Like many people I enjoyed taking pictures as a kid growing up. I remember my first camera when I was 10 years old and taking pictures of my dog, my brothers and sister, and the area I grew up in.

In early 1994 after graduating from college and starting my own family I went out and bought a good camera to take pictures of my kids as they grew up. I wanted to create a photographic history of our family to preserve images of who we were as we went through life, the things that were important to us, and some of the fun things we did. I wanted to document the lives of my children as they grew up because childhood is short and perishable and one day I knew I would want to be able to look back and remember… and I wanted my children to be able to look back and remember. And although it is inescapable and even important that some pictures are posed I wanted to document as best I could all the cute, spontaneous, unpredictable, perishable moments I could… the things my kids did when they were just being themselves without their being aware of the camera because when they were aware of the camera their behavior changed.

In May of 1997 I read an article titled, "Celebrity Wedding Photographer Tells All!" in one of the photography trade magazines. The article described the photographic style of a man named Denis Reggie, who Town and Country reported to be "the great wedding photographer of our day." According to the article after he took the classic, traditional, posed photographs Mr. Reggie took pictures the way I was trying to take pictures of my children-documenting the natural happenings of the day… both planned and spontaneous and the interaction and celebration with family and friends. Mr. Reggie was credited with bringing a fresh, new approach to wedding photography. He called his new approach "wedding photojournalism" and he became my first important, enduring photographic influence.

"Wedding photojournalism" grew out of news photojournalism. News photojournalists attempt to tell a story, to capture emotion, to capture the "decisive moment," the moment that tells the story. Doing this requires knowledge of photography and the right equipment, but it also requires a photojournalist's "eye," anticipation, and timing.

Wedding photojournalism is similar. It's all about observing and anticipating events and stories as they unfold and then capturing the natural interactions and expressions, the really great moments of your wedding day, the spontaneous, perishable, fleeting moments that allow you to relive and enjoy your wedding day all over again when you view your photographs. Such an approach produces images that have a classic, timeless quality with universal appeal; images that move us when we view them because they pull us into the story as the story unfolds. Because such an approach produces a photographic record of the couple celebrating with their family and friends such images may become even more meaningful to couples as the years go by. This photographic approach also allows the bride and groom to forget about photography and just be themselves as they go off and enjoy their wedding day and celebrate with their family and friends. I should add that some couples also want their wedding rehearsal and rehearsal dinner documented as well, and of course I am happy to do so.

In addition to capturing the important moments of your wedding day it is also important to capture the classic, posed images, and the traditional group photographs. Although I typically go through these rather quickly and efficiently some brides and grooms ask that we set aside additional time to create fun, classic, or artistically posed images of them or of themselves and members of their wedding party. Of course I am delighted to do so.

If this approach to wedding photography sounds like the kind of wedding photography you're interested in I'd love to hear from you!