​​Wedding Photography Vs Wedding Videography | Wedding Videos

July 30, 2015

When I first started shooting wedding videos, I never expected that I would end up shooting still photos at weddings as well. When I shot my first wedding, my state of mind was so different than it is today. I was there as a "spectator" and I was "just documenting what happens" and then piecing it together into a video. I thought of myself as less important than the photographer, and I was happy with that. 

Over the years, I have gotten great at creating beautiful wedding videos. I have an artistic eye for detail that I am very proud to put to use. Nowadays I take my job very seriously, which is why I require contracts with each of my clients. If they want me to take them seriously, they must also take me seriously. 

I've had clients stumble upon my wedding videos and ask if I would be willing to shoot their wedding, but not a video, still photos. Why not? I say! 

Just the other day I was shooting a wedding at Solitude Mountain Resort. The weather was perfect. Occasionally it would get a bit warm, but with the mostly constant cloud cover, the weather was amazing. I didn't realize how warm it was until one of my cameras started heating up, and was flashing an overheating warning (which is never a good thing). You see, cameras are black, with more black, and more black. Black attracts heat, and being in direct sunlight, they were heating up a  lot. I covered one up a little so it was in the shade, and that seemed to do the trick, then the other camera started heating up as well. I felt trapped, I had no choice but to keep recording, cover up the camera, and hope for the best. 

These types of things are the down side to making wedding videos. I sometimes want to move around and grab a different shot here, and another one there, but it's not possible while recording video. As a photographer, I just need to get a few great still shots, but while shooting video, I've got to get every single frame, start to finish! Thats a LOT of pressure! Which is why I always use 2 cameras minimum. 

I used to think that being the one person (photographer) to have to deliver all of the images from a wedding was a lot of pressure, but having to capture every single second of a wedding ceremony is far more stressful!

I get asked all of the time what I like most, shooting wedding portraits, or videos. I have to say that I like them both equally. Some moments I really wish that I could break free and get a still shot while leaving the video running, but then I wouldn't be able to monitor audio, and make sure that my framing is still right on. 

While shooting wedding videos, I always grab a few photos as well, for practice, and to add to my photography portfolio. Shooting photos allows me to be creative in the moment, but then the creativity basically ends, but with video I can be a little bit less creative during the shoot, and the creativity comes into play in the editing.