I love photographing weddings. I love playing the images back afterwards and seeing the day unfold, again, in photos, complete with all the memories and background that surround the actual pictures. As I browse through the photographs making my selects and deciding what works and what doesn’t I have started to question exactly what is it that makes a photo a “timeless classic”.
Now I am sure that every photographer has a different interpretation of what makes a timeless classic and I certainly don’t want to over analyse this as part of my job is to capture what I see, without consciously thinking about it. It’s about the anticipation of a moment, it’s about observing people, their mannerisms, the emotions. I suppose it’s a bit like a golf swing, once you start thinking about what you are doing you are in danger of losing it (or so golfers say).
Would it need to be in colour or Black & white? I suppose the majority of “classic” photography for me have been Black & white but this may well be just that older journalistic photographs (older as in before Digital, yes it did exist!) tended to be in B&W. I still think it is true that BW removes colour as a distraction and allows the viewer to concentrate on just what is happening in the image. However, colour whilst maybe not as pure visually can also add to the overall truth of the photograph, the historical accuracy. Sort of like how do we know what colours dinosaurs were without photographic proof 
So I suppose colour or BW shouldn’t make that much of a difference.
It needs to present emotion, authentic emotion. As a consequence it can’t be a cliched, posed photo. It needs to be an event, a situation that creates itself and the photographer is just there to capture it.
It cannot be shackled with a gimmick, a look, a fad. Instagram photos with their myriad of one click filters are fine now but what will they look like in 30 years time. Remember that once upon a time someone thought that making photos blurry around the edges and using soft focus would make it look dreamy. Ask yourself what you think of those pictures now.
So, a timeless classic to me is something that can be looked at now and in 30 years time it will conjure up just the same emotions as when first viewed. You will immediately get that same feel, that tingle from the picture.
Of course not every picture I take will be put forward as a timeless classic but it is certainly what I am aiming for. You can take a view here of a selection of my wedding photography and judge for yourself…..