Unobtrusive & Storytelling
DOCUMENTARY WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER
I want to capture the day as it was with all the laughter, love and everything in-between!
As a documentary wedding photographer, my idea of wedding photography is not your usual looking straight at the camera formal style; I want to capture the day as it was with all the laughter, love and everything in-between. I’ll photograph all the excitement and even some of the nerves. I want to show precisely how the day was! Not some staged part, which only tells a fraction about who you both are.
So expect me early on, when everyone is buzzing around getting ready or ticking things off their ‘to do’ list. When your dad or mum comes through the door to see you in your wedding dress for the first time, I’ll be there. When you’re both looking directly at each other during the ceremony, and it feels like the world is a million miles away, I’ll be there to capture it. When your favourite song comes on, and you’re dancing with friends and family, I’ll be dancing too! Well, taking pictures and dancing – it’s a fun combination!
Documentary wedding photography is something that really helps in telling the story of the day and everyone who came together to celebrate it with you both.
"He was incredibly patient, friendly and professional from start to finish: calm amidst all the getting-ready madness in the morning, and still full of energy and smiles for the dancing in the evening."
MY APPROACH AS A DOCUMENTARY WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER
01
The art of conversation
So even though I'm a documentary wedding photographer that doesn't mean I don't talk during a wedding, on the contrary, I've found talking to both the couple and their friends & family from the very start really helps in people get comfortable with me. Some of my most favourite images are down to me blending in as if I were a guest, that's not saying I'm always talking, I just try and find the right moments to be either chatty or quietly composed.
02
Right place, right time
After you have photographed a lot of weddings you start to get a sixth sense to anticipate things happening throughout the day, these could be little moments which given a bit of foresight and the right angle could turn into a photograph which will be remembered. I hate it when I miss a potential picture, there is nothing worse, but that drives me to work harder to try and document these moments to the best of my ability.
03
Show me the love
Hopefully, after looking through my images, you would have gained a sense of a theme running through them, I'm particularly drawn to happiness and the warmth that can acuminate from a wedding, I enjoy photographing people. If you give me a still object to photograph, I would get bored very quickly but throw people and the ray of emotions that can be displayed on a wedding day. You have something that I can really connect with.
04
That’s how the story goes
Telling a story is probably one of the oldest forms of human interaction, well apart from music maybe and I'll be surprised if many people don't like a good tale. I see weddings as a perfect place to tell a story, with a single image you can show one of part of the human emotion. Still, with a collection of images from throughout the day, you can start to bring a narrative, and hopefully, in viewing the photos, you get a sense of reliving that story.
Client Love
"Richard – you’re a complete photography superstar, we LOVE our photos!"
“Richard – you’re a complete photography superstar, we LOVE our photos! Thank you for being lovely, professional, seemingly everywhere at once, unobtrusive – you have an incredible eye. We have come back to your photos again and again and keep finding new things we love – little glances you’ve captured, or moments we had forgotten. Our guests have also been thrilled with how many awesome pictures you’ve taken of everyone – one of our friends emailed us to say “ils arrivent à nous rendre carrément plus beaux gosses” – basically, the photos make us all look really awesome/handsome! Which is true! Thank you so much for agreeing to join us in France to photograph our day. We will treasure our photos forever.“