Wedding Photojournalism

Wedding Photojournalism Information And History

What Is Photojournalism?

Photojournalism is the process of documenting events with a camera without controlling or affecting the situation. Henri Cartier Bresson, considered as the father of photojournalism coined the phrase "the decisive moment" and this essentially means capturing the peak moment within a situation. Thus, giving way to wedding photojournalism, or generally, photojournalism.

History of Photojournalism

Henri Cartier Bresson in the 1930's began documenting European society with a Leica camera. The cool thing about the Leica unlike many cameras at the time was its small size was and it's quietness.

Leica is world renowned and is used by many of the great photographers today. The results of this documentary photography; a beauty and integrity that is timeless and priceless to this day.

Wedding photojournalism takes the same skills and philosophy and applies it to today. This is in contrast to the traditional style of photography I was bought up on and trained under.

Rather than organizing people and fabricating situations the wedding photojournalist relies upon his skills to capture the moments that go unnoticed in an unobtrusive manner.

The ability to see events and stories unfolding and capture those events in a unobtrusive manner come together to form a series of images that reveal seemingly simple yet complex images.

Wedding Photojournalism Basic Information

Wedding Photojournalism has become a very popular style of wedding photography and is essentially a series of candid photographs covering the events of the entire day. Wedding photojournalism is said to appeal to the bride and groom that require a series of unique photographs designed to "tell a story" or narrate the wedding day.

There are drawbacks of wedding photojournalism as there is usually no pre-planned "shot list," only the wedding photojournalist’s (photographer's) response to events as they unfold. The resulting images are can be unpredictable. As wedding photojournalism largely entails shooting under ambient light, the result in some pictures can suffer in the hands of an inexperienced wedding photojournalist.

It is a fact that some couples often later regret not opting for more traditional, posed portraits in their wedding album. The couple’s parents sometimes first to complain about the lack of traditional wedding photography in an album.

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