How to Photograph Same-Sex Weddings
Hi guys! My name is Ella and I’m a wedding photographer. I recently noticed a lot of interest to one of our wedding slideshows and that was the same-sex couple. I searched YouTube for gay weddings and LGBT wedding tutorials and what I found was not exactly what I was looking for.
If I was searching for this type of information as a wedding photographer and I assumed that’s because it’s a touchy subject so people are searching for it but nobody really wants to talk about it. So this video is not about whether you should or you should not photograph same-sex or gay weddings – that’s on you. But here I want to give you my perspective on the subject with some tips and advice how to approach shooting same-sex weddings.
In this video we assume that you are a straight photographer and you are asked to photograph a same-sex wedding and you want to do it but you don’t really know how to. You don’t have much experience with LGBT community and you just want to learn about things I suppose and communicating etc.
In general there is absolutely no difference between photographing a straight wedding and photographing the same sex wedding.
These are exactly the same people as straight couples – some couples are conservative some couples are silly some couples are affectionate, and you adjust to their way of expressing their love as you go.
Just the way you would do with straight couples, in a same-sex relationships there will be some dynamics and person will be more dominate that the other one. It is also possible that one person is more feminine and one is more masculine. Sometimes that’s the case and sometimes two girls come in and one is in the suit and has short hair and another one is feminine and is in a dress.
Other times both of them come in wearing dresses and they’re both feminine and as a wedding photographer you might think well how do I pose them?
In a way it’s really not a different from posing a man and a woman you just have to think in terms of two people being in love.
Imagine that people are not attracted to gender roles but instead they are attracted to people, and their personalities. When you strip away genders it really makes it easy. If you don’t know who kisses who or who leads towards who you just say – well can you guys kiss one another. Or can one of you twirl another and then you just observe and each couple will handle these situations differently.
You shouldn’t really pay attentions to their genders but instead focus on these two beautiful people who are in love. Your job as a top 10 wedding photographer is to capture their love and connection on photos. You were tasked with documenting their wedding and if you can handle a straight wedding you should be able to handle a same-sex wedding.
Some people might say well like what’s the point of this video if it’s all the same? And that’s exactly the point of this video. There are no differences when you focus on the human aspect of the wedding and forget about genders.
I know my point might be a little bit skewed since we are in Canada one of the most tolerant countries in the world where gay marriages have been legal for many years. But when I talk to my same-sex couples and they still face discrimination and misunderstanding.
Believe it or not some parents still don’t show up to weddings and some vendors still deny services so the point of this video is to spread kindness, tolerance and understanding.
When you’re dealing with same-sex couples show them love, kindness and respect as you would towards straight couples. Offer a lot of encouragement and above all treat them as regular people who are in love. Remember when people expect judgments it might be harder for them to open up so forget about any preconceptions and your job as a wedding photographer will be a lot easier.
How to Photograph Same-sex Weddings