Telling your story with contemporary wedding photography

Never has that been truer than with contemporary wedding photography - remember that phrase, “a picture is worth 1,000 words?”

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Let’s face it – it’s unlikely that anyone will ever write a story about your wedding. But what these images will do is tell your entire wedding-day story through photographs. If that sounds like photojournalism, you’re kind of right – it’s similar, but a touch different.

The term contemporary wedding photography is used to describe any sort of wedding photography that’s not of traditional nature. This can – and often does – include wedding photojournalism, but also includes artistic and other types of non-traditional wedding photography. Whereas in photojournalism, the sole emphasis is capturing candid moments, this style includes the use of composition, lighting, and timing to capture photographs that have a strong aesthetic appeal.

What the combination of all these components does is lay out the story of the day, including the emotions, the drama and the anticipation, in a clear-cut way so that it can all be view neatly through a photo gallery or wedding album. Some photos may be completely candid – these are the ones that really show what happened -- some may be candid with a few tweaks here and there (such as having the bride turn a certain way or removing a distracting water glass from the table in front of the groom suiting up), and some may be completely posed.

With this method of picturing a your day, no aspect of the wedding goes un-photographed because it’s all about the details. In 10 or 20 years, a bride will probably want to share her wedding photographs with her daughter or niece. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you had a record of all aspects, even the minor things such as the bridal shoes, a close-up of the centerpieces, a shot of the rings on top of an invitation? This is what makes contemporary wedding photography tell your story with picture-perfect accuracy.

A word of warning - this is NOT for the camera-shy - it is definitely for couples that like to be center stage! Remember, the photographer will be directing you on a 'film set' and this takes time and patience. So if you prefer to get on with party, consider photojournalism, instead.

It might not be written with pen and ink, but if a picture is worth 1,000 words, this style surpasses a print story and elevates your story onto a completely different level.

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