Why Some Wedding Photos Are Meant to Be Black + White

Not every black and white wedding photograph is meant to be in color.

Color is beautiful—but it can also be loud. It pulls your eye toward dresses, décor, and background details. Black + white does the opposite: it simplifies the scene so the emotion, the light, and the moment can take center stage.

I don’t convert images to black + white as a trend. I do it intentionally—when removing color helps the story feel more honest, more timeless, and more real.

The same moment in color tells a very different story

In color, your eye wanders. The brick, the storefront, the street, the signs, the background. In black + white, all of that turns into texture and history. What’s left is the couple, the moment, and the feeling of the place.

This is when I know a photograph is meant to be black + white.

How I learned to see photographs this way

My roots in photography began long before digital cameras and presets. I was trained to see light, shadow, and emotion first—long before color entered the picture.

I learned photography in the darkroom, developing black + white film by hand and working as a custom printer where every detail of tone and contrast mattered. That training never left me. It still shapes how I see a wedding day now.

When I look at certain moments, I don’t see them in color. I see them in light.

In color, you notice the tattoos, the brick, the shelves, the room. In black + white, you notice the gesture.

The care. The quiet. The moment between people.

This is why I don’t choose black + white after the fact.I see certain photographs this way before I ever press the shutter.

Why I always photograph weddings in color

I photograph every wedding in color.

Not because the final image will stay that way, but because the tools available today allow me to shape each photograph with incredible precision after the moment has passed.

Color gives me the most information to work with. The most flexibility. The most control.

And from that, I can decide exactly how the photograph is meant to feel.

Sometimes that means keeping the color. Sometimes it means removing it completely.

But the decision is never random. It’s part of how I see the photograph from the very beginning.

How the darkroom still guides how I photograph weddings today

Long before digital cameras, presets, and sliders, I learned to see photographs in light, shadow, and feeling.

That way of seeing never left me.

It’s still with me on every wedding day — guiding when I press the shutter, and guiding how each image is finished afterward.

Black + white isn’t something I add to a photograph.

It’s something I recognize.

You can read more about my background in photography on my About Page.