Image of the month 10

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When thinking about what I was going to use for this month’s featured image, I made the decision to go back and look through images from a wedding photoshoot in Norwich in April, and look through some images for something I hadn’t really noticed first time through.

This is a shot of the bridesmaids together in the church before the beginning of the wedding service. I did crop it somewhat to bring out the focus on the small group as the key element of the picture, and decided to keep it in colour after looking at black and white conversions as I felt the purple dresses stood out really well.

I decided that what I liked about this picture was the relaxed and happy attitude of the bridesmaids and the range of their expressions – the two on the left looking towards the camera, the other two looking at each other; along with the clasped hands and (technically) the placement of the subjects on a slight diagonal. It’s a simple and straightforward image, of course, but one that I felt deserved a second look.

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Image of the month 9

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This month I’ve gone back to a wedding I photographed in June to look at some of the pictures I didn’t really rate at the time as among my favourites, in case they appealed to me. I do think that’s a useful exercise, as it’s all to easy to be drawn to certain images and skip over many of the others without thinking about their full potential. To some extent it’s just a question of numbers and trying to keep the process manageable.

For this month’s selection I found a shot of the bridesmaids sharing a happy moment with relatives quite early on in the day and as soon as I saw it I could see the potential. A crop to remove some of the distractions in the foreground and to the right of the group (plastic bags, clothes, a rucksack), and a black and white conversion to remove the distraction of the red bridesmaids’ dresses, with a fair amount of contrast, gave me the image I was looking for. The composition of the group is tight and balanced, the mirror helps to pull the elements together. Not quite all the distractions can easily be removed, but for me the spontaneous emotions of this scene make the shot a good one – and one that is true to my style.

Wedding cakes!

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Last Sunday I called round at a nearby wedding fair held at the Oakllands Hotel, in Thorpe St Andrew, Norwich, just out of interest. I’ve never really felt the desire, as a wedding photographer, to exhibit at wedding fairs but I thought I would quite like to see how things looked and the sort of things couples might be attracted to.

I’ve always had a soft spot for really creative cakes and so it was fascinating to look at the beautiful cake displays of two wedding cake suppliers:Time 4 Cakes www.time4cakes.co.uk and eventISS www.eventiss.co.uk

Here are four of my favourite photographs:

Image of the month 8

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This month’s image is from a wedding I photographed (in my usual documentary style) earlier this year. This one left me in something of a quandry when it came to editing – as to whether  to convert to black and white, after carrying out a quick fix of contrast and levels, or leave it in colour. The red object she is carrying is rather distracting, as is the rim lighting around it. I could have adjusted this, but decided to leave it as it was. The reason the image appealed to me was  the way the light strikes her forehead, her concentration on what’s happening out of frame, and the narrow depth of field. The picture has its flaws, but I rather like it the way it is.

Weekly photo challenge: ‘mine’

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Each week there’s a WordPress photo challenge – an invitation to post an image related to a particular theme, this week’s being ‘mine’. I decided to use this to post an image taken at one of this year’s weddings. The picture I chose was of a small girl at a woodland wedding I photographed in June. She was sitting in a tent, eating sausages in a bun. This is just one of the shots I took of the children – they usually make the best subjects as they tend to be uninhibited and rarely seem to notice the camera. Of course, this isn’t obviously a photograph taken at a wedding, but this was hardly a run of the mill type of wedding anyway. For me, I’m sure she is thinking the bun is most definitely “mine”.

Lost in the moment

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Here’s one of the photographs from Tracy and Ian’s woodland wedding held in June in the grounds of The Old Rectory, Great Melton near Norwich. I hadn’t given this picture much thorught originally, partly because I had so many images of the bridesmaids that I really liked. But going back through all the pictures taken in the house, around the time the bride was getting ready and the young bridesmaids were exploring the property, this is one that interested me.

In the music room there were all kinds of musical instruments set out, to the great delight of the bridesmaids, who no doubt were glad of a break between getting ready and the time when they would have to go out through the gardens to the marquee where the ceremony would be held (and hoping that the rain would stay away). I went into the room with them, hoping something interesting would happen.

She’s so lost in what she’s doing, she’s taking no notice of me as I capture her concentration. For me, it’s one of those things easily missed, and probably not even looked for if you’re concentrating totally on the bride of even just switching off for a while. Of course, the image isn’t obviously taken at a wedding, but it’s one of the parts of the day to record and appreciate just as much as shots of the main activity. It’s an ordinary shot, but it’s full of meaning.

Putting details in context

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When it comes to photographing weddings, I’m a big believer in getting those detail shots in such a way that their context is clear. On its own, a picture of flowers, table decorations, place cards, shoes or whatever isn’t going to have anything like the same emotional resonance as a picture that relates the detail to people, or at least something that shows it’s clearly taken at a wedding.

As an illustration, here’s a picture I took at a wedding earlier this year in Norwich. It’s in a church, it looks like a wedding, the people are obviously concentrating on what’s being said, but the focus is clearly on the coloured ribbons in centre shot, and that’s exactly what I had intended. I like other elements of the composition – the strong curve of the wooden railing linking the people together and drawing the eye to the centre of the frame, but for me the main thing here is to establish the context of the decorative details.

Great Melton wedding photography – Tracy and Ian

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In June I was invited to photograph Tracy and Ian’s woodland wedding in the grounds of the Old Rectory near Norwich. This was really interesting fo me as I hadn’t experienced this type of wedding before, and realised that the weather would be critical. In the end, though we dodged the showers from time to time, the day was fairly warm and the whole day was a great success. Guests mingled in a woodland garden setting with a marquee, tests, yurts and a woodland walk in the grounds of an old rectory a few miles out of Norwich.

The whole event was quite informal, with few speeches, a really interesting handfasting ceremony, storytellers and acoustic musicians.

My approach is very much that of a documentary wedding photographer or photojournalist. I try to record the events, incidents and emotions of the day as they unfold. I did get free licence to roam around and take candid photographs, and in addition a number of posed portraits and group shots, and a few shots of the bride and groom in some of the more unusual settings around the grounds of the old rectory.

I’ve included a small selection of my favourites here.

Image of the month 5

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There’s a marvellous cafe in Florence called Gilli (www.gilli.it) – to quote from the Lonely Planet Encounter guide, ‘At this Florentine institution you can sip your coffee or cocktail beneath Venetian chandeliers and billowy art nouveau ceiling frescoes, or opt for the terrace, with ringside seats on the upscale bustle of Piazza della Repubblica’. What really captured my attention was the amazing window displays of cakes and confectionery, in most cases complete with wedding cakes, brides and grooms.

While in Florence I took the opportunity to capture some lazrgely candid picures of several brides and grooms on their post wedding shoots, mainly in and around the Ponte Vecchio, Piazza della Signoria and Chiesa de San Miniato Al Monte. More of this to follow.

Norwich wedding photography – Fiona and Leo

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Some of my favourite images from Fiona and Leo’s Zimbabwean wedding in Norwich on 14 April, with the service at Chapelfield Methodist Church and the reception at the Sprowston Manot Hotel. A really interesting wedding for me as there was so much enthusiasm,. happiness and commitment – quite a momorable experience, really. All pictures taken with a Canon 400D wiith a Tamron SP AF17-50mm f2.8 lens.