Ultimate Wedding Magazine – Film Wedding Photography

Competition – Win Free Kodak Film Wedding Photographer

Competition Deadline 31st August 2015

MrLeica.com has teamed up with friends at Kodak Alaris and UK Film Lab to offer you the chance to win a free wedding photographer thanks to Ultimate Wedding Magazine. I will cover your wedding day for free* as a second photographer shooting exclusively with Kodak films (*Please see competition details for full T&Cs – link below).

Having Two Wedding Photographers

As the primary (or only) wedding photographer my creative possibilities are more limited as wedding photographers are always expected to stand in a certain place at certain times throughout the day to get the expected ‘key’ photos for the wedding album. Most wedding couples also expect digital photos so I find I never get the chance to shoot as much film as I would like to. For me this is a shame as I feel the film images look nicer with better colours and tones and with the soft timeless look. For my personal work and model photography film takes preference for all shoots. By offering my wedding photography services for free* as a second photographer you have no concerns that you wont have a complete set of expected digital photos as these will be captured by your primary photographer. My wedding photography will instead give you some additional unique looking photos to enjoy taken from a different perspective.

My Wedding Photography Style

I am a documentary style wedding photographer with a low key photojournalist/ editorial approach. My aim is to take photos that tell the story of your day and create lasting memories. The excitment and emotions of you and your guests, the wedding venue, the finer details and some stylised wedding portraits. My wedding portraits are a blend of fashion photography and low key wedding photography to create flattering yet natural looking photos.

Kodak Alaris and UK Film Lab

Kodak arguably produces some of the very best film with Kodak Portra as my go to film for colour wedding photography. Kodak Ektar is perfect for more saturated colours and for black and white film I use Kodak T-Max and Kodak Tri-X films. When it comes to film developing in the UK it doesn’t come much better that UK Film Lab. Christian and Erica offer a high end professional service to obtain the best possible prints and scans from the film negatives.

Is film better than digital?

Each photographer will give a different option depending on their preference but in honesty both are good and both have their strengths.

Digital – For me digital is better suited for low light photography; dark venues, indoor weddings and short overcast winter days. I tend to shoot less or no film if there is insufficient light as the resulting images would be very grainy. That said it is nice to get a few shots at the end of the day such as during the first dance.

Film – Film excels in bright sunny conditions such as outdoor weddings or locations that have lots of sunny blue sky days. Film also suits weddings where couples have gone to great lengths to pick a beautiful wedding venue and have an eye for the finer details.

Film has a softer more arty look than digital images produced by modern DSLR cameras. Many digital wedding photographers try to emulate the look of film with Photoshop plugins but why settle for imitations when you can have the real thing.

Is film right for your wedding?

Take into consideration the pros and cons of film detailed above, your wedding venue and the time of the year you will get married. Perhaps Google ‘film wedding photography’ images and see if you like the look. You might notice some the best photos are often taken in bright light and with the sun behind the subject.

Please find examples of my film wedding photography below using vintage Leica film cameras and various medium format film cameras.