WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY – QUANTITY OR QUALITY? – YOUR CHOICE

This article is to assist you in choosing a wedding photographer for your wedding.

First, a brief history of wedding photography. Photography of weddings has been carried
out virtually since the invention of photography. By the 1960’s, cameras had become more compact in size, more affordable and photography had become part of popular culture due
to movies such as ‘Blowup’.

Couples wanting a professional quality coverage of their wedding would contract a
professional studio to photograph their wedding. The studio would send an experienced professional photographer, usually armed with a 2 & 1/4" film camera to cover the wedding.
This was a medium-format camera, which took around 12 photos on each roll of film,
usually in black & white. Therefore the coverage of a wedding was limited unless the
wedding was a ‘high society’ one.

Right up until the 1970’s these studios were the main choice for couples wanting a
professional coverage of their wedding. A perusal of the few wedding magazines on the
market at that time carry advertisements for just a couple of studios.
However, by the late 1980’s, the old studios had been overtaken by a new generation of business entrepreneurs. With new technology in film and cameras and mass marketing, the
field of wedding photography rapidly expanded. Hundreds of photos in colour could be shot
at each wedding and packages with coverages and albums were devised. Brides and grooms
had a huge choice of prices and photographers to choose from.
The wedding market kept expanding right up to the late 1990’s. Digital photography was starting to appear but with the first professional cameras costing around $40,000 it took
until around 2003 before professional cameras became more affordable and better in quality.

However during that time technology kept up a steady improvement in the amateur photography market. Not only did the amateur digital cameras become more affordable,
they improved in quality. Alongside these, computers steadily increased in storage capacity.
Nowadays with the price of cameras so low and photography seeming so easy as the digi
camera virtually does everything, many people are turning to wedding photography as an
easy way to make a bit of extra money on the weekend.
It’s a snap. The cameras are becoming smaller, cheaper, memory cards larger and the
mega-pixels massive. Anyone now can shoot 2000 photos at the wedding store them on
a computer for the couple to decide which ones to have printed at a mall shop.

However, couples selecting a photographer should decide whether they should choose from using a professional wedding photographer with a track record of quality coverage of weddings who knows when and how to capture ‘the moment’.
Or, get an amateur who will turn up and not being a professional with experience in capturing
all those special times on a wedding day will shoot hundreds and hundreds of photos. Virtually they’re using a still camera as a video camera on the premise that there’ll be some good shots among them all. The end result is a shoot looking like it was done by a security camera, No professionalism, no feeling, just a part-time job.
Be wise avoid disappointment, choose a professional wedding photographer.

Article by AWP