My Photographic Journey: Individual Practice

Task

This assignment is a practical response to Unit 13 Individual Study, that is intended to encourage specialism within photography. Whether Photography exists as an Art form or Industry, it continually changes to suit technological and market needs.

The success of Unit 13 and the depth of study during its execution will affect the work produces for this assignment. Contemporary techniques when shooting, producing and outputting transfer from theory to practice within this brief.

Visualise and produce 10 commercially viable images that form a response to your Individual Study. This is an opportunity to demonstrate your understanding of current photographic practice. Present for portfolio, presentation will be by group Seminar. Select again the same choice from the following subject areas:

Contemporary Food Photography
Photographic Exhibition
Contemporary Social Photography
Photojournalism and Features Photography
Commercial / Landscape / Nature
Executive / Corporate / Industrial / Creative Design
Garment Photography (Fashion)

Conclude with a written rationale that explains the concept behind the ten images that you have produced. At the presentation seminar, make sure you have all work production evidence.

My Individual Study was a written report into the contemporary practice of Wedding Photography. I discussed and explained the differences in styles of wedding photography, which are mainly sectioned into three different areas:

Traditional / Classic or Formal Wedding Photography
Photo-journalistic / Documentary or Reportage Wedding Photography
Contemporary / Fashion or Artistic Wedding Photography

I believe that to completely honour my written report that I would have had to have photographed a wedding which will have been pre-booked by a client however at this stage of my degree I am still yet to become established as a Wedding Photographer.

It is my intention over the Summer months to ensure that I secure my own business name and website and then to progress onto advertising myself as a new Wedding Photographer.

Looking closely into the wedding photographer market I have already painted a picture that competition is fierce therefore I will endeavour to offer a service which differs from the large majority and also offer an artistic difference within my packages to hopefully seduce would be customers to use my photographic skills.

Being realistic I have therefore decided to concentrate on producing key Bridal and also key Bride and Groom imagery to which I will use for portfolio and advertisement purposes. It is this area within a Wedding Day that I have gained via experiences of shadowing already professional photographers, and even also undertaking the role as a second photographer on a few occasions, that due to time being an issue you can not always have enough time to successfully obtain more carefully planned and artistic imagery.

Also being that I have also not had the opportunity to practice this area of directing and organising the bride and groom for their personal shoot evoking and demonstrating the love between them as I am yet to be the main photographer.

I am therefore taking this brief as a excellent opportunity to practice this role and to successfully create imagery of a high professional standard in order for future sales of my services within the Wedding Photography Industry.

But before I dive in head first . . . inspiration is the key and having a good understanding as to what contemporary wedding imagery there is on the market will aid me in providing key shots for my portfolio.

Inspirational Wedding Imagery and Photographers

WEDDING | PHOTOJOURNALIST

| ASSOCIATION

http://www.wpja.com/

"The Wedding Photojournalist Association put the world's best wedding photography at your fingertips. We offer a new perspective on wedding photography - quietly capturing the real moments as they happen for the bride and groom. It is our goal to use photography to tell the story of your wedding day, not dictate it for you"

This website offers exceptional inspiration for both potential Bride's and Groom's but also for photographers working in the industry. It is excellent in the sense that it pools every type of wedding photographic shot together from different areas of the world giving a great insight globally to the phenomenal styles offered on today's fierce market.

Below are images from the website and details of the photographers and locations they were taken in.

3rd Place: Great Natural Light - 2010 Q3 Contest

Photo by Alessio Martinelli from Roma, Italy

Forward thinking . . . the possibility that we are confident in saying that the weather should be fine in England is not very practical therefore I have decided to also gain some inspiration into exceptional wedding photographs, displaying still all the key elements necessary to achieve an award winning and memorable wedding photograph, regardless of poor rainy weather.

1st Place: Ceremony - 2009 Q1 Contest

Photo by Piotr Gajewski from Wielkopolskie, Poland

7th Place: Reflections - 2009 Q4 Contest

Photo by Brett Hartwig from South Australia, Australia

17th Place: Silhouettes, Shadows & Good Light - 2005 Winter Contest

Photo by Edoardo Agresti from Florence, Italy

1st Place: Weather - 2008 Q2 Contest

Photo by Tom Paice from Bristol, England

9th Place: Architecture; Settings - 2005 Fall Contest

Photo by Marie Labbancz from New Jersey, United States

11th Place: Weather - 2006 Winter Contest

Photo by David Bernstein from Ohio, United States

2nd Place: Architecture & Settings - 2005 Fall Contest

Photo by Mary Steinbacher from California (Northern), United States

4th Place: Portrait of Bride & Groom - 2004 Winter Contest

Photo by Roger Winstead from North Carolina, United States

19th Place: Creative Portrait - 2008 Q4 Contest

Photo by Tod O'Driscoll from Arizona, United States

2nd Place: Emotion - 2008 Q4 Contest

Photo by Andrew Collings from Illinois, United States

9th Place: Creative Portraits - 2006 Spring Contest

Photo by Shawna Herring from Georgia, United States

8th Place: Creative Portrait - 2009 Q3 Contest

Photo by Nikos Papadopoulos Gogas from Santorini, Greece

4th Place: Engagement Portrait - 2009 Q4 Contest

Photo by Andreas Holm from Malaga, Spain

10th Place: Engagement Portrait - 2010 Q4 Contest

Photo by Felicia Perry from California (Southern), United States

20th Place: Emotion - 2010 Q4 Contest

Photo by Dave Getzschman from California (Northern), United States

"Weddings are traditional, but personal expression makes the wedding day your own. Our photographers not only capture the big picture, they focus on details, from classy to funky. Five times a year the WPJA sponsors competitions among members in a number of categories, like the kiss, cake cutting and dancing. We hope this collection of award-winning images is a launching pad to creativity for bridal couples and photographers." http://www.wpja.com/for-bride-and-groom/wedding-inspiration.html

1st Place: Bride and Groom - 2010 BRIDES Magazine Photo Contest

Photo by Dave Arntson from North Dakota, United States

7th Place: Bride - 2010 BRIDES Magazine Photo Contest

Photo by Adi Susanto from Oregon, United States

17th Place: Creative Portrait - 2008 Q4 Contest

Photo by Marie Labbancz from New Jersey, United States

8th Place: Lit Portrait - 2008 Q3 Contest

Photo by Aga Matuszewska from New York (City/Metro), United States

7th Place: Bride and/or Groom - 2007 BRIDES Contest

Photo by Hooman Bahrani from North Carolina, United States

5th Place: Departure - 2010 Q3 Contest

Photo by David Drufke from Minnesota, United States

1st Place: Creative Portrait - 2007 Q2 Contest

Photo by Gary Ventura from New York (Upstate), United States

7th Place: TTD - Rural - 2008 TTD Contest

Photo by Kelvin Koh from Singapore, Singapore

3rd Place: Creative Portrait - 2008 Q2 Contest

Photo by Tony Cabrera from Illinois, United States

8th Place: Creative Portrait - 2007 Q4 Contest

Photo by Michael Costa from California (Central), United States

11th Place: Creative Portrait - 2006 Winter Contest

Photo by Elaine Soong from Alberta, Canada

3rd Place: Creative Portraits - 2006 Fall Contest

Photo by John Prutch from Washington, United States

2nd Place: Creative Portraits - 2006 Spring Contest

Photo by Matt Adcock from Riviera Maya, Mexico

2nd Place: Silhouettes, Shadows & Good Light - 2005 Winter Contest

Photo by Benjamin Rusnak from Florida, United States

3rd Place: Emotion - 2005 Fall Contest

Photo by Agaton Strom from New York (City/Metro), United States

4th Place: Details - 2005 Fall Contest

Photo by Joseph Albright from Indiana, United States

7th Place: Engagement Portraits - 2005 Fall Contest

Photo by Joseph Albright from Indiana, United States

1st Place: ENHANCED (After Ceremony) - 2004 Winter Contest

Photo by Laura Trovillion from Illinois, United States

8th Place: Artistic - 2004 Spring Contest

Photo by Jeff Andrews from British Columbia, Canada

Location

I planned to take photographs of my models posing as Bride and Groom, who actually are husband and wife - Mr and Mrs Smith, at Whalley Parish Church and possibly at Spring Wood in Whalley.

My pre-shoot was with Natalie (Bride) posing on her own. We had originally organised to do the final shoot all in one day however unfortunately her husband (Danny) the Groom did not have his full attire at home. We therefore took this opportunity to take some beautiful bridal portraiture; we firstly headed off to Spring Wood however due to the days weather being glorious the public had taken advantage of the day and it was so busy we had no where to park, so we headed straight to the grounds of Whalley Parish Church - being the place I was to definitely shoot the couple photographs.

Below are my contact sheets and my later chosen edited images.

DSLR settings - ISO 200, 85mm, F11 @ 1/60 - White balance (AWB)

DSLR settings - ISO 200, 28mm, F19 @ 1/60 - White balance (AWB)

DSLR settings - ISO 200, 28mm, F22 @ 1/60 - White balance (AWB)

DSLR settings - ISO 200, 30mm, F19 @ 1/60 - White balance (AWB)

DSLR settings - ISO 200, 44mm, F22 @ 1/60 - White balance (AWB)

DSLR settings - ISO 200, 70mm, F22 @ 1/60 - White balance (AWB)

DSLR settings - ISO 200, 95mm, F16 @ 1/60 - White balance (AWB)

DSLR settings - ISO 200, 28mm, F19 @ 1/60 - White balance (AWB)

DSLR settings - ISO 200, 28mm, F13 @ 1/60 - White balance (AWB)

DSLR settings - ISO 200, 28mm, F16 @ 1/60 - White balance (AWB)

DSLR settings - ISO 200, 35mm, F19 @ 1/60 - White balance (AWB)

DSLR settings - ISO 200, 28mm, F22 @ 1/60 - White balance (AWB)

DSLR settings - ISO 200, 44mm, F6.7 @ 1/500 - White balance (AWB)

DSLR settings - ISO 200, 38mm, F6.7 @ 1/350 - White balance (AWB)

DSLR settings - ISO 200, 28mm, F6.7 @ 1/750 - White balance (AWB)

DSLR settings - ISO 200, 28mm, F5.6 @ 1/500 - White balance (AWB)

DSLR settings - ISO 200, 65mm, F13 @ 1/125 - White balance (AWB)

DSLR settings - ISO 200, 30mm, F13 @ 1/125 - White balance (AWB)

DSLR settings - ISO 200, 47mm, F9.5 @ 1/125 - White balance (AWB)

DSLR settings - ISO 200, 41mm, F11 @ 1/125 - White balance (AWB)

DSLR settings - ISO 200, 28mm, F13 @ 1/125 - White balance (AWB)

DSLR settings - ISO 200, 33mm, F9.5 @ 1/125 - White balance (AWB)

A week later was the day we had re-arranged to photograph the Bride and Groom couple shots. And unlike the glorious weather we had the week before it unfortunately took a turn for the worst and was heavy fine rain throughout the shoot.
Not allowing this to be a negative factor . . . as in fact it is a great positive factor as I have now had the experience of photographing key bride and groom shots in the rain, unlike all my other wedding shots have always been on a fine day.

Below are my couple contact sheets and my chosen edited images