Wedding Photographers in Santa Barbara, Ventura and Los Angeles California. Candid Wedding Photography and Photojournalism.

Wedding Photographer in Ventura and Santa Barbara, California

Daniel Colegrove has photographed weddings in Southern California for more than 25 years and was one of the early photographers to combine photojournalism and weddings. Also Having a background in Editorial and Studio Photography, he photographs weddings in a combination of all styles from the Classic and Photojournalistic to a little Avant-garde, in both Digital and /or Film.

All wedding photographers take pictures. I believe there is by far more to the job than taking pictures. What I do as a wedding photographer is capture the love and beauty of your wedding day. It's not a taking endeavor at all, rather, it is to record the moments of your wedding day then produce images for you to enjoy for the years to come.

The expertise needed for wedding photography is an extraordinary combination of artistic ability, technical training and top of the line equipment. Photographers with all these skills are few and the most talented people in this field are hard to find. Beyond the technical expertise with cameras, equipment, and a knowledge of lighting both broad and sublime, wedding photography requires sensitivity, compassion, intuition and an eye developed over many years of photographing people.

The wedding photographer you see is the one you get. I am the photographer, not a wedding photography clearing house. I do not subcontract my work and when I book with a second shooter they are professional and someone I have personally worked with that understands my vision and concept. Because of this wedding photography bookings are limited in order to assure quality.

Wedding Photography Styles

Most common wedding photography styles today are of two types, the first is Traditional wedding photography (classic), the second is Photojournalism. Most photographers will fall somewhere in between these two styles. A new style that is gaining popularity for weddings is Editorial Photography.

Wedding Photojournalism

The Flower Girl. Beach wedding in Malibu, California. Black and White Wedding Photography. Photojournalistic wedding photographers began to rise in popularity in the 80's and has its roots in story telling documentary style images and focuses mostly on candid and non-posed images. In the tradition of straight photojournalism the photographer imposes very little simply photographing the events of the day as they unfold often from a distance.

This is the least intrusive type of wedding photography as the photographer acts akin to a "fly on the wall" rather than an integral part of the ceremony. I here over and over from couples "how did you get this picture?" and "I didn't even know you were there"

Shooting as a photojournalist I also produce a lot of images and series of wedding photos as I tend to "sketch" with the camera rather than just snap a few images.

Classic Traditional Wedding Photography

Wedding Formal Bride and Groom. Ventura, California photographer. Traditional consists of classically posed images and requires a great deal of control by the photographer on the day of the wedding. Traditional wedding photography draws on the discipline of portraiture and is very detail oriented body alignment, lighting, the background, even the dress, will be set up for the image.

There will be a lot of interaction between the photographer and wedding party. The photographer will often work from checklist of detailed images to be photographed. The print quality, correct lighting and background are photographer's main concerns.

This takes time. Traditional Wedding Photography requires some commitment of time devoted to the photographer from the Bride, Groom and wedding party. Basically the photographer is in charge of large portions of the wedding to accommodate posing for the pictures.

Editorial Wedding Photography

Bride Magazine Style wedding Photograph. Consists of Wedding images that are inspired by Editorial and Advertising photography rather than the classic traditional portrait type of imagery. This type of wedding photography requires intense control and interaction between the photographer, the bride and groom and wedding party. Often there is a great deal of photographic and lighting equipment involved and a crew of assistants including makeup artists. There is also a great deal of image post production.

This could all be described best as a production photo shoot that just happens to include someone ending up married. In some cases this is desirable, especially when very few loved ones are able to attend the ceremony leaving them with only the wedding album images to experience the event. And really... It can be a whole lot of fun, something you would never forget.

Wedding Photographers Services

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Weddings and Engagement photos in Ventura County, without travel expenses including the cities of Thousand Oaks, Somis, Simi Valley, Port Hueneme and Point Mugu, Oxnard, Ojai, Moorpark, Newbury Park, Fillmore and Santa Paula, and Camarillo, California. Weddings in Santa Barbara: Isla Vista, Goleta, Montecito and Carpinteria. In Los Angeles County: Westlake Village, Santa Monica, Malibu, Calabasas and Agoura Hills. Also available for destination weddings.