Why Wedding Photography?
WHY WEDDINGS?
I’ve been to a lot of weddings in my life but it wasn’t until my own that I realized the true power of celebrating the culmination of your and your partners lives. It was the defining moment of my life and a day that I will never forget a moment of. All the hard work, money, and time spent organizing, planning, worrying, etc was entirely worth the single day of celebrating your life, your love, and the people and relationships that define you.
Weddings can be stale and forced. I think that this is more a symptom of people having the wrong type of wedding for their personalities. But countless people believe weddings are an unnecessary waste of money and time. Certainly budgets matter. No one should go into debt to pull off the wedding of their dreams. But to shrug off any sort of investment into one’s soul and experience in order to squirrel away for a new TV or a Florida vacation in their 70s is missing the point. There are not many times in our lives that we formally celebrate ourselves, our achievements, or our families. There is something incredibly special about having grandpa and your stoner buddies from high school in the same place, toasting for the same reasons. Life has often become a little too informal – too easily shrugged off or postponed. Life has become so complicated and noisy that big personal moments get lost to apathy.
WHY ME?
For me, the world is filled with interesting people, unique places, and engrossing stories at the confluence of the two. While I tend to be more introverted, I have always pushed my own boundaries to explore, learn, and meet those stories where I can.
Photography gives me the ability to craft visual art from my perspective of the world. It allows me to express my curiosity and interest in the compositions and textures of life and place. A successful image to me is filled with life and love, and stirs up emotions of vibrance, curiosity, wonder, and adventure.
WHY WITH A CAMERA?
I’ve never been a good writer (although I’m working on that). I’ve never been a good painter or drawer (I’m not really working on that). I do believe I have a good eye for beauty and the quirks and characteristics that make life interesting. I also love to tinker with and learn new technology. I remember the first two photos that I took that really impressed me. They were landscape shots on the BC coast taken with a disposable Kodak camera. I lost the hard copies of those photos, but the thought of those images takes me back to that trip. That trip was the first time I was on a plane, and the first time I travelled beyond the local region. Since that moment, I have owned and travelled with a variety of cameras. I took bad pictures and I took good pictures. But every one of those moments reminds me of the chapters in my story. They remind me to celebrate the best moments of my life.. They remind me of the moments that mattered then, matter now, and will matter in 40 years.
Cameras give us the technology and ability to compose and capture life in our own unique perspectives, and tell our own stories and the stories of our subjects. No matter how disposable visual art has become in the internet-age, sharing those perspectives will always be personal and unique. And sharing our stories and our perspectives of love and life create personal connections. Our stories, our defining moments, are worth documenting well and sharing.
WHY ME AND MY CAMERA AT YOUR WEDDING?
Every year, on February 22, my wife and I look through our wedding album. Those images are still as powerful as the day we received them. And those moments are still as important as they were when they unfolded. Weddings are life-defining moments. Our wedding was the best party of my life. Every photo we have brings us back to that day, and they become more cherished every year that passes.
That’s why wedding photography matters to me. I want to be the person to craft the images that define this chapter of your story for generations. My own curiosity and wonder of the stories of lives well-lived fuels my desire to craft the perfect image that will define some of your best moments. My goal is simply to craft timeless photos. I want those photos to be as meaningful and powerful in 30 years as they are the day I deliver them. I look to capture the emotion, love and energy of authentic moments.
Wedding photos are meant to tell your story. You matter. Not me. I strive to be discrete and unobtrusive in order to capture the true emotion and atmosphere of the day. But my goal is not to be a purely documentarian. I strive to find creative compositions to frame those special moments. For portraits, I like quirky and creative compositions of simple and romantic body positions. Creative portraits on your wedding day are meant to be a brief, fun, and romantic escape for the couple.
The texture of your life and the people and moments that define it are incredibly important. It may not feel that way in the moment (which is why you hired a photographer to document this moment – so you don’t have to think about this) but years from now – or maybe tomorrow – those photos will be some of your most valued possessions.
I’d be honoured to share in telling a chapter of your story.