The Multifarious Talents of the Modern Wedding Photographer
By Fritz Liedtke
“Oh, he’s a wedding photographer.”
How many times I have heard near-condescending words to that effect, spoken by a commercial photographer, or a photojournalist. However, I must admit that sometimes I, too, fall into the trap of thinking this way.
For instance, if I’m soliciting business from an editorial client, I’ll show them a website that doesn’t include wedding photography. No matter how good my wedding work is, I don’t want to be pigeonholed as a mere wedding shooter. I want to be taken seriously as a professional photographer, capable of producing quality work for the client at hand. I find myself oddly embarrassed of the wedding photography–even though the work itself is excellent.
I’m not exactly sure where, in the history of photography, wedding photographers got the bad rap. But I have some guesses.
twin girls palace by the beach
We’ve all seen the albums filled with stilted smiles, awkward poses, and dully-lit images. Somewhere along the line, all wedding photographers were nailed to the cross of their industry’s weaknesses. Sadly, any experienced wedding photographer worth his or her weight has suffered from this poor reputation ever since.
But the wedding world has changed. Wedding photography has become sophisticated, fashionable, varied and very profitable. And yet there are still many people–photographers, art directors, editors–who poo-poo those who keep wedding photography in their lineup.
And to that I would say, “Maybe you’re not a wedding photographer because you just can’t handle the pressure.”
Recently, I had to find a new second shooter to accompany me on a few summer weddings. As I was searching for a quality assistant, looking at their portfolios, it dawned on me: This task has become more difficult. I can’t just hire someone because they have nice portraits in their book. In fact, I’ve had some fine young portrait photographers accompany me at weddings and take very marginal candid images. Other potential second shooters had good photojournalism skills, but couldn’t smile and carry on a conversation if their job depended on it. And I’ve worked with super-friendly assistants that couldn’t set up a mono light without breaking it.
That’s when it dawned on me: A wedding photographer has to be everything. Today’s top-notch wedding photographer has to be well versed in almost every aspect of photography. As portrait artists and fashion photographers, we must be able to capture elegantly posed images, and yet make them seem fresh and vibrant. Whether working in the studio with lighting gear, or on location with natural and artificial light, we have to create a pleasing and well-lit scene. We have to think on our feet, find appropriate locations, and help our subjects feel comfortable, relaxed and beautiful. And then we have to be a Richard Avedon, producing magazine cover-ready images.
at the altar
We also have to be photojournalists. While beautiful portraits are expected, I find it’s the little details of the day–the stolen glances, the giggling girls, the outrageous dancers–that really make my customers smile or cry. We have to capture these moments in every imaginable type of light, indoors and out, in cavernous cathedrals and dark dance halls, in bright sunlight and glaring snow. We have to be Henri Cartier-Bresson, capturing several hundred decisive moments in the space of eight hours. All I can say is: Thank God for digital.
Many other types of photographic disciplines also come into play. Wedding photographers must be able to compose grand scenic, landscape and architectural shots, capturing the beauty of the venue. We have to arrange still lifes and products–even macro shots–of details such as cakes, flowers, rings, tattoos and decorations. If we shoot destination weddings, we have to be experienced with travel, and travel-related photography. And, of course, we’re all paparazzi.
A professional wedding photographer must also be a people person, a real Dale Carnegie, able to make friends and influence people. We have to be enjoyable to be around, because we’re at the wedding all day long. We have to smile, make people feel comfortable, coordinate well with other vendors and occasionally bring ease or laughter to a tense situation. By the end of the day, we have to be everybody’s friend, or, at the very least, not their enemy.
As with any small business, we must also wear the many business-related hats: CEO, advertising exec, HR person, teacher, accountant, IT guy, vision-caster, investor, designer, researcher, client-greeter, negotiator, webmaster, marketer, office cleaner. When someone asks me, “How can you charge so much for what you do?” I think to myself, “How can I charge so little? It’s taken me 25 years to know what I know and do what I do!”
bride and groom walk away from wedding palace by the beach
And, in the end, after every wedding is over and the gear is put away, we have to be able to pull together a cohesive photo essay, well edited and color corrected, and beautifully laid out in a lovely book, magazine or DVD. (Which means we must also be editors, producers, graphic designers and filmmakers.)
“No problem,”you might say? You have to do all of that in your business as well? Oh, I almost forgot. For the professional wedding photographer, there are no do-overs. No weather-related delays. No re-shoots. No reschedules.You have to know everything and be everything, and have it all in the bag by midnight, when everyone turns back into pumpkins. Period.
None of this is to say that wedding photographers are better than anybody else. Nor is it true that a wedding photographer could immediately go out and cover a sensitive story in a Third World country and score a magazine cover of Time. Every photographer wears many hats, and must have extensive knowledge of his field.
Bride and Groom dance with flower girl Flowers being thrown on the bride and groom
But we do deserve some respect. And the experience a wedding photographer gains every day does transfer to other types of work. I shoot documentary work all over the world with speed I would not have if I were not honing my skill at every event I cover. I shoot editorial assignments in all kinds of locations with technique refined at weddings. My fine art work is stronger for the constant attention to detail in my wedding work. The skills gained from editing and retouching brides and grooms in Photoshop directly transfer to my portrait and fashion imagery. In short, wedding photography can be a training ground for any type of photography a photographer may want to branch in to, which can be invaluable in today’s unstable market, when diversification is necessary for survival.
So to all those who look down their long noses at the creative professional wedding photographer, who has to have a grasp of nearly every type of photography and business skill in order to perform at a high level, I would respectfully say: If you can’t take the heat, please stay out of the kitchen.
Posted by S.A.Levine 
Posted by S.A.Levine 
Posted by S.A.Levine 
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