From gentle, romantic shots for him and her to quirky photo booths and cheeky posers, wedding photography has evolved a lot over the past decade. SUPRIYA RAMESH tells you more
For decades, wedding photography consisted mostly of clichéd portraits of the bride and groom sitting rigidly on gilded chairs, flanked by their family or wedding guests. Recently, however, that has changed dramatically. Wedding photography has reached a whole new level. Gone are the days of shy brides and listless grooms. It’s all about brave and beautiful poses now.
Amitoj Marwah, a photographer from Dehradun who has been in this field for 20 years, says: “The modern bride has taken an old wedding tradition and given it an update that allows her to express her own personality without being tied to certain customs to feel. Nowadays, brides value comfort as much as tradition. “
Couples stopped taking photos for gilded wedding albums. They want a record of every moment of the emotion, drama, and color that make up the great Indian wedding. In many ways, wedding photography now has a cinematic moment.
Art videos are becoming increasingly popular. To capture the essence of the moment, wedding styles have changed from gardenia to beach.
A photo shoot is not limited to the wedding day. There are pre- and post-wedding shoots, bridal shoots, couple shoots with different themes and styles and even trailers for the wedding film. Shooting aesthetic wedding videos with realistic storylines like an impressively filmed film is now a matter of course.
Kapil Sharma, the co-founder of Delhi-based Divine Mantra, which has primarily focused on destination weddings and covered 35 countries, says many pre-wedding shoots are now story based.
For example, he remembers a recent shoot by a couple of pilots. It was shot in Iceland, he says, adding that the whole subject was planned with her profession in mind. “They were wearing their uniforms and were photographed near an abandoned airplane,” he says.
Access to global trends and information also helps. Today’s customers and photographers are more knowledgeable about different ways of editing the lighting, theme, and other aspects of wedding video. Wedding blogs, wedding magazines, and YouTube videos are a great source of information and inspiration for couples to determine their wedding theme and wedding movie story.
Weddings are no longer seasonal or home specific; it’s about going beyond the ordinary. Destination weddings have been a trend category in wedding photography for a number of years. Photographers take great pleasure in shooting in exotic and unexpected locations.
“Shooting in different locations is fun and you get to know different cultures,” says Sharma, adding that more and more families prefer to leave their hometown with a smaller, narrow circle of loved ones.
Social media has become an important part of everyone’s life. It has also become an integral part of wedding photography. Facebook and Instagram are great resources for finding affordable venues inside or outside India.
Photographers embed the culture and lifestyle of the place into the wedding photos to make them more alive.
“We incorporated the concept of Tik-Tok and Instagram into wedding videos and it has helped us reach the masses in large numbers. Social media also helps to spread different ideas with changing trends, ”says Marwah.
Technology has changed the landscape as a whole. Thanks to advances, people who were once camera-shy have become posers who don’t hold back when it comes to being clicked on and enjoying every moment of their wedding.
Steadicams and drones have taken the limelight when shooting a wedding. “Previous photographers had to rent a crane to take incredible pictures. Now, drones have made things very easy; Their size allows photographers to fly the drones into areas that would never have been possible with a crane, ”says Sharma.
Marwah believes in making friends with the couple and their family in order to be comfortable with them on their wedding day. “Communicating with your couples before the shoot is very important and helps you know their vision for photos,” he says.
The gradual change in lifestyle has made the importance of wedding culture clear around the world, allowing photographers to capture the moments through an innovative lens.
“Wedding stories are the most precious memories a photographer keeps for a lifetime. Capturing emotions that you want to preserve, that’s what I understood from my experience, the emotional moments of family and friends and tears of joy that are shown with a smile, ”says Marwah.