Notley Abbey wedding photography
Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010I’ve become adept at capturing portraits professionally yet briskly during this cold snap. I always suggest to brides (and grooms) that they won’t necessarily feel the cold, the adrenalin covers that aspect of physiology. But in temperatures that have hugged the sub zero mark for most of my early 2010 weddings, my suggestion is always; keep the group portraits list tight. Your guests will love you for it! Some images from Richard and Fleur’s Notley nuptials, just prior to a grand shopping trip to New York.
Notley Abbey wedding photography
Sunday, January 17th, 2010The estate agent introducing Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh to Notley Abbey must have known he’d secured the sale even before Sir Larry turned the medieval key in the gothic door of this historic pile. Now THIS, is what I call a driveway. If the travellers come knocking offering to tarmac it, it would only be marginally cheaper to rework the stretch between 8/9 and 10 on the M4.
In venue terms, I know you’re not supposed to have them or at least moot the subject, but this remains one of my firm favourites when it comes to photographing weddings. Congratulations to ‘Englishman in New York’ Matt and Niki. Looking forward to presenting you with your photographs when you come back from your secret honeymoon destination! Not sure if they have broadband where you’re going, but if they do, a handful of images to whet the appetite.
A trip down memory lane
Monday, August 17th, 2009Mark and Natalie’s wedding at Holy Trinity in Bengeo with a reception at Ware’s Fanham’s Hall is a commission that stepped right back into my youth ‘billingi’ years ago. I grew up in Hertford’s little known satellite town called Bengeo, a place by the way my Tom Tom refused to give me an ETA for as I edged up from Berkshire passing every motorway maintenence vehicle that’s ever been built. I’m sure they store them all on the M25 for personal humour. Some shots from the day with running commentary.
Mark just ahead of guests arriving. I haven’t been to this church since I was a boy scout, so it was strange to tread the carpet (which I swear they haven’t changed) to the alter.
I shot this twice. This was the initial (and better) grab shot as I emerged from the reception venue car park to find Mark and Natalie still in their vintage Rolls Royce. I was worried about excess motion blur and the loss of groom in the background so tried to set up a technically better documentary scenario. As always the reconstruction was a poor relative, so I stuck with the one my insincts initially got excited about.
Notley Abbey prewedding shoot – Laura and Sean
Monday, July 27th, 2009We’re about to enter the busiest August wedding season we’ve had at Breathe and frankly I can’t wait. I just know we’ll all emerge the other side richer for the wonderful things we witness and amazing people we meet. Talking of which, meet Laura, Sean and their amazing son Dylan. I look forward to a fabulous day at Notley!
The Black Barn wedding photography
Monday, June 8th, 2009Their private viewing gallery now online, here’s just a few scene setters from Chris and Caroline’s wedding in Berkshire.
Great Fosters wedding photography
Sunday, May 3rd, 2009It was an early ’set off’ yesterday for Adam and Julie’s wedding. Usually I’m car bound during Wossy’s Radio 2 gig, but if the radio splurts a dash of Brian Matthews when I turn the engine over, then I’m probably dodging traffic on the M25. Destination Ewell, arrived 10.30, service midday (sent to the balcony, up in the Gods at the church, if you’ll pardon the usage) – why is it everyone in the House of God is welcome bar the photographer? Anyway, back to a favourite venue of mine, the Tudor splendor that is Great Fosters near Egham for the reception. A couple of years ago at the very same venue I’d been doing an arty lit shot with the bride on a stairwell. I whipped closed a couple of curtains, only to find these were original designs by Jane Austin hung in 1798 by the great lady herself. I get selective vision when I’m photographing weddings, so large ‘don’t walk on the grass’, ‘don’t photograph in here’, or more pertinently titled signs like ‘don’t touch these curtains ever ever ever’ don’t tend to fog my vision when trying to grab a shot. Still no harm done, honest guvnor. A couple of favourite images from yesterday then…
Back from Austria
Monday, April 13th, 2009So, we’ve just returned from our ski trip, with a clutch of photographs and medical bills from the Austrian health service. Fear not any forthcoming wedding clients who may be reading this. There’s not one sprained joint, fractured bone or ripped oojamiflipp between us; ‘merely’ the wonders of a one year old on holiday for the first time deciding to experience an allergy. I thought I’d post a couple of favourite pics up. First up, the lad! One cute moment and the obligatory snow shot.
I didn’t shoot even a fraction of the scenes I could have captured during our week away, as I spent much of my time in adult ski preservation mode just trying to stay on my feet. But here are a couple of shots from a ski region called Dachstein. It’s one big bowl essentially, a glacier in the Styria state. Nine thousand feet up is the home station from which you ski into the glacier bowl in one direction. The other direction is, well, this. Very rarely do I get a chance to photograph a scene which looks like it could have been shot from a passenger window in an Airbus. And then below this, my foot, in ski boot, standing on reinforced glass (though the cracks do little to reinforce your trust) – the drop below, hundreds of feet of nothing until you hit rock. I didn’t stand there too long.
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.
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.