Wedding at Loft Studios, London, on 35mm analogue film

Gaby and Phil’s wedding at Loft Studios in London was a fusion of Jewish and Ghanian traditions on a very hot August day, shot on analogue 35mm film.

London analogue wedding photography

Phil is a big fan of analogue photography and wanted his wedding photographs to be taken on film. He shoots film for his personal photography and loves the unique look that comes with shooting on film. Several of his friends have also caught the film bug and were intrigued by what I was doing – lots of questions about what film stock I was using.

I took two film cameras with me, A Leica M4-P and a Minolta CLE. Both cameras use the same Leica lenses and are both rangefinders (manual focus), both cameras date from 1983. I used a 28mm F2, 40mm F1.4 and 50mm F1.0 lens with Kodak Portra 400, Portra 800, Ilford XP2 super and Ilford HP5 film. All of the film was processed by myself in my darkroom, I love having total control over the entire process and not having to worry about film getting lost or damaged by a lab.

Loft Studios wedding venue

This was my first visit to Loft Studios and I was very impressed with how smoothly everything runs, the venue has multiple rooms which means there is no down time while rooms are being changed around. The venue has a cool industrial type vibe which works really well and certainly lends itself to photography. Loft Studios really are studios, the venue is used as a photography studio in the week.

The venue has five different spaces and two courtyards that work perfectly for small or large weddings and events. The various spaces are a blank canvas for creating the exact look you would like for your wedding. The location is great too, with easy nearby parking and within walking distance of Willesden Junction station.

Gaby and Phil’s wedding ceremony and wedding breakfast used Studio 4 which is very spacious.

Jewish/Ghanian mix

I really loved the fusion of Jewish and Ghanian elements from Gaby and Phil’s wedding. Much of the ceremony followed Jewish traditions with the chuppah, wine and breaking the glass. The food was all Ghanian and very tasty, Jewish dancing took place before dinner.