DS: How do you describe your niche in the wedding market?
DR: There is clearly a demographic group that understands and enjoys the idea of wedding journalism. I often talk about the Whole Foods chain of grocery stores. They've become a huge success by landing on the concept of organic, natural, real things. The kind of person who understands Whole Foods will want to find the same qualities and attributes in their wedding photography. What I preach is to make wedding photographs that are distinguished by a feeling of honesty. I want to make photos that are not orchestrated, enhanced, or improved. I also try to get across to students that this type of photography goes beyond just being a quiet observer being a historian of the event -- though that is certainly a part of it. But this same concept follows through into the production of the imagery until the very end. Are your images going to be over-Photoshopped? Are the colors going to be over-saturated? Is the contrast going to be boosted? Is there going to be post-production sharpening? What about darkened corners -- the kind of vignetting that so many wedding photographers do? All of these techniques we see create a falsity in images. We're in a world, one could argue, in which photographers are overworking images. And that runs counter to the Whole Foods concept. Whole Foods isn't going to inject a chicken with hormones or antibiotics.

David Schonauer