How to Choose a Royal Wedding Photographer

Last Wednesday, the royal palace announced that Prince William and Kate Middleton selected Hugo Burnand to be their royal wedding photographer. I’m a bit of an Anglophile after spending three months living in London in my early 20s so this is of special interest to me as a wedding photographer across the pond here in Pittsburgh. Right away, I checked out Hugo’s site and it’s very nice. But where are the wedding photos?!? It kills me that there aren’t any samples of his wedding photography on his site and he’ll be single-handedly responsible for photographing the royal wedding. Yikes!

Ok, he has photographed the royal family on many occasions, but wouldn’t the prince and the princess-to-be want the crème de la crème in wedding photography? It’s not something that just every photographer does well. It takes a special breed with a mixture of fearlessness for the unexpected, excellent people skills for putting subjects at ease on what can be a very stressful day, and a thorough knowledge of photography because you have to think fast as a wedding photographer and respond to all types of situations: changes in lighting, tight schedules, special requests, getting all your gear from one location to the next – the list goes on. I don’t doubt that Hugo Burnand can do all of that and do it well, but wouldn’t the royal couple want to choose someone who actually markets him or herself as a wedding photographer—someone crazy enough about it that they make wedding photography the focus of their photography career? There are lots of world-renowned wedding photographers that come to mind when I think of who I would hire if I were them.

I know I’m over-looking something very important in this decision: the royal family needs to hire someone they can trust and who knows how to handle all of the nuances of photographing a royal wedding. There is a need for insight in how to handle royal affairs. A photographer for a royal wedding can’t just blaze in and take over. There is a proper way to do everything in England. And with the pomp and circumstance of a wedding, the photographer needs to have a good intuition for what is acceptable in royal company. Hugo photographed Prince Charles and Camilla’s wedding in 2005 and the other thing that I noticed after a quick search for those photos is that the royal family will want to be able to trust that their wedding photographer will manage the files well with respect to their agreement. Maybe that’s why he doesn’t have any of the 2005 wedding photos on his site. Perhaps he doesn’t have permission? Although, their are plenty of other royal portraits in his portfolio.

I think it’s sad that when you’re the prince and princess-to-be, you don’t have much say in your wedding photography. Maybe they can do a fun post-wedding session with another photographer when security and time lines are less of an issue? Prince William and Kate, if you’re reading this, I can make myself available for this if you so choose! Anyway, there is some scrumptious wedding photography out there in the world and I just think that as one of the quintessential weddings of our times, Prince William and Kate Middleton should have the wedding photography to match.