DOCUMENTARY VIDEO • wedding films

I’d been photographing weddings for over a decade before I decided to offer videography as well as stills, and part of the reason I didn't embrace wedding filmmaking earlier was the working style I’d witnessed each weekend from the established video crews.

When I photograph a wedding, unless the sheer size of an event dictates, I try to work alone as a documentarist, subtly recording the emotion in an intimate style. The videographers I worked alongside were nearly always crews, with camera cranes, stabiliser rigs and tripods that seemed to devour the aisle of a church behind which sat a bemused congregation unable to see the vows being exchanged.

Some couples desire that style of wedding video and that's fine, but it seemed to sit at odds with the reason I was being commissioned; to make photographs that showed a couple their day in a reportage fashion, with minimal fuss.

Think of my films as short artistic documentaries. They’re a shorter form, unlike traditional one-hour videos, so they don’t feel like a chore to watch over and over. Like the photographic style I champion they’re honest in their nature, rather than directed. And whilst I do enjoy ten minutes to record some footage of a couple simply taking some time ‘alone’ for a moment, I’ll not ask you to pose awkwardly or act in a way you wouldn’t otherwise on a date to the park.

Having made radio documentaries for many years prior to my photographic career, I record all the essential audio elements of a day, and those segments that are unused during the film, are presented as a complimentary audio documentary. Think of this like an audiobook of your day; a unique strand to my work as a wedding videographer.