Venue: Highclere Castle
Highclere Castle wedding photography | WEDDING 365#23
WEDDING 365 PROJECT – 365 days (strictly speaking of course 366 this year) 365 reportage wedding photographs.
SHOOTING DATA: 5DMk2, 24mm, F1.6, 1/600, ISO 125, underexposed by two thirds
VENUE: Highclere Castle, Newbury
ETHOS: Despite being reasonably close to me, I’ve only photographed at Highclere Castle a handful of times. Of course now this historic building has further televisual resonance, in that it is AKA Downton Abbey. I did record a number of ‘straight’ facade shots for the bride and groom, but this photograph complete with guests completes the storytelling landscape. Bride and groom have departed and guests are making their way to the car park. I shoot quite wide open and the sun is up and at me, but apart from having to ride the shutter speed slightly, it’s returned minus any requirement for supplementary lighting.
Highclere Castle wedding photographer | Mike and Rebecca
A story of two definitive stylised halves unfolded during this wedding. To afford one further football simile, Mike and Rebecca kicked off their wedding celebrations with a civil ceremony at Highclere Castle, which stands proudly within one thousand acres of glorious rolling Berkshire and Hampshire countryside. A home to Lord Carnarvon, Godson to the owner of that other reasonably famous Berkshire castle; Windsor. Period drama devotees may recognise some of the images contained herein of Highclere as belonging to ITV’s Downton Abbey. A ceremony, drinks reception on the lawns of The Castle, then a short drive back across nearby Newbury to a private afternoon and evening reception, under canvas cover supplied by five large interlinked teepees. And, as the sun sank below the horizon this night, I was left with an altogether different facade to photograph; Jacobethan architecture replaced by a rather more earthy braided line of conical ‘tents.’ If variety really is the spice of life, then this is the wedded version. Photographically, a dream event in a documentary wedding photographer’s diary.
