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Focal Press, 1980.WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY
The history of wedding photography is intimately
tied to the history of photography since 1840. From
stiffly posed daguerreotypes, to dynamic color
snapshots, to the filmic flow of video, this genre’s
styles and expressions have evolved with changing
technology and taste. Wedding photographs endure
as material artifacts of human ritual that vary
considerably according to global traditions and
ceremonies. Whether Buddhist, Christian, Hindu,
or Muslim, wedding photography reflects a cul-
ture’s most deeply felt rituals and customs. Popular
wedding movies and media coverage of famous
weddings have spread western customs globally;
today, many non-western cultures have adopted
new ways of blending traditions and culturally-spe-
cific rituals.
Throughout the nineteenth century most new-
lyweds went to professional portrait studios to
document their marriages. Commercial cabinet pho-
tographs (popular through World War I) came in a
variety of sizes and prices. Depending on a couple’s
taste and budget, wedding portraits could be re-
touched, hand-colored, given backgrounds and
props, or otherwise individually adorned. The poses
in wedding photographs, from then to now, often
mimic those found in conventional painted portraits
of the past.
In the twentieth century, wedding photographers
gradually broke free of past limitations, becoming
more adaptive to individual couples’ needs. On-
location photography flourished with the availa-
bility of sheet film, flashbulb lighting, portable and
faster cameras. Candid images of marriage emerged
with these new technologies, making it possible to
record spontaneous moments. A post-war marriage
boom encouraged a profitable and competitive
opportunity for American photographers; it was
not unusual for multiple photographers to converge
on a wedding and shoot on speculation.
Over the decades, photographers standardized
formal and candid poses that couples came to
expect. Creativity and imagination were enhanced
with the development of interchangeable lenses,
improved color film, and electronic flash. Photo-
graphy of the past gave way to stylistic variety
including the use of abstract effects, montage, off-
focus ‘‘romantic’’ portraits, alongside candids. By
the 1960s wedding photography became more
informal and economically accessible. However,
Barbara Norfleet laments a loss of quality by
1965 when most studios starting using color film
and smaller negatives exclusively.
Trade terms indicate predominant styles today.
‘‘Traditional wedding photography’’ implies an aes-
thetic of elegantly formal and flattering poses with
studio-quality lighting and the use of larger-format
cameras. As Monte Zucker, an American leader of
this romantic style writes, ‘‘show our clients nothow
they look, but how theywantto look.’’ Some photo-
graphers and clients, however, wary of artificiality,
prefer what is called ‘‘photojournalistic’’ wedding
photography, which is less posed, less intrusive,
and perceived of as more ‘‘realistic.’’ Most couples
seek a mix of tradition and informality that reflects
a variety of moods.
Alongside the growth of the wedding photogra-
phy industry, professional organizations developed
(such as the Professional Photographers of Amer-
ica and Wedding Photographers International)
that help advance the field by providing publica-
tions, conventions, and ethics codes. Industry lea-
ders such as Zucker and Denis Reggie (who
advocates photojournalism) have also fostered
increased professionalism with seminars, essays,WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY