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Archive 2009 · Anyone else still do traditional style weddings?

G Lund
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p.1 #1 · Anyone else still do traditional style weddings?

Hey all....is there anyone else out here beside me that still caters mainly to the folks who prefer the...Traditional Style....Monte Zucker Style...what ever you want to call it style of wedding photography?
Here in the Mid-West I find alot of ppl getting married in their 30's or are walking down the aisle for the second and sometimes third time that prefer that style, am I alone on this?
George

Nov 14, 2009 at 01:15 AM

Tony Hoffer
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p.1 #2 · Anyone else still do traditional style weddings?

There's TONS of folks still doing that type of work. Most of them don't seem to frequent photography forums, though, in my experience.

Nov 14, 2009 at 01:19 AM

G Lund
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p.1 #3 · Anyone else still do traditional style weddings?

Tony Hoffer wrote:
There's TONS of folks still doing that type of work. Most of them don't seem to frequent photography forums, though, in my experience.

Your probably spot on Tony.

Nov 14, 2009 at 02:08 AM

Thats Fresh
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p.1 #4 · Anyone else still do traditional style weddings?

there are some still here in the Virginia area. Were still considered the south. However more and more couples are getting married at younger ages and the most recent trends attracts them and plays off in their style of wedding.

Nov 14, 2009 at 02:21 AM

Jimsokay
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p.1 #5 · Anyone else still do traditional style weddings?

You should have some classic, traditional photos, in every wedding you shoot imho. I'm not talking the god awful ugliness of years past, but something that will still look beautiful thirty years down the road.

Nov 14, 2009 at 02:41 AM

lindabrowne
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p.1 #6 · Anyone else still do traditional style weddings?

Traditional wedding photography's fall from grace has occurred partly because when it's done badly, it is truly awful: lame poses that look like prom photos, family photo sessions that drag on beyond a reasonable person's patience...

...
But when done right, a formal portrait becomes an instant heirloom. When else in your life are you going to have multiple generations of your family together in one place, all looking their best?

...
Granted, many of the best photographic moments at weddings are unscripted. But any photographer worth his salt should anticipate and catch them. Capturing emotion is not the exclusive domain of the photojournalist. It's what any good photographer—traditional or not—would do.

From "A Defense of Traditional Wedding Photography"

Nov 14, 2009 at 02:53 AM

G Lund
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p.1 #7 · Anyone else still do traditional style weddings?

lindabrowne wrote:
Traditional wedding photography's fall from grace has occurred partly because when it's done badly, it is truly awful: lame poses that look like prom photos, family photo sessions that drag on beyond a reasonable person's patience...

...
But when done right, a formal portrait becomes an instant heirloom. When else in your life are you going to have multiple generations of your family together in one place, all looking their best?

...
Granted, many of the best photographic moments at weddings are unscripted. But any photographer worth his salt should anticipate and catch them. Capturing emotion is not the exclusive domain of the photojournalist. It's what any good photographer—traditional or not—would do.

From "A Defense of Traditional Wedding Photography"

Nice quote Linda. Ya know...it is not only the actual wedding but the e-sessions that I see the biggest difference.

Nov 14, 2009 at 03:26 AM

jeremy_clay
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p.1 #8 · Anyone else still do traditional style weddings?

I consider my style more modern, but very few brides don't want at least a few formals.

Nov 14, 2009 at 03:28 AM

MTBtrials
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p.1 #9 · Anyone else still do traditional style weddings?

jeremy_clay wrote:
I consider my style more modern, but very few brides don't want at least a few formals.

I haven't shot a wedding yet which hasn't called for the "family at the altar" pics... we usually try and get them done as efficiently as possible. By efficiently, I don't mean rushed, but the main point is not to have grandma standing there for 20 mins while we arrange everyone.

Nov 14, 2009 at 03:47 AM

G Lund
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p.1 #10 · Anyone else still do traditional style weddings?

Thanks guys. I get the fact that most weddings will consist of a few formals but, what I was getting at is where the posed formals and a few romantic artistic shots are the most important...the rest is just sauce for the goose so to speak.
A couple of examples....I saw a pic here ( e-session ) where the young couple was kissing while sitting on a city side walk with their backs against a Starbucks and the photo was shot between the tires of a passing bicycle...to me...that pic could have very well been in a mag with the caption..."Your never to young to love Starbucks" as opposed to it being an engagement pic.
Another pic was of the wedding party in full dress...outdoors with a few of the party members standing on ladders leaning against trees...I could see that pic in a hardware mag with the caption..."Stanly Ladders...there not just for cleaning your gutters anymore" as opposed to a formal wedding pic.
Disclaimer...if these sound like pics you have taken...there was no malice meant in anyway....I just used them as a point of reference...in fact, I think these and many like it are very creative.
Anyway, thanks again for your thoughts.

Nov 14, 2009 at 12:47 PM

jcolman
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p.1 #11 · Anyone else still do traditional style weddings?

I shoot a mixture of traditional and non traditional shots at every wedding.

Nov 14, 2009 at 03:39 PM

Chris Fawkes
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p.1 #12 · Anyone else still do traditional style weddings?

I'm pretty traditional.

Evan Baines does contemporary work but is definitely a master of classical posing and lighting as well.

Nov 14, 2009 at 04:46 PM

VPell
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p.1 #13 · Anyone else still do traditional style weddings?

in western mass, i know of only 2 other photographers who are contemporary, and like 200 who are.

I actually like some traditional work though, and I love talking to the traditional guys as they have a lot of good business advice that is pretty real, i have respect for dudes who have been doing this for 30+ years and like to pick their brain sometimes.

Nov 14, 2009 at 04:52 PM

Inku Yo
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p.1 #14 · Anyone else still do traditional style weddings?

Who's Monte Zucker?

Nov 15, 2009 at 03:56 AM

lindabrowne
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p.1 #15 · Anyone else still do traditional style weddings?

Inku Yo wrote:
Who's Monte Zucker?

If you aren't joking, just google him.
Monte Zucker

Funny that the second link is to "Who is Monte Zucker?" which is the bio on his site:

Few people know who Monte Zucker is today. He keeps reinventing himself. Photographs that he continually creates ...some within just the past few weeks ... carry his unmistakable signature only if you know his signature style.

Monte's images are simple, direct, and emotional. Each of them makes a simple statement. There is nothing in his photographs, except what should be there. All distractions were removed before he snapped the shutter. What you see is what he wants you to see. It's usually a face or a collection of faces. When It's a photograph of an individual, you will immediately know that person. When It's a photograph of a group you'll feel and experience their involvement with each other.

Based on classical tradition, Monte's portraiture has never strayed far from his original intent - to capture a moment in people's lives and memorialize it for posterity, In his own words, "I don't photograph the world as it is. I photograph the world as I would like it to be.

Nov 15, 2009 at 04:04 AM

Inku Yo
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p.1 #16 · Anyone else still do traditional style weddings?

Half joking.

Nov 15, 2009 at 04:12 AM

brucem48
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p.1 #17 · Anyone else still do traditional style weddings?

Chris Fawkes wrote:
I'm pretty traditional.

Evan Baines does contemporary work but is definitely a master of classical posing and lighting as well.
Your style is unique in todays world and has a mystique feel..Strong emotions come through and I appreciate the feel of your portraits..well done..Bruce

Nov 15, 2009 at 04:12 AM

Chris Fawkes
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p.1 #18 · Anyone else still do traditional style weddings?

brucem48 wrote:
Chris Fawkes wrote:
I'm pretty traditional.

Evan Baines does contemporary work but is definitely a master of classical posing and lighting as well.
Your style is unique in todays world and has a mystique feel..Strong emotions come through and I appreciate the feel of your portraits..well done..Bruce

Thank you Bruce, very much.

Nov 15, 2009 at 04:53 AM

Aberdeen Photo
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p.1 #19 · Anyone else still do traditional style weddings?

I always do some classic lit portraits in nearly every wedding, bridal and HS Sr session. Classic short loop lit stuff goes back before Zucker to Zeltsman and others, however, Zucker arguably made it famous.

I attended a couple of Zucker sems over the yrs; one about in the early 90s and one in the mid 00s, before he was diagnosed w/ pancreatic cancer. He was a powerful and polarizing figure for decades in wedding photography and the PPA, or PPA of A as it was known back when I first started in this biz. He was until his death, a Canon EOL and provided images to Canon for advert. Some of those images appeared as recently as the 5D brochure. Zucker was one of the first to teach classes and seminars was a great marketer and a relentless self promoter.

Some of the best examples of classic images are done by Clay Blackmore, a MZ assistant in the 80s, in/near DC and Michael Barton in Batavia, IL. Agreed the done poorly, as it has been, it becomes cliche. Zucker was so copied that mcuh of what was called classic portraiture was not. The posing, lighting pattern, expression and composition were lost and the result was crap. Yet, when done well as Baines and Fawkes have shown, it is a timeless enhancement to the work a client receives.
I still feel a need for my clients to perform some of this work. It is often why I am hired, however I do mix in a more current feel to the work I perform for clients.

Final note; chuck gardner, who often posts in lightin forum was a Zucker asst in the 70s. Often when I read one of his posts, I can hear a bit of Zucker. Chuck, in my humble opinion, is brilliant with the technical aspects of lighting and protraiture and goes beyond what I ascertained from MZ over the years.

George, I believe it still has a place in this biz.

Tom

Nov 16, 2009 at 03:49 AM

Strat60
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p.1 #20 · Anyone else still do traditional style weddings?

I just had a step-mother in law order about $200 worth of prints. All "traditional" style family portraits. I hated every one of them. It's what she bought. Are you in this to make money? If so you'd better be doing at least some traditional. IMO.

Nov 16, 2009 at 03:56 AM

lindabrowne
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p.1 #21 · Anyone else still do traditional style weddings?

Strat60 wrote:
I just had a step-mother in law order about $200 worth of prints. All "traditional" style family portraits. I hated every one of them. It's what she bought. Are you in this to make money? If so you'd better be doing at least some traditional. IMO.

What was it that you hated about these images? You took them.... is there anything that could have been improved to where you would be proud of them? You have some beautiful work on your site, including the formals. And you really, really need to up your prices. (ps - does all images mean all culled images, I hope?)

Nov 16, 2009 at 04:09 AM

Strat60
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p.1 #22 · Anyone else still do traditional style weddings?

They were just boring. People standing and looking at the camera. Of all the images I did that day, she wanted the ones of four people standing next to each other looking at the camera. Not the emotion of the bride exiting the church with that exuberant expression on her face.

I like some of the group stuff Sam does, and some other people here, and we did some more fun stuff, but this particular bride wanted her family to stand in a line and smile. And those are the prints they ordered.

We did shots I'd be "proud" of, but those aren't the ones this particular person ordered.

Nov 16, 2009 at 04:16 AM

Inku Yo
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p.1 #23 · Anyone else still do traditional style weddings?

Strat60 wrote:
We did shots I'd be "proud" of, but those aren't the ones this particular person ordered.

Different strokes for different folks.

Nov 16, 2009 at 04:21 AM

Marcus Watts
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p.1 #24 · Anyone else still do traditional style weddings?

Strat60 wrote:
They were just boring. People standing and looking at the camera. Of all the images I did that day, she wanted the ones of four people standing next to each other looking at the camera. Not the emotion of the bride exiting the church with that exuberant expression on her face.

I like some of the group stuff Sam does, and some other people here, and we did some more fun stuff, but this particular bride wanted her family to stand in a line and smile. And those are the prints they ordered.

We did shots I'd be "proud" of, but those aren't the ones this particular person ordered.

People standing in a row is not what is meant by traditional.

Nov 16, 2009 at 07:34 AM

Marcus Watts
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p.1 #25 · Anyone else still do traditional style weddings?

lindabrowne wrote:
Inku Yo wrote:
Who's Monte Zucker?

If you aren't joking, just google him.
Monte Zucker

Few people know who Monte Zucker is today. He keeps reinventing himself. Photographs that he continually creates ...some within just the past few weeks ... carry his unmistakable signature only if you know his signature style.

.

Monte passed away a couple of years ago.

Nov 16, 2009 at 08:52 AM


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