Timothy Faust
Choosing a Photographer: Part II
This article is part 2 of a three part series
In part one of the series I discussed the importance of choosing a photographer based on how well your personalities mesh. In this part, I want to bring up the importance of choosing a photographer based on style. The reason I didn’t put style first in Part I is because I believe that no matter how much you love a photographer’s work, you still need to click with them in order to get the best possible images.
The style of images a photographer creates is going to determine how much you love the images, especially when you flip through your wedding album ten or twenty years later. This brings me to my first point, and that is finding a photographer with a timeless style. Fancy post processing techniques may seem interesting now, but do you think you will still be interested in them ten years down the road? The great wedding images from 20 years ago have a timeless style that still looks beautiful today, so my first bit of advice when choosing a photographer is to look for one who images appear timeless.
[one_third] [single_lightbox url=”https://www.timothyfaust.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/021.jpg” image_url=”https://www.timothyfaust.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/021.jpg” image_width=”150″ image_height=”150″ title=””] [/one_third] [one_third] [single_lightbox url=”https://www.timothyfaust.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/011.jpg” image_url=”https://www.timothyfaust.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/011.jpg” image_width=”150″ image_height=”150″ title=””] [/one_third] [one_third_last] [single_lightbox url=”https://www.timothyfaust.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/031.jpg” image_url=”https://www.timothyfaust.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/031.jpg” image_width=”150″ image_height=”150″ title=””] [/one_third_last]In addition to choosing a photographer with a timeless style, consider the overall style the photographer shoots in. Is your goal to have a lot of posed formal groups shots? Many families use weddings as type of family reunion in which to get as many family shots as possible. If this is the case, make sure to choose a photographer the specializes in group portraits by looking through his or her portfolio and looking for those types of images. If you prefer a photographer to take a more photo-journalistic approach, look for photographers will a lot of candid shots in their portfolio. Other photographers will specialize in editorial and fashion inspired photography. Just beware of photographers that claim to “do it all” or you will end up with an album that lacks a coherent theme or style in it.
A lot of couples will not always know what type of style they want. That is perfectly OK, but it is important to try to figure that out before you being choosing a photographer for your wedding. Magazines are a great source for images to help you know what you want, but don’t stop at bridal magazines. Look at other fashion magazines like Vanity Fair. Don’t be afraid to get the men involved by picking up a copy of GQ, and having him look through that to see what styles he like. Start cutting out the images that you like. After a while you should start to see a theme emerge.
