What to keep in mind when looking through the portfolio of a Wedding Photographer

                When we’re putting out online profiles together we’re cherry picking the very best photos from the years of our experience. These are helpful to show you that we can stage beautiful moments that will be an aesthetically pleasing for the casual observer. They show that we adapt to our environment, and that we have an eye for that magazine/magic quality everyone is after.

                What it completely overlooks are those small moments we capture that are going to melt your heart 10 years later. Like that photo of the mother dotting a tear away as the vows areet being exchanged. The father giving his son a final straightening of the tie before he walks down the aisle. The father of the bride giving his new son a sad but approving smile. A small hand squeeze the bride and groom sneak under the table cloth. Weddings are about the bride and the groom, but they’re also about bringing two families together with friends. A photographer keeps that in mind, and is constantly scanning for those moments that are going to bring an “aww” to your lips.

                A good wedding photographer is going to provide you with finished photos of each type. They have the experience and eye to know what will be aesthetically pleasing as well as seeking out those small moments that will tug at your heart strings. The thing that you should keep in mind when looking for your photographer is that these heart melting photos don’t always make it into our portfolios. We’re not going to share absolutely every photo we take of someone’s big day. We often can’t as the father of the bride may not have signed a photo release allowing us to. These are photos we share with the couple that hire us for them to decide what to do with.

                Sometimes these small moments can be the more challenging because we often can’t remake the moment. We must be constantly ready to take the photo because you will not get a second chance. We’re not going to ask the bride and groom to start their first dance all over so you can get the twirl of her dress. Yes, you can ask the best friend to hug to groom again, but now it’s being staged and you have lost some of the glow that was part of the moment. In a wedding the people are very rarely models so they will get stiff when they realize they are being photographed.

                What you should ask yourself as a bride is: Do you want someone set in their favorite poses that are going to focus on getting you each shot you saw in their profile, do you want someone who is going to spend all their time looking for the candid moments, or a combination of the two? Whatever your answer is I can tell you : you’re not wrong. It is what you want, and it is your day!

You can visit our portfolio here: https://tbphotographer.com