WHAT ARE WEDDING PHOTOJOURNALISTS
1. Photojournalism defined
These days, it seems that many wedding photographers are wedding photojournalists. In fact, photojournalism, in relation to wedding photography, has become more of a buzz word in recent years than an actual description of a photographer’s style. But where does the term photojournalist even come from in the first place?
Photojournalism is a term that is actually used to describe a style of journalism accomplished through photography that is used for story telling in news, magazine and other publications. As a type of journalist, photojournalists were expected to observe and record events as they unfolded, without any interference or adulteration. In the late 1980s early 1990s, a group of photojournalists moved into the wedding photography industry and created a new unique style of photography called wedding photojournalism.
2. Photojournalism and Wedding Photography
When introduced to the wedding photography industry, this new style of wedding photography was a breath of fresh air. Prior to that point, wedding photography seemed to be firmly entrenched in a standardized set of perfect cliché-looking shots and effects. Every wedding portrait had the same glamour-esque look with a soft wash over the image “the dreamy look”. Wedding photography consisted of capturing, and even fabricating, the exact same image with each and every client. “Let’s do the looking out the window shot, ok, now look into your watch, ok, now tie your shoes, ok, now button your cuffs, etc.”
Wedding photojournalism took the standard approach to weddings and turned it onto its head. Instead of the wedding photographer helping guide and direct the wedding day, he now stood back and let things happen naturally. Instead of creating picture perfect scenes for every moment, the wedding photographer strove to capture the truth and realism in the actual moment. The result was photography that was no longer standardized as a canned product sold from the shelf of your grocery store. Rather, each client got customized pictures that may not have been flawless, but were perfect in capturing the actual emotion and atmosphere of the scene.
3. Wedding Photojournalism Today
Fast forward 20 years and it seems as though every single wedding photographer today appears to be a wedding photojournalist. Why? Well, because photographers are afraid of losing clients if they do not use the marketing term somewhere in their material. However, despite the usage of photojournalist, there are many photographers out there who have no experience in wedding photojournalism, or photojournalism in general. In fact, often times their portfolio doesn’t even exhibit photojournalistic style shots.
4. Our Experience in Wedding Photojournalism
While we have not worked in a newspaper agency setting, we have all been shooting wedding photojournalism for over ten years now
Our professional photography experience gives us a firm foundation in wedding photojournalism. However we spend hundreds of additional hours each year studying our art by looking at and studying the work of some of the worlds top photojournalists in the wedding industry.
Probably the easiest and most effective way of getting an idea of whether or not a wedding photographer is actually a wedding photojournalist is simply to take a look at their portfolio, as well as a sample wedding. Throughout our portfolio you will notice our roots in photojournalism. We would also love to show you a full wedding event in person. Simply call us to setup an appointment or email us by clicking here now.