Updated 9/29/2022

Wedding photographer Alan Law (a 2014 Rf 30 Rising Star) was recently feeling a bit disillusioned with the number of websites and awards that show, as he puts it, “portrait upon portrait upon portrait of bride and groom, and mostly in fields or on mountain tops. I really wanted to create a place where brides and grooms who want the very best in reportage wedding photography can find talented people to take those shots.”

Enter This Is Reportage, a directory of wedding photographers who focus on the “real-moment” capture of weddings—specifically on the extreme skill and artistry in documentary wedding photography. When he first launched the site [in November 2017], Law had well over 300 photographers signed up from all over the world. Ten months after the launch, the list grew to almost 500. “These are all excellent photographers, and it’s so meaningful to see them showing the very best in documentary wedding.”

Showcasing the very best in reportage wedding photography, says Law, means no poses, nothing staged—just pure, natural moments. For Brides and grooms looking for that type of coverage, they can search within the directory by area of their wedding.

I’ve a love of documentary wedding photography; it’s what truly excites me about capturing a wedding, says Law, “getting all those moments that are going to be (hopefully) cherished for years and years to come. Admittedly, I was slightly disillusioned with the way the wedding photography industry seemed to be leaning when I launched this, towards endless portraits of pretty people on top of mountains, I really felt like I wanted to do something to push back; to promote the meaning and power—and skill—of excellent documentary coverage.”

In addition to the directory, there is also the Reportage Awards (for great individual captures) and Reportage Story Awards (for series of images from a single wedding) to celebrate the skill of storytelling, creating a narrative, and consistently capturing lots of moments to an extremely high standard of creativity and artistry. “You don’t need to be a ‘pure’ documentary photographer to join. We’re simply featuring the documentary aspect of your work. It’s totally fine if you do some portraits, couple time, groups, etc., as long as you capture the vast majority of a wedding in a documentary, pose-free way—and you’re very good at doing so. Then we’d love to have you on board.”

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