Get timeless beautiful monochrome wedding photography.
I am an out-and-out photographer, having shot thousands of rolls of film and, of course, nowadays digital. I love shooting B&W wedding photography, it’s a great match for the way I see emotions, light and composition.
Colour is brilliant too
Weddings are a riot of colours, the sea, the food, the dresses and suits, the flowers, the grass, the lighting, colour is everywhere. In terms of colour photography, I love a strong, vibrant look. However, sometimes all the colours get in the way of conveying emotions, feelings, expressions, or an underlying composition. All these vibrant colours can be a bit distracting.
I often shoot specifically for black and white
When shooting B&W film, I often use strong coloured filters to selectively alter contract to coloured parts of a photograph. I use the same approach sometimes, when shooting digital. I might intentionally light specifically for black and white, or use the strong coloured black and white filters. This approach, just for these images, closes the door for colour processing, but gets fabulous B&W results. It’s all part of the magic!
Ageless wedding photography
Monochrome wedding images are timeless. Many of the visual clues that give the date of a wedding away simply disappear in B&W. Black and white wedding photographs have an ageless quality to them. It is so true that years must have colour is next year’s cliché.
Focus on authentic emotions, not a sea of colour
The one thing that really makes monochrome wedding photography stand out is the way it conveys raw emotions and feelings. With all the distractions from a sea of colour removed, real emotions remain and shine through in a photograph. This really suits the way I shoot. I am all about capturing the real thing, in the moment. Unforced emotions.
Reduce distractions
Sometimes we are backed in a corner and can’t avoid the background, or crazy Aunt Agness’s bright and orange dress, the fire escape signs or cars, etc. This is where shooting in black and white can really work.
Yes, we can blur the background in camera, of course we can photoshop things off, but sometimes, we want a sense of place, yet retaining the focus on the Bride and Groom.
Concentrates on form
I work with shapes and form, strong architecture and leading lines a lot. Shooting in B&W allows this type of composition to really shine out.
The geometry of things is often softened a lot by colour. When a photograph is black and white, shapes punch through. This allows me to use shapes and leading lines to pick out and highlight the subject of the photograph. It is no mistake that if you look at my work, vertical edges are vertical, and there are a lot of one-point perspectives. I use these techniques a lot to give images an edge. I am always looking to steer the viewers eye around a photograph.
Artistic contrast & tonality
If colour photography is pushed too hard, everything goes bright, over-saturated and cartoon like. The great thing about monochrome wedding photography, is I can push or pull an image a long way, and the result often looks better for it too. I have more latitude to be artistic in a way that just looks wrong in colour.
I always shoot in a way to not overexpose dresses, or under expose dark suits. In Black and white, I can be so nuanced with the edit, and target specific colours differently. These techniques I learnt in the darkroom. It’s magical. I can get both a very hard and soft look in the same shot. These techniques allow me to lead an eye around an image. Allow me to accent some things, but not others.
Film
I currently mainly shoot digital. I have shot, and hand developed a lot of film, so I really know how it behaves, and what the finished results look like. I bring this understanding to digital.
For monochrome work, I mainly shoot Kodak Professional Tri-X 400, and Ilford HP5, for a more subdued look, Fuji Acros. For colour I always used to shoot Kodachrome 64, alas this is now discontinued. There is nothing quite like Kodachrome which is a real shame. Nowadays, I shoot Kodak Ektar and Portra.
Get black and white wedding photographs
Simply book me. I always provide couples with beautiful B&W wedding photography, alongside colour photography. It is something we are known for.