What is documentary wedding photography and should you make a shot list for your photographer?
Documentary wedding photography is simply about capturing your real wedding day in the most natural way possible so you can relive the whole story of your day when you look back at your photographs.
Documentary photographs are not necessarily always going to be the most ‘perfect’ technically. To me it is more important to look out for raw emotions and beautiful moments. There may be clutter in the background or the lighting might not be the most ideal as the main purpose is to record moments in time rather than create perfect stylised images. The clutter in the background actually can add to the sentimental value, when you look back on your photographs in ten years time you will likely have an emotional connection that you might not have if items were edited out of moved out of the way.
I do, however, chase the light and carefully choose my angle to create the best images I possibly can in the situation, so it doesn’t mean you will end up without lovely photographs.
My collections always include two photographers as I believe that’s the best way to fully cover the day in a true documentary style. You many only need one photographer if you are looking for more traditional wedding photography but for full documentary coverage it is ideal to have two.
Having two photographers means both of you will be covered during your pre ceremony preparations. Even if one of you doesn’t want a photographer there for the full prep, having someone there to document you greeting guests or having a drink at the pub with friends really helps piece together your beautiful story (plus it’s also quite nice for your new spouse to see what you were up to on your wedding morning).
Should you give your documentary wedding photographer a shot list?
In this instance I’m referring to lists of moments throughout the day that you want capturing, not group shots.
The short answer is ‘no’.
There are many blogs and magazine articles going around that advise that you should give your photographer a list to make sure they capture everything you want. In all honesty documentary photography and lists contradict each other. If I have been given a long list of shots to capture then my mindset on the day is completely different as I will be chasing moments that might not even be happening and miss out on capturing the real moments. If you have a list of specific things then unfortunately there will have to be some compromise on the candid moments and that doesn’t work with the genre of documentary photography.
An example list might be:
Mother of the bride helping button up dress
Bridesmaids laughing together
Best man helping groom with buttonhole
Groomsmen
Shots of the rings
Close up of dress details
Dress hanging from wardrobe
Bride’s jewellery
Bride spending time alone before ceremony
Groom spending time alone before ceremony
Bride being helped out of wedding car by her father
Groom’s reaction when bride enters room
Flowers in church
Ring bearer
Exchanging of the rings
Singing the register
Couple in the wedding car
The reception set up before guests enter
Wedding cake
Decor shots including favours
Best man speech
Father of the bride speech
Grooms speech
The first dance
Bride dancing with father
Etc… The list can go on..
(Please is a very generic list that I found on a blog, not every wedding has a bride and groom, a church and a groomsmen/bridesmaids etc).
If I received a list this long I wouldn’t have a clear head going into the day. I would be focusing entirely on ticking off the list rather than keeping an eye out for real moments. It’s more likely than not that many of these moments won’t happen so I would have failed at giving you the full list unless I were to add staged moments into the day which would involve taking you from enjoying your day for photos and the images would be less ‘true’.
Early on in my career I thought it was pretty standard to get shot lists and there were times that I would be chasing after things as late as at the evening reception to make sure the list was completed. My brain was focused on making sure the list was ticked off rather than taking everything as it comes. Working this way meant I wasn’t fully focused on capturing the beautiful natural moments.
I am MUCH more confident in my work and my style when I can stand back and capture the story unfolding in it’s own natural way.
How about a list of group shots?
Yes, please do.
If you would like some traditional group shots then a small list of which group combinations you’d like is essential to help things run smoothly on the day.
Most couples I photograph say they do not want a lot of traditional group shots. However, more mature generations are used to group shots being an integral part of the day. After all, when your parents/grandparents married it’s likely that their wedding photographs consisted mostly of set groups of people posing for photos. Since wedding photography became predominantly digital we have the ability to take a lot more shots and so we have evolved to take photographs throughout the whole day rather than a set amount of family photographs.
I am absolutely happy to include a small amount of these into your day. Venues do allocate a time for photographs after the ceremony so there will always be time to do these. But I cannot stress enough that the longer the list the more stressful it will be for you and your guests on the day. It is rare that rounding groups of people up who just want to have fun and celebrate will go really smoothly if there is a long list of them. People (understandably!) wander off to the bar, or the loo, and most of all, your guests will want to talk to you and congratulate you at this time so it can be hard to take you away from that (and you certainly won’t want me taking you away from chatting with your friends and family).
The post-ceremony time that is usually allocated for photographs is also the perfect time to capture some beautiful documentary images of your friends and family congratulating you so by having a long group shot list you end up missing out on some of these moments being captured.
Here is where I own up to something…
If I do family group shots and anything at all that is staged then I am not ‘truly’ a documentary photographer. I also love doing detail shots of the bridal dress, flowers, shoes etc in the morning. These are setup shots so aren’t truly classed as documentary photographs. However they are still taken in the environment that you are in and I believe they play a good part in documenting your day (plus they make for pretty images!). I can say that 90% of what I shoot on a wedding day will be candid, unposed and natural so I am happy and confident to call myself a documentary wedding photographer.
To summarise…
If you would like documentary photography for your wedding day then it’s best not to give your photographer a shot list, apart from a small list of family group shots if your photographer is integrating these shots into the day.
But lists of moments to be captured do not work with this style of photography.
There are some amazing traditional and fine art wedding photographers whose style might be more suited to those requiring a lot of specific shots.
