A quick defenition
Even if they don’t know it, a fairly significant portion of couples probably want documentary style photography as the main approach to recording their wedding. As with anything artsy, the precise definition is a little sketchy, however the general consensus seems to be that documentary photography records what happened in a straightforward, accurate way. The idea behind documentary wedding photography then is to deliver a collection of images which tell the story of your day in a natural, intimate way rather than going out of your way to make super artsy photos. That might sound perfect to you but if you stick religiously to this scope you won't be doing any formal group shots of your with your family and you can probably skip getting some nice pictures done with just the two of you. In reality therefore most wedding photographers (myself included) combine a number of styles to reach their overall approach.
Personally, I get serious thrills from getting candid ( which means ‘taken informally, usually without the subject’s knowledge’ btw #photolingo ) pictures of people enjoying the day safe in the mistaken belief that they’re not being photographed. That sounds a little stalkerish.I suppose in a way it kind of is actually, but I think there's a lot to be said for being as unobtrusive as possible when you're photographing a wedding.
People behave and even just hold themselves differently when they know that a photographer has a camera pointed at them, even their smile changes. The instant you introduce a camera to people’s consciousness, the ‘moment’ that you wanted to document is liable to change and is therefore lost. Because of this, most of a skilled documentary wedding photographer’s work is spent trying to be as invisible as possible. This is not easy. Most people are very much aware of a stranger creeping around a room with a professional camera trying to take pictures of them, and the smaller the crowd is the harder this gets. One of the ways I tackle this is with longer range lenses so that I can shoot from further away, I have a silent shutter mode on my camera for super sneaky missions and I also almost never use flashes.
I have previously been told several times that couples and guests weren’t aware of me being present for huge sections of the wedding, which personally I consider to be very high praise indeed.
So, if you're in the market for a wedding photographer, it's worth having a think about what kind of approach you want from them. What's important to you? Is it making photos that have that 'wow' factor - even if it means ducking out on desert? Do you want someone who will go out of their way to make technically stunning images? Photojournalistic might be for you.
Want sheer perfection and stuff that wouldn't look out of place on the cover of vogue? Maybe look into finding someone who does editorial or fine art.
If you're the shy type who hates having a camera pointed at them and you want images that tell a story then I would imagine a lot of the stuff I wrote above about documentary work probably resonates quite strongly with you, in which case you might want to hire someone a bit like me...
(Tbh if we've come this far and you're interested then I might as well try and sell you a wedding.)
I don't stick religiously to the documentary genre given I'll happily do group formals and I do flirt with an airbrush from time to time, but it's by far the best fit for what I do and I can promise you I won't ever make you feel like I'm taking over your wedding.
