Why I Love Wedding Documentary or Reportage Photography

So recently I posted on Facebook a post about why I like photography and especially why I like to capture weddings. It gained a bit of traction and I feel like it would be a worth while addition to my blog. The post went pretty much as follows:

Ann & Neil portraits and group facebook quality_-77.jpg

This a little bit more of a personal post about one of the reasons I love to take photos, in particular weddings . This photograph is of a mother of one of my clients and she passed away the year after the wedding I believe. Just to lay it out there, "heavy" I know but its a matter of life that we are all going to loose our mothers at some point and if she is there on your wedding day then know that I am going to make sure I get a few great portraits of her. Its a fact that sometimes life just gets in the way and we forget to capture these small moments you have with loved ones and it may not be long until they are gone. I mean it doesn't always have to be big events that we have to see them and or capture them on camera but it should definitely be a thought in your mind, that one day that person may no longer be with you. 

Now to the more personal part... my photography journey started because of the passing of my grandma. She was in pretty great health up until the day she died. And although this isn't a sympathy post, my grandma was someone important in my life. She left me a bit of money all those years ago which I used to buy my first "proper" dslr camera. Having her leave sucked but having a whole career based on what she left me, makes me truly happy and my memories of her are all great ones. She was a stubborn and traditional catholic woman and all of my family revered and loved her. I remember many a moment where I was scared of the "telling off" I was going to get, whenever my mum said I'll tell your grandma that you've been doing this. 

It saddens me that she passed before both mine and my brothers weddings and I never got to take this photo above of her. Which is all the more reason I find it of great importance to get these great moment captured for my bride and grooms. To make sure that I get that one portrait that you may print and hang on the wall so you can always remember that person with loving memories. Rather than making do with a phone photo or just leaving it somewhere on your computer.  

So I hope this helps most people realise not only to cherish the people you love in your life but get some decent photos of them whilst they are still around so you'll always have something to remember them by. The main reason for my explaining this is, that it's a frequently asked question I get during weddings and that's how did you get into it?