Some Things I’ve Seen

Drinks Reception

Drinks receptions can be funny things. Often people tell me how they’d hate to spend theirs wondering around for the sake of photos, whilst their guests get hungry and bored! And it’s true, that happens to some people as I’m sure we all know… What I admire is people who are happy to simply do things the way they want them, and even prioritise the time spent with the people they care about. As that’s what it’s all about, surely? Having a great time and taking in the occasion? Rather than running around repeating the same ol’ standard wedding photos that suck into your day.

What I love about this image is the humour and honesty in what it shows. Creating that outdoor, relaxed feeling to your wedding day can be challenging, but when things like this happen you know you’ve got it right.

Just Before

Just before the ceremony. When you think about what an image might become in the future, I think about what it is really going to mean to those people specifically. And their future generations. To understand that, you have to really see the detail, and it’s the detail in this image that I find so compelling. Even the light is beautiful; the way it just catches them both, illuminating all the details of the dress, the expressions and gestures.

If you’re anything like me, you’ll see the look of pride in his face as he leads her towards the ceremony. And how she’s looked down, withholding a smile, so as to not be overcome by what is unfolding. It isn’t just two people walking down an aisle – which is perhaps useful but relatively uninteresting. It’s the details of expression and tiny gestures which give us insight into what people are thinking and feeling.

Without thinking about what an image is really going to mean to my clients, things would just feel too ordinary to me. It would lack the depth required for an image to be worth taking at all.

Guitar Solo

Good humour can present itself in some wonderfully spontaneous ways sometimes! Even if it lacks humour, it’s often the completely spontaneous happenings which are the most memorable… in weddings and just in life, I think you’ll agree? That’s why I believe it’s so important to really understand my clients and see life as openly as you do day-to-day. Yes, it’s a wedding, but if you lock yourself into a set of standard-pose pictures, that’s what you’ll get – something completely impersonal. This happened much later in the evening – the lead guitar/vocals came out into the dance floor and what followed can only be described as Zoe’s Epic Guitar Solo.

What was happening in itself was brilliant, but what I love about the photograph is the details of everyone joining in, how you can actually see what is happening in the image. It takes you back to the spontaneity of the moment in a very honest way – this is simply how it was. And it was fantastic-hilarious!

Ladies

Often people tell me something I’ve photographed doesn’t really look like a wedding photo. And of course, they love it. It’s because there can an honesty to something, or something that reveals something very personal, or even when clients plan a very relaxed/unconventional wedding. I don’t believe you need the bride and groom centre stage, smiling… and you might not even need them in the photo at all. After all, an album full with pictures of only yourself would be… a little odd.

This image really is so simple but it always makes me laugh and so becomes very memorable. He’s waiting with his partners handbag outside the ladies bathroom – which is exactly what the photo show us of course. It’s the sort of relatable image which makes us think about the intricacies of our own relationships, and the things we do for each other.