Corey Talks: Why Posed Pictures Are Important

 

When I meet with clients, usually there is only one question from the Mother of the Bride, usually while worryingly rubbing her hands together, “do you still do the standard pictures at the church?”  When I tell her that I absolutely still do them, the sigh of relief is almost palpable as those shots are really important to Moms.  I jokingly call them “Mom Shots” because if I don’t get them, Moms are usually the first ones to be upset.  While I do not always do them in the church (I can’t stress enough how going even outside on the steps in front of the church can make for much better images!) I still ALWAYS do the standard posed shots.  In non-photographer terms, they are the pictures with the families and bridal party after the wedding, the standard one-two-three-smile! pictures that everyone dreads after a wedding.   They don’t take long but after the wedding is over, having even ONE shot of everyone looking at the camera and smiling can be priceless.  The above picture of Kristin and her Dad isn’t going to win any awards, but years from now, Kristin’s still going to look back on that picture and smile because she has that one nice shot of her and her Dad on her wedding day smiling at the camera.

1987 Christmas

It’s kind of a personal reason why these pictures are so important to me.  As you may know from reading my blog, my immediate family is all deceased.  Pictures are all I really have left of them and us as a family.  Sadly though, there aren’t many of them.  I have one shot from my Aunt’s wedding that is blurry and barely recognizable and one image from Christmas (above with my Grandmother) and that’s it of me and my family as a whole, smiling at the camera.  Even with my first wedding, the photographer didn’t take any standard pictures of me and my Dad smiling at the camera, he had us pose and fake stuff (putting the veil on etc) rather than take a nice portrait of us together.  Even though the above shot isn’t remotely formal, or professional it’s still all I’ve got.  Who knows, maybe I wouldn’t even be a photographer had my family made it a point to go to a studio every few years to get a nice picture of us together… but we didn’t.  So during a wedding, I toss my photojournalist hat aside and make sure that for that half hour, I’m making sure for that moment in time you have awesome pictures of your family frozen forever (bonus is that you all will look amazing since you’re fancied up!).

Regardless if you book me, or someone else – make sure you get the standard portraits.  You never want to look back and wish you had one nice posed shot of you and a loved one. Instead, you want to look at it and be happy you have it.

3 comments
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  • ValerieApril 5, 2010 - 12:03 PM

    Right you are! I can’t stress enough how important some formal photos are. Those are the ones I (and my mom) cared about the most from my wedding day.ReplyCancel

  • Jessie EmericApril 5, 2010 - 3:23 PM

    i couldn’t agree more. these are your basic must-have pics for wedding, even if they aren’t much fun for us as photographers or the clients 🙂
    ps. i just love reading your blog posts, by the way. thanks for all the great advice, inspirational words, and just plain common sense you have. your images are pretty darn good too ;0)ReplyCancel

    • Corey AnnApril 5, 2010 - 11:17 PM

      Valerie – I know they aren’t the ones that capture the moment, but they capture that moment in time, which is just as important.

      Jessie – Thank you for your kind words 🙂 They literally brought a big big smile to my face!ReplyCancel