Every photographer develops a certain style over time.  My experience with professional photography began in the early 1970's and has evolved into a style that is a blend of photojournalism and natural portraiture.  My goal is to tell a story with my photos. This style has grown out of my experiences with "street photography" - photographing people and places around the world.   My eye is continually in search of interesting photo subjects and ways to photograph them so that the resulting image will tell a story, ask a question, or bring back a memory. 

I like rich both color and black and white.  Rich color is a wonderful way to capture the warmth and beauty of a wedding day and classic black and white is often the best choice to capture the emotion.  Although fully digital equipment easily permits any color image to be converted to black and white it is really not that simple.  The best black and white images require a different creative mindset for the photographer.    Black and white strips away everything but the content of an image.  When shooting weddings my mind often darts between black and white and color as I size up each shot.  

Your wedding day is an important event for many reasons and the important people in your life will come together for that day.  The wedding album is one of the few places where pictures of the important people in our lives are held in one place.  Many of your friends and family will be captured in the candid, photojournalistic images of the day's events; but not all of them.  For this reason, I consider group photos and portraits of family and friends to be an important part of wedding photography.  

I prefer to photograph people in a natural manner.  Most people are nervous and uncomfortable when they are suddenly placed in front of a camera.  That's normal and it takes a bit of time for them to relax.  I try to have people be themselves in an informal and easy-going manner.   I try not to be in a hurry or give the impression that I am in a hurry.  Too much of a rush leaves people with faces that show nervousness.  In many cases my best photos are the ones taken when the subjects didn't really know I was taking their picture.  And I try to do it all as fun; wedding photography should be a lighthearted process.  I love it when someone tells me "That was fun!" as we finish a session.

Good photos come from good planning so I always discuss the photo plan with the bridal couple in advance.  I like happy customers.  I have a style of photography but the best way to have a happy bridal couple is to understand what they want and then tailor my photography to the tone of their wedding.  In many cases, when I am first contacted by a couple, they are not really sure what they want. So we discuss the kinds of pictures to be taken, the locations available, I ask questions and make suggestions, and together we come up with a good plan. 

Good photo planning also involves checking locations in advance and having ideas  in the back of my mind before the wedding day arrives.  But in many cases, the best ideas and the best photos evolve when the wedding party and the photographer are comfortable working with each other.  I genuinely enjoy photographing weddings and I try to keep things informal and friendly so that everyone else enjoys it too.

Mike McElhatton