History of Wedding Photography

Wedding Photography began in the 1800's as wedding portraiture and was mostly restricted to the studio environment and stiffly posed images. With the advent of roll film and better lighting equipment at the turn of the 20th Century savvy photojournalists would snap photos of post WWII weddings, attempting to sell them their photos to the couple after they wed.

Contemporary wedding photography came to the forefront in the 1970’s when it started blending photojournalism and location portrait photography into one art form. It is now fashionably for a bride and groom to hire a photographer to document their wedding day as it unfolds. Capturing a wedding in a photojournalistic style includes a variety of shots ranging from formal posed images of the bridal party to candid snapshots of the guests. A popular way to present these images is in a traditional leather bound or coffee table style album. An album allows the couple to share their memories in an organized and chronological fashion with friends and family. In many instances albums are passed down through generations, becoming family heirlooms. Since the advent of digital in the late 90’s wedding photography has exploded. Digital photography allows for virtually unlimited captures and introduced new design ideas into wedding album design. The real beauty and work of digital lies in its post-production. Images captured in color can be turned into black&white or sepia images allowing photographers more flexibility then ever before. Contemporary wedding photography is also known as wedding photojournalism, wedding reportage and documentary wedding photography.