Wedding photography a short history
Wedding photography started a long time before the camera, where the very rich could sit and have a portrait painted by an artist. Many of the modern posing techniques and portraits find themselves rooted in these early painted portraits. Some of those artists became involved with the new modern invention the camera, and early photographic portraiture was born
Wedding photography goes back almost as far as the camera itself, and the earliest examples are from about 1840. Photography was very different back then, and each photograph took a long time to set up, and even longer to actually take. In the main wedding photography was kept in the studio, as the cameras, and all of the jigs used to keep everyone still long enough for the exposure were large and cumbersome. The photographs were very classical artistic in look – this is because in the main the backdrops were painted by the photographers, who were artists themselves.
The style of photography in the early days was formal, as the cameras and technologies were so slow in use. The finished result back then was the daguerreotype, which basically was an impression on a copper sheet. In the mid 1800’s there was no printing, as we know it now, just the little copper sheet. Wedding photography in terms of style remained pretty constant through the next 100 years into the mid 1900’s some things changed – the introduction of glass plates, paper, and colour. There are many Internet websites explaining these early processes, and interestingly the modern Internet has spawned a revival of some of the early techniques amongst photographic enthusiasts
For many years black and white photography was king, despite the introduction of colour photographic technologies. Basically this is because the colour faded. For this reason, even today us professional photographers are recommending that albums are made from acid free paper, and that archival quality materials are used for the production of photographs on paper
In the late 50’s when marriage was popular and the new social revolution began, the modern wedding photography industry was born. Soldiers returning from the war meant many marriages. This coincided with the advent of easier, smaller roll film based cameras and the new fangled flash. Wedding photographers then used to just turn up to weddings and then try to sell prints after the event. This was the fundamental shift that moved social photography out of the studio, into the real world – where real events were documented
Back then there were only 2 types of wedding photograph – those taken by a professional and enthusiast. The professional was basically a studio photographer forced to make a living in the field, and the influence from the studio tradition showed in the poses and lighting. The professional photographers were basically emulating what they had been doing for many years, for a couple of generations in their studios. The enthusiasts however lacked the resources and classical training of the professional, and took a variety of photographs ranging form the badly posed copy of the professional shot (without the lighting) through to the more informal snapshot. A while ago I was ploughing through some images from the time, and was stunned by the quality of some of the enthusiasts black and white work. Truly both a industry in terms of wedding photography was spawned then, but also the masses has access to a medium that was just affordable and nearly reliable in results.
In the very late 60’s a new style of working emerged in photography - partly as a result of enthusiasts, and partly as a result of changes in press photography - enter photojournalism. The sixties was when the press started really glamorising “stars” from the music and film industries, and the camera technologies let the press introduce a new style: photojournalism. The introduction of the 35mm rangefinder, and 35mm SLR with electronic flash pretty much opened the door to what we now call the modern candid reportage style. A roll of film now took 36 exposures instead of 12, and the flashgun took limitless flashes instead of 1 or 4
This brings us to events in the last few years. Digital is the biggest event – this allows the modern wedding photographer to almost take unlimited amounts of images, and distribute them easily. A combination of digital photography is changing and will continue to change the face of social and wedding photography
Modern photography clearly has some of its values rooted in the past, all the way back to classic painted portrait. Modern wedding photography also has one eye clearly focussed on the present and future, embracing technological changes to create new artistic ways of conveying the event
Beautiful Wedding Photography by Richard King
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