Wedding photographer - Vintage style?

Tough one.

There's Vintage and there's VINTAGE. Vintage colour effect and looks are going to be around for a long time such a bunting, gramaphones playing in the background, china teapots etc...basically the good stuff but people are starting to wonder if a through and through vintage wedding is dead.

If I was asked to do vintage I'd shoot as normal and supply some special edits in a vintage style. The big big majority of vintage looks you see are completed in photoshop so it might be a half decent idea to find someone who supplies the photos as normal but with some additional edits of the best ones to make them look vintage. That way, if ever your tastes change you'll have an original album to fall back on.

A bit like how spot colour editing has fallen of a cliff rolled on it's back and died. Vintage may do the same but as with both, certain types will always survive. wedding photos should be timeless and if tastes change you've a massive date stamp on your photos.

Me personally, I love vintage but I do find a lot of the old styles used reflect dark dull dingy colours and many togs have this thing about blowing the detail from the highlights or they just simply go way too far.

I too have to agree with Chris in that vintage is a computer created effect and not of that photographed (although photography style does play a small part in it).

As like many styles which are coming around they are only short lived and usually short lived in peoples taste as well. I would say look past the colour effects and choose based upon the photographs themselves (poses, lighting, style, etc), and if you can get the files on DVD so that you can print from, see if the tog will do a seporate folder with all the effects on, that way you have the best of both worlds.

Also be careful photographs with effects on are usually a good way for photographers to hide there poor work.

Interesting to get responses from two photographers. Was hoping for responses from couples that have gone down the vintage path.

Thank you for your responses, I can see where you are coming from that I could be stuck with vintage images in 10 years time when they are not fashionable.

So what Niche in wedding photography do you both fall in to Greenleaf & Chris Giles?

Hmmm that would be an interesting one to do. It's not the sort of thing I do but I would be looking at shooting style in addition to post processing. You can definitely give it a vintage film look with post processing, but I'd be looking at things like capturing on a tripod, fairly large depth of field, fixed lenses and square or 5x4 format crop. I'd also be looking at how it's poses, very much square onto camera was the order of the day.

I'd try looking at older photographers, there are probably a few out there who do vintage from when it was still in style!

You tell me

For any photographer to say they are traditional, contemporary, reportage or vintage in their style has to be fibbing somewhere along the line.

My approach is reportage, but I always get asked to do formals so I have to be traditional, but then I get asked for retro effects which makes me vintage and then a bride asks me to take a picture of her in a field with her veil blowing in the wind and I become contemporary etc....I also have to be a psychologist, a thinker and an artist as well

So you have to be all things to all people, which is difficult. Whilst some photographers do specialise it's becoming harder for those that do to meet the demands of todays couples. My style changes all the time as I see ways I feel I can improve on my output but at the core my work stays the same.

Wedding trends are evolutionary, what's in now won't be in a few years but there'll always be a touch of the past in todays photography where preople have kept the best bits.

In fairness mate, it really doesn't matter what you do, in ten years time, the photographs are going to look dated...

In my wedding photos (god, 15 years ago now) I had a pony tail... yes, they look well and truly dated! At the time, they were the best money could buy.

You have to accept that whatever you go for is a 'snapshot' of the person you are now, at this point in time, there is no way to future proof this stuff.

Go for it. Otherwise, in ten years time, you might be saying "god, I wish I had those vintage style shots done"

PK

P.S: Yes, there will be really embarrassing conversations with your kids, about your style, in a few years time...

Not sure where you are but there is a woman in winchester her name is angela ward brown i think its angelawardbrown.com her stuff is amazing i really wanted her but my oh hates vintage

I do a lot of shoots with these ladies www.dottiephotography.co.uk. Slightly quirky with a vintage edge.

I am a but of a mixed bag, I can shoot both traditional and reportage but to be honest 99% of the time I'm asked to do a very very relaxed traditional style or reportage with the basic traditional shots put in.

I have found that if the core traditional shots are not there then tht can lead to a few complaints.

I very recently had a vintage style wedding, not the (traditonal vintage?) of bunting, trunks and tea cups but a more glammed up, truer to the 1920'-40's fashion theme. One of the things I wanted was an old fashioned photograph from the 1920's like the ones you see at grandparents house's, black and white or sepia and age worn.

Some of the photo's I had done on the day were reportage and some staged/posed. The photo below is one we staged deliberately so I could change it into the old photo I wanted with photoshop. I wouldn't want all my wedding pics like that though as as you can see although quirky its just too dingy to have every wedding pic like that!!

Here's a link to the wedding report I did with all the colourful pics:

One thing that has became a retro classic is to have a short film of your wedding shot on super8

I seem to attract a lot of couples looking for a vintage style of Photography.

If I can help in any way then please let me know.

This is a fantastic idea! Well said Peter