A former press photographer, my love for photography runs deep — that and coffee 24/7 with my fast-paced family life. I'm a documentary wedding photographer capturing powerful, evocative images and the life and emotion of your wedding day.
Internationally published, voted by couples 'Best of San Antonio and Houston' by The Knot, a Fearless, ISPWP, This is Reportage, Photographers Keeping It Real and a WPJA multi award-winning photographer.
Hi. I’m Philip, an Englishman in San Antonio and a documentary wedding photographer.
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What
My Clients
Say
After hopelessly scrolling through so many portfolios of the same, staged wedding photos, it was such a breath of fresh air to find Philip’s collection. His ability to capture authentic moments and real emotions immediately brought me to tears. Seeing my reaction, my mom reached out to Philip about shooting our wedding and he was instantly responsive and accommodating of our requests. Philip photographed our engagement photos, rehearsal dinner gathering, and finally our wedding. Each time we were amazed at Philip’s ability to simultaneously be so personable and warm while remaining unobtrusive and almost elusive. He has been such a joy to get to know and made everyone feel so comfortable being themselves. More than anything, the photos and moments that Philip was able to document are beyond words. He was the most important and worthwhile investment of our entire wedding. Our families are completely blown away by his ability to capture the magic and convey the emotions that we all felt so perfectly. We are so grateful to Philip for the timeless, authentic, emotional, beautiful photographs that will keep forever the memories of our day. We recommend him wholeheartedly and without reservation.
- Nadia + Evan
What
My Clients
Say
One of the best experiences ever and an amazing part of our wedding celebration we won't forget! Philip is absolutely wonderful. When planning our celebration our greatest concern was finding a photographer we loved, and Philip hit off the chart on everything. We met with 10 photographers and emailed back and forth with about 30 more, and Philip was heads above the rest in absolutely every category. He creates art and we will always look at our wedding photos with joy. Very grateful to have Philip share our day with us.
- Bri + Max
Shooting
Experience
When my wife looked into all the photographers available in the San Antonio area she was so excited to tell me about discovering Philip Thomas and his work. I have a keen interest in photography and was very concerned about an investment into "professional" photos a family friend with a nice camera could have taken. Many people can take nice photos. I'm picky about what I consider "fine art" photography compared to typical "snap-shots". After looking at all his personal work on his website, I was excited to see what Philip would capture on our wedding day. His amazing ability to capture the "decisive moment" sets him apart. Other than saying how much we love the magical photographs we now have, and how grateful we are to him for capturing them, go look at his website and blog to see for yourself at how talented he is at what he does.
- Claire + Kevin
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AS SEEN IN
PRESS FEATURES FEBRUARY 2019 JUDE RIDGE: Voted Top 10 Wedding Photographer in Texas FEBRUARY 2019 This is Reportage - Winning Image THE KNOT 2018-2019 Reviews THIS IS REPORTAGE 2018 This is how I shot this image STEVE HUFF PHOTO Why I shoot the Leica M10 and Noctilux 50mm for Weddings STYLE ME PRETTY Texas Hill Country SAN ANTONIO WEDDINGS San Antonio, Texas MODERN LUXURY WEDDINGS Houston, Texas WEDDINGS IN HOUSTON Houston, Texas 7CENTERPIECES Houston, Texas JUNEBUG Austin, Texas STEVE HUFF PHOTO 100 Leica Weddings
“We photographers deal in things which are continually vanishing, and when they have vanished there is no contrivance on earth which can make them come back again. We cannot develop and print a memory.”
― Henri Cartier-Bresson
Style
I sketch life with my camera, photographing unobtrusively and anticipating beautiful moments.
An ever-evolving artist, primarily, I’m unobtrusive and anticipate the moment; forget couples jumping in the air with red balloons, those type of images to me are clichés and already, out of date trends.
As a former press photographer, I use my 25 years of experience and eyes of a photojournalist.
I tell your story with heart and soul for couples who love photography and who are perhaps, shy of the camera or don’t want the cheesiness associated with wedding photography. I have photographed over 350 weddings, most of what I capture is with available light, not just as a style but as a philosophy of shooting. By taking images in available light, I will record the essence of your day, authentically, beautifully and of course, the real moments without the annoyance of direction from a photographer.
Photographing ‘life,’ I use composition in the frame, geometry, form, light, and content to how I think and perceive the world.
I hope you enjoy perusing through my wedding portfolio. As you’ll see, I’ve shown only moments that are authentic and not set up by me as a photographer. Many photographers who shoot weddings do indeed hang the dress, or set the shoes, or make sure all the bridesmaid’s dresses are hung up and photographed. However, my opinion though is opposite to that. Instead, I will focus on what I find without setting up shots, and therefore not miss a real moment.
Apart from the posed group shots, and a few of you and your loved ones together, my typical clients trust me to document their wedding day in a hands-off approach. My wedding portfolio is pretty extensive, feel free to browse around, check out my updated journal/blog, Instagram.
