Candid Wedding Photography
When people say ‘Candid Photography’, what do they actually mean? A candid image is a photo taken usually without the subject’s knowledge. It’s usually captured in a way that is almost off-the-cuff, and something that quite often cannot be replicated.
Candid Wedding Photography, in my case, is an organic way of shooting that allows for real emotive responses from my clients upon viewing their final gallery. With this element of candid imagery, my clients are able to truly gauge their wedding day events from a guests perspective.
When you’re imagining looking back with your partner at your old wedding photographs, I don’t think there’s ANYBODY who imagines looking at 500+ staged images. Like, seriously, imagine having to look through hundreds of images of your wedding, and only having photos of things that you knew were happening!
It’s almost like it takes away the magic of having all of your family (families) together at one time, it takes away the natural moments, the moments that may seem insignificant as they’re happening, but once a year has passed.. they’re moments that you continuously wish to look back on.
It’s a difficult thing, choosing a photographer with the right amount of ‘documentary:posed’ for you. Some people want 100% documentary, taking away all aspects of the false reality. Some couples would love a 50/50 split mixture of both.
Now I can’t, obviously, comment on what I know nothing about. So, instead, i’ll speak about where I stand on the combination scale of documentary to staged.
My clients want it somewhere within the 70/30 mark.
I know how much the candid moments mean to my couples, and their families. I know that small chatter between a groom’s father and a brides grandfather, may seem very insignificant at first.. but, as horrible as it is to imagine, once that grandfather has passed, it becomes an image to treasure for a lifetime.
Moments that a couple miss entirely, those are the important things to look back on. Like whilst a couple is taking a moment after their ceremony & one of their mothers is laughing at something one of the bridesmaids said! Or just any random moment that could happen whilst you’re not around to witness it yourselves.
This is why I make sure that, while I still get those amazing staged photos of you, your love, and your guests, I will be mostly focussing on noticing & documenting the events unfolding around me.
Now a little about the 30%.
As magical as all of those natural moments are, you’re almost certainly going to want to capture your best people, wearing their best outfits, in some sort of formal way. Group shots! They’re like marmite, you either love it or you hate it. But, unfortunately, even if you hate them, they’re something that 99% of the time, you still have to go along with. They’re important, whether you love them or not.
And, not only your guests are looking their best. You’ve likely spent a huge amount of money on your outfits, appearance, and the bloody day!
So, it’s natural to want some gorgeous pictures of you and your S/O looking like absolute stunners.
I know that it doesn’t come naturally to everybody to pose in front of a camera. It can be incredibly daunting, and sometimes even something that you decide to scrap.. but what if I told you that it’s not all posed!
Usually, how my little ‘couple walks’ (mini couple photoshoot on your wedding day) work is as followed: i’ll take you on a little walk around the grounds, gently posing you, but honestly, it’s mostly you guys! I’ll try, of course, to make you laugh.. or just make you fake laugh at me until those fake laughs turn into real emotion! It’s not as scary as it seems.
