograph and I love the visual variety it provides me.

2. Being chosen as the photographer

I'm always humbled when a bride and groom choose me out of all the other wedding photographers out there. It's a big responsibility and it comes with serious karma.

3. Capturing wedding day stories

Weddings are stories unfolding before my eyes. Being tasked with capturing those stories is amazing.

4. Witnessing a celebration

For me a wedding is really a celebration of two people's lives coming together. Being able to witness that is pretty special.

5. Meeting wonderful people

You meet some amazing people as a wedding photographer, doing some really interesting things with their lives. Even today, I still have some past wedding clients who I stay in touch with.

6. Choking up

Yeah, it's happened. I've choked back tears at a wedding.

7. Spending time with the bride

I never realised this until I began photographing weddings, but as the photographer you often get these quite moments with the bride that no one else gets on the wedding day.

8. I became a better photographer

Technically speaking, photographing weddings can be tough. You can go from being inside a church which is really dark (like ISO 3200 dark), to bright, mottled outside light in the space of 90-seconds. Being able to deal with that on the fly and still capture good photos, is a learned skill.

9. I became a better business person

Running my own wedding photography business taught me to stay true to the type of wedding photography work I like to create and that my brand is me. The sooner I realised these two things, the easier my life became.

10. Creating memories

When all is said and done, I'm in the business of creating memories. Wedding photos forever connect a bride and groom to one of the biggest days in their lives. Knowing I created those photos is a great feeling.

Thomas.