A couple of brides-to-be have asked me recently to see some more of my posed wedding shots – bridal portraits, bridal party shots, family groups, the girls, the lads, that sort of thing. And it prompted me to put a specific portfolio of posed photos together so that, if requested, I can send it to a prospective bride and she can see how that side of my wedding photography looks. Because more often than not, it is the other side – the candid shots and documentary or photo-journalistic style images – that I tend to showcase. It is in that second set of images I find the ones that are my favourites, specifically because they are unplanned, unaltered and often even unnoticed. But posed photographs – the black sheep of the wedding photographer’s portfolio in many respects – play an important role in wedding photography.
There are photographers that I admire who shoot entire wedding days without taking a single posed photograph, but they do so with the bride’s knowledge that it is that style of photography she will be getting. Often I feel I would like to get to be that photographer – a feeling that comes over me most when I’m trying to get a “must-have” photograph of 40 cousins, siblings, aunts, uncles and parents together as the clock ticks away and with it, time for more of those candid photos at the drinks reception.
And being honest, I don’t think any photographer enjoys photographing family groups. But they are a necessary part of many wedding photographers’ day, and more often than not brides and grooms have ideas of what photographs in this category they must get. It’s true too that these do make their way into albums – not all of them, but the key ones.
I do try to encourage couples to keep the number of family groups that will be photographed as short as possible, and when it is time to take them I ensure that everyone is primed to know they are to be in a photograph, and when and where it will take place. Nearest the ceremony is easiest, but not always practical. Starting with the biggest group first makes life easier also, as I can then thank sub-sections of each group for their time after each shot and invite them to go and enjoy the drinks reception. That beats being half way through and all of a sudden needing to send a search party out for Uncle Joe.
I do enjoy the bridal and bridal party portraits much more, especially if the weather holds up. Even if the weather has held up, it’s worth still sussing out indoor opportunities for some of these, depending on the hotel. For Eva (above) and Jonathan’s wedding, the Solis Lough Eske Hotel in Donegal offered a beautiful setting outside in which to get some of my favourite images, but the staircase inside was a lovely backdrop for this bridal portrait also.
While this is a posed shot, I merely prompted (rather than directed) the photo by suggesting she walk up to the fifth step and back down two to stand on the third step, which helped the dress fall nicely. Eva knew how to hold her bouquet, so that needed no prompting, and the fact that we were surrounded by guests kept her smiling. A posed photo, yes. But still a natural one.
That’s the aim with these images, and I find (or rather I suspect, as it’s not something I do) that as you start directing individual limbs, you lose that. So while the posed shots are important, they need not – and should not – be rigid, awkward or static.
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