---

What is Wedding Photojournalism?

PHOTOJOURNALISM: “The craft of employing photographic storytelling to document life as it happens.”
- The Poynter Institute school for journalists –

From Wikipedia.com - "Photojournalism is a particular form of journalism (the collecting, editing, and presenting of news material for publication or broadcast) that creates images in order to tell a news story. It is now usually understood to refer only to still images, and in some cases to video used in broadcast journalism. Photojournalism is distinguished from other close branches of photography (such as documentary photography, street photography or celebrity photography) by the qualities of:

* Timeliness — the images have meaning in the context of a published chronological record of events.

* Objectivity — the situation implied by the images is a fair and accurate representation of the events they depict.

* Narrative — the images combine with other news elements, to inform and give insight to the viewer or reader.

Photojournalism as a descriptive term often implies the use of a certain bluntness of style or approach to image-making. The photojournalist approach to candid photography is becoming popular as a unique style of commercial photography. For example, many weddings today are shot in photojournalism style resulting in candid images that chronicle the events of the wedding day."

As a photojournalist I apply these same ideas in all my shooting including wedding photojournalism. I strive to make candid images of real life, real moments, instead of posed photos to show in the images how the wedding day unfolded with the feeling and mood of the day. I am always trying to capture fun, special, sensitive and personal moments without changing those moments. I always try to blend in with the crowd to help my wedding subjects forget there is a camera pointed at them for much of the day. I know when to keep quiet and I know when to join in on the conversation and the fun. At one wedding the mother of the bride said to me she felt like I was a long time friend of the family who also happen to be a professional photojournalist. Blending in like this allows people to except me into their world just like everyone else around them and helps me capture those real and natural moments. If I can make a bride laugh, cry or feel the feelings that she had the moment the photo was taken, I have succeeded.

---

Want more information on wedding photojournalism? Check out the online magazine.