Capturing Emotion in Motion with Boston Wedding Photography

A wedding album shouldn’t be like a high school yearbook – stiff, staged, and static.

The first look, the first dance, that kiss – these are the iconic moments that wedding photography was meant to capture. This is when motion and emotion collide and create a kind of magic.

Throughout the wedding day there are so many of these moments and a big challenge of wedding photography is learning to anticipate them so that you can be at the right place to have the right angle. Sometimes that means being in action, getting close-up, or sneaking into the middle of the dance floor dodging legs and elbows because that’s where the story and the emotion live. Other times it’s knowing when to hang back and let things unfold, letting the moment be part of a larger picture that gives context to chaos.

Part of having a more candid style is also embracing imperfection. Not every shot is going to be as sharp as glass, whether you’re deliberately trying to create a sense of moment, or because something happened in that instant that’s too good to leave on the cutting room floor. In the past few years, we’ve seen couples swing away from that glossy perfection and embrace a more authentic feeling of photography filled with motion blur, out-of-focus shots, and direct flash because it does help to create a sense of immersion.

Of course, candid and authentic can often be illusions. There are some moments you can stage manage and rewind, so they are captured as perfectly imperfect as you remember them and in the romantic haze of your wedding day, you’ll remember what’s in the picture more than what it took to make the picture happen.

Building feelings through motion isn’t just limited to those candid moments. As I’ve discussed in the blog before, playing with actions and reactions can be perfect for portraits. Couples that feel nervous or uncomfortable under the glare of the lens can be more at ease and comfortable when they’ve got a task to perform.

This is all the art of wedding photography, making all the candid moments and posed portraits weave together into one long love story. The moments and movements are the glue that will help you to hold everything together and keep that day alive in your memories for decades to come.

What are the moments that you most want to capture from your wedding? Let’s plan your perfectly imperfect moments together.

Ryan Richardson is a wedding and engagement photographer serving Boston and beyond; including Cape Cod Weddings, New England Weddings, Massachusetts Weddings and Rhode Island Weddings