The Photojournalistic Style

Photojournalistic wedding photography is documentary photography of wedding day events as they happened, with no involvement, direction or control from the photographer. W. Eugene Smith, one of the 20th century’s greatest photojournalists, described it as “Documentary Photography with a purpose”(WPJA). The photojournalistic style is known for being more raw, factual, and realistic, which stems from newspaper photography.

As Linda Sherbert wrote in Atlanta Style magazine about Dennis Reggie, “He shoots what is already happening, rather than trying to direct the content of a photograph”. “Wedding photojournalism, Reggie says. “I coined that term 20-some years ago. I shunned the then-prevalent style of photographer as arranger-you know, ‘Turn here,’ ‘Heads together,’ ‘Give me a smile’-instead of photographer as quiet, right-brained finder of moments, sensing and anticipating, reacting quickly to what is there. I am sensitive to beauty and emotional moments. But, the point is, my photographs are based in reality, in coverage in real time [not limited to posed shots after the ceremony]. Today, these concepts are accepted. Then, they were considered strange and revolutionary” (Sherbert).

The Photojournalist

A wedding photojournalist must be able to anticipate not only physical actions and emotions, but also the formal aspects of photography such as geometric shapes, lighting, and composition. A wedding photojournalist’s job is to capture a collection of images which are not only a depiction of the day’s events, but also images that capture as many “decisive moments” as possible.