Introduction: Most wedding photographers have a completely different philosophy towards making images then myself. To them, their job is to create pretty pictures of the event using whatever equipment and methods that will help them achieve those goals. Whether that involves using multiple photographers, scads of equipment, lots of directing their subjects, or setting large portions of the wedding day aside for formal portraits; the result is often that the day becomes largely about the photography and even the photographer themself.
My approach is completely different. I do set a small amount of time aside for formal portraits (usually about 15-30 minutes), but other than that I'm practically invisible as I document the day as it naturally unfolds. I rarely use a 2nd photographer, let alone an assistant, and in many ways, I almost function as a wedding guest with a camera. Instead of focusing on creating pretty pictures, I focus on creating meaningful images. This lends itself to my style of finding interesting moments rather than manufacturing them or directing my subjects.
It takes a lot of skill to shoot in this style without missing the important moments, but if you have a competent photographer I think there are many perks to this style of shooting other than just ending up with more meaningful, genuine images.
One plus is that the wedding party and guests are free to focus on enjoying the day, rather than having to spend a significant portion posing for photos. I don't know how many times I've had people at weddings approach me and tell me about how the last wedding they attended the photographer took the wedding party aside for hours and how refreshing my approach was.
However, possibly the biggest benefit is that my approach works well with normal people. If you think about it, when we're asked to look at the camera and smile, we're really being asked to look happy. Compound this with looking at a camera, which makes many people feel self conscious, and someone you barely know asking you to do it. Unless you're a gifted actor or trained model, the result usually doesn't quite look natural. Rather than asking people to look happy as they look into the lens, I wait until they are genuinely expressing happiness or other emotions and candidly capture those expressions. I think the difference is often night and day, especially when I'm working with people who aren't naturally comfortable in front of the camera.
I love documentary photography, and I think I'm incredibly lucky that I get to be put into one of the most memorable days of people's lives and capture what the day was like in an artistic, interesting, and reflective way.
