Candid
To be candid, is to be honest and tell the truth, and it’s my favourite style of photography.
“Candid photography captures natural expressions and moments that might not be possible to reproduce in a studio or posed photo shoot. This style of photography is most often used to capture people in their natural state without them noticing the camera.” - Wikipedia
When I first got in to photography, I practiced, and practiced …and practiced. Part of that practice was asking friends to pose for me, shooting portraits, learning composition and light. The other part of my practice was simply going out, and taking photos - its in these sessions where I fell in love with “street photography”.
Street photography is about capturing real moments, people thinking, laughing; just existing in day to day life - not forcing a grin, or faking anything - there’s a beauty and intimacy in these genuine moments.
Walking the streets of Lincoln (the closest I have to a “home city”) I would capture people having coffee, a quiet moment with a friend, or wrangling their dog, whilst trying to juggle an important call…
These moments showcase life at time and place, and I feel are important, documenting fashion, places, human nature etc.
Moments are fleeting, so capturing them, without being noticed, letting the moment playout naturally is a challenge - you want the light, you want the composition to be “just so”, but you can’t stage it, or fake it, I simply have to be there, prepared and ready to get it captured.
It’s always worth the effort though, and I find those shots especially pleasing, and more importantly genuine. My years of practice at street photography have given me a skill set to capture weddings, events and people more honestly.
In a world full of fake, filters, staged moments, AI - real moments have become more and more important. These moments connect us to that day, bring back memories and unveil a natural beauty that we often don’t see in ourselves as we force a grin at a camera, or hide behind a filter.
It once was the case that weddings had a big focus on “formal” shots, group photos, fake signing of the register (inkless pen in hand) and a photo with every family member going. Now I feel that is very much past us, and I for one am grateful for this change.
Candid photos are much more honest and depict the day better, capturing that moment when the groom sees the bride, or an aunt cries at the speech, a hug, a shared look, a goofy face - a real representation of the day.
A bonus to this style of photography, it’s less pressure on everyone to get to x spot for y photo, you can focus on just enjoying the celebration, and I will use my street photography skills to capture the day naturally, without the need to interrupt and change the flow of the day.
Dotted amongst this blog post are photos from this past year, that represent a portion of my favourite candid moments from weddings I’ve had the honour of photographing.
In writing this, I am reminded that I need to dig out my old film photos and get them digitised, as some of my candid images bring back fond memories of me learning my craft.
