More couples nationwide are looking for film photographers to photograph their weddings.
Taylor Dafoe’s and Alex Schulte’s relationship always included film photography. After leaving his rangefinder camera at Ms. Schulte’s house in 2015 during a party, Mr. Dafoe returned a few weeks later to retrieve it. The two went on their first date the following weekend.
They also got engaged in this way. Mr. Dafoe (now 32), who is a writer for the Artnet art marketing website, and works as a journalist, decorated their backyard outside Troy, N.Y., in June 2022 with photos taken on film during their relationship. He proposed to Ms. Schulte (now 32), who works as a marketing manager at Donut, an office software company. The engagement ring arrived months later.
Autumn Jordan is based in Athens and shoots many weddings using film. “That was definitely part of the appeal,” said Mr. Dafoe.
In recent years, couples have been looking for photographers to take film photos of their weddings. Many couples are drawn to the look of film photos because they are grainier and softer than digital images. They also prefer the slower and more analogous process. The photos are not available to the photographers or couples until days or even weeks after the wedding.
Ms. Schulte and Mr. Dafoe are happy with the limitations that come along with shooting a wedding. The process even began to change their perception of the wedding day.
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Anna Urban, an Edinburgh-based wedding photographer, captured a couple in Edinburgh on a hill using a Nikon F80 and Kodak Ultramax film.
Dafoe stated, “We thought about trying to get rid of some of the preciousness associated with weddings.” Due to the limitations of film, there would be fewer photos and fewer chances to reshoot certain moments. He said, “We want to celebrate the event’s ephemerality.” “And choosing film as a medium, that’s a huge part of this thinking — due to the material and budget limitations of film.”
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Anna Urban, an Edinburgh-based wedding photographer, has seen a rise in couples looking for film photographers in the last year. In September 2022, she began offering film photography as a result of an increase in demand. She charges around $125 per roll of film, which is about 100 pounds. She said that about 5 percent of clients who choose to include film in their wedding packages do so.
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Advertisement SKIPMs. Urban stated, “The entire process is different.” You won’t see any effect until the photos are scanned and developed. “Waiting for the photos is part of the magic.”
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Kate Hampson is the photographer of this image. She used a Pentax Km camera and Kodak Portra 200 film.
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Ms. Hampson captured a couple enjoying an intimate moment beneath an arch with an Olympus Mju and Kodak Portra 200 film. Credit…Kate Hampson
Kate Hampson is a London-based photographer who began filming weddings in May 2022. This was because it better suited her interests. She would usually bring her film cameras to weddings, but she focused the first years of her career on digital.
She was never entirely satisfied with the results.
Hampson stated that she was not inspired by digital. “So I eventually started asking, Would you mind me shooting maybe half film and half digital?” She soon made the switch to exclusively using film. She brings a digital backup camera to weddings, but she rarely uses it. She said that in June 2022, it was 118 degrees, and her digital camera stopped working because of heat.
“Thank God for films,” said Ms. Hampson with a smile.
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Jen Huang Bogan is a wedding photographer from Montecito, California. She shot this couple on St. Barts with a Contax medium format camera using FUJICOLOR Pro 400H film.
Jen Huang Bogan is a wedding photographer from Montecito, California. She said that as she photographed more weddings, she realized that film was her preferred medium.
The look of film is far superior to digital.
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Advertisement SKIPMs. Bogan explained that couples are drawn to her photography because they want timeless, classic photos. She feels that film is the best medium for this because it doesn’t look like it belongs to any particular time period. She compares film shooting to oil painting: It is the medium she believes produces the most artistic photos and allows couples to slow down.
She said, “It is natural and flattering and works well for weddings and portraiture.”
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Jillian Mitchell is a wedding photographer from San Francisco, Mexico. She said, “It’s rare that I see a digital photo that moves me as much as film.” She photographed this couple using a modified Panoramic Holga camera and Kodak Tri-X film.Credit…Jillian Mitchell
Jillian Mitchell is a wedding and portrait photographer based in San Francisco. She also works in New York, Los Angeles, and other cities. She began working as a professional wedding photographer in 2009. She used digital cameras exclusively. Although she had worked with film for her own personal work, she quickly gravitated back to the medium when she began working in wedding photography.
She doesn’t limit herself to film photography, even though she shoots it a lot. Mitchell stated, “I think digital photography has its place.” She uses her digital camera to capture candid moments in low-light areas. She said that “it is rare that I see a digital picture that moves me the same way as film.”
Some photographers want to reproduce the look of old film photos on a digital platform. Jose Villa is a wedding photographer from Solvang in California who exclusively shoots on film.
