How I Use Film Photography as a Documentary Wedding Photographer

As a documentary-style wedding photographer, it should come as no surprise that I have always had a love and passion for film. There’s a certain authenticity and realness to film photos that digital photos are missing. Anyone who’s looked through old family photos and wedding albums where everything was on film will understand what I mean! That’s why when I photograph a wedding part of my coverage includes authentic film photography. I find this greatly adds to my client’s experience and brings SUCH a unique style of storytelling, to say I’m obsessed would be an understatement.

Why You Want Film Photos From Your Wedding Day

Let’s face it, there’s no going back from the digital camera. We’re able to capture SO many photos with such a great amount of detail that in a traditional sense film photography really can’t “compete.” But there is something missing from these digital photos, something only film photography is able to capture. As a documentary-style wedding photographer, I’ve found a way to balance this using both digital and film photography throughout a wedding day. Let’s take a look at what makes it so special!

Ties to Your Roots

When you think about it, digital cameras have only been widely available to the general public since the 90’s. That means that prior to that every photo taken and every photo album from previous eras would have been on film. Now I’m sure there are a lot of people out there like me who LOVE looking through old film photo albums. The nostalgia that it brings you is just truly extraordinary. As a documentary-style wedding photographer, I use this feeling as a tool for your wedding album, sprinkling film photos throughout your day and album. The color of the film brings that feeling of nostalgia to the forefront as it feels almost as if you’re looking through a family member’s photo album, only it’s yours!

The Authentic Feel

The film does not lie, and that is a good thing! There is no comparison when it comes to how authentic photos feel when comparing film to digital. With Photoshop as a tool of digital photography, it’s easy to make every photo feel “perfect.” Sometimes you don’t want perfect though, sometimes you want authentic. Whether you have your eyes closed in a photo from laughing so dang hard or one of the kiddos is having a meltdown in the family photo, it happened and that is beautiful. Capturing these moments is what makes me adore being a documentary-style wedding photographer. Life and its moments are all beautiful. Not just the picture-perfect ones, but the beautifully imperfect ones as well.

Less is More

As I mentioned earlier, there is just no way around how many more photos you’re able to take on a digital camera than a film camera. As a documentary-style wedding photographer who uses both mediums for wedding albums, I think this adds to the beauty of film. You know with film you really only have one shot to capture the moment before the next one begins. This leads to some of the most fun candid photos of the wedding as everyone is SO excited to be in front of the film camera. Not only that, but your wedding album itself will contain far more digital photos than film ones. This means coming across the film photos while looking through your wedding album is always a moment of extra excitement!

Film and Polaroid

One last thing I’d like to mention with my wedding photography is that I also use a Polaroid camera in addition to my digital and film photography. This lets me send my couples home with some photos of themselves and their wedding day that same night! You get to walk away with your Polaroids and look at them the next morning, over and over again until your sneak peeks and eventually your wedding album is delivered. This gives you something to hold you over, but also a physical keepsake to remember and relive moments of your day outside of your wedding album.

I know it might seem that I’m really leaning into film over digital photography, but trust me I am just as in love with digital photography as well! If you’d like to see some of my work be sure to check out my Instagram or some of my other blogs to get a look at my digital photos. As a documentary-style wedding photographer though I’ve come to use and love both mediums throughout my wedding coverage and I hope now you can see why! If you’re looking to book me and get some film photos of your own wedding day head over to my contact page to send me an inquiry!