Cinematic, but what does that even mean??
This is becoming a buzz word in the wedding photography space. It's up there with "Editorial" "Fashion Forward" "Documentary". This means different things for different photographers. What do I mean when I say I'm Cinematic? I mean when you post your photos one of the first comments you'll get is "is this a still from a movie?"
Pittsburgh is Cinematic in it's own right
I'm not interested in turning a real wedding into something overly polished, overly posed, or so carefully constructed that it stops feeling like you. What draws me to cinema is something else entirely:
the way a frame can make you feel like you've walked into the middle of a story.
That's what I want my photographs to do.
And maybe that's part of why Pittsburgh feels like such a natural place to make them.
There's something inherently cinematic about this city. Old brick buildings beside modern glass. Steel and stone. River light. Overcast afternoons. Deep greens in the summer and bare branches against gray skies in the winter. Grand architecture tucked into ordinary neighborhoods. Getting into blue hour? Oh my god forget it.
Pittsburgh is just gorgeous.
And I like photographs that work the same way.
I take a lot of inspiration from film.
I'm drawn to the visual language of movies from 70s, 80s, and beyond: rich color, imperfect light, deliberate framing, unexpected compositions, and images that feel a little lived in.
There is something about older films that I love. They don't always make everything beautiful in the obvious way.
Sometimes beauty feels strange, or quiet, or makes you lean in to search for meaning. I love instances where the subject is almost swallowed by the environment.
And somehow, those are often the images that stay with you. That one scene in Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo, where Madeleine is looking over the San Francisco bridge lives rent free in my head. That's the feeling I'm chasing. Presence.
Color Matters!
Color is one of the biggest parts of my visual language.
I'm drawn to art where color is practically listed as a cast member.
Deep reds. Warm skin. Blue evening light. The strange orange glow of a reception space after sunset.
I like color with a little tension in it. With some bass in it's voice.
And Pittsburgh gives me plenty to work with.
The blue-gray of a cloudy afternoon. The warm glow of an old restaurant. The random breath taking architecture and old churches. Sodium streetlights after dark. The glowy blue that settles over the city just before night.
I don't want every image to feel perfectly neutral or technically identical. I love a little chaos, a little grit, a little spontaneity.
And I think some of the most beautiful photographs happen when you allow the environment to become part of the image instead of correcting it away.
So what does that mean for you?
It means I'm going to spend your wedding day waiting for the moments that start playing in slow motion in front of my eyes.
I'll give you direction when it's useful.
I'll step back when it's not.
I'll catch the moments you're living in the loudest, and sweetest. I'll get the details that set the scene.
The architecture.
The light.
The people in the background.
The movement.
The quiet.
The weird little in between moments that you didn't realize anyone noticed.
You're wedding happens just once so you want your gallery to feel like you can almost taste it.
If you want wedding photography that feels like a classic film, tap the button below and tell me more.
