Portrait Photography – How I Approached Strangers at a Wedding

Last year, I was invited to a wedding, where I knew about 10 people out of the 130 plus guests. Unfortunately, they were working, so I was alone amongst a lot of people who were mostly friends or family to each other, but totally strangers to me.

Not really knowing what gift I was gonna get for the couple, I used a bit of imagination and decided it would be nice for them to have a wall of pictures of all the people that were present on the day. Always having my camera with me, the endeavour seemed like something I could achieve, so I set about the little project for myself…

If you have read my previous post, you might know that I only shoot film with generally 3 to 4 cameras and I also only use prime lenses. A Leica M-A with a 35 Lux, M2 with a 50mm Summicron Apo, MP with a 75 Summicron Apo and the dreaded R8 with a 100mm Apo which is my go to lens for portraits.

The wedding shoot

So, I’m there, late afternoon, meaning I only have a couple hours to shoot before it will be too dark. A fact, that I accepted a long time ago, knowing I only shoot 400 ISO films.

So, the question then was: How to get their attention, and most of all, how do I get to help them participate in this task I have set for myself…?

The trick I have found when photographing strangers, is to not be shy. Sometimes, it’s just about cracking a few jokes, sometimes really engaging the person. Other times could be as simple as just being myself, being open, and simply going to the person and explaining what I am after. And then there are the times I love to steal moments where they don’t see me, or indeed it’s the opposite, and I want them to see me.

After a fair bit of doing this over the years, I have felt I have built up an instinct for how each person might react to me, often just by how they behave when I move near them with a camera. Ultimately though, if I need to engage, I just do whatever it takes to disarm them and help them relax into the process with me, because my goal is to get an image that reflects the essence of the person I am photographing.

I hate when people starts posing, they act unnaturally, so I say and do what I need to in the circumstances to help bring out that natural personality, and not the forced one that so often people put on when they have their photo taken.

I also find taking a few shots helps. It might be that the first one is the winner, but by taking a few, you are more certain to get a good one. I also find that it helps the subject feel that I am really engaged in that moment with them.

And of course, I find it important to be prepared. I have the camera ready, the settings i want before I start, and then only when ready do I begin.

And then I have your shot – and a lot of the time I know when I have the shot. More of that instinct, when I get it, I know I have got it. This is a big part of the joy I have found in photography. That feeling of success even when I am shooting film and I can’t see the picture on the back of the camera.

So, here are some of the pictures i made that day…

For this time, I went with “faces”. More often than not, I talked to people, I explained my project and then take a couple shots, some were keen to participate and even poses in a completely odd way – this might not be what I would normally look to achieve, but for this little project I made for myself, it felt appropriate, and fun!

First I had the types that are just plain portrait and it was up to me to get the most of it by extracting the moment when they were their true self.

Then, I had the ones that are fully on. In this case I used my imagination, but most of all let them use theirs:

And then there were the moments I stole:

Finally, some needed a bit of encouragement and direction:

All in all, I am very happy with the results, and the couple were too – which really is all that mattered in the end!

On a technical point: all these were shot on Hp5 at 400, developed in D-76 and shot with the cameras mentioned before, mostly 50 and 100mm.

Let me know in the comment your point of view – I would love to hear if you have the same approach!

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