TRASH THE DRESS Brides and grooms want awesome imagery from their wedding, period. They want the unscripted moments captured, but they also want a photographer that can get very creative during a Trash The Dress portrait session. That’s why couples everywhere are donning their wedding finery and not only descending into caves, but plunging into breakers, walking through abandoned amusement parks, wandering through cornfields, wading into forest streams and chasing other wild pursuits in an increasingly popular ritual and edgy extension of wedding photojournalism called Trash the Dress (TTD). Go to: Trash The Dress

CAPTURING WEDDING TOASTS These days, raising a glass to toast a bride and groom has an important purpose: to wish the couple happiness and success. Toasts can be emotional or funny, sometimes embarrassing, but always heartfelt. They can also be tricky to photograph, logistically and artistically speaking, so wedding photojournalists have to remain alert, creative and nimble. For example, a bridal couple may be squarely in a photographer’s viewfinder during a toast, but “when glasses are lifted, you never know if their faces will be obstructed,” points out WPJA member Amy Raab, a wedding photojournalist in Annapolis, MD. “You may think you have a clear shot, but you don’t.”
Go to: Capturing Wedding Toasts

THE PHOTOGRAPHY FACTOR IN PLANNING DESTINATION WEDDINGS Destination weddings offer stunning scenery and exotic atmosphere, providing the conditions needed to enhance those fabulous memories. However, since these types of weddings are often at resort locations in foreign countries, they’re subject to the unusual and the unexpected, creating logistical and scheduling factors that can affect your entire agenda, including the photography. A few of our most traveled award-winners have weighed in with their own experiences and advice for ensuring a smooth and wonderful event.
Go to: The Photography Factor In Planning Destination Weddings

TELLING A STORY THROUGH HUMOR Even with the best-laid plans, things can happen. A tuxedo may be too short; the caterers may forget the sporks; the custodians could forget to hose down the dance floor after the 4-H fair. These and innumerable other little ”accidents” lend flavor to a nuptial bash, and should be celebrated for their ability to break you out of a routine. If you’re able to appreciate all that comes with living in the moment, you could wind up with some wonderful memories.
Go to: Telling A Story Through Humor

USING WARM TONES (SEPIA) SPARINGLY What is photojournalism if not a multifaceted testament to truth? Although the truth may not always be pretty, the intrepid photojournalist holds his camera up to it. He captures what is real and human and honest. His work stands as a testimony to those moments that define us and define the world around us. He photographs the truth when it is difficult to look at and impossible to look away from; when it’s breathtakingly beautiful; and when it makes one feel connected to the world in a very personal way. The truth may take on different shades, but it never changes.
Go to: Using Warm Tones (Sepia) Sparingly

PRE-VISUALIZING BEFORE THE WEDDING SHOOT While much of wedding photojournalism requires reacting to the scene presented before you, thinking about certain shots or techniques you may want to use can help you prepare for certain pictures you would like to capture if they arise. It’s similar to how a quarterback studies a playbook in the week leading to a game, when in fact he may not know what the defense will throw at him.
Go to: Pre-Visualizing Before The Wedding Shoot

WHO ARE YOU SHOOTING FOR? Couples hire wedding photojournalists for their narrative approach to photography, but they’re also expected to get the more formal shots; portraits of the wedding party, family and friends. Balancing those competing expectations— pleasing our clients while producing unique and timeless images— is an ongoing challenge and a somewhat tricky proposition that not only permeates the wedding day, but also spills over to your web site design and public portfolio.
Go to: Who Are You Shooting For?

CAPTURING ROMANCE AT THE WEDDING A skilled wedding photojournalist knows how to anticipate and capture situations that convey those special feelings. When the day is over, your memories will be enhanced through photographs of the two of you looking at one another or simply being together, thus narrating the story of your love. That is what it’s all about. We talked to three WPJA members to find out how they zero in on the romantic moments.
Go to: Capturing Romance At The Wedding

WEDDING RECEPTION DANCING Ever since early man learned to beat a stick on a rock, some guy has embarrassed his family by dancing to it. The primordial urge to shake your booty can be traced back thousands of years, when cave dwellers learned to ward off strangers by loudly grunting and jumping around like maniacs. Luckily, not much has changed.
Go to: Wedding Reception Dancing

PHOTO TIPS FOR WEDDING GUESTS How can you let your guests get great shots at the wedding while helping your wedding photojournalist get his or hers as well? Fortunately, the two goals are not mutually exclusive. A few WPJA members weigh in with professional tips and techniques that your wedding guests can use to kick their personal photos up a few notches, while ensuring that their efforts will not detract from the “official” photos produced by the hired photographer.
Go to: Photo Tips For Wedding Guests

PATTERNS IN WEDDING PHOTOJOURNALISM Scenes of patterns from the otherwise chaotic wedding day tend to highlight the order, organization, and planning of the day, and in their own way, they help portray a sense of calm.
Go to: Patterns In Wedding Photojournalism

SHOOTING WIDE VS. LONG Most wedding photojournalists routinely use a variety of lenses to shoot weddings, but for the most part, shorter, wide-angle focal lengths get the lion’s share of use—actually about 75 to 80 percent of the time. Most typically 17mm to 35mm in length, the shorter lenses capture more of the scene, allowing textures, atmosphere, reactions and other subjects of interest to play a role in telling a richer story.
Go to: Shooting Wide vs. Long

TRUMPING IMAGE MANIPULATION Wedding photojournalists have an obligation to help clients understand what is good and what is going to last. Certain effects are going to impress some people, especially a bride and groom who may not be trained in photography. As an accomplished professional, you have a responsibility to give them something that will resonate years from now with true quality.
Go to: Trumping Image Manipulation

BEING KING AND QUEEN FOR A DAY For one day, the two of you are the focus of attention. The concerns of the world slip away as your sweetheart and you take center stage for the moment you’ve long anticipated. Your guests’ thoughts and emotions are given over to your love. In turn, they are participants in your big day, compounding the good feelings of the love-filled event. With ceremonial dances, emotional toasts or simply their blessings, your family and friends have come together on this day to help seal your love with fairytale splendor.
Go to: Being King And Queen For A Day

GROUP REACTION SHOTS To document the best moments of a wedding day, a photographer shouldn’t only focus on the bride and groom, or even on the main event. "Reaction shots," which record the reactions of guests observing the wedding’s activities as they occur, add an invaluable dimension to the visual record of the festivities.
Go to: Group Reaction Shots

HURRICANE DEAN: EVACUATION WEDDING Vanessa Rufli and Anthony Cerasoli planned a romantic August 18 wedding on remote Isla Holbox, a small island located seven miles off the northern coast of the Yucatán Peninsula. Settled by 19th-century pirates and known more for fishing than tourism, Isla Holbox was just the type of off-the-beaten-path location that the two Phoenix architects wanted for their destination wedding, which they dubbed “Mission Mexico.” They posted a web site, had Mission Mexico T-shirts printed for their guests, and hired Atlanta-based WPJA member Matt Adcock to be their wedding photojournalist.
Go to: Hurricane Dean: Evacuation Wedding

CAPTURING QUIET MOMENTS Weddings can be chaotic, noisy affairs where emotions are displayed publicly, so one of your biggest challenges can be capturing their quiet, intimate side. Trust, anticipation, skilled observation, savvy lens selection and a host of other judgments make it possible to bag those quiet, poignant moments in images that recall the day for those in attendance, as well as give those who were not in sight into what it was like to have been there. It is all part of the unique value proposition that our members bring to wedding photojournalism.
Go to: Capturing Quiet Moments

MACHINE GUN SHOOTING WPJA members cite the ease and economy of digital photography as a factor that support their creativity—one that includes a license to take large numbers of shots.
Go to: Machine Gun Shooting

KEEPING YOUR HAND IN NEWS PHOTOJOURNALISM Many WPJA members can trace their roots to the news profession in some way, having shot everything from small-town stories to significant historical events that have led to Pulitzer Prizes. Likewise, many have felt the adrenaline rush that news photojournalists get from bagging the winning touchdown catch, documenting heart-wrenching tragedies and being on the front lines of history. There’s also the gratification of getting published with a byline in a major publication, and the mass-market recognition that often comes with it.
Go to: Keeping Your Hand in News Photojournalism

PARTYING DOWN AT THE WEDDING Weddings are a time to honor tradition, commitment and family. But as any wedding photojournalist knows, they’re also a great time for people to come together and cut loose. To capture all those spontaneous moments that will be talked about for years to come, a wedding photographer needs a quick eye and a good camera—oh, and a sense of humor doesn’t hurt either. A few award-winning WPJA members share their stories about some of the wildest, party-centric weddings they’ve ever covered.
Go to: Partying Down At The Wedding

DRAGGING THE CAMERA SHUTTER Dragging the shutter is a basic photographic technique that is often put to highly creative use by the best wedding photojournalists. Whether depicting the bride mid-whir during a dance, or documenting a child bounding down the aisle at the church, dragging the shutter helps produce images that contain a sense of motion and bring an added dose of festivity to what, for some, already feels like a whirlwind day.
Go to: Dragging The Camera Shutter

RECIEVING THANKS Thank you notes result not only from your innate skill as a visual storyteller, but also often stem from some kind of personal connection with the clients. People who feel that they know you better are more likely to write these notes. Says Esposito, “I’ll do one wedding [for a couple] and then I’ll do their friends’ wedding, and then one of their bridesmaids’ weddings. After a few of these you get to be like part of the family, and that’s the kind of situation where you get thank-you’s more, as opposed to clients who saw me online and just booked me.”
Go to: Receiving Thanks

LONG WEDDING CEREMONIES A wedding is the happiest moment of most people’s lives. It just doesn’t have to last a lifetime. If your ceremony includes a souvenir program and an intermission, it might be time to make some edits.
Go to: Long Wedding Ceremonies

EVERYONE IS A PHOTOJOURNALIST These days untold numbers of wedding photographers state in their bios that they have a background in photojournalism. Yet many do not really have any actual professional experience as photojournalists. Some have maybe published just one or two photos, or work occasionally as a freelancer for a newspaper or magazine, while others fudge their own work history and interpretation of the term in order to bolster their own image.
Go to: Everyone Is A Photojournalist

THE VALUE OF A SOLID BIO Scan the pages of ads in any newspaper or magazine, and you will find a plethora of over-hyped and candy-coated slogans and catch phrases that are designed to lure you to a particular product, service or moneymaking opportunity. The strategies vary, but the motives are usually the same: gain more business by emotionally drawing in an audience.
Go to: The Value Of A Solid Bio

RAINY WEDDING DAY PARADE Wedding photojournalists aim to document weddings with exellence no matter what’s going on in the sky or on the ground. “It’s my job to capture the day no matter what happens,” says Adrienne Maples. “If it’s raining, I’ll take creative shots, like capturing reflections or raindrops, and incorporate them in the wedding photos. I’ll find a way to make it beautiful.”
Go to: Rainy Wedding Day Parade

IT'S NOT EASY BEING BEAUTIFUL It’s always important for the bride to stay relaxed and at ease during the final moments before she walks down the aisle. A good way to do so is to have people around who make you feel calm. Tucker suggests having helpers to do things you don’t necessarily need to do yourself in order to keep from feeling over-scheduled. He says, “It’s much more interesting to have that unscheduled time to focus in on what’s happening—on those feelings of anticipation, nervousness, ecstasy, panic, etc.”
Go to: It's Not Easy Being Beautiful

THE IDEAL WEDDING PHOTOJOURNALIST Just as there is a skill to taking memorable pictures, there is also a know-how to choosing the person you want to take them. How you conduct your search for a wedding photojournalist can make a big difference in ensuring that you’re more than pleased with your photographic experience on the big day, as well as with the moments and memories captured in pictures.
Go to: The Ideal Wedding Photojournalist

WEDDING IMAGES WITH DEPTH Anyone who’s been to a wedding knows there’s nothing simple about the pictures. This is doubly true for a wedding photojournalist, whose goal is not to just photograph the bride, the groom, and the family and friends present, but to capture the energy and the variety of emotion that surround the event. After all, it’s called a milestone for a reason.
Go to: Wedding Images With Depth

GETTING CREATIVE WITH WEDDING PORTRAITS The key to capturing creative portraits is to gain the trust of your subjects and to get them to buy into your vision. Once they are on board, it gets progressively easier to suggest unorthodox portrait ideas. And sometimes the bride, groom or member of the bridal party will come up with their own off-the-wall ideas for portraits.
Go to: Getting Creative With Wedding Portraits

FLEETING WEDDIGN DETAILS Paying attention to such ever-shifting details will eventually produce pictures that will set your portfolio apart from the ordinary. Anyone can create a detail shot of a cake sitting on a table, a hanging dress, shoes, or rings—they will always be there until someone moves them. It’s the skill and intuitiveness to capture these details as they move about during the course of the wedding that take the photographer’s work to the next level.
Go to: Fleeting Wedding Details

MULTIPLE GENERATIONS ON WEDDING DAY When you hire a WPJA member to document your wedding, you will most likely obtain original, dynamic photos that capture the story of the day. Often this story contains many intimate moments that might appear insignificant to an outsider. But to you, they have tremendous meaning; and the ability to always bring you right back to the people, the place, and the emotion of that day.
Go to: Multiple Generations on Wedding Day

RECEPTION TENTS: A CREATIVE PALETTE Weddings and receptions with an outdoor component are incredibly popular in the warm months, with a tent considered de rigueur for such events considering the fickleness of nature. And, with larger, more sophisticated tent structures boasting such comforts as built-in heating, tent receptions are even taking hold in the colder seasons as well.
Go to: Reception Tents: A Creative Palette

KIDS DRESSING UP FOR THE WEDDING The great divide between the sexes can be witnessed a lot earlier in life than most believe. Girls and boys participating in weddings around the world demonstrate it time and time again. Frequently, little girls relish the opportunity to dress up in their finest, while the boys do so begrudgingly, kicking and screaming all the way to the altar, so to speak.
Go to: Kids Dressing Up For The Wedding

AWAY FROM THE MAIN STORY: WEDDING SIDELINE SHOTS Some wedding photographers may feel the need to include the bride or groom in every picture, but those photos convey only part of the day’s record. With so many little stories and moments surrounding the main event, most WPJA members will probably tell you that you’re not fully documenting the day unless you get out there on the periphery and record the subplots of the wedding day—the unique and intersecting stories of the guests as they enjoy the festivities.
Go to: Away From The Main Story: Wedding Sideline Shots

CREATIVE ENGAGEMENT PORTRAITS While the wedding ceremony and festivities can often be packaged into a tidy weekend, the engagement period usually lasts several months, and it is comprised of the planning, booking, preparing, tailoring and hiring, all of which lead to the actual marriage.
Go to: Creative Engagement Portraits

WEDDING SCENE SETTERS: TELLING A STORY THROUGH USE OF SPACE Like travel writers, wedding photojournalists have to set the scene in their pictures. These shots tell a story visually from a variety of perspectives that range from extreme close-up of details to wide shots or even panoramic views.
Go to: Wedding Scene Setters: Telling A Story Through Use Of Space

COUPLES SEEING EACH OTHER BEFORE THE WEDDING CEREMONY Weddings celebrate rich, time-honored tradition. Regardless of which culture, religious affiliation or country of origin the couple represents, traditional elements make their way into the wedding to one degree or another. With so many personal decisions involved in wedding planning, the results are never run of the mill, but oftentimes they’re idiosyncratic, intimate and, hopefully, incomparable.
Go to: Couples Seeing Each Other Before The Wedding Ceremony

WEDDINGS CAN BE CHAOS A wedding is not just the culmination of a couple’s commitment. It’s also the final product of much planning and preparation. Yet despite the best-laid plans, your big day won’t necessarily get a free pass from Murphy’s Law. Some chaos is almost inevitable at some point along the way. Luckily, when you hire a wedding photojournalist, you have someone on hand who is an expert in capturing those moments as memorable visual stories that you’ll enjoy for years to come.
Go to: Weddings Can Be Chaos

LETTING GO: PHOTOGRAPHING INTIMATE MOMENTS WITH PARENTS Throughout a wedding day, a close connection between wedding photojournalists, bridal couples and wedding parties makes beautiful, intimate photographs possible. “I don’t need a Hollywood-perfect couple and a $2 million wedding to have beautiful photographs,” says Kiekhofer. What makes for wonderful photos is “the relationship I build with the couple, and the couple’s emotions and passion for each other,” he says. “Their love is transferred to the parents and friends. The whole day is intense in a good way. There is so much beauty and love everywhere you go that it makes my job that much easier.”
Go to: Letting Go: Photographing Intimate Moments With Parents

USING MUSIC ON YOUR SITE Given the emotional power of music, you’ve got to be careful in selecting and using it, if you decide to use it at all. You need to be thoughtful and purposeful with what you choose to do so that it has a positive impact and that it doesn’t detract from the experience you’re trying to provide.
Go to: Using Music On Your Site

COLOR, MEANING AND MOMENTS: PHOTOGRAPHING ETHNIC WEDDINGS Ethnic weddings, in addition to providing a change of pace from the more typical ceremonies that wedding photojournalists know well, also offer a rich visual palette and deep cultural rituals that can offer range to your portfolio.
Go to: Color, Meaning And Moments: Photographing Ethnic Weddings

CREATING TIMELESS IMAGES Weddings provide timeless memories, and everyone would agree that the best wedding photojournalism should do the same. After all, it’s only fitting that one of the most important days in someone’s life should be preserved for eternity with imagery that will always be emotionally and visually resonant to its viewers.
Go to: Creating Timeless Images

OTHER CAMERAS AT THE WEDDING On your wedding day you’ll probably feel like a celebrity with all the attention, adoration and fine clothes. You may expect fawning and flattery, but are you prepared for multiple cameras following your every move? More than any other event, weddings bring out the paparazzi in people. So when you walk down the aisle or cut the cake, be prepared to face a bank of cameras.
Go to: Other Cameras At The Wedding

TO SMASH OR NOT TO SMASH: CAKE The personality of the couple shapes much of the wedding. The cake cutting ritual in particular is an opportunity for their inner selves to take center stage. Samoilova recalls a reception in which the bride took the entire top layer of her beautiful cake and set it on her plate. Supposedly, in her culture this symbolizes that she’ll have more control in the relationship.
Go to: To Smash Or Not To Smash: Cake

MALE BONDING ON WEDDING DAY Boys will be boys. Many photographers have found that the best man, the groomsmen and numerous other dudes contributing to the big day often serve as provocateurs and especially interesting subjects for wedding photojournalism. Of course, that’s the stereotype. Yet those same guys who tease one another, engage in colorful hijinks, and liven up the party also offer up plenty of emotion. You just have to look for it a bit more carefully.
Go to: Male Bonding On Wedding Day

WORKING THE CAMERA ANGLES Wedding photojournalists will agree that the most important aspect of their craft is telling the story of the day in an authentic, unplanned way. A key element of that basic definition is how the story gets told—and that’s where the photographer’s individual character and point of view come into play. One of the most defining tools in shaping that unique perspective is angles. Working the angles lets you express the way you see the story unfolding.
Go to: Working The Camera Angles

WORKING WITH SECOND SHOOTERS Having a second shooter at a wedding introduces issues related to qualifications, shooting responsibilities, usage rights and more. Here’s a look at second shooter experiences and best practices, aided by input from a few of the WPJA’s accomplished members.
Go to: Working With Second Shooters

DEEPLY LAYERED IMAGES USING GLASS Layers aren't just for wedding cakes. As most wedding photojournalists will tell you, each layer of a photo adds yet another dimension to the shot, further enhancing the visual story.
Go to: Deeply Layered Images Using Glass

WEDDING PHOTOJOURNALISM MYTHS With the number of wedding photojournalists perpetually on the rise, confusion over what they will and won’t do seems to be increasing at a parallel rate. The article aims to bust the most common wedding photojournalism misconceptions and stereotypes circulating in the marketplace.
Go to: Wedding Photojournalism Myths

TAKING THE PHOTOGRAPHER FOR A RIDE While you may have picked out a beautiful, rustic church, a serene outdoor setting and a posh reception hall as ideal backdrops to your wedding photographs, the shots don't stop there. Remember: The wedding photojournalist's mission is to document the entire day.
Go to: Taking The Photographer For A Ride

INCLUDING PETS IN THE WEDDING There are those couples who wouldn’t think of banning their favorite creature from their wedding, whether it is a dog, a cat, or a parakeet. They would rather drop one of their family members from the invitation list than their beloved pets. Aunt Martha meet Bowser.
Go to: Including Pets In The Wedding

WPJA CONTESTS: A MEMBERSHIP PERK Putting your best work up against the competition. Getting feedback from internationally respected peers, including Pulitzer Prize winners. Gaining recognition among professionals and potential clients. These are just a few of the perks and privileges of competing in the WPJA’s contests.
Go to: WPJA Contests: A Membership Perk

DIRECTIONAL LIGHTING WITH LUCK Quick thinks and constant awareness of light—helped along by anticipation, some serendipity and a little luck—can result in direct, dramatic illumination that helps capture the full beauty and drama of the wedding day’s once-in-a-lifetime moments. Three of our award winners have weighed in with their tips, techniques and recollections for “getting lucky” with directional light.
Go to: Directional Lighting With Luck

CRAFTING A GOOD WEDDING CONTRACT The written agreement that exists between you and your client can serve many everyday purposes, from defining your services and the expected deliverables, to clarifying the ground rules and limits for the use of your images after they have been turned over to the bride and groom. However, a good contract should also protect you from liabilities that may stem from unanticipated events and circumstances. That part is like an insurance policy: You hope that you’ll never need it, but you really need to have it for that one-in-a-thousand situation.
Go to: Crafting A Good Wedding Contract

WEDDING PARTY ROLES While wedding party stereotypes still exist, most people realize there’s more to being a bridesmaid than looking beautiful, more to being a groomsman than adding life and excitement to the reception party. But even the bride and groom might not fully understand just how helpful these roles can be, long after the train is bustled and the speeches given. With a little direction (and not that much effort), members of the wedding party can facilitate great wedding photojournalism—a favor that will elicit enduring gratitude every time you look at the wedding pictures.
Go to: Wedding Party Roles

PHOTOGRAPHING THE REHEARSAL DINNER Next to the pomp and fanfare of the wedding day, the rehearsal dinner has historically gone undocumented by the wedding photographer. Without photographs of the evening, it’s been treasured only in the memories of those who attended it. Well, no longer. A number of vanguard wedding photojournalists now document the rehearsal dinner and in so doing are able to capture the entire wedding experience, from the setting of the first plate to the dimming of the dance floor lights at the reception.
Go to: Photographing The Rehearsal Dinner

DESTINATION WEDDINS: THE PHOTOGRAPHER'S PERSPECTIVE This is the first installment of a quarterly WedPix feature in which we will profile some of the world’s top destination wedding locales, as evaluated by the WPJA’s most accomplished members.
Go to: Destination Weddings: The Photographer's Perspective

WPJA: THE TEAM The WPJA was founded to further define and develop wedding photojournalism, and to encourage and reward photographers who excel at capturing found moments.
Go to: WPJA: The Team

WEDDING PHOTOJOURNALISM PURISM Wedding photojournalism purism is more than just a philosophy, it pays off in the real world. Says Hill, “I like the fact that you can offer your clients a choice of buying something that is completely non-fake and truthful, rather than doing a lot of manipulation and interpretation.”
Go to: Wedding Photojournalism Purism

WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER TAX TIPS As one of three certainties in life, taxes cannot come as a surprise to any wedding photographer, although you can certainly be forgiven if you push the thought of them into the back of your brain. As a creative professional, you'd likely want to devote most of your energy toward honing your craft.
Go to: Wedding Photographer Tax Tips

KIDS AT THE WEDDING A wedding is a special event for all involved, and children are no exception. With little boys suiting up in tuxedoes and young girls stepping into gowns layered in satin and lace, it’s a milestone for your smallest guests as well. It’s that rare occasion when they receive a glimpse into the adult world in all its ceremonial splendor. But in the thick of wedding planning, many brides and grooms often forget the little ones. Well, you need not be one of the forgetful.
Go to: Kids At The Wedding

PLANNING A SUMMER WEDDING Many couples pick summer for their weddings for a reason. Most of the time, you'll have beautiful, warm weather that makes it conducive to slip outdoors for the reception, ceremony or somewhere in between. But obviously, not always.
Go to: Planning A Summer Wedding

WEDDING TABLE SHOTS Wedding guests are definitely important. They’re the people you invite to share one of the most memorable days of your entire life. They give up a weekend to attend your wedding, they buy hotel rooms, and they bear gifts. Some even travel from far corners of the world in order to be a part of your big day. So it makes sense that you want to honor them in a significant way—to have a lasting record of their faces, so you remember their presence and generosity twenty years down the road.
Go to: Wedding Table Shots

NEGOTIATING FOR THE PHOTOGRAPH Solid negotiating skills weigh greatly in elevating and furthering a wedding photojournalist’s work, making those unique moments more accessible.
Go to: Negotiating For The Photograph

WHAT'S IN YOUR GIG BAG? Today’s wide-open marketplace for camera bodies, lenses, lighting systems and assorted gadgets provides an unprecedented range of choices for enabling your creative flexibility. Yet everyone knows that good equipment alone does not ensure success, and there’s undoubtedly a point of diminishing returns when you add to the complexity and weight of your gig bag.
Go to: What's In Your Gig Bag?

GETTING YOUR AFFAIRS IN ORDER Whether you work digitally, with film or—like Cappetta—a combination of both (she shoots with film and prints conventionally, but employs a digital workflow for resale and portfolio items), archives and work files kept in a single location inevitably subject you to great risk. Experience a house fire, an earthquake, a flood or even a hard drive failure, and you could indeed lose everything.
Go to: Getting Your Affairs In Order

CHURCH PHOTOGRAPHY RESTRICTIONS While few wedding photojournalists would recommend selecting a church based solely on how the photos will turn out, there are some important points to consider before the big day—if capturing the moments of your church ceremony is a priority, that is.
Go to: Church Photography Restrictions

WEDDING DAY PORTRAITS WITH JUST THE BRIDE, GROOM AND THE PHOTOGRAPHER With all the attention heaped upon the bride and groom, a portrait session away from the crowds can help capture private moments between them. It gets the couple away from the pressure that comes with their wedding, and a chance to be alone to reflect on the occasion.
Go to: Wedding Day Portraits With Just The Bride, Groom And The Photographer

OPTIMIZING YOUR WEDDING PJ A little advanced communication and planning with your photographer can go a long way in this regard, smoothing the way for everyone involved—from the wedding party and guests, to the creative pros assisting with the festivities. We’ve asked a few of our top WPJA award winners to weigh in with their own hard-earned advice for enabling optimal wedding day photography.
Go to: Optimizing Your Wedding PJ

WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER ETIQUETTE Spontaneous moments are what every wedding photojournalist works to capture, but not all uninhibited moments are humorous or touching. Some can be downright embarrassing. Should you shoot when a bridesmaid has a wardrobe malfunction á la Janet Jackson? Walk away when the bride disrobes to put on her dress? Photograph an adorable five-year-old flower girl who’s half in, half out of her dress? As a wedding photojournalist, when is it appropriate to document a moment and when should you walk away?
Go to: Wedding Photographer Etiquette: When, And When Not, To Shoot

SHOOTING NON-WEDDING ASSIGNMENTS For many wedding photojournalists, documenting weddings is not a full-time job. In fact, they often turn their cameras elsewhere as part of other gigs, which can range from landscape and nature photography, to shooting images for newspapers, ad agencies and magazines. In addition to filling downtime during the off-peak wedding season, WPJA award winners say that the other work and practice helps to polish their wedding photojournalism craft.
Go to: Shooting Non-Wedding Assignments

DIGITAL CAMERA INVESTMENT People generally love cool advances in technology, and professional photographers are no exception. The latest, greatest digital camera is always six months away from being released, and is almost always an intriguing lure to WPJA members and other pros working at the forefront of their craft. They’re looking for gear that will enhance their creative options while increasing convenience and value.
Go to: Digital Camera Investment

HIRING A CREATIVE PROFESSIONAL Like many brides and grooms, your wedding could be the first time you’ll be hiring a creative professional. You might think the ins and outs of working with a wedding photographer are as simple as writing a check. What could be so difficult, right? But just ask any talented pro, and you’ll get a grateful explanation of why it’s so important to truly understand their creative process. How you manage your relationship with a wedding photojournalist can have just as profound an impact on the photographs as the day unfolding before the camera. Luckily, you and your photographer both want the same outcome: amazing photos that capture the feeling of the wedding day...
Go to: Hiring A Creative Wedding Professional

WEDDING PJ IN THE GREAT OUTDOORS A sunny wedding day is a dream come true, supercharging the color and the scenery around your event. However, direct sunlight actually creates issues for those capturing the festivities.
Go to: Wedding PJ In The Great Outdoors

BUDGETING WEDDING MEMORIES For brides and grooms watching their costs, planning a wedding usually involves making a few well-considered tradeoffs in selecting the venue, the number of guests, the food, the type of entertainment and, of course, the photography. But ultimately, the measurement of that special day is not tied to the luxury of the setting or the culinary achievement of the chef, but to the precious memories that are engendered and preserved.
Go to: Budgeting Wedding Memories

DEPORGRAMMING WEDDING SUBJECTS Generally if you’re confident and comfortable with yourself, advises Joseph Hong, your clients will feel the same way about you. “Comfort is of foremost importance,” he says, in getting people to relax and forget that a photographer is nearby taking pictures. “We get to know our clients quite well because we’re photographing personalities, not just a wedding. And we have to make everyone feel comfortable—not just the bride and groom—but family and friends, too, because they’re also part of the pictures.”
Go to: Deprogramming Wedding Subjects

FROM NEWSROOMS TO WEDDINGS What do the White House, Super Bowls and crime scenes have in common? All prove to be fertile training grounds for news photographers who have made the switch to wedding photojournalism.
Go to: From Newsrooms To Weddings

WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER BLOGS Blogs have become the latest digital tool in a wedding photographer's camera bag. These dynamic, online publications don't take up any space or weigh even an ounce, yet if wielded like a true digerati, they can be as effective as any marketing method around.
Go to: Wedding Photographer Blogs

BEYOND THE WEDDING ALBUM You hired a wedding photojournalist because you know that he or she will capture the true story of the day. But when it comes to deciding on the best way to share your story, the choices might overwhelm. For example, you consider having an heirloom album for your wedding pictures, but should you also get a multimedia slide show you can watch on your TV or email to family and friends?
Go to: Beyond The Wedding Album

SURVIVING WEDDING DAY PORTRAITS Wedding photojournalists know how to memorably document the story of a special day by capturing real moments, and that's why brides and grooms hire them. Still, for most couples and their families, those captured memories would not be complete without portraits. Fortunately, this is an area in which most wedding photojournalists also excel - just not in the traditional sense.
Go to: Surviving Wedding Day Portraits

HOW TO STARVE YOUR WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER: A FIELD GUIDE It's a sad truth about receptions: Photographers are low on the food chain. Some banquet halls have turned food denial into an art form.
Go to: How To Starve Your Wedding Photographer: A Field Guide

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: THE WEB SITE A lot can be said for a successful site. But as with much of the content on the Internet, there are countless shades of gray for the wedding photographer.
Go to: First Impressions: The Web Site

CAPTURING THE MOMENT Aside from your ethical obligation to the very definition of wedding photojournalism, anticipating and capturing a true moment yields photographs that are linked back to real memories for the bride and groom. If they were asked to pose, then that's what they'll remember when they look back at the photograph.
Go to: Capturing The Moment

PRO LAB PRINTING OPTIONS FOR WEDDINGS You're a wedding photojournalist who creates thousands of digital files at each event. You offer your clients a variety of packages composed of hundreds of prints and on-screen images, and your weekends are regularly booked for weddings. Hey, you can't afford to mess around. You need a printing system that works seamlessly with your workflow while providing the utmost in quality and efficiency.
Go to: Pro Lab Printing Options For Weddings

IS WEDDING PHOTOJOURNALISM A FAD? We’ve all flipped through well-worn wedding albums of parents, aunts and uncles, and even grandparents, chuckling at dated hairstyles, handlebar mustaches, peach taffeta bridesmaids dresses, and powder blue tuxes. Wedding photojournalists might contend that these photos wouldn’t seem so out of style (hideous wedding gowns and bad male perms aside) if more emphasis had been placed on the un-styled, un-planned moments of the wedding day, rather than the prescribed agenda of highly organized groups of people staring at the camera. On the contrary, naysayers insist wedding photojournalism is merely a trendy, passing fad that disrespects the venerable traditions of the classic posed shot. They point out that tradition, and true photographic quality, is often sacrificed "art."...
Go to: Is Wedding Photojournalism a Fad?

RECEPTION SITES As you are planning to book that dream reception venue, the most important thing for you could be making sure that the important moments happening inside are captured by your photographer. Although these two priorities can often be at odds, you can get the photos you want, in the setting you love, with a little bit of input from some of our award-winning WPJA members.
Go to: Reception Sites: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

THE ARTISTIC GUILD OF THE WPJA Established in 2005, the [AG]WPJA is both a refuge and a platform for dedicated WPJA members who also happen to be masters in digital photo enhancement. It’s also a showcase for the finest artistically enhanced wedding photography in the world, not to mention a great Web destination for the bride and groom seeking something special.
Go to: The Artistic Guild of the WPJA: Enhancing Great Images

HARD-EARNED TECHNIQUES FOR DOCUMENTING THE CEREMONY From correcting poor lighting to looking beyond the typical ring and ceremony kiss pictures, our experts have bestowed some of their most valued advice upon us.
Go to: Hard-Earned Techniques for Documenting the Ceremony

REFINING YOUR STYLE Defining style can be difficult because it lies at the nebulous intersection of intelligence, heart and instinct. Personality also has a lot to do with it, and after talking with Clark for just a few moments, you see where her style comes from. She’s effervescent, passionate, grounded but imaginative and, she admits, a little funky.
Go to: Refining your Style

THE ART OF WORKING WITH ON CAMERA FLASH Most people equate wedding photojournalism with ambient light, but the reality is that you can’t always get what you want at a wedding. The light you need is often absent, is the wrong kind, or is in the wrong place. That’s why judicious use of on-camera flash plays a central role in assuring great shots and happy clients. “It’s all about complementing the light that is there,” says Wedding Photojournalist Association award-winner Chris Prinos, who with his wife MaryJo shoots weddings with a 1DS Mark II, a Canon 5D and a pair of 10Ds, along with 550EX and 580EX Speedlites. “When you have a flash mounted at all times, you can pretty much address any kind of lighting situation.”...
Go to: The Art of Shooting With On-Camera Flash At Weddings

ALL-ACCESS PHOTOGRAPHER PASS For many, the most exasperating and dreaded moment of every wedding is right after the ceremony and before the reception, when everyone in the wedding party is called together for a grand staging, row after height-organized row, of matching taffeta and tuxedo silk.
Go to: All-Access Photographer Pass

THE EVOLUTION OF WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY Five generations of Americans have revisited special moments in their lives by looking through photographs, most especially of their wedding day. But early to mid-20th-century brides and grooms have only memories of their weddings because their photographers simply weren't there. Early cameras were large and bulky and portable lighting equipment non-existent, tethering photographers -- and bridal portraits -- to studios. All that changed by World War II when the 35mm camera, roll film and on-camera flash hit the scene, transforming first war photography, then photojournalism and eventually wedding photography. After the war, military-trained photographers and amateurs trolled wedding parties snapping candid photos they'd sell to delighted bridal couples. That flushed wedding photographers out of the studio and onto the wedding day scene. But still, wedding pictures were posed and moments like cake slicing carefully staged...Go to: The Evolution of Wedding Photography

FOCUSING ON IMAGES Regardless of what type of wedding you have, it goes without saying that a wedding photographer is an absolute necessity.
Go to: Focusing On Images

DIGITAL POST-PRODUCTION SHORTCUTS AND TIMESAVERS Maybe photography's digital revolution isn't quite all it's cracked up to be. Sure, instant review and multiple-gigabyte memory cards make shooting large numbers of wedding photos easier than ever before, but managing thousands of digital images after the event is quite another matter.
Go to: Digital Post-Production Shortcuts and Timesavers

DESTINATION WEDDING VACATIONS Destination wedding photography is a niche that does not require the photographer to have specialized training. Yet it does require a sense of adventure and a willingness to jump into every new situation with aplomb. This should come naturally to most photographers, as a spirit of exploration goes hand-in-hand with the camera. An amazing tool, the camera acts as a guide through which the world is viewed and brought into perspective. It leads photographers from one subject to the next, as they seek to capture the ideal picture, in which the lighting, composition, and subject could not be improved upon. It is in this spirit of exploration that wedding photographers turn their sights on destination weddings.
Go to: Destination Wedding Vacations

TO MEET OR NOT TO MEET When Tim Zielenbach is planning to photograph a wedding, there's a step-often considered somewhat discretionary-that he prefers.
Go to: To Meet or Not To Meet