Welcome to our “Blog Special” in May! Traditionally the ‘wedding month’ in Germany – where our paper manufacture is producing finest paper since 431 years. Even for wedding photography.
Spring is about to burst, the light is bright … so it´s the right time to say “yes”. A lot of photographers in the wedding business say “yes” to our fine art paper when it comes to photographs, portfolios, albums or books to keep the memories of all those ceremonial, breathtaking or heartwarming moments of a wedding. To capture love stories, small gestures, great feelings or unforgetable moods in picture stories photographers love our Digital FineArt Paper for its ability to preserve these moments in inkjet prints that stay the test of time.
So let´s ask some weddings photographers from all over the world on their success in the business and why they trust the market leading inkjet fine art papers by Hahnemühle – Matt, glossy or our canvas. All of them praise our paper for an outstanding colour gamut, density and resolution paired with the extraordinary haptics of genuine artist paper. This combination results in brilliant and crisp keepsaking archival inkjet prints which could be showcased mounted, in frames, portfolio boxes, albums or binded books for generations.
The first photographer in our Q & A is Jen Huang from USA. She proudly contributed one of her motifs to our Hahnemühle Sample Book of all our Digital FineArt Papers. With her husband from Neve Albums she create the worthiest presents for a couple: magical wedding books filled with prints of their precious moments on our double-side printable Hahnemühle Photo Rag® Book & Album Paper or the deckle-edge papers Photo Rag®, William Turner or Museum Etching.
When did you discover your passion for photography?I started quite young with photography, my father taught me to shoot film when I was five or six and I would take his 35mm cameras around with me on trips. I then learned dark room techniques in middle and high school. I’ve always had a passion for taking photos, but creating my own style and art – that emerged about ten years ago when I started shooting portraits and weddings professionally, and especially when I started traveling for work. Travel and art history fuel my inspiration for photography now!
I shot for magazines and did editorial work for a while, and then shot a few events on the side. Once I shot my first wedding and it just clicked – most people don’t think of wedding photography as a “true” genre of photography but I think one has the ability to make any type of photography artistic and genuine. I find it to be extremely rewarding to be able to use photography to bring joy to people’s lives, even if it is just two people in love. Because of my wedding work, I’ve been able to branch back into editorial, shooting covers and stories for magazines – which is also fun!
I think with weddings, it’s easy to get started, but hard to last in the industry. You really have to work hard at it – I worked very hard to develop my own style and my own way of approaching and shooting a wedding on film, and that has allowed my business to be sustainable in this industry.
My father – his photographs are incredibly personal, but beautiful. He’s not a man of many words, but it’s amazing to be able to see his photographs and allow them to tell his life story.
Light-filled, painterly, clean and romantic.
The most challenging part of shooting a wedding is that there is so much pressure riding on the photographer to be able to capture that one day – whether it is rain or shine, whether the schedule is on time or not. You have to be extremely flexible – and be able to shoot anything – portraits, still life, landscape, architecture etc and do it all in the hustle and bustle of a wedding day without losing your cool.
I think that a wedding book, for a couple, is one of the most meaningful printed possessions they will ever have. It’s not only for the enjoyment of the couple, but also the enjoyment of their children and their children’s children. It is always relevant to that family and doesn’t “go out of style” or not fit the decor…
I love the new deckled edge fine art paper from Hahnemuhle, I’ve been searching for something valuable and luxurous like this and I’m so glad that Neve Albums (my husband and printer) can offer prints on that paper, it’s gorgeous and allows the image to stand by itself on a paper which haptics is like my work: like a fairytale. I also love the Photo Rag® Book & Album paper that all my Neve albums are printed on. The images on Hahnemühle paper are like a great love story and a wedding: soulful and deep. I wouldn’t print on anything else, truly!
I would to encourage photographers to continue shooting film, which is what I shoot. Film is slowly dying off but it is so beautiful and so pure, I would love for the art world to support it more!
I’ve just started a new series of photography workshops called “The Artist Holidays.” We are going to Paris in July and learning not only photography but also skills such as styling, floral design and calligraphy. We want to bring back the old crafts and the old arts, as a way for photographers to expand their horizons and step out of their comfort zones. It’s an amazing experience and I hope to host more of these all over the U.S. and the world!
Enjoy four more Q&A by
Sanya Jogia from UK
Florian Commaille from France
Luka Zanic from Croatia
Jared Windmüller from Brazil
