PHOTOGRAPHY & FILM | The Shalom Imaginative

With over a decade experience The Shalom Imaginative are an inclusive wedding photography collective documenting weddings on film, digital, and Super 8. Based in Los Angeles, California the team specialises in capturing candid, real moments in a documentary style. The Shalom Imaginative often work in California and have photographed weddings worldwide, including in Hong Kong, Scotland and Paris.

Tell us about your business!

We are a team of artists documenting weddings on film, digital, video, and Super 8. Our studio has over a decade of experience capturing weddings in a documentary style. Many of the couples we work with are also artists, and we love the creative collaboration that makes each wedding unique.

What would you like couples to know about you?

Our highest priority is to create a safe space for everyone. Couples being able to see themselves in our portfolio matters a great deal to us.

We want couples to feel like themselves on their wedding day and see their personality come out in the final images. We are also always inspired by capturing the fashion and candid, spontaneous moments of guests and loved ones throughout the day. Most couples we work with feel like their wedding is more of an excuse to get all of their family and friends together to celebrate and less about a formal production, and that’s what we want our work to reflect.

Where are you based? 

We are based in Los Angeles.

Do you travel for weddings? 

Yes! We often document weddings all across California and the West Coast. We also have traveled all over the globe documenting wedding celebrations. Some past favorites include Mexico City, Paris, Hong Kong, Scotland, the English countryside and Oaxaca City.

How would you describe your style?  

We work with a documentary, photojournalist approach with an edge of editorial. These words are thrown around constantly in the industry and feel like they may have lost all meaning at this point. We aim to capture the candid and unexpected moments. We want the end result to have encapsulated the joy, the jitters, the playfulness. Our work is unfussy, artful, and nostalgic. We follow our intuition, documenting everything while gently helping personalities come through. And we’re also going to take some badass portraits of you and capture the vibe, style, and energy of the day.

What inspires you? 

The Californian landscape, human emotions, and consuming other art forms such as music, films, literature or interior design.

How would you describe your working style? 

We don’t take ourselves too seriously and want to feel like friends. We love to catch your vision and see the day as a collaboration with you. We are led by curiosity and playfulness.

Do you shoot digitally, on film or both? 

We photograph and capture video using both film and digital, and how we use each is always tailored to the couple and the day itself. Film brings a certain texture and intentionality, while digital allows us to move fluidly through fast or unpredictable moments. We work with couples ahead of time to decide how much film to include, so the final experience and collection fit their vision.

Where would you love to travel to for work? 

The California coastline continues to inspire us, from Big Sur and the Bay Area to quieter stretches like Mendocino and Sea Ranch. Oregon and Washington have a similar quiet pull for us, and we would love to spend more time working there. Mexico has been especially meaningful to us over the years. Working again in places like Mexico City, Oaxaca, Todos Santos, or Tulum would always feel like an honor.

Who is your dream client? 

Creative couples who throw out tradition for the sake of tradition; however, keep the sacred and meaningful ones. We often work with cool, laid back artists. We love when folks add weird, unique touches that make the celebration feel completely them.

The Shalom Imaginative

Website: theshalomimaginative.com 

Instagram: @theshalomimaginative