Hi, my name is Walter Pieringer. I take pictures.
Strictly speaking, I'm not a "wedding photographer" in the traditional sense – I mostly do commercial and editorial work. I shot video at weddings on a pretty regular basis almost ten years ago when I lived in LA, and I always told myself I would never shoot wedding photos, mostly because I've seen so often how wedding photographers have to operate. They're generally directors just as much as they are photographers, and it seems as though they're expected to run the day, to boss the bride and groom around, tell them where to stand, how to hold hands, how to cut the cake, how to throw the bouquet, how to kiss, etc. It seemed like a lot of couples sacrifice the actual experience of their wedding day so that they can have these perfect photos that make it look like they had an amazing time. It all seemed so artificial to me, like they were sacrificing the moment for the memory, and I would never want to do that to someone. I've seen more than a few wedding photographers actually scream at their clients on their wedding days, and I even witnessed one frustrated photog tell a bride and groom, in all apparent earnestness, to "look like you're having fun." Yikes.
All that being said, now I do occasionally shoot photos at weddings, but not like most wedding photographers. I shoot with a more photojournalistic technique, not posing the couple, but rather trying to catch spontaneous, real moments throughout the day. Of course the images aren’t photojournalisticly-boring; I get as creative as possible in terms of composition, depth of field, working with the available light (or even supplying my own), etc. I just don't pose or direct much, if at all. So, the shots may not look like the typical "picture-perfect" wedding photos everyone else seems to have, which I personally think is a good thing. You can take a look at the images on my site and see if you agree.
Of course I do shoot formal photographs of the couple and with their families, the wedding party, etc., and for those I usually do a bit posing if necessary. But in terms of everything else, I can't imagine telling someone exactly how to put his hand over the bride's hand on the cake-cutting knife and then interrupting them mid-cut to tell them to look at the camera and smile.
I hope my style matches the kind of wedding photography you would appreciate, and if it does, I’d love to hear from you.
Best,
Walter
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