• Portraits
  • Headshots
  • Info
  • Blog
  • Articles
Alex Tran
  • Portraits
  • Headshots
  • Info
  • Blog
  • Articles

For Those Who Don’t Like Typical Couples Photos

day-in-the-life-documentary-montreal-photographer-alex-tran

In this post, I’ll talk about my transition from traditional couples / engagement photography towards something more real and authentic. For the last few months, I had been wondering why I, as a lifestyle photographer who does photoshoots with couples, had never personally hired anyone to photograph my partner and I. It’s not as if I didn’t believe in how valuable those kinds of photos are, but I realized that the traditional approach to couples photography doesn’t capture real-life moments, which is what I enjoy the most in photography.

In a typical couples photoshoot, the photographer and the couple choose a location, then meet there to take some photos. This started feeling like doing photography just for the sake of photography. It can be great, but I think we’re missing out on something! When the couple looks back at those photos in five years, I don’t want them to think “Remember that time we hired Alex for those photos in the park?”. I want them to think “Remember when we used to go for walks all the time in that park?” That's a huge difference to me and I wanted to find a way to create that shift.

20161016102950-SamiaFabio.jpg

So what I’ve started doing is taking a documentary approach to lifestyle photography. Remember the home movies that your parents used to make? They’re great because they capture real moments. I want to photograph people living real moments (no matter how mundane) instead of moments that are fabricated as part of a performance in front of a camera. In other words, I want to photograph people interacting naturally and capturing things that they would be doing even if a photographer wasn’t there to capture those moments.

What I’m proposing are day-in-the-life documentary photoshoots for couples, where I spend a few hours with you and photograph real life. Think of it as me creating little time capsules that document that period in your life.

There’s always going to be a place for the traditional couples photoshoots. Those allow the photographer to have much more control over the light and posing, and as a result you can create some amazing cinematic portraits (look at Gabe McClintock’s work for example). But the approach I’m proposing removes the pressure of performing and posing for the camera, and at the same time allows real moments to be captured.

I’m really digging this idea and I hope it resonates with you as well. I'll leave you with the stories of the three couples below!

The first couple I photographed was Carlo & Hugo. Every Wednesday, they meet up to cook dinner together and try something new - often from an Ottolenghi recipe book (inevitably delicious).

20160720195134-CarloHugo.jpg
20160720195532-CarloHugo.jpg
20160720195609-CarloHugo.jpg
20160720195819-CarloHugo.jpg
20160720200210-CarloHugo.jpg
20160720200748-CarloHugo.jpg
20160720201306-CarloHugo.jpg
20160720203847-CarloHugo.jpg
20160720204030-CarloHugo.jpg
20160720205521-CarloHugo.jpg
20160720211854-CarloHugo.jpg
20160720214308-CarloHugo.jpg
20160720214731-CarloHugo.jpg
20160720220712-CarloHugo.jpg
20160720221037-CarloHugo.jpg
20160720222441-CarloHugo.jpg
20160720223025-CarloHugo.jpg
20160720223331-CarloHugo.jpg

I then photographed the recently engaged Fabio & Samia moving and unpacking into their first place together. One was a bit more productive than the other.

20161016084455-SamiaFabio.jpg
20161016090337-SamiaFabio.jpg
20161016091952-SamiaFabio.jpg
20161016092457-SamiaFabio.jpg
20161016093513-SamiaFabio.jpg
20161016093657-SamiaFabio.jpg
20161016093908-SamiaFabio.jpg
20161016093910-SamiaFabio.jpg
20161016094525-SamiaFabio.jpg
20161016094819-SamiaFabio.jpg
20161016094824-SamiaFabio.jpg
20161016094825-SamiaFabio.jpg
20161016095005-SamiaFabio.jpg
20161016095015-SamiaFabio.jpg
20161016100409-SamiaFabio.jpg
20161016100426-SamiaFabio.jpg
20161016101209-SamiaFabio.jpg
20161016102407-SamiaFabio.jpg
20161016102950-SamiaFabio.jpg
20161016103739-SamiaFabio.jpg
20161016104243-SamiaFabio.jpg

And finally, I spent a morning with Fiona and Sarah, who were having one of their last brunches at Fiona’s place before she moved away to Toronto. :(

20160805120830-FionaSarah.jpg
20160805121115-FionaSarah.jpg
20160805121254-FionaSarah.jpg
20160805121315-FionaSarah.jpg
20160805121322-FionaSarah.jpg
20160805121852-FionaSarah.jpg
20160805122410-FionaSarah.jpg
20160805123802-FionaSarah.jpg
20160805123848-FionaSarah.jpg
20160805124303-FionaSarah.jpg
20160805124347-FionaSarah.jpg
20160805124440-FionaSarah.jpg
20160805124616-FionaSarah.jpg
20160805130520-FionaSarah.jpg
20160805130753-FionaSarah.jpg
20160805131945-FionaSarah.jpg
20160805132319-FionaSarah.jpg
20160805133247-FionaSarah.jpg
20160805133333-FionaSarah.jpg
20160805133503-FionaSarah.jpg
20160805133527-FionaSarah.jpg
20160805133819-FionaSarah.jpg
20160805133940-FionaSarah.jpg
20160805134756-FionaSarah.jpg
20160805135244-FionaSarah.jpg
20160805140118-FionaSarah.jpg
20160805140858-FionaSarah.jpg
20160805141805-FionaSarah.jpg
20160805142108-FionaSarah-2.jpg

 

I hope these photos will give them lasting memories! If you want me to document your relationship(s), get in touch at alex@alextranphotography.com. You can also follow me on Facebook / Instagram. Thanks for reading!

categories: Weddings & Lifestyle
Thursday 10.27.16
Posted by admin
Newer / Older