Wedding photography taken to new heights

A wedding picture was recently circulating on the Internet of an Asian policeman wielding a gun in the street while his shy bride in a wedding gown clings to his hand. In Kenya, a lady in a sari stands in the middle of a dilapidated building looking at her groom cooking on a jiko.

Such is the evidence that wedding photography in Kenya and across the world has evolved and along with it the creativity of those seeking the services of photographers.

Couples are no longer taking wedding photographs holding hands in the picturesque Safari Park or in front of some lush garden full of greenery and flowers. Now images of couples tying the knot are captured in old abandoned buildings, maize fields, in the middle of the street or a dark alley.

For engagement and wedding photography, professional photographers like Ben Kiruthi and Emmanuel Jambo have had to adjust to this new breed of clients.

Shoot locations

From his studios along Chaka Road in Kilimani, Nairobi, Emmanuel says that he has had to watch movies to get ideas for shoot locations.

When I asked him to justify the Sh25,000 he charges for his engagement shoots, Emmanuel said that choosing a location and getting great shots can be overwhelming for the couple. That is where his services come in. He will give them several options and then ensure the photos are beautiful no matter the setting.

“Post-production is a tedious job. Choosing a few photos from 800 or more is no joke,” he said, adding that because of some of the demands from clients, it is no longer a “shoot and burn” affair, a term used in photography to mean taking pictures, burning them on a disk and sending them to the owner unedited.

Normally, a basic edit that involves techniques like retouching are long and protracted because they are careful not to compromise the integrity of the picture, so that the images may be used on several commercial media platforms.

“No bride wants to see shadows in her pictures or that scar on her arm. Therefore, for each of the 200 photos that will be put in an album and sent to the couple, there will be lots of editing work,” Emmanuel said.

Information gathered by BDLife reveals that Kenyans pay as little as Sh5,000 for wedding photos to as much as Sh500,000. Engagement shoots may cost as little as Sh200 for a single picture to Sh50,000 for an album of photos.

Emmanuel says he has captured couples telling their love story in pubs, alleys or in the desert.

Looking at some of the photos, there are different themes in interpreting a photograph. There is scale, where a couple is standing against a backdrop of tall acacia trees which makes the pair look small. Others depict themes that seem juxtaposed in the modern world: a couple in modern make-up and clothing standing in traditional huts or two elegantly dressed people in a motor garage.

Literature on some of the pictures from the photographers’ blogs indicates an array of reasons for the choice of location. The site may represent something interesting in the couple’s life: exploiting architecture as a background may indicate the groom is a realtor or an architect; a picture taken in a garage may suggest they met in a garage or they love cars.

Emmanuel recalls a couple that had their engagement photos near a billboard for Crown Paint with the message “if you like it, crown it” clearly visible.

“The gentleman was looking at the lady and it was like he was passing the message of ‘you love your woman, you crown her’… the message was right there”, he said.

Odd sites

Another photographer couple Ben Kiruthi and Gathoni Mwathi have also moved away from conventional locations, going to odd sites like maize plantations for photo assignments. Ben told BDLife that he relies on the couples’ personalities to judge which site they will prefer.

“There is no definite template when it comes to choosing a location. Choice A may work for a couple and B for the next,” he said.

He says some couples are fun and outgoing so they would have an urban grunge theme while others are laid back and are comfortable in a country setting.

“Couples come here saying they want something different. Sometimes they know what that is but in most cases they don’t so we have to help them decide.”

Ben is quick to defend photographers’ fees, saying that a whole day’s shoot may mean transporting gear worth Sh3 million to a location.

Emmanuel concurs: “It is a lot of work. And remember, it is journalism. We do not ask the groom and bride to stage-manage anything. We try as much as possible to let them go about their day undistracted.”

Ben and Gathoni follow the couple’s movement from the dressing room to the time they exchange the vows. He normally carries his gear to the bride’s house while Gathoni follows the groom.

“We want them to have moments of how they looked like when they were applying make-up, tying the tie…every little detail,” he said.

Emmanuel talks about the work that is involved in a wedding or an engagement photo shoot: “I block everything out and only see what I am there to see. I give that couple my full concentration throughout the day.”

Even with this creativity, there are still challenges that every photographer must take in his stride. For Emmanuel it is culture.

“In Kenya, a wedding is about the community. Rarely is it about the couple, so they allocate very little time, say 20 minutes, to capture intimate moments between them. So there is seldom enough room for creativity.”

There is, however, a limit to how creative a couple can get. Joe, a banker, once rode a horse to propose to his girlfriend but it got spooked and became wild. So no pictures were taken of the occasion.