Happening this Week

New 2-in-1 Flash. Godox just announced their new AD300pro ii Flash. An outdoor flash that seems like overkill for weddings. Until you realise that it doubles as a constant light - with the modelling lamp getting an upgrade to 12W and Bi-Color options.
Darker trends. Last week we dove head first into the trend of darker, low light era of weddings and how to shoot them. This week WedLuxe, named it ‘Stormy Passions, with a great round up and deep dive.
100MP equivalent? First tests of the new Sony A7V place its dynamic range ability up next to many medium format digitals. Cool specs but yeah it’s what you do with it that counts.
Sad news as we learnt that the legendary Martin Parr had passed away. A man who shaped photographic culture in a way you can’t overstate. Here’s an amazing tribute, in both words and images that you NEED to read.
A priceless reaction. This is exactly how you want your couples feeling when they receive their images. And it went completely viral this week.
Your Wedding Photographer Age. Yeah you’ve seen plenty of these ‘photographer wrapped’ posts going around but this one is the best one.
Photobooth Glory. Autophoto has just opened a photo booth museum (um what?) in New York, featuring an insane collection of vintage photo booths.

THE IDEA

💋 Editorial Problems (stop doing this)

Medium Frames

For better or worse, 2025 has been peak “editorial” in wedding photography. And whatever “editorial” really means at this point, it’s led to an obsession with a very specific set of images. You know the ones. The fashion-first portrait. Serious expression. Flattering pose. THE frame designed to live on a magazine cover.

That image is great. That image matters. But something strange happens when it becomes the MAIN thing photographers are chasing. Everything and we mean everything turns into a medium frame. The same distance. The same focal length. The same idea.

All in service of landing that single perfect shot. Talk about zzzzzzz.

Think about most wedding posts you see these days - where are the wide shots? Where are the close details? Where is the sense of sequence or story.

EVERYTHING IS A MEDIUM FRAME. That means everything sits in the same visual register. Polished, controlled, but strangely flat.

A wider shot by James Harvey Kelly in a recent editorial

Mixed in with a closer shot on the same shoot. See the full post and shoot here.

Narrow visuals, narrow emotions.
“The emotional range of a lot of wedding photography right now is so narrow,” the legend John Dolan opened with in his live in Lensel PRO last week. (replay available here for pro members)

It hit hard. Because the editorial problem isn’t just visual, it’s emotional. When every portrait is shot from the same distance, with the same energy, chasing the same type of image, the work loses contrast.

This isn’t advocating for STORY and DOCUMENTARY over EDITORIAL. It’s advocating for more story and documentary to support your perfect few editorial poses and frames.

So if you are an ‘editorial’ photographer in search of that perfect frame. Consider this a little kick in the pants.

Don’t forget the wides that place your subjects in a world.
Don’t forget the close frames where texture, nerves, and intimacy live.
Don’t forget that a portrait session is a process, so capture the emotions around the poses.
Remember that perfect editorial frame lands harder when it’s supported by everything around it.
And if you want the most simple shooting thought… PLEASE, stop shooting everything as a medium frame.

THE DEEPER DIVE

🎙️ John Dolan’s on Creating Emotion Range in your Images: The Inner Life and Outer Work.

Images: John Dolan

This section + all our workshop and educational content is available with a Lensel PRO membership…

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INSPO THIS WEEK

⬇️ Diving in with a more cinematic vision of Venice - the frame ideas here are 11/10.

⬇️ So this first shot is iconic, but so is the rest. Dear Vincent capturing an engagement turned surprise wedding on a boat. On the look out for all the small moments.

⬇️ A post with a lot of everything good. Movement, curation, and shot on a bunch of different mediums.

⬇️ This post is from a wedding a year ago. But it’s a banger, and a reminder that you CAN post old weddings, curate them in a new way, and see it in a whole NEW light. We love to see it.