Wedding Day Details.

Wedding Day Details.
Author : Linus Moran
Article Date : 03 Nov 2014

The current fashion with many popular Wedding blogs is to over indulge with detail, detail and more detail. This trend has been growing in abundance over the last couple of years with it now becoming a dominating style. I am not saying that there isn't a place for detail shots; on the contrary, they are important, but they should not dominate!

For couples looking to explore style, the very blogs that perpetuate this trend can be misleading and give a very biased perspective on what makes quality professional wedding photography.

What is the purpose behind portraits that cut off the subjects heads? Why have close ups of and Bride & Grooms feet ? If we want to be flippant here, these shots used to be the butt of family jokes, when someone clearly had no level proficiency behind the camera lens! Now it seems that this 'harsh' crop has developed into an art form.

Seriously though, the endless detail shots serve only one purpose and that is to 'sell' the products. The majority of wedding bloggers display photography that serves the needs and wants of their advertisers rather than showing emotive, stylised wedding photography.



This fashion trend and directive is damaging to the photography industry and is producing a bastardised false representation of what 'good' wedding photography is about.

As an image professional I can only hope that this trend, remains just that and passes out of fashion as quickly as it entered. In the meantime it is my duty along with other like minded professionals to educate and inform brides and grooms how we see, narrate and capture the wedding day as true Documentary Wedding Photographers.

Details are important in telling stories, but it is the story that should have the emphasis, not the advertising and selling 'Jimmy Choos'. Sell the dream, not the label!

Myself along with fellow Documentary Wedding Photographers are busy looking and working towards elevating our style and bringing it to the attention of the masses. Obviously this is a lot to expect of others, so its natural that it will be run by photographers for photographers, wishing to connect with an audience of clients who appreciate our work. (More about this later)



Now, there are some great wedding blogs out there that still manage to keep the balance right between showing posts of great wedding photography and then showing distinctly separate posts on wedding details such as wedding stationary, bunting, retro products etc. A recent discovery and follower of Mrspandp.com proves that it can be done, that both can co-exist on the same website, without advertising dictating photographic content.

Documentary Wedding Photography is distinctly about story telling through a series of images. These images are charged with the natural, bare emotions of our subjects. On the whole, detail shots are taken and used to assist with the narrative by knitting the various elements of the day together.

Wedding Photojournalists and Documentary wedding Photographers have always taken the detail shots, we capture everything of meaning, that has taken time and attention in planning. We don't push these details but use them eloquently and almost understate them but they are always there.

When designing and laying out a finished wedding album, these detail filler shots come into their own. They are far more than just mere items, details or objects but are distinct pieces of the wedding day jigsaw puzzle carefully researched, sourced and brought together perfectly on a day that is as unique as the couple marrying.

You can view some album layout examples here to see how this works.

Just for the record, a random collection of wedding detail shots.

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