Black and White wedding photos

Jul 10, 2020

A set of black and white favourites over the years from here, there everywhere.

New Zealand Blizzard
See this location in Best Melbourne Wedding photo locations.
Melbourne wedding photographer reviews
Analog wedding photographer
Zoe and Adam – Blue Mountains Wedding and Elopement Photographer
35mm film wedding photography
Black and white wedding photos
Steph and Zac – Quarry Farm wedding – more Fremantle weddings.
Black and white wedding photos
Steph and Aleks – I Do Drive Thru
Rupert on Rupert
Alix and Tim – Rupert on Rupert wedding
One Day Bridal wedding dress
Alex Perry Wedding dress
Suzanne Harward gown for Melbourne Registry office wedding portraits
Best modern wedding gowns - Brooke Tyson Ritual
Best modern wedding dresses - Brooke Tyson Ritual
Black and white wedding photos
Fran in Brooke Tyson
Melbourne wedding photographer reviews
Humdrum Films Cost
Hannah in Paolo Sebastian
analogue film wedding photographer
Wedding on a Family Property
Dancefloor - Rupert on Rupert
Alix and Tim – Rupert on Rupert wedding
Black and white wedding photos
Black and white wedding photos
Wes anderson style wedding photography
Black and white wedding photos
Yashica Rolleiflex TLR film wedding photography
Black and white wedding photos
Check out more like this at the deck circa.
Rupert on Rupert
35mm film wedding photography
Yashica Rolleiflex TLR film wedding photography
Jenelle on Parker – film wedding photography
family property wedding
Black and white wedding photos
Analog film wedding photographer melbourne
Kids at weddings
Wes anderson style wedding photography
Destination wedding photographer
Black and white wedding photos
Black and white wedding photos
Black and white wedding photos
35mm film wedding photography tri x kodak
35mm film wedding photography
Black and white wedding photos
Black and white wedding photos
Suzanne Harward Bluebird Gala Gown
Tash and Laura in Suzanne Harward
Dogs at Warehouse Wedding
Suzanne Harward bridal gown
Melbourne wedding photographer reviews
Black and white wedding photos
New Zealand Blizzard

Shot on Kodak Tri-X

To see how I edit black and white images, head over to Melbourne wedding photography workshop.

analogue film wedding photographer

Jul 6, 2020

An image of genius photographer Lucy, in front of a genius-designed mirror, stolen mid-application of lipstick midway through Lil and Jakes reception.

This image shot on Kodak film, and found amongst incredible company over here at IWPOTY.

35mm film wedding photography

Shot on Kodak Tri-X film.

Visit this post to see why I shoot film at weddings, and keep an eye on my wedding photography workshop for info on how I edit.

Analog wedding photographer

Jul 2, 2020

In all the flurry of things happening fast movement not stopping click click go go get it all don’t miss a moment…

It’s nice to hold back, strip it all away, and wait,

for just, one.

Jenelle and Parker, one frame each, one click each, on film that expired over half a century ago, and processed at Atkins lab.

Whatever happens along the way, I reckon it’s nice if everyone can come outta this little plane of existence with just one image like this.

And in case you were wondering, the rest of their day was as inversely colourful and upbeat as these were moody and sedate.

Jenelle
Parker

This post here goes into detail about why I shoot film at weddings.

Analog film wedding photographer melbourne

Jun 28, 2020

Every once in a while at a wedding, you’re graced with a little moment where the thing happening in front of you, the environment itself, the weather, and the gear you’re using all come together in perfect harmony.

Jake here writing his vows at The Diggers Store, the morning he married Lilli, shot on old Kodak classic black and white film.

Analog film wedding photographer melbourne

You can read more about being a film wedding photographer here.

Destination wedding photographer

Jun 25, 2020

2017, overlooking the Cathedral of Porto: running a small portrait session for photographers at the Bodaf conference. Great time to pull out some gear well past it’s useby date in one of the most beautiful little cities I’ve been to.

Melbourne Film Wedding Photographer - Yashica TLR

This frame taken on a beautiful piece of 1960’s engineering (Yashica 635 twin lens reflex) on Kodak film.

If you like this, check out more black and white wedding photos.

Yashica Rolleiflex TLR film wedding photography

Jun 23, 2020

Something I teach when lecturing about the strange bastard art of photography, is about segmenting our brains and our time when there’s a “thing” happening, so we can gracefully and intentfully photograph the “thing” from more than one angle, and in the process, gift that “thing” with more variety in how we see it.

Got it? No? Perfect.

Yashica Rolleiflex TLR film wedding photography

A “thing”, is defined as a block of time where there is no deviation in the fundamental arc of the event by other contrasting events or alternative measures of some-such otherwise.

Canapes hour? That’s a thing.

First speech block? That’s a thing.

Portraits hour? That’s a thing.

Righto – glad we got that cleared up.

Case in point: the “thing” here, was about a 2 hour block, where Jenelle and Parker and all their guests were partying together on some ten houseboats that were tied together, off the eastern coast off the edge of Canada.

2 hours is a lot of time where there’s just partying, diving, and BBQ’ing going on. This means a lot of opportunity to intent-fully divide the time up, and try and extract some more wondrous things out of it that test both us and the narrative that’s there.

So, I divide my time into “laps”.

I’ll spend, for example, 25 minutes moving around doing photojournalism on digital cameras, and then, i’ll gift myself a calm lap, on a camera half a century old, to try and see this scenario (previously referred to as “thing”), in a different way.

In this lap, i’m extra slow, watchful, and, deliberately, not particularly worried about missing moments en-masse, but rather, more concerned with getting “a couple of good ones”.

Staying in a state of “fomo” and shooting like a maniac on digital is good for content creation and capturing opportunity in a sometimes thin way, but then the tradeoff is you’re watching less intentfully at what’s happening – and maybe missing the opportunity to show an event in a better light.

I walked along the edge of one of the houseboats, turned a corner, saw a bit of commotion, held this 1960s bucket of bolts to my eye, and breathed in.

Click.

One of my favourite images ever, let alone wedding ones.

Shot on Kodak Tri-X film, and developed by Atkins Pro Lab.

See their full wedding day featured on the USA’s largest wedding blog: Jenelle and Parker’s rustic week-long wedding featured on Wedding Chicks.

Melbourne wedding photographer reviews

Jun 20, 2020

Atlas Singles is a little peek into some of my favourite images, along with some lyrical wax from the last bits left in the jar.

Here’s one from wayback.

Two humans.

A little cabin on a lake in the Blue Mountains.

A clunky, 50 year old camera, that just a few days later, i’d have to jam a stick into it’s front to trigger it.

Barely nailed focus.

Said god-knows-what to them which generated a reaction, took a wild guess as to when the right moment to click was (you only get one chance when you’re using a camera you have to wind-up).

Missed the “moment”, and got some ephemeral in-between.

For me, more perfect than perfect.

xx

Oli

Shot on a Yashica 635G Twin Lens Reflex on Kodak Tri-X for Zoe and Adam, before they did the wedding thing out at the Hydro Majestic Hotel in the Blue Mountains, NSW.

If you like this, check out more black and white wedding photos.

Jun 15, 2020

35mm Film Film Wedding Photography: should you have your wedding photographed on 35mm and medium-format film? It’s no secret that film is having a massive comeback, and in this post we’ll share out love of why you should consider some or all of your coverage being captured on the inimitable nostalgia of real Kodak film: the ethereal colours, the grit and grain, and the enormous variety of formats available to us from over a century of the craft of photography being in existence.

A decade of experience in film wedding photography

We’re not new to film wedding photography: 35mm and medium format film have been an essential part of our toolkit for a decade. We’re thrilled that film has been experiencing a major revival, and that more couples are asking for their entire wedding to be photographed on 35mm and medium format Kodak film.

(See these full weddings photographed entirely on Kodak film: Alexa and Alex’s Scotland elopement, Lucia and Carter in Sydney, and, the one that got us most known for photographing weddings on film internationally, Lilli and Jake.

An island elopement by film wedding photographer, Briars Atlas
From Parker and Jenelles canoe wedding in Canada. Photographed on a Yashica TLR from the 1960’s, on Kodak Tri-X film. Featured on Wedding Chicks.

For a brief moment there in the late 00’s, opportunistic young-things were meeting the cries of the old-guard lamenting “film is dead!” with “yes, i’ll take all that old processing gear off your hands for free, thankyou very much”. All of the beautiful analogue film processing gear that had seen so much love, had been decommissioned and retired, before being snapped up by enthusiasts for a song.

As a result, more film-labs began to open than they did close, and now there has never been a better time to shoot analog at weddings.

Film has been a key part of my look and approach since I became a melbourne wedding photographer, and an ongoing reason why creative folks and even other wedding photographers book us – even if in some cases I just channel the look of film photos in my digital images.

Film wedding photographer portrait of Lucy
International Film Wedding Photographer of the year winning entry.

In 2019, we were awarded the analogue international wedding photographer of the year award, and in this post we want to discuss why we shoot film, what it’s benefits are, and why you might consider the use of 35mm analogue film as part of your wedding coverage.

35mm film wedding photography
For Rachel and Bens Melbourne Registry wedding, they wanted the day shot on film. I then processed and scanned the entire shoot by hand.
Shooting film at weddings
35mm wedding photos: Lil and Jake. See their Analog Film Wedding on Together Journal.

Being a film wedding photographer means being comfortable with all things slow.

Film photography slows you down, and photographing on film costs you money. In a generation of excess, our freewheeling brains need to be reined in. Historical patterns show that the more Tik-Toks and short-form content (ie – catering to short attention spans) there is entering the arena, the more room is then created for long-form content, and things warranting pause and stillness, as we collectively look for a space to make us feel something again.

When something forces you to respond slowly and consider the cost, the by-product of that is that you give yourself to the medium more. Where there’s tonnes of advantages in firing off thousands of frames on digital, there’s just as many advantages to having the costly walls of constraint around us (constraint being the only true useful tool in creativity that continues to stand the test of time).

35mm film wedding photography
Also see this post here about how to shoot dark and moody wedding photos.


Film wedding photos contain variety & real timelessness

People throw the whole timeless thing around in association with analogue film, but I think that only really holds true for black and white (Tri-X) film.

Most colour stocks actually have their own distinct look and feel that, when processed by a modern lab, aren’t what I’d necessarily call timeless. I don’t say that in a bad way – but the timeless colour we’re perhaps used to, is more the Kodachrome, stuff from the 60’s-80’s that our eyes more closely align with timelessness.

The rich, punchy colours of beautifully over-exposed Portra film aren’t any more timeless than digital, and are actually very distinct in their own right.

The sheer variety of looks in analog film stocks, lenses, and camera bodies is staggering, and each link in the chain imparts it’s own little flavour on the end look of the image.

So for me, shooting analog film is less about timelessness, and more about variety.

35mm film wedding photography


Film wedding photos might be a better experience for the muse.

In my own tests, shooting analogue film is an objectively better experience for the person in front of the camera – if for nothing else, because we’re slipping into a loss of generational memory of those old cameras: and so these crazy old things bring on a strange sense of removed nostalgia and wonder, simply because it’s assumed that they’re just mantlepiece decorations, rather than fully capable image-making machines.

Having someone use an archaic piece of engineering with all the romance of a past-craft makes them feel valued in a totally different way. Even if the whole shoot isn’t being done on film, having some gear in the bag to switch things up can completely change the tone of the shoot.

David Rees is a good point of reference for the question “can the intrinsic value of a thing be increased or amplified by wrapping some old-world artisan air of craftsmanship around it”.

Typically, there are two main approaches that a photographer will take when choosing to use film as well as digital during a shoot, and they are either hybrid shooting, or separatist shooting (I made that second label up, but I can’t think of another way to title it).

Will we get less wedding photos on film?

You can generally expect there to be slightly less wedding photos delivered when we’re photographing on film, but the trade-off is, they’re all on film. Something that we’ve found in doing this over a decade, time and again, is that the volume that you receive is kinda neither here nor there. Where you might receive 800 wedding photos if we do it all on digital or 500-600 if we photograph your wedding entirely on film, it’s all really a much of a muchness. We tend to think quite strongly too, that the more volume there is, the more that kinda gets lost in the mix. Some might say it’s quality (if you appreciate the magic of film wedding photos) over quantity, but we can explain more about that if you make an enquiry.



Hybrid shooting: film wedding photos vs digital photos

Hybrid film photography is when the photographer shoots analog film, but aims to have the feel and tonality of the images completely in tune with the digital coverage. Often the aim of the preset applied to the digital images is to have them look as close as possible to the film ones. In this way, hybrid shooting is a process-based approach to film photography, rather than an output based approach: which is to say that it’s used mainly to provide variety to the photographer, rather than to the couple. This is not how I shoot film.

35mm film wedding photography cinestill
35mm wedding photos Melbourne – Lil and Jake in Castlemaine


Separatist shooting:

Separatist shooting is when the differences in the two mediums are celebrated, and no effort is made to create consistency between the digital images and the analogue images, meaning that the photographer gets to enjoy the process of shooting with different cameras, as well as providing something unique to the couple, and extra variety in the images they receive. This is how I choose to shoot film.

Separatist shooting is my preferred approach, and this is why: over the last 100 years, we’ve had hundreds of beautiful, differing formats used to create images. Different analogue film-stocks, and different lenses that all interpret light and render a scene, differently. I think those differences should be celebrated. It also keeps us more entertained pushing to find the deeper uniqueness of a particular format, rather than agonising over getting a perfect match between analog and digital, which for us, defeats the purpose of enjoying analog film as a medium.

Mixing things up is probably the number one reason why I shoot analogue film at weddings.

Why I shoot film at weddings
Lou on Cinestill 500T

I don’t necessarily think consistency is overrated, but I do think surprise and intrigue is underrated. And as a film wedding photographer, there’s no greater joy than delivering a set of images where couples get the chance to swoon over that sprinkle of images that seem to just have something… else, to them.


The downsides of film wedding photos

Sure, I could go into the all the impractical bits of it, but for me, they’re joys. The only prolonged implications of shooting this stuff, is that it costs. It’s easy enough to throw in a roll here and there, but with analogue film and developing costs, we’re looking at about $70 for a couple of rolls – or about $3 per shot.

That’s fine when it’s a small part of the shoot, but a full-day analog wedding shooting only film can run past $1500 in film and developing costs alone very quickly, and that’s where it has to be considered as an add-on, rather than something that can be thrown in.

35mm film wedding photography cinestill
Head here for a ripper wedding florist

If you’re considering having your wedding photographed on analog film, I can recommend a bunch of ways in which it can be approached: whether having your entire wedding photographed on film such as Lil and Jake here, or doing what I do much of the time, when I detect that the idea sparks joy: bringing along some weird, wonderful gadgets, and making some images on them over the course of the day.

If you like, you can see some of what’s in my camera bag over at Shotkit, although it’s in need of an update (i’m pretty sure all the kit there hasn’t survived my anarchist hands for half a decade).

Are you sure our wedding on film wont get lost in the mail?

We personally deliver all of your film to one of the best professional labs in town. If we are photographing your wedding internationally, then part of our meticulous level of care when photographing your wedding on film includes researching labs nearby and doing the exact same thing.


The film photography gear we use currently:

Hasselblad 500 film wedding photography. Why I shoot film at weddings

Yashica 635G

The poor-mans Rolleiflex, this little beauty is quiet, a marvel of engineering, dream to look at, and a pleasure to carry around.


hasselblad 500cm film wedding photo

Hasselblad 500CM

This is my “good afternoon, i’m making some serious work” camera. A little heavier, a lot louder, but due to having an enormous mirror inside it, what you see through the ground-glass is what you get: whereas with a Twin Lens Reflex (TLR) camera, there might be a very slight difference in what you end up with.

Crown Graphic 4×5 camera

The grand-daddy of common press-cameras in the 1950’s. Extremely portable, lightweight, invites curiosity, and the looks of it alone are good enough reason to be a film wedding photographer.

If I had to take one to a desert island, it would be the Yashica. If I got to take a tripod too, it would be the Hasselblad. My favourite film stocks are Kodak Portra 400 and Kodak Tri-X, although these days i’m taking a leaning towards the rich colours of Ektar.

Why I shoot film at weddings
Why shoot film at weddings

If you’d like us to shoot some analogue film at your wedding, you can connect with us here or on instagram, and maybe for a doubke-whammy of awesome, let’s get our analogue on at one of these Melbourne wedding venues.

For more of my film-only work, you can follow my personal account here.

If you like this, check out more black and white wedding photos

Film wedding photography questions answered

Do wedding photos on film cost more?

All of my packages include some film. To enquire about the cost of having your wedding photographed on 100% analog film, make an enquiry on the contact page.

Can anything go wrong on analog film?

I use a mix of old cameras, as well as the very latest analogue film cameras that were ever made. All of them are regularly serviced by the leading analogue film camera technicians. And I carry backsups on backups, so there is never any risk of anything going wrong. In fact, since I’m not simply shooting everything on one digital SD card, you could even argue that having your wedding photos taken on analog film is even safer than digital.

Will we get less photos on film?

Shooting your wedding on film means being even more careful when capturing moments. This means that i’ll typically come back with a fraction of the photos that I would for a wedding photographed on digital. With that said, you’ll still come away with a minimum of 300-400 finished film photos of your wedding, sometimes even more.

What is the best film to photograph my wedding on?

We use only the best stocks from Kodak and Cinestill. Typically, we can be seen waving our very favourites around: Cinestill 800, Ektar, Portra variants, and TMAX or Tri-X. Occasionally, we’ll even bring some special sauce that has become a unique part of my look and made us one of the most sought after film wedding photographers on the planet.

Is there a course on analogue film wedding photography?

We’ve been planning one for years, and will be releasing a short course on how to be a film wedding photographer soon. Check back on our education here for photographers.

Melbourne wedding photographer instagram

Mar 24, 2019

Head on my Melbourne wedding photographer instagram to see updates on weddings photographed all around the world, and in and around Melbourne. From Immerse Yarra Valley to Rupert on Rupert, Gather and Tailor and everything in between (if you haven’t picked a venue yet, maybe my post on the best melbourne wedding photo locations might help), I have the beautiful honour of documenting love and ceremony all over the planet (and Australia).

Head to my instagram to keep up to date with what i’ve been photographing and where, here: Briars Atlas Instagram.

Melbourne wedding photographer instagram
Melbourne wedding photographer instagram
Melbourne wedding photographer instagram
Melbourne wedding photographer instagram
Melbourne wedding photographer instagram
Melbourne wedding photographer instagram
Melbourne wedding photographer instagram
Melbourne wedding photographer instagram
From Stef and Zacs Quarry Farm wedding.
Melbourne wedding photographer instagram
Melbourne wedding photographer instagram
Melbourne wedding photographer instagram
Melbourne wedding photographer instagram
Melbourne wedding photographer instagram
Melbourne wedding photographer instagram
Melbourne wedding photographer instagram
Melbourne wedding photographer instagram
Melbourne wedding photographer instagram
See this and other Suzanne Harward wedding gowns.
This incredible dress featured on best modern wedding dresses.
Melbourne wedding photographer instagram
Melbourne wedding photographer instagram
Melbourne wedding photographer instagram
Melbourne wedding photographer instagram
Melbourne wedding photographer instagram
Melbourne wedding photographer instagram
Melbourne wedding photographer instagram
Melbourne wedding photographer instagram
Melbourne wedding photographer instagram
Melbourne wedding photographer instagram
The brilliant Zoe. See her and others Melbourne wedding photographer reviews.
Melbourne wedding photographer instagram
Melbourne wedding photographer instagram
Melbourne wedding photographer instagram
Melbourne wedding photographer instagram
Melbourne wedding photographer instagram
Melbourne wedding photographer instagram
Melbourne wedding photographer instagram
Melbourne wedding photographer instagram
Daylesford Convent wedding melbourne
Melbourne wedding photographer instagram
Jewish wedding photographer melbourne
Melbourne wedding photographer instagram
Melbourne wedding photographer instagram
Lovers in Joshua Tree. See more info on Destination wedding photographer.
Melbourne wedding photographer instagram
Shot in a beautiful private residence. See this post for small wedding venues in melbourne.
Melbourne wedding photographer instagram
Melbourne wedding photographer instagram
Shot on a 60 year old camera. See more analogue wedding photos here.