Hipstamatic iPhone Wedding Photos – An Entire Wedding Day Captured

Capture hipstamatic iPhone wedding photos for an entire wedding day? That’s the unique opportunity that member Marc Sadowski came accross on a craigslist ad.

Katie and RT, this adorable couple, were looking for a photographer to shoot their wedding specifically with an iPhone using the Hipstamatic app. If you’re not yet aware of what this cool app does, the hipstamatic app provides different lens, film and flash options that give photos a hip, vintage look.

Marc and his friend Keith Tharp, hosts of Tiny Shutter, an iPhone photography podcast, jumped at the opportunity and were chosen for the shoot!

Marc shared with us his experience and his thoughts on shooting a wedding with an iPhone:

As a wedding photographer, I’m always looking to be the best I can be. I’m also always looking for a way that I can be more creative, to do something that no one else has done. And in this digital age, that’s becoming harder and harder.

When the iPhone 4 was announced, I was floored by the photography capabilities. From that point on, I never thought of cell phone photography as something inferior. From that moment on, I wanted to be the first to photograph a wedding with an iPhone.

I wasn’t. Someone beat me to it. But another unique opportunity came about.

Katie and RT were getting married in West Hartford Connecticut. They posted a CraigsList ad seeking photographers to shoot their wedding using Hipstamatic (they already had a regular wedding photographer hired to cover the day). My good friend and colleague Keith Tharp and I jumped at this opportunity. Not only are we both wedding photographers, but we – along with our good friend Matt Hoffman – do a show called Tiny Shutter, an iPhone photography podcast.

It became absolutely clear – we had to be the ones to photograph this day.

We ended up getting picked to do the shoot. We also agreed to do it for free. That was A-okay because all we were eager for was the opportunity.

For any professional photographer worried that an iPhone photographer will come in and snatch up all the business, I have one thing to say… start worrying… I’m kidding. In fact, Keith and I discovered something quite interesting: An iPhone was not meant to be used as a DSLR camera. Continuous shooting resulting in quite extraordinary battery draining.
Within the first half hour, our phones were already down to 50%.

Fortunately Keith was armed with his new iPhone 5, his iPhone 4 and his iPhone 3GS. He was also wielding the bride’s iPhone 5. He was able to alternate while the others charged.
I only brought my iPhone 4S, my iPad 3 and my Mac Book Pro. I had a troubling realization; I would have to bounce between my iPhone and iPad. I really did not want to shoot with my iPad. But then something dawned on me while my iPhone was charging. I quickly put my Mac Book Pro in my bag, slung it over my shoulder and used my iPhone tethered to the laptop. My Mac Book Pro became my battery pack!

We were able to get some really fun photos after we worked out or technical issues. It really helps that the couple were into it. Because they were passionate Hipstamatic photographers, it made for some incredible cooperation and fun.

I did use one other photo app. Camera+ was what I used as an alternative. I used it only a handful of times. If there was a photo that I wanted to convert to a digital painting, I used Camera+. That was 1% of the time. 99% was dedicated to Hipstamatic.

Final thoughts: the iPhone is a tremendous camera, but it cannot even come close to the power of a professional DSLR. There is just so much more that you can do with professional gear. That being said, we still came away with some great shots.

Does something like this have room for the professional wedding photographer? Absolutely. While it’s not a replacement for a wedding photographer, it does make a great compliment. I view iPhone photography in the same vein as a photo booth at a wedding. It’s fun, it’s instant and it will be memorable.

If you have any questions or comments, you can find me at www.sadowskiphotography.com or follow me on Twitter: MostlyMarcus. If you have Instagram, my username is: LensWipe.


Marc Sadowski specializes in photojournalism photography for Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine. He is also available for Vermont, Rhode Island.

Check out more of Marc’s work on his WPUSA profile, website and Facebook.

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1 review

  1. Shelly, December 11, 2012 2:03 pm - Hipstamatic iPhone Wedding Photos – An Entire Wedding Day Captured

    Bravo for trying to do the entire wedding with iPhones. What a neat project. The pics turned out great!

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