I’m often asked what I consider to be my best wedding photograph. The answer is it’s the one I haven’t taken yet, the constant challenge of looking for great images is what keeps me on my feet. It’s very difficult to pick out a few photographs that I consider to be my best and I have so many that I like.
So instead of picking a few favourites to show, I’m going to pick some photographs I really like and give me reasons for taking them and the story behind the photograph.
This was from a wedding I photographed in Venice, it was a little unusual as there weren’t any guests – just the couple and myself. While I was driving to the airport the groom called and asked if I could be a witness as they had an Italian interpretor as a witness but required a second witness as well. I have photographed a few small weddings with ten or twenty guests, but this was a first for me.
I took this photograph of Sharon, the bride, on the way to the town hall for the ceremony, we caught a water taxi for the journey along the Grand Canal. I really love this photograph and think it tells the story of the bride on her own traveling to the wedding ceremony. The lines of the windows lead your eye into the centre of the image and to the bride glancing out of the window.
Photographs of the couple sharing a moment together are often the hardest to get, the couple spend so much of the day apart chatting to family and friends and for some reason often don’t have many moments together. All of the guests had been called through to the wedding breakfast and the couple had a couple of minutes alone together. I’m sure they had completely forgotten I was there and I captured this lovely photograph of the two of them sharing a moment. I have kept the lighting in the photograph warm to add to the lovely warm glow of the image. In the wedding album this photograph sat on it’s own with plenty of space around it.
David Walliams was an usher at a celebrity wedding I photographed. This was taken shortly after he arrived and was lit by light coming in through the doors into the porch of the church. I don’t like my subjects to be camera aware, so try to work in a way that they largely ignore me. The paparazzi turned up to this wedding, which presented an extra challenge.
Some photographs are taken as scene setters for use in the wedding album. Everybody was sat eating in the marquee and missed this amazing sunset. I never photograph people eating as it really isn’t flattering, there is plenty of time between the dinner courses to take photographs of people interacting. During dinner I often walk around looking for something that everybody else will miss.
Something I run into from time to time is restrictions on photography during the ceremony. I went to meet the vicar with a friendly smile and introduce myself as the photographer. I was told on no account would any photographs be allowed in the church during the ceremony. The couple wanted photographs of the ceremony so I explained that I would stand at the back with a long lens, not use flash, not photograph during the prayers or vowels and that my camera is very quiet. Unfortunately some vicars have had bad experiences with photographers and tend to think of us as all the same. In this case the answer was still no to photography. It’s frustrating to sit and watch the ceremony, all of those tender moments that would make a great photograph. I did as I was told until the point when the vicar announced the couple were married, everybody claps at this point and nobody noticed one small click from my camera. My whole style of photography is about telling the story of the day, the ceremony is the whole reason for the wedding, so it’s a real shame when photographs are not allowed.
I arrived to photograph the bride getting ready and found this lovely scene up in an attic room. I notice many photographers take a close up photograph of the bride having her lipstick applied, I wanted something that told more of the story than just a close up of the brides face. The light was amazing in this room, flooding in through the window. By stepping back and including the whole scene the photographs tells a lot more about what is going on. I used black & white to concentrate the eye on what is going on rather than the various colours in the scene (the walls are bright blue).
This photograph always reminds me of summer weddings. Some of the guests came out of the marquee and lit sparklers. Working by available light has resulted in the lovely warm glow. I constantly watch for wedding guests doing something interesting to make a great photograph.
This was taken of the bride arriving for a wedding in Menorca. I love the reflection of shutters across the window of the car, which tell the viewer this wasn’t a wedding in the UK. I used this photograph large in an 18″x12″ Queensberry album.
This is from a wedding I photographed in Scotland recently. I had lots of nice photographs of people and of the couple, I wanted something that would show the location of the wedding on a private estate in Scotland. The guests are walking to the marquee for dinner. The photograph has lots of lines leading your eye into the photograph and onto the hills in the background. I love working in black & white as it almost distills the photograph to it’s basic elements – composition, tones and shapes.
Wet weather. Nobody wants it to rain on their wedding day, but you have to make the most of it no matter what the British weather throws at you. The question I get asked the most is what happens if it rains, the answer is you get great photographs. Rain certainly doesn’t stop me from working and capturing some great moments. I love the way the umbrellas frame the bride on this photograph. I waited until I had a lovely expression on her face to capture this image in Windsor.
This was taken during the wedding breakfast. I never photograph people eating as it doesn’t make an attractive photograph, but during the course people chat and relax which makes for great photographs. I love the way the couple are having a private moment together despite being in a crowded room. I have included arms in the foreground edges to show the photograph in context, otherwise the couple could be anywhere. Photographs of the couple together are an important part of the coverage and I put a lot of effort into looking for moments like this.
This was a wedding at Thornton Manor in Cheshire. I took this during dinner when nothing much was going on. From the back of the room I could see the couple framed through candelabras on the tables. I had to wait about ten minutes to get the expressions I wanted and the couple looking at each other. In this case colour works in the photograph, this wouldn’t look right in black & white.
This was outside Badby church in Northamptonshire. I took this as a wide scene to show the story. In the wedding album this would sit on a page opposite close up photographs of the couple hugging friends and family. When the couple come out of the church everybody comes to congratulate them, this is the point when some photographers might step in and start arranging people. I prefer to step back and capture all the lovely expressions. I always take some family groups at every wedding, but prefer to arrange these at the reception when it’s a little more relaxed. This also allows me to fully concentrate on getting photographs like the one above.
I love making the most of available light, it’s an essential ingredient to a good photograph. In this case the light was pouring in through the window to backlight the brides veil as she walked downstairs to the wedding ceremony. The photograph also works well as part of the story telling, the previous page in the album showed the bride getting ready and the following page had photographs of the bride entering the ceremony room and the groom looking back over his shoulder watching the bride.