Observational, unobtrusive wedding photoshoot to focus on personalised body language and candid reactions.
This shoot was part of a photography conference called Thrive and was on a workshop with Tracy Jade, the queen of hand off, observational photography. Her ethos is to capture the moments as they happen rather than manufacture fake moments on a wedding day to look good on camera.
Although this method makes perfect sense for many parts of a wedding day; ceremony, drinks reception, dancing, speeches etc, I wanted to see how it was put into practice in a couples portraits situation. Enter Dani and Clem. A real couple that had never been photographed before that were so open minded about the process. Because when you do it for the first time it's AWKWARD.
We guided Dani and Clem towards to doors of Brighton Town Hall as a cool place to hang out and then just watched and waited. The British person in me curled up and died inside. Nothing happened apart from awkward standing. Then the magic happened.
"Just interact with each other as if we weren't here".
So they did. The started messing around and being silly, making funny jokes, being in their own little relationship bubble. And although it took an extra couple of minutes to get their, the posing is completely candid and all their own, recognisable body language. Nothing felt fake or manufactured (despite it literally being a styled shoot) and the pictures are magical, individual and truly personal to Dani and Clem.
When you stop prompting and guiding you open up time and space to be creative with framing, composition and making artistic choices.
"Their adults, you don't have to babysit them" was the life changing info that Tracy gifted me on the shoot.
As an ADHD human the brain space this gave me was huge. It was like a lightbulb went off in my brain.
Now I'm not saying we just stood them in front of a doorway and just ran round not involved. As we got more into it we suggested new places to interact, pointed out mirrors to see what Dani and Clem would do and how they would interact. The smiles became more confident. Me as a photographer became part of the moment rather than forcing it.
This shoot really has changed the way I shoot. Focussed more on getting real, personalised interaction from watching and understanding body language. And I am so excited for the weddings to come.
For the couples that just want to live in the moment.
So you might be reading this thinking, how would this apply to my day? Observational photography is the art of creating magical moments from watching and understanding how the day is going. Literally 'reading the room'. It's about seeing the parts you didn't see or don't remember, it's about having conversations before your day about how you would like it to feel and play out.
It's not about pulling you closer to the window because the light is nicer, but not interupting a hug with a special person to you because of what the photo might look like. It's working with the lighting, backgrounds etc that are organically there on the day. It's your wedding day. I don't want to pull you out of any moment.
In terms of portraits it's about taking your drinks with you or going somewhere that feels special to you and then that being your breather with your new spouse. Your time to spend some quality time in that 'just married' feeling with your favourite human and i'll see how you hold hands, how you look at each other without projecting what instagram thinks love looks like onto you.
Some couples love a cuddle or a kiss, some a boop on the nose, some a knowing look. Everyone's love is correct, perfect for them and worth capturing. Just because you're not running down a beach in euphoric ecstacy doesn't make your love any less. It makes it perfect for you and your day and should be captured as such. (Disclaimer: you fancy running down a beach I'm here for it too).
Want to plan a wedding and then live completely in the moment? I would love to have a chat with you. I want to know about what you're dreaming of, who your favourite people are and what's important to you.
Wedding photography can be done a different way. And it can be done in a way that's perfect for you.
