Documentary Wedding Photography Tips

Happy New Year! I’ve been slowing down and not in the mood for the usual social media “look what I achieved this year” scramble. (Or indeed any kind of scramble), but wanted to put something a bit more fruitful and considered out into the world.

I thought I’d give some tips and thoughts on documentary wedding photography for other photographers, from someone who’s been photographing in this style for 15 years now (you can see my portfolio here) and have had tons of education, advice and guidance from other photographers.

So to be clear, to me, documentary wedding photography is about letting the day unfold and capturing it as it really is. It doesn’t have to look a certain way, or be captured on a specific medium – if anything it’s more about the ethos of getting out of the way and not turning the day into a photoshoot than any particular style. I have a belief that a wedding day should be more about the celebration of love and a chance to party with family and friends. The day flies by and every minute is precious – I wouldn’t want my day to be about photography.

At the same time, a wedding naturally produces the opportunity to make hundreds of beautiful and meaningful photos – and I believe taking a photojournalistic approach to that is the way to make the most of that opportunity.

So documentary wedding photography is all about capturing the authentic nature and stories of the day. A lot of the skills come from that being able to recognise and capture those emotions and  stories. This article has a good chance of rambling (it’s a big subject) So I’m going to start with a big, non-technical tip, and probably the most important thing I’ve learnt.

Get to know your subject

And by that, I don’t mean photography. But get to know your couple and the people around them as much as possible. Actually talk to your couples instead of sending out questionnaires. Arrive early and be on the look out for mannerism’s, relationships. All the things people take for granted about their own family – so wouldn’t think of telling you. Observation &curiosity are actually the skills that make photos that will resonate with people.

“The eye should learn to listen before it looks.”Robert Frank

Light, Moment and Composition

Hopefully you’ve got a sense of these skills already if you’re considering photographing a wedding. But composition as a documentary photographer is a very different skill, as you have no control over where things are going to happen. So composition becomes more of a reactive, problem solving skill rather that getting things perfect. It becomes how do I tell this story? What’s important? What’s not important? What’s not important yet still adds something? Can I tell it in a more interesting way?

I’m not going to go into using light here – it’s a personal thing that I think you intuitively feel your way through – light and colour can do so much to affect the mood of a photograph. I’m a big fan of ambient light, not just because it lets me move more freely around a situation, but also because I think the ambience captures the mood of a place and I don’t want to destroy that for a more technically perfect picture.

The moment is the last bit of the puzzle – and I think again it’s a personal thing. My moment is not necessarily going to be the moment you choose. I prefer to take fewer shots wherever possible so people aren’t aware I’m there and I can move on and not distract them – but I’m also aware that sometimes you have to stay and work towards the perfect moment, and sometimes people are so involved that sticking around and photographing more is not going to be a huge distraction.

A Documentary Wedding Photographer’s Kitbag

I like to keep things as light and tactile as possible. I’ve previously used a simple fuji setup, but have been experimenting with Nikon Cameras like the Nikon Z6iii and Nikon ZF this last season. In any case, I value the ability to move faster with lighter lenses over carrying too much gear and not having the energy to get through a wedding day (don’t judge me, they’re long!).

“The single most important component of a camera is the twelve inches behind it!”Ansel Adams

Preparation / anticipation

This ties back to getting to know your subject. Once you know all about the people you’re photographing, you can pair that with your years of watching and interacting with other people, and it gives you an idea of what’s coming up next (your experience as a documentary wedding photographer will also come into play.)

So you’ll be subtly moving position and making sure you’re in position as things happen. Documentary wedding photography is about constantly anticipating moments that may or may not actually transpire. Photos that may or may not happen.

A lot of the time it will feel like you’re missing things, focusing in the wrong place at the wrong time. That feeling may be accurate (and it may be a learning experience). But usually when you get home you have a wonderful amount of material for telling your clients story.

How to disappear completely

The ability to make yourself disappear is quite counter-intuitive. You need to be in people’s personal space to make the best photos –  and the trick is to make yourself part of the furniture (ever looked at your lap to find a cat in it? It’s a bit like that)

Obviously this is easier if you start with one or both of the couple in the morning. You can break boundaries whilst keeping your own body language gentle and submissive and get them used to having you there. Using smaller cameras helps, as does removing distracting elements from them (lens hoods, logos, every little helps)

But whenever in the day you are starting – come into whatever situation without a camera and talk to people and get them used to having you around. You will be able to make yourself part of the surroundings and by the time things are in full flow they won’t know you’re there.

And then they say later, ‘we didn’t see you all day!’ – and it seems like a mystery because you could have physically tagged them at any point.

“Taking pictures is like tiptoeing into the kitchen late at night and stealing Oreo cookies.”Diane Arbus

Finding your voice

You will realise that there are hundreds of documentary photographers out there and the quickest way to differentiate yourself from them is finding your unique voice. We all have different priorities and visual styles – we’re drawn to different aspects of the day and different moments and no two photographers will approach a wedding day in the same way (I have written a separate article that may help with this)

Street photography as a training ground

There’s been a real trend over the last few years towards https://www.simondewey.co.uk/street-style-wedding-photography/. Loads of photographers swear by doing street photography to keep their eye in the game and observational skills sharp for when they are at a wedding – but I’m not one of them.

This is for several reasons. Firstly, I really really love good street photography and I don’t believe I’m ever going to work at a standard I’m happy with I’d have to commit 100% to being a street photographer. Otherwise I just beat myself up about being a crap street photographer, and where’s the fun in that? Maybe that’s the more neurodivergent part of me talking.

I also don’t tend to lean into visual puns too often in my work. So I’m not looking for witty juxtapositions and bold clashes. They don’t create much meaning for me, and I think this is one of the skills that street photography can really help with and that people aim to transpose across to weddings (although I know some street photographers hate the easy visual puns too).

On the other hand, if you feel comfortable in the street and want to explore this – get out and do it. Most of us have at some point, it’s the only way of working out if it works for you or not (There are some great workshops out there – or I’d advise heading to London, Blackpool or Manchester – places where people are used to tourists with cameras.)

Keep learning

Keep learning, keep interested. Keep looking at other photographers work (both inside and outside the wedding industry). Make work for yourself, experiment. Enter competitions. Seek feedback. Seek mentors. Keep it fresh and interesting for yourself (sometimes this will be hard!). The best documentary wedding photographers are just people who kept getting better a little bit at a time.