Years ago London wedding photographers used big heavy cameras that were slow to manouver, were very restricted in the type and amount of light they could use and were very expensive to maintain. Think back to any Victorian wedding photographs that you may have seen, everyone is lined up in rows, sitting or standing very still and the photographer probably only took one picture of the whole family for posterity due to the limitations of his/her equipment.

As technology developed so did the different styles of photography available. Cameras became smaller and faster so by one hundred years later it was much more normal to have a greater number of images taken but these still tended to hinge around the static family group shots. Cameras were still fixed to tripods and the number of images taken, often for financial reasons, restricted to the number of frames available per roll of film. It wasn’t until small high quality 35mm cameras became available that photographers started to take photographs around the standard staged photographs. Brides and grooms really liked this type of unposed approach and a new wedding photography style started to emerge. With the development of digital photography photographers were much less restricted in the number of images they could take and started to photograph for the whole day offering couples a much more comprehensive coverage a million miles away from the starchy formulaic approach of only a few years earlier.

Today a majority of wedding photographers use high quality digital cameras only. This allows them to be essentially free with the number of images they photograph during the day and allows them to work in a wide variety of lighting situations. There was a big swing a few years ago to a purely photojournalistic approach where the photographer acted purely as an observer and didn’t set up any of the photographs at all but now many photographers take a much more holistic approach. They are able to mix a variety of styles and influences to forge a style that they feel is their own. Many are influenced by fashion photography and photograph the bride and groom in a fashion/editorial style. Frequently this can include dramatic poses in dramatic locations and London is an ideal location for this type of work as it is full of great backgrounds and architecture. This editorial style is often mixed with a more reportage coverage of the main events of the day to give the set of images an individual and personal feel. It is also important to photograph the details of the day and wedding photographers will often do this in their own individual style as well.

When choosing a photographer for a London wedding the contemporary couple are in an enviable position. Never before has there been such a wide choice of photographers available, the didgital revolution has brought photography to everyone and this has lead to an explosion of professional photographers offering to photograph your wedding. This doesn’t always mean that the quality of what you are getting is always as high as it should be. Always book a photographer after having seen testimonials and recommendations and always look at a wide variety of his/her work first to make sure you know eaxactly what you are getting for your money.