Wedding day tips
Notley Abbey wedding photography
Saturday, August 8th, 2009Quite a story on this one. If I had a penny (etc etc), the most popular question asked about wedding photography is; “What happens if it rains?” Seeing that we don’t seem to be constantly bathed in sunshine in the UK, it does present an issue a few times during the year, though my ‘It can’t rain forever’ mantra rarely bites me on the proverbial. And so the Saturday just gone I was Thame bound to photograph Sean and Laura’s wedding at Notley Abbey. Despite the weather forecast not being the kindest, I thought we’d entered Sunshine valley as I drove up the impressive tree lined drive that leads to Notley’s front door.
You know me, sucker for a window lit shot. And there was plenty of sunshine around during the morning to provide it.
We had a lot of fun on the prewedding shoot, the ceremony followed the same line. The reason for their smiles? It was an outdoor ceremony and as one of the ushers started his reading, a horse started to join in in the background.
And then, the clouds started to gather!
We got through the ceremony before the heavens opened. This is probably one of my favourite shots from the day and it shows something very important. If you accept the rain as part of your day, embrace it and enjoy the occasion, you get magic all day long.
Being a headlining dancer on the Take That tour, the evening studio brought a few surprises…
“Greatest Day” the first dance.
Cantley House Hotel wedding photography
Sunday, June 21st, 2009Pastures new this weekend as I photographed at Cantley for the first time. Well done Steve, well done Sian, fab day, and one of the most original evening mobile studios yet! I know that by the time you get a chance to read this, you’ll more than likely have returned to your hotel for some early evening R&R following a day supping island cocktails on a beach under a sun umbrella in Hawaii. As much as it’s a great honour to photograph at familiar venues where as a company we’re a preferred photographic supplier, it’s equally good to tackle new locations. If you’ve read the blog or taken in the kind of thing that inspires me as a wedding photographer through my images on the main site, you’ll know that I much prefer available light to napalming a scene with heavy flash work. When I started photographing weddings, a strobe would be attached to the camera pretty much all day. I’ve become subtle in ‘me old age…’ (cue comments on how kids have no respect these days and how in my day you had to climb up inside chimneys for pocket money.) And so, it was a delight to see a venue with some large windows to throw shafts of light on to various scenes. I look forward to going back one day.
Oh, and as for the mobile studio, we moved outside for the first time in a long time, and invited guests to embrace an Hawaiian theme. What is it about grown men with grass skirts and inflatable sharks? Loved it!
Smile for the man?
Sunday, May 3rd, 2009I reckon, standby – HUGE generalisation about to emit via this ‘ere blog… I reckon, that the main reason people have a fear of being photographed, is not that their soul will be stolen and sold to the cheapest bidder via Ebay, but they feel a pressure to bring on an unnatural smile. Such is the memory of school photographs where the history tutor (why was it always the history guy) would stand in the school photographer’s doorway and threaten you with six of the best if you failed to show your parents via a smile how wonderful your schooling days were, that many an adult now likens a trip to Doctor Camera with a one hour subjection to root canal surgery. It is true that I may as a photographer ask a sitter to smile, or at least crack a faint smiley type expression thingie to show enthusiasm for the session. But usually that’ll be during a family shoot, where you know your work won’t be displayed if you return a Victorian presentation of earnest intensity. Often though I won’t ask for that, opting to create some kind of diversion, usually by conversation, where the subjects engage more naturally. I shot two pre-wedding shoots today with couples I’ll see over the next couple of months – and I like to think, both shoots will yield some cracking images. Each session started with the usual mantra; “I hate having my picture taken.” By the end of it though, I hope that both couples felt we’d done nothing more hellish than simply walk through the countryside adjacent to my studio, popping a couple of shots here and there, and talking about their wonderful honeymoon locations. I asked one of my couples; “Now, how many times in the last twenty minutes have I told you to smile?” Just as an aside, some parents who bring their children for a family shoot will feel the shoot hasn’t yielded any gold if they don’t remember a particularly smiley visit. I’m delighted when I receive a mail or phone call to say how surprised and delighted they are with the results. A little wry smile appears on my face, naturally that is.
Why I shoot weddings…
Tuesday, March 17th, 2009
This one’s for the photographers; those thinking of lifting a lens towards a bride and groom! When I started shooting weddings, like most ‘togs’ who shoot them, my reasoning was part challenge (a close friend had insisted I shoot his brother’s nuptials) and part financial; there are wolves to keep from one’s doors. Actually, those elements stay true to this day, but a third ingredient has become the ultimate reason; professional, even emotional purpose – knowledge that I’m doing something important in the World, that I make a difference for the split second my finger hovers over that shutter button. The most important side of my photographic work in wedding terms is to document moments. It’s easy to romance and wax lyrical about forms of capture like photojournalism and so on, but for me it’s really very simple. Wedding photography offers an opportunity to make a difference to someone’s life. I whole heartedly believe that. But incase I stand accused of presuming that I’m solving World issues through a lens, as a colleague from my previous existence in the heady world of broadcasting said; “It’s only radio love, not brain surgery.” Ultimately I still subscribe to that philosophy. I’m not saving lives – I’m only taking pictures, hopefully very important pictures none the less. As a stranger, you’ll rarely if ever get invited to be a part of someone’s most hallowed private moments. When I shoot a wedding, I am witnessing the very essence of a couple’s intimacy. I’m sharing instants that are unfeigned once only, catch it now, you’ll not see this again moments. Pity the hardened heart belonging to a snapper that only sees pound notes and awkward relations to deal with. When I call for the witnesses during a register set up, I sometimes wonder whether it would be deemed a little comedically insensitive and over enthusiastic to pop the camera on a tripod, set the timer and run round to spread eagle myself with all the panache of David Brent upon the signing table. But witnessing a wedding is surely one of the most priveleged parts of this job. It’s moments like the one above from Adam and Donna Robert’s recent Newbury Shaw House wedding where I freeze just momentarily before the capture. The ceremony had concluded. The guests in the room were quietly chatting amongst themselves and Adam, sat at the head of the room with his wife, removed his ring. He sat studying it, taking in what had just happened and for that one moment, the room may as well have been empty, bar him, his wife and the circle of gold. Away from all that Hollywood jazz, that, is what I call a real ‘complete moment.’ And that, is why I shoot weddings.
Low light wedding photography
Tuesday, July 15th, 2008[photopress:wasing_park.jpg,full,alignleft]What I sometimes struggle to understand when talking to fellow pros in the wedding photography industry, is why photogs run inside and strap a speedlight (flash) to their camera body the moment the sun makes an exit from the skies above. I’m a relative newbie to the habit of chasing any light that makes itself available to shoot in and I’ll admit to being inspired by some of the Aussie and World market leading wedding shooters like Ghionis and Schembri in that particular field. But I have definately found that the age old cliche of ‘looking for the light,’ has, if you’ll forgive a hideously contrived company pun, ‘breathed’ life into my passion for capturing wedding images. Alongside those more candid moments that fashionably have become labelled as wedding photojournalism, there’s always time to go look for a shot that hopefully won’t appear in nine out of ten albums. The weekend just passed I photographed at a brand new venue called Wasing Park. A fabulous couple, a fabulous venue… and possibly the biggest bridal suite bed I have ever seen. Anyway, by the by, above – a couple of pics from when the sun went down. I know I know, you’re expecting scenes from the venue, perhaps the obligatory stuff, but nestled in hundreds of acres of prime farming countryside, I couldn’t resist an old Fordson tractor that resided down an overgrown lane, and as Wasing has invested in some of the most incredible lighting features – a shot that reflects the attention to detail that’s gone into downlighting parts of the venue. And then finally, below, I kid you not, a completely unarranged moment, when passing by the best man at the end of the wedding banquet, I spied the chap altering his notes.
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Those black and white moments
Tuesday, June 24th, 2008[photopress:andywilliams.jpg,full,alignleft]Without sounding adversely sickly about why at Breathe we choose to shoot weddings, it’s the candid moments that make our industry so exciting. It’s hard to tell on a two inch screen how you’ve captured a scenario until the day’s work is downloaded later on the same evening. Purists may argue that a download doesn’t carry quite the same excitement as seeing an image chemically appear before your eyes under red lights in a darkroom, but for me, that download lays bare as many truths about the day’s photography as a good few hours swathed in toxic fumes. (For those that ask why I [Neale James] use so many smaller memory cards, I’ll repeat a blog entry from much earlier. Smaller cards mean more changes during the day for sure and if you shoot raw, you need to keep a far closer eye on the shot counter as it runs ‘dry’ that much quicker. But smaller cards also mean if one corrupts, you’ve not lost a whole wedding. Part maybe, but not a whole. Good wholesome tip.) This image is taken from the weekend’s wedding just gone. Congrats to Katy Locke and Andrew Williams, wed at St. Mary’s in Aldermaston – a venue that holds dear for the simple reason it was my own wedding venue. It’s a dark church, smallish windows, lots of tree shade and the normal rules apply; no flash during the ceremony, low key and unfussed. But the rewards are high when bride and groom exchange time with no attention paid to the 200mm lens poking out from a pew three or four metres away.
A rainy wedding in Swindon town
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For any couples with a slight concern over what the good ole British weather will do on their wedding day, take a leaf out of the Zachans’ book. Ashley and Clare were hosting their wedding day in Clare’s original town of residence, Swindon. The couple now live in New Zealand and were back to share part one of their wedding celebrations with British family. Friday December the 28th, 2007 in Wiltshire was not exactly the kindest day on the year’s weather diary. By 3pm, the time of the couple’s ceremony, the rain was appearing in sheets. But, and this is one stormlashed ‘but’… far from letting the rainfall dampen any spirits, Ashley and Clare embraced the storm as part of their wedding day. They informally gathered outside the reception venue with their wedding party to howl with laughter as the rain descended at right angles in the strong wind. It was one of those moments where everyone forgot about neatly pressed suits and beautifully presented wedding dresses, to just BE. The photographs that resulted show a couple totally at one with their day. A set of pictures that demonstrates spirit is what makes a day special and not tailoring. Congratulations guys; I only wish I could be with you for part 2 in NZ.
Silchester with The Slatterys
Saturday, May 5th, 2007[photopress:Wedding_pose_hips.jpg,full,alignleft]Boy does it feel good to return to the venue that hosted our own wedding reception; Silchester House in Berkshire. It always feels like we’re returning home and that’s a special emotion. So it was a real pleasure to follow Jennifer Newport and Martin Slattery through their day, from St. Joseph’s Catholic Church on Saturday morning, to the reception at S.H. There is a particular location within the house I absolutely love, for the following reason. I was mentored at the start of the year by a highly acclaimed Australian wedding photographer who encouraged a room full of enthusiastic professionals to start seeing light differently at venues, to put down their flash units and use ‘The Force.’ If Obi-Wan had been a photographer I imagine this is exactly how he would have worked. Downlighters are fabulous sources of light. Many are really quite powerful and in all respects, become mini flood lights. Forgive me for the technical shooting data, but since this appears within the ‘techniques’ category too, indulge me please. 800 ISO, just under the threshold where Nikon gets a little noisy, a shutter speed higher than the focal length of the lens and a nice sexy hip and stretch pose; this is the result. This also appears in the ‘Wedding day tips’ cat, only because as a couple, sometimes as you look round your venue, you’ll no doubt spot fresh photographic opportunities. I don’t expect couples to look with a photographer’s eye; after all, that’s why they are employing us. But I’m never offended if you see a prop or a light that you think could add a fabulous page to your album. Congratulations to two very special people, it was an honour to spend the day with you.
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