Me clicking away with my Leica Q2. All the photo in the rest of this blog are from the last 6 months.

“If you're good at something, never do it for free” or so the line goes in The Dark Knight. What if you like doing that thing? Is it a crime to charge money for it? Most definitely not. Could it be the best of both worlds to be paid to do something you like doing? Maybe. What about if it causes you to lose your passion for that thing? Or what if you’re thinking about doing it but you’re scared?

Should you be a wedding photographer?

I love photographing weddings. It’s hard, it is exhausting, it causes me stress, and sometimes it makes my body hurt. But man, when I look at the photos and get feedback from the couples and families I photograph…. There ain't anything like it.

My high school photography teacher hired me to assist him at several weddings. The feeling I remember having the most was raw nervousness. This was before mainstream DSLRs (digital single-lens reflex cameras), he would be using automatic SLRs with rolls and rolls of film. Usually 3 at a time. While he shot with 2 I would be downloading and or loading the 3rd. I remember thinking it might be more stressful to handle the film than it was to actually photograph the wedding.“If you miss something…., just ask them to do it again.” He would say. As if it was that easy. And…

It was, it is. Most people when they ask me about photographing weddings they say they would be too nervous they would miss the first kiss. So what if you do… when they get halfway down the aisle ask them to kiss again. It might make for a better photo anyway, less pressure, people standing throwing rose petals, and the officiant will be out of focus, more action! Here lies the philosophy of working a wedding… it’s a big important day, yes, but you can simply be present, proactively document, and literally focus on being your creative self. Photos on a wedding day ARE important, but not as important as the ritual itself, and what YOUR eye brings to the table.

When I am at a wedding, my goal is to blend in. That's my style as a wedding photographer, not all photographers are going to work that way. While the wedding photographer is in the couple's face more than anyone else ALL DAY, I want to be the last thing they think. I want them to be present with each other and the people around them. Those people are there to celebrate and witness LOVE. For me, that's how to get the emotion in my photos. I’m an observer more than a participant at weddings, always.

I come into a wedding with two cameras these days and usually about three lenses. I'll have a mid-range zoom like a 24-70 on my right side and then a specialty lens on my left - a prime like 28 on my Q2 or an 85mm lens until the ceremony starts. Once the ceremony starts I rock a 70-200 on my right and a wide or medium zoom on my left, with my right side camera always being my main camera. I don't want to dive deep into the technical in this post because that's secondary in my opinion to WHY I love to shoot weddings. For those keeping track, I’ve gone from shooting weddings with Nikon to Fuji to Leica systems over the last 15 years of photographing weddings. As you can hear more in this corny youtube video:

Gear matters… only a little bit. I’d love for you to go to my wedding portfolio website and try and pull out what camera system was used to shoot what… as if it really matters. Couples I've taken photos for were just as happy with a cropped sensor image as they are with a fancy full-frame one - what matters is that you can use your tools in a meaningful way and feel confident doing it. Go a-head click HERE… I’ll wait.

You're there at the request of this couple. You’re unique in both who you are and the style of photography you've been hired for. To not only be asked to have a front-row seat on such an important day for someone but to also be asked to use your creative eye to document it.. what an honor. It's incredibly worth taking seriously and treating with the utmost respect. It's also a reason to BE a wedding photographer. I say FUCK an over-saturated market. If you want to use your skills and art to highlight the love between two people YOU can. Because your perspective, your eye, and what you choose to snap is one of a kind.

My wedding style has always been more candid. I’m constantly trying to stay away from posing if I can. You'll always need to take some formal photos of families and portraits of the couple. But please, learn to be their friend before anything else. Talk to people you photograph before you hold up your camera. I always try to remember what it feels like to have a camera pointed at me, so I try my best to bring some brevity before I start snapping away.

Getting closer to your subject is my favorite thing to do in single portraits. Putting them near a soft light window is a good trick for fantastic lighting. The best thing to do is to be calm and be a friend and supporter, the more calm and helpful you are the more the couple will be, and that comes across in the photos.

Making a photograph is freezing a moment in time. Wedding photos become time capsules of some of our happiest and best moments. Sometimes the best versions of ourselves can be found at weddings. The photographs we take at a wedding can last generations across decades, long after we’re all gone.

Ive been after this shot for years!! Finally got it just the way I wanted it be! (Leica q2 again for the win)

W

PS - I did just update our wedding photography course in 2023. You can check it out here:

https://www.udemy.com/course/wedding-photography-course/

So you want to be a wedding photographer?