A thought | A before and A after Instagram

I feel I can say I have been doing this long enough that there is a clear before
and after Instagram. And what I actually mean is there is a before and after ‘way
of thinking and photographing’ a wedding. For me anyway.

There is a point where I can specifically remember going to a wedding and the
priority being getting the best photos of that day for the couple. ( I am sure there
are many photographers who feel this is what they are doing still) To the
difference to when (which is now) you have to photograph the wedding thinking
of the best angles, content, colours, subjects for Instagram. And not just your
beautifully curated Instagram page but every single supplier’s Instagram page
that is involved in the wedding.

At the beginning I was really bad at it. It was the running joke back in the office
whilst editing. ‘Did you get the Instagramable flowers, the table decor, the dress,
the food the venue, the hair, the makeup and on and on. NO. Ooops. ‘I will try to
remember next time.’ Did I remember no! I was very flippant about it. It felt like a
distraction from the actual tasks at hand. Which was Photographing the wedding
for the couple.

Now I see Instagram is a full powered distraction. Because we are bombarded
with image after image, style after style, trend after trend. You can view
photographs from photographers from all over the world (which of course IS
amazing in some way for creativity) But this I think also leads to seeing too many
‘other images’ which then leads to being overloaded with too much imagery.
Making it so easy for you loose your own natural flow and inspiration that comes
from within as a creative. You spend way too much time comparing rather than
inspiring. There is a fine line of it being good and being un healthy. I see for a
beginner photographer, who is dipping their toes in the new world of work, not
only weddings, it must be overwhelming. How to decide where you fit in? Are you
good enough? Can you get the work? What colours do you like? What style do
you like?

I don’t think this has only effected photographers. I think it could be for many
creatives but also very much, there is a before and after Instagram for the brides
and grooms too. This distraction and overwhelm is loaded onto their wedding
planning, their idea making. Instagram is the first port of call for wedding
research now. Google and websites are secondary. I feel that many weddings
have lost their meaning and couples have forgotten about the marriage. The
have forgotten that they will wake up the next day married and it is a forever. It
seems so much emphasis is put on getting THE images for THEIR Instagram.

Rather than think about their wedding. I keep shouting (in my head) ‘WHAT
ABOUT THE MARRIAGE?’

I remember I used to cry behind my camera at weddings, beautiful people saying
beautiful things.
My advice as a photographer for photographers is to step back. Stop following
what you see, find your own style, aesthetic and feel. Go to each wedding or job
you go to open to do it how you would do it. Let it come from within. Let what
comes out come out. See what you see.

And for couples. Forget about trends, forget about what you see so much of.
Forget about what Instagram tells you is good. Think about what you want. Get
inspired by yourselves, your life, your life style, think about what you love. Go
broader for research. Go back to magazines.

We need to go back to basics.