Blogposts
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Henfield wedding | Kat & Rog
A mid-June wedding in Henfield, West Sussex, for a local couple. A fairly local wedding for me and a last-minute wedding booking *. Kat only got in touch five weeks before the wedding day. I believe they had considered not hiring a wedding photographer, but Kat found me via my Instagram feed. It turned out to be a very relaxed wedding day for Kat and Rog (rhymes with dog!) Coverage kicked off with Kat getting ready at their home in the village. A short walk across the high street to St Peter’s church – Kat would arrive with her father…
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Manor Farm wedding | Katie & Harris
Manor Farm wedding photography Manor Farm is a working farm in the village of Upton Cheney, just between Bristol and Bath. It is also a wedding venue that works well because it is simple. You cannot get simpler than cutting a space in the long grass and arranging some fold-up chairs near the top of a small hill, with views towards Bristol, creating an outdoor wedding ceremony space. Katie and Harris may have done the legal bit at Bristol Registry office three months before but this was the wedding day. A celebration with family and friends. A rural wedding near…
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Just one lens
Just one lens, the 50mm lens Let’s say I can have only one lens to shoot a complete wedding day. Just one lens to create a story of the day with reportage wedding photography. One focal length all day that still provides a variety of images to be captured. What lens would I choose? The 50mm lens. Wedding photographers have different lenses they like to work with. Zoom lenses or prime lenses. I’ve only used a zoom lens three times at weddings in the last fifteen years, maybe longer. While I may have a backup 24-70mm zoom in the car,…
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Five Sussex wedding venues
Five Sussex wedding venues…that I’d recommend. Sussex wedding venues. I’ve lived in Sussex for almost 24 years, photographing weddings in the county all that time. I even shot many before, when I lived in London. I’ve seen and worked at many wedding venues in that time. It has been rather a mixed bunch, to be honest. There are a couple I avoid now – no names – and sadly a few good ones that have now closed down. There are also some I’ve only shot at once and it would be good to shoot at again. The Cherry Barn and…
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Pub Weddings
Pub Weddings Pub weddings or more accurately, pub wedding receptions. I’ve shot wedding ceremonies in a Brewery and a Winery but not a ceremony in a pub I think. But wedding receptions in a pub can be very atmospheric, and lend the images an intimacy as there is usually little space! Imagine a busy, packed pub. Rather than having to navigate the crowd holding several full-pint glasses of beer, you have to navigate your way around capturing candid images in what can often be rather ‘interesting’ light. It’s tricky but also gives you more interesting images than when all the…
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Word of Mouth
Word of Mouth – HOW ONE BOOKING LEADS TO ANOTHER Word-of-mouth recommendations that lead to bookings. Wedding bookings/enquiries would need a whole blog post. Some enquiries are bizarre. Some enquiries just get this way of capturing a wedding and book immediately upon checking on my availability. The more creative the couple – I shoot many weddings for photographers, filmmakers, art directors, etc – the more straightforward the booking is. No need for video chats with no real questions. Or no questions like “what do you wear at a wedding?”, “what are those out-of-focus bits in your pictures?”. Word of mouth…
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Wedding Entertainment
Wedding entertainment Wedding entertainment, by which I mean making the drinks reception bit more special for the wedding guests. So I am not talking about the Band, the DJ, the photo booths, or even the fireworks, all that is the evening stuff but what can happen in the afternoon. With the ceremony complete, for most weddings it is then about ninety minutes of drinks and canapes, sometimes more. As a wedding photographer, it is a time to look to capture the characters, the atmosphere, the interactions and the emotions as the wedding couple attempt to meet all their guests before…
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IPhones, iPads and cameras
A few months ago I had an old client get in touch about their image files from their wedding in 2003. Having found the set of images, I ran through them, tweaking the files as much as you can with files from 2003 (Nikon D1X wedding photography). This was still the early days of digital photography. What people wore, and their haircuts, were not that dramatically different from today but one thing struck me as being different to weddings today – no wedding guests clutching iPhones! Of course, the iPhone had not been invented in 2003. The first iPhones came…