TORONTO DOCUMENTARY WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER
MOMENTS OVER PERFECTION. NOTHING MANUFACTURED, DIRECTED OR STAGED.
“You managed to capture the most honest images of my parents we’ve ever seen. Pure perfection Andreas! I can’t stop looking at our wedding photos! Thank you so much!”
HEY THERE, I’M ANDREAS
I’m a photographer who documents people enjoying themselves at weddings, and the way I do it is something I’ve spent the greater part of two decades working on. I guess technically that makes me a wedding photographer, although if I’m being honest, that’s really just a label, and I’d rather simply be known as a photographer who photographs weddings.
Weddings are a deeply personal, very emotional, and meaningful day, and that’s how I approach the way I work.
My method is the same each time, regardless of the scale of the event. It’s just me and a couple of small cameras.
I don’t make a big fuss or add any sort of stress or distractions to your plans. I’m just there to observe and document the vibe of the day.
If I were to start ordering people around, or telling you to perform in a way that’s not you, and you’d look back at those images and remember my involvement and instruction, not the moment that took place organically.
So, I don’t do that, instead, I pay attention to what’s happening, and work hard to capture images that you’ll appreciate both now, and years later.
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Everything is fair game when I show up with my camera — there are no rules, no planned shot list, and nothing is ruled out. If it’s interesting to me, I’m photographing it. Some weddings are wild parties, others are relaxed and very intimate, so the results are different at every single wedding. If it’s funny, I’m photographing that moment, and if someone is balling their eyes out at a speech, if I can be there to capture that moment without making my presence felt, I’ll do that as well.
A background in Graphic Design and Architecture taught me how to see space, colour, pattern and light while photography allows me to observe and read people so I can capture very intimate & personal moments.
For over twenty years, I’ve photographed weddings of all cultures and traditions, locally in the Toronto area, as well as quite a few destination events in Europe. The couples that end up inviting me into their lives to document their wedding day often all tell me that when it comes to the photography of their wedding, they really don’t want to be involved or told how to act or what to do, and that their priority is to simply enjoy that day with their friends and family as much as they can.
I’m married, have three kids, two dogs, and I photograph about a dozen weddings each year for couples that are looking for something completely different than what’s on offer from everyone else.
Capturing the wedding vibe, in bright, saturated true-to-life colour.
Anyone who has visited my site in the past few weeks has seen work that was presented primarily in monochrome - black and white. It’s a format I’ve stuck to for some time.
While it’s true that the cameras capture a colour image, I usually shoot the day in black and white, because it helps me focus in on what I’m there to do - create a body of work that’s a unique representation of that experience.
In black and white, I see the moments, the shapes, the light, shadow, and expressions while not being distracted by how the camera is rendering the colour.
Doing this allows me to be hyper focused, it’s a way of working, not a way of fixing something or being lazy creatively.
I’ve recently started going back to the work I’ve shown in monochrome and reviewed colour versions.
Some still just work better in black and white, those are usually the images where light, shadow and composition were created in camera for a black and white image.
Others look amazing in colour, so with that in mind, I’ve put together a new body of work in full, bright, saturated colour.
They also aren’t your usual “wedding photography” but that’s not the point. These images show the energy, the life, and the vibe of that day.
Below you’ll find a portfolio of those images. In keeping with my views on documentary wedding photography, nothing is retouched out - no signs, no mess cleaned up, and they have not been cropped.
These images are presented to you as I shot them, with some lightening and darkening to shape the image, and one of my colour presets applied in Lightroom.