On Saturday the 6th of November 2021 saw me return to the popular venue of Pencoed House for the wedding of Samantha and Adam. Though in the morning I had travelled to Port Talbot in South Wales to photograph the bridal preparations. It is from this town that the couple run their media production company called Buffoon Media, respectively as director/producer and video editor. So being visually aware and knowledgable of the ‘behind the scenes’ it was no surprise, they preferred a more natural aesthetic and documentary approach to capturing their wedding day. When I started photographing weddings in 2004, I helped to pioneer this reportage method of recording weddings. This genre has become very popular with couples, as it allows them the time to enjoy the day with family and friends, rather than turn it into a photo-shoot. The problem is the term, ‘natural’ and ‘documentary‘ has become a victim of its own success, being seen as popular, it would now seem that all photographers describe themselves as such, even though their portfolio is full of posed, editorial portraits. I would not suggest one approach is better than another, though using terms incorrectly, can muddy the waters. This can be very confusing, specially when our prospective clients have probably never commissioned a professional photographer before.
