About Our Style of Wedding Photography

A prospective client recently asked us to describe our style of wedding photography. Sherri and I answered that our wedding photography was photojournalistic in style with some elements of traditional wedding photography.

A Blend of Photojournalistic and Traditional Wedding Photography

According to Wikipedia, “Photojournalism is a particular form of journalism that creates images in order to tell a news story.”

This approach has become quite popular to wedding photographers all around the world. It’s artistic and yet like a documentary, and may entail the use of black and white photos and color photos as well as digital photography and film photography. We see “wedding photojournalism” as being both candid and creative, and it captures a lot of spontaneous things that occur at weddings, whether they’re serious moments or funny ones. While traditional wedding photography dictates the setting, a wedding photojournalist documents moments as they naturally happen.

While a majority of our wedding photography falls into the “wedding photojournalism” category, Sherri and I do have members of the wedding party pose for some more traditional wedding photographs, the kind that are expected by the parents and grandparents of the bride and groom. You see, photographing a wedding without these formal photos misses out on an important part of the celebration, and Sherri and I are quite skilled at composing these formal portraits as well as documenting the wedding celebration as it happens.

The Problem with “Shouty” Wedding Photography

Sherri and I do a lot of research to see what other photographers around the world are doing. While looking at another photographer’s work, another thought occurred to me. Some of the work on that website was good, sure, but most of it was what I call “shouty photography.”

The photographer in question had an excellent eye for composition and for unique angles and viewpoints, but there was a lot of check-out-my-new-lens wide-angle/fish-eye stuff. On top of that, every sample image was so retouched with Photoshop I couldn’t make out the original scene. You know the type of photos I’m talking about: the colors were oversaturated, the brightness and contrast were cranked up, and I suspect that all sorts of background clutter and photographer mistakes had been digitally removed.

This “shouty” kind of photography is all over modern advertising and in movies like 300 and Domino. While it’s entertaining in some ways, Sherri and I think that this type of photography will look outdated in a few years. “Shouty photography” is manipulative (in more than one sense of that word). It’s fake. It’s about stylized images and not about people.

Real Moments Matter

Sherri and I are both technically proficient and are up to date with the latest digital cameras and image editing software, but that’s all secondary to what’s really happening in the photo. It’s our goal to capture great moments at a wedding, and great moments are real moments. The real moments, the ones you want to remember, are the ones that are not tampered with by our toys and tricks.

When you browse a wedding photographer’s portfolio, you should be smiling at the moments the wedding photographer captured. You shouldn’t be thinking, “I wonder how he got that angle/effect/pose?” We do some extreme Photoshop retouching on our Wedding Fashion Portrait sessions but not on our actual wedding coverage.

Every photographer has a natural style. It’s the subjective alignment of people, backgrounds, lighting, and moments that compels the photographer to press the shutter button and capture the scene. In other words, a photographer’s style is the flavor of how he or she sees the moment. We can’t change our style any more than we can change the type of food or music that tastes good to us.

Perhaps our style, represented by our wedding photography samples, the numerous wedding celebration photos on our blog, and in our custom-designed, printed, and bound wedding books tastes good to you? If so and you are looking for a wedding photographer in the Denver area, Sherri and I look forwards to speaking with you.

Posted on January 31, 2009 in Photography, Sherri Barber Photography

Bridal Shows in Denver and Laporte, Colorado

Last weekend, Bill and I visited with engaged couples and displayed our wedding photography samples at two bridal shows, one in Denver and the other in Laporte. It is always fun to talk with prospective clients and hear about their wedding plans and concerns, and we are being contacted by more couples planning their weddings in the greater Denver area. We also talked with several couples planning a wedding in Vail. While don’t charge extra for shooting wedding photos in places like Denver or Boulder, we do ask a modest additional fee for driving out to Vail or Aspen when we photograph weddings.

Almost all of the brides we talked to asked about owning the digital negatives of their wedding photos. All of our wedding photo packages include the full-size digital negatives for no additional charge. In addition, we offer two levels of printing services as well as a wonderful custom-designed, printed, and bound wedding book. However, if our clients wish to print their own photos and construct their own wedding photo album, they are free to do so.

We encourage you to browse through our gallery of wedding photos to learn more about our quality work. For more information, contact us for a wedding photography consultation.

Posted on January 27, 2009 in Sherri Barber Photography

Spending the Day in Denver

Even though it’s mid-winter and our wedding photography schedule has slowed down, Bill and I are always are working on something. Several couples we photographed last year have contacted us to order custom wedding photo albums. Just preparing for the busy wedding season to come takes a lot of time. Bill and I are on the phone and scheduling visits with couples almost daily. We are also getting more inquiries about wedding photos from couples in Denver and Boulder than ever before.

A few days ago, Bill and I had a terrible case of “Gosh I’m Stuck in the Office Again.” So we jumped in the car and just played around in Denver all day. It was the last day of our week-long stretch of 60 and 70-degree weather, so we made the most of it. As you can tell, there are some benefits to running your own business.

We went shopping, had lunch in a restaurant we’d never tried before, and walked around downtown at The Denver Art Museum.

We weren’t complete slackers, of course. Bill and I also stopped by a few wedding venues that we will be shooting at this summer. The Phipps Mansion near Denver University is spectacular even in winter with the bare trees reaching up against the sky.

We also scoped out The Grant-Humphreys Mansion, built in 1902 for one-term governor James Benton Grant.

On the note of wedding venues, we’ll have more of our favorite wedding venues listed soon. We’ve been shooting wedding photos in and around Denver for quite awhile, so we’ve got a lot to say about some great places to have a wedding.

Posted on January 26, 2009 in Sherri Barber Photography

Shooting Some Sample Wedding Fashion Portraits

Bill and I recently did a photo shoot to create some samples of our wedding fashion portraits. For the shoot, we brought in several models, dresses, and veils from Mountain Ave. Bridal in Fort Collins. We also hired Maegon Coble from Denver to handle the make-up and hair styling.

Mix in some dance music, a cooler full of Red Bull, and a nice spread of food from the deli, and we were set. You can see some of these sample wedding fashion portraits below.

We all had such a good time creating these classic fashion portraits. It’s one of the new wedding photography services that we offer. These wedding fashion portraits are classic, elegant, and timeless, and they are taken on a different date than your actual wedding. They make a wonderful memory that you can keep for yourself or give to your friends and family.

Posted on January 23, 2009 in Photography

Sherri Barber Photography @ Starry Nights and Twinkle Lights at The Tapestry House and Bridal Festivals at Invesco Field

Hello, everyone. Here’s a friendly reminder that Bill and I will be at the following bridal shows displaying samples of our wedding photos and wedding books. It’s going to be a really busy weekend!

STARRY NIGHTS AND TWINKLE LIGHTS
Friday, January 23 and Saturday, January 24, 2009
The Tapestry House
Laporte, Colorado
http://www.tapestryhouse.com/

BRIDAL FESTIVALS AT INVESCO FIELD
Sunday, January 25, 2009
West Club level of Invesco Field at Mile High
Denver, Colorado
Tickets $6.00 online and $9.00 at the door
http://bridalfestivals.com/

As always, please stop by and say hello, because Bill and I would love to meet you.

In the meantime, browse our wedding photography photo gallery to find out if our work will be right for your wedding.

Posted on January 21, 2009 in Future Events