A couple of weeks ago I was doing a job for Citra and her parents, who are visiting Melbourne for their annual family holiday. They hired me to drive them around Yarrra valley and to take couple photos of Citra’s parents to print romantic photos to have it on display at Citra’s Wedding. Citra wanted their parents to have a nice photo of their time in the famous winery area.

Family and couple photogoraphy are areas that I want to improve and explore on. Finding intimate moments and capturing them might sound easy to do, but it’s all a cocktail of the photographer’s keen senses, the couple’s charisma, the light and setting.

I tried to initiate different poses, take from different angles, and use props to improve the result of the image. My style inspiration would be photos created by the popular photography tropes in Indonesia such as Kinmoments, Arla Production, and Axioo. It’s a lot more challenging that I thought. Finding poses and trying to keep the flow going was definitely a challenge, but I learned a lot.

I’ve always wondered why wedding photography is currenty the most lucrative form of photography, and wondered if it’s a form of art. It’s so contrast to what I’m passionate about. I enjoy more being an observant and getting that intimate and candid shot of people and their environment.

In wedding photography you’d work mostly with people that does not know how to behave in front of the camera, yet you have to create/make sure the photo looks and feels simultaneously professional and natural. In wedding photography you must confer to the client and do what the client feels comfortable to do. Wedding photography is a client-centered form of photography.

And because it is for the client, I’m not sure if the photos can invoke meanings other than what the client wants; warmth, love, joy and happiness.

But the photos are a reflection-even though a big part of it is staged-of those feelings. And photography is capturing moment, and feeling. The value of it being a conceptual art becomes less important than to have a good nostalgia.

It’s such a big industry, that they dedicate an award to wedding photographers every year, with the International Wedding Photographer of The Year award. The award acknowledges hard work from wedding photographers and inspire wedding photographers to be more creative in the work.

I think it comes down to how the work makes you feel. Do I feel good doing wedding photography? Yes. But I still enjoy and aspire to become a photojournalist. I gain more joy from it. Do I want to keep improving my couple photography skills? Heck Yes. I love interacting with people and its an all-around skill to improve.

What do you think? What kind of photography are you into?

Jason Hendriks

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Citra & Family, Melbourne Yarra Valley