Shooting Street to improve your wedding photography

As a wedding photographer it’s imperative you provide images that your couples will love, but equally necessary to stay inspired and shoot for yourself. Wedding photographers must advance in their skill year on year, grow and produce stunning images that couples will book you for.

When looking to improve, many photographers turn to workshops. There are hundreds out there for wedding photographers. Many seem to be provided solely to earn a quick buck for the teacher. However I know many fellow photographers provide amazing workshops, and have been on a couple myself, and I did learn. I learnt about marketing, SEO, how they shoot, how they edit, what cameras they use, what albums they sell. I thoroughly enjoyed them, met fellow photographers that I now count amongst good friends, and got my business into better shape. But I don’t think any workshop can teach you how to be a better photographer, or how to ‘see’.

I realised very early on, that the only way to improve my images, was to take more. A famous Henri Cartier-Bresson quote, “Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst” eludes to the fact that with practice you will improve. During your first 10,000 images, you will get some awesome shots, but most will be unworthy of showing publicly. However your hit rate of keepers, and standard of images will improve as you train yourself to be a better photographer.

I shoot weddings in a documentary style, and 98% of the day is unposed fly on the wall stuff (the other 2% is a small number of groups and portraits). I don’t move objects, open curtains, ask people to move or interfere in anyway. There are only so many weddings you can shoot, so for me street photography was the obvious place to turn for inspiration and practice.

I love looking at street photography and to do it well is one of the most difficult genres of photography. So many elements of street and wedding photography are alike. Searching for moments that are unexpected, it’s about how you see the world and the way you capture it. I genuinely think that street photography is the closest as you can get to training to be a better wedding photographer.

I shoot street whenever I can, sharing my work on Instagram and Flickr. I always have a camera on my (my iphone at least) as images can present themselves anywhere. Once a year I travel abroad and shoot pure street for 4-5 days as part of the 8street collective. We are a group of wedding photographers that strive to improve via street photography. Along with shooting on my own personal travels it’s my main investment in training each year.

What is good street photography?

If you are not familiar to street photography, here are some great resources that I have found useful:

Books

I highly recommend buying photography books. I’d start with Street photography now, Alex Webb and Rebecca Norris Webb on Street Photography and the Poetic Image and Magnum contact sheets. Buying photography books from the greats is a real passion of mine, some of my favourites include:

Trent Park, Matt Stuart, Elliot Erwitt, Vivian Maier, Henri Cariter-Bresson, Alex Webb, Don McCullin, Diane Arbus, Richard Kalvar, Jesse Marlow, Robert Frank.

Online blogs + websites

A wealth of resources and inspiration is available online. Check out Eric’s blog and these collectives have great images to learn from.

• Eric Kim’s blog
• APF 
• In public
• Street Hunters

Flickr

I’ve been a flickr member since 2009, but have really started using it the past couple of years. Groups such as APF and Urban Picnic are curated and let you see some outstanding images.

Instagram

This seems the place to be at the moment, I post a selection of street and personal work. But it is the process of looking though my feed at other images that I really enjoy. Check out some of these guys:

Koci, Rinzizen, Magnumphotos, Edkashi, cityexposed, time_lapse, fisheyedreams, maciejdakowicz, ka.me.ra, stevemccurryofficial, davidalanharvey, streetphotographers

Relating Street Photography to Wedding Photography

Street photography is about capturing individual images, with a story contained within, or  questions asked. In this respect it is very familiar to wedding photography – although it’s important to convey the wider story of the wedding, and your focus is inevitably more on specific people. I find street photography a challenge, and many days of shooting street can be frustrating. But when you get a good image it is worth it.

All the images below are completely unposed street and wedding images taken by me…

Improving your composition

Wedding photography is not just about shooting what is happening in front of you, but trying to capture that in an image that has artistic merit. I believe that the composition of street (and wedding) photography should not be overly reliant on rules. But knowing how and when to use them can help create a better images. Simple rules like using frames, placing subjects on thirds and layering can all be practiced in street and applied in wedding photography.

Framing – A frame within a frame is a simple way to enhance an image.

Framing in street photography

Framing in wedding photography

Rule of thirds – placing your subject on a 3rd of the image can increases or decrease tension.

Thirds in street photography

Thirds in wedding photography

Complex Frames/Layering – Something I’m always trying to do in wedding photography. Ensure that no heads overlap, a challenge in busy bridal prep. Adding layers to an image will give a sense of depth. Something Alex Webb does spectacularly.

Layering in Street photography

Layering in wedding photography

Candid Environmental Portraits

Not just a portrait, but an unposed moment that has a story, a sense of place or who the person is. The street photograph below was spotted whilst walking through paris with my wife, the second at a wedding at Eastnor Castle.

Environmental portrait, street photography

Environmental portrait, wedding photography

Being ready

You should know your camera gear inside out, and be ready to capture an image in a split second. You never know what is going to happen at a wedding – the same is true on the street! Always have your camera turned on, exposure correct, and focus ready. The street shot below was taken as I was eating dinner on an 8street trip to Istanbul in 2014. I saw this guy wearing many coats approaching, my camera was ready and I quickly framed my shot mid meal.

Always ready

Always ready at weddings

Seeing Light

Seeing light is one of the key aspects for any photographer, I’ve found it takes practice. Street photography is that practice for me. I now feel I can see changes in light automatically without thinking, walking the dog I can appreciate it! At a wedding it’s easy to be taken in by the moment and completely forget about the light. Often a simple sidestep will allow you to use the light to its full advantage.

Using light to create better images on the street

Unposed bridal portrait uses beautiful window light

Being observant to your surroundings

Our surrounding change constantly, and generally we tune out all the adverts and background noise – especially at a wedding. But using these elements can give your images an extra dimension. A sense of story or inject some humour. Keep an eye on the background, if you see something interesting, keep it in mind, another element might come along.

I saw the traffic light tilted and after crossing the road waited with my iphone for a few minutes to try and get a shot of someone waiting under it. To my delight the man in green turned up!

Not altering the wedding scene helped here. I never turn off TVs etc. Here the advert “man up” was on the screen for a couple of seconds, but I had my eye on it and quickly captured this shots of the guys getting ready.

Spotting the unusual

Keeping your eyes peeled and being observant is my favourite way to shoot street. I walk and walk, hoping to find something unusual or funny. Some sort of everyday life that everyone else seems to pass by. Training your eyes and mind to do this makes spotting it on the wedding day so much easier.

Patience

Being patient is key to creating many great photography images. Seeing an image in your head before it happens, or spotting a scene of interest and waiting for something or someone to enter it to give it that extra element. I have stood in one area for an hour waiting for all the elements of a street image to come together (and often it doesn’t!), but when it does, it’s a great feeling. We don’t always have the luxury of such time at weddings, but keeping your eyes open and studying a scene waiting for an extra element often pays off.

The advert on the right of frame rotated every few seconds. I got lucky that the lady in red shoes entered the frame at the right moment.

Waiting for something interesting to happen to a scene at weddings can pay off.

A different view

It’s easy to shoot a wedding day from standing height all day. But moving around, shooting over balconies, capturing images from floor level or holding your camera above your head to shoot all provide a different viewpoint on the story.

Shooting down on a scene

A bride and groom await their wedding breakfast. Captured from a balcony above them.

Reflections

Reflections can be a little overdone by wedding photographers, but I still think there is place for good reflection images, they can add that extra element that makes your shot interesting. Looking for a different type of reflection shot (not just a bride looking at herself in the mirror) will be made easier by spotting these types of scenario in a non wedding environment.

I waited for a while for this image to come together

Reflections through a car window

Shooting street is a very personal experience. It’s one of the only types of photography that includes people, and can be taken solely for the pleasure of shooting…there is no one to please or brief to fulfil. Waiting for that moment to come together, and capturing it when it does is why so many people do it.

Enjoy the process of shooting street, and don’t be focused on getting “likes” online. Slowly the skills you learn on the street will spread into your wedding photography.