Documentary Wedding Style and telling a Story by Mark Seymour

February 11, 2016 Emotion, Featured, Guest Post, Nikon, Wedding 69

Fellow-19

Documentary Wedding Style and telling a Story

by Mark Seymour – His Website

As a documentary wedding photographer, I record the day through story-telling images.

I like to use a lot of beautiful contrasting black and white, as this enhances the intensity and depth of the image, often likened to the work of fine artists in the renaissance period using a technique called chiaroscuro.

The panel here before us include moments from throughout the wedding day that are all totally undirected and therefore pure moments that have occurred naturally without intervention which is my signature style.

Great documentary photography is still about good composition, beautiful light with a third component of knowing through experience where to position yourself and capture that small moment in time to tell a story within a single frame.
The panel is assembled in chronological order from the tension the bride feels whilst preparing for her day, through various ceremonies such as bedekken, the tisch, and the marriage and finishing with the celebration party dancing. Mayfair fine art dealer William Lansbury recently came across my work and quoted “If Caravaggio had a camera these are the type of images he would take”.

Last week I was awarded the first ever Fellowship and Master Craftsman for Documentary Wedding Photography in the UK Here is the panel of 20 Images

Fellow 01

Fellow 02

Fellow 03

Fellow 04

Fellow 05

Fellow 06

Fellow 07

Fellow 08

Fellow 09

Fellow 10

Fellow 11

Fellow 12

Fellow 13

Fellow 14

Fellow 15

Fellow 16

Fellow 17

Fellow 18

Fellow 19

Fellow 20

Mark Seymour

Nikon Ambassador

Three time winner UK wedding photographer of the year

http://www.markseymourphotography.co.uk/

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69 Comments

  2. Hi Mark

    Other than the focal lengths that you used on these photos (20,28,35), what other vocals do you use on the rest of the wedding day? Stunning photos, BTW.

    Thanks

  10. Love your black and white processing on these Mark. As we both know documentary wedding photography is incredibly difficult to master, you’ve done a fabulous job of it.

  12. You deserve it! Love these photos and the way you compose them, all the people fit the frame perfectly and never overlap. They speak about energy and fun , very inspiring.

  14. Fergus thats true, Documenting a wedding with no creative input or or orchestration is one of the toughest genres. Its also one of the most rewarding . Street and documentary photography lets you practice and hone your skills

  15. Hi Tor
    Yes it works for colour as well, here are some examples
    http://www.markseymourphotography.co.uk/jewish-wedding-photograper/
    Both the colour images and Black & White are shot using a small manfrotto video light. One of the most important features of the light is thats its colour balanceable.
    Here is the light I use…https://www.manfrotto.co.uk/products/lighting/led-lights
    I set it to about 1 stop over ambient to take the colour cast of the face which still allows me to capture background light.

  16. Just sitting here trying to process everything. Aperture, ISO, Framing. Astounding. This is not wedding photography, it’s something else. I’ve got a lot of work to do:) Thanks Mark, for the inspiration.

  17. Wonderful images I agree with Dirk the skills of documentary wedding photography and street photography are very similar. The difference is I can miss all the moments and go home empty handed- the wedding photographer can’t !

  27. This is the best moment to write a comment – I have to. After seeing couple of this pictures, it was clear, this is really Photographer. Every next picture pleased my demanding eye. Composition + moment in their best combination, a miracle. I am sure this is one of the best set on this site. Thanks much for sharing them. Good Luck!

  28. Wonderful, intense and unique images! My favorite is the first one – the bride’s face with all her tension, uncertainty, yet determination. Beautiful, Mark, congratulations on this well-deserved award.

  31. Really lovely photographs, and congratulations on your award.

    To some comments about not being staged, I’ve been at enough weddings to know that most weddings follow a general script, so you have some idea of what’s coming next and can get ready.

  35. Thanks for the details. If any shots could make me consider doing wedding photography. yours would.

  36. Just for Info, All the Images were taken on a Nikon D4 ? D4s. with either a 20mm , 28 mm or 35mm lens. The processing was all done with Silver Effex, the original and in my humble opinion the best. Flash was only used on the last image. All the other images were lit with a small manfrotto video light. Most of the indoor images were taken at around 8000 ISO F4 / 200 sec.

  37. Just for Info, All the Images were taken on a Nikon D4 ? D4s. with either a 20mm , 28 mm or 35mm lens. The processing was all done with Silver Effex, the original and in my humble opinion the best. Flash was only used on the last image. All the other images were lit with a small manfrotto video light. Most of the indoor images were taken at around 8000 ISO F4 / 200 sec.

  40. Thank you Dirk for your kind words and observations. My real love is documenting peoples lives and street photography. All the best.

  46. Congratulations on the award which was truly deserved. Fabulous images that should inspire us all.

  47. I see a lot of resemblance with good street photography: being at the right place (pov) in the right time, catching the very right moment of a scene into a beautiful still image. But in wedding photography, I guess this is extra difficult, since you can’t afford to miss any of those beautiful moments, which means your percentage of “keepers” must be pretty high. That’s why I absolutely admire this kind of shooting: non posed registering of what happens – it’s IMHO the one style to be practiced for wedding shots. I’m sure the wedding couple will treasure those a lot more than dull posed pictures.
    Your pictures are, no doubt, at the pinnacle of what I’ve ever seen in the genre. Indeed, also the compositions are wonderful. And your timing is brilliant. BTW, those Jewish people give such beautiful images!

  49. Truly wonderful images that will last a lifetime for the happy couple. Congratulations.

  50. I’m inspired Mark…..to become a wedding photographer :-)….Great eye and skill. Congratulations on the fellowship as well. I shouldn’t mention it but I will…..it’s really nice change to have read the lead up story, look at the images and not read one word about what camera you used (though do appreciate this site is aimed at cameras and gear)!!

  52. Superb! (I’m not sure what else to say!). No wonder you are so decorated. Documentary style is the best style IMO for weddings. I really don’t like overly done (and processed) setups.

    You have a certain touch with the wide-angle which is not an easy thing. My vocabulary starts with 50mm and goes up from there. 😉

    I noted with interest the photo labelled Fellow-09.jpg. The Rabbi seems to be forming the letter ‘shin’ (?) with his hands. That’s where Leonard Nimoy got the idea for the Vulcan greeting. 😉

  60. I really admire Mark’s work. These are stupendous; I mean, how do you do that? He makes some other great images as well, not just weddings.

  61. These are absolutely stunning. If I were the bride and groom I would be ecstatic to receive photos like this. The best part about this post was that there was no talk about gear. People are so focussed on gear that they forget about photography. Again these are simply amazing images!

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