WEDDING 365 PROJECT – A year long journey through my wedding photographic catalogue.

SHOOTING DATA: 5DMk2, 24mm, F2, 1/125, ISO 1000 underexposed by a stop

ETHOS: This is captured using my favourite piece of glass. Without doubt, it’s the most versatile story telling lens I have; the 24mm F1.4. And whilst it’s not all about the gear, this lens, along with the 5DMk2′s great low light latitude certainly offers photographic documentary opportunities that were otherwise tougher on the operating limitations of gear I began my career with. I call this kind of shot, my Gilden-esque approach, inspired by the work of American street photographer Bruce Gilden. This New Yorker’s approach is at times exceptionally close, I wouldn’t say intrusive, just observationally tight. My good friend and photographic associate Giles Penfound introduced me to his work a few years back and there are times during a wedding that for pure storytelling, the Gilden-esque approach delivers the kind of raw angle that feels as if it’s come from the eyes of a guest living the event.

WEDDING 365 PROJECT – Daily choice of a documentary wedding photograph selected from my catalogue, collated from time spent documenting these unique events. Ethos provided for prospective brides and grooms, shooting data for the togs intrigued by that kind of information. Please comment if you feel the inclination of course!

SHOOTING DATA: 5DMk2, 135mm lens, F2, 1/320, ISO 640

ETHOS: One word, scale. Weddings are so often about that word. Towering steeples, imposing interiors, tiny chapels, sweeping hills, so on, so forth etc et al. This reception was set against the most incredible backdrop in Berkshire, a 180 of mature woodland. I do try to shoot scale where I can, unusual to attempt it with a 135 fixed though.

WEDDING 365 PROJECT – Daily choice of a wedding photojournalist image selected from my catalogue, collated from time spent documenting these unique events. Ethos provided for prospective brides and grooms, shooting data for the togs intrigued by that kind of information. Please comment, it makes a World of difference.

SHOOTING DATA: 5DMk2, 24mm lens, F1.4, 1/1250, ISO 160

ETHOS: I’ve written already about looking for several things to happen through the viewfinder when recording documentary wedding images. I’m drawn to this image by the different styles of conversation apparently ongoing. You can invent your own story, but I’m seeing a very stoic exchange in the background between the two chaps, foreground and mid ground to the left is your typical wedding chatter image, but the focal point is clearly the cheeky banter mid to the right. Before I even lifted the camera to my eye, I’d stood and watched this developing for a number of minutes. Can’t possibly divulge what they were saying!

WEDDING 365 PROJECT – The challenge, to present 365 unique images from my collection to demonstrate technical and emotional style.

SHOOTING DATA: 5DMk2, 35mm, F8, 1/400, ISO 400

ETHOS: This is one of a series of captures from the same scene, although this ultimately emerged as my favourite. There are many what could be termed as ‘traditional segments’ of the day where expectation dictates what a wedding photographer will return photographically. This can muddy the waters somewhat when trying to observe and not organise the day. Sooner or later the bride and groom, parents, guests, even ushers and best man, look to the photographer to make some sense out of what the wedding spreadsheet can’t; the real time logistics of this rather tenticular event. I’m gregarious by nature, though not overbearing (it’s not my day after all) so I don’t shy from lending a helping hand on that front, subtly, and only if requested. Confetti is one such moment where ideally I want to capture it naturally, but guests don’t see it that way. I’ll oft be prompted for some direction; “Now? Now? Do I throw it now?”  I don’t believe that a dismissive shrug of the shoulders feels appropriate, after all, how should guests know that in the main I’ve been commissioned for my wedding photojournalist slant. If I do give some instruction at this point, I’ll photograph past the juncture where you expect all floral munitions are spent. I know that the magic is likely to appear when all cameras have done their thing, for there are always some guests that have that little bit extra about their person. This, is the moment you witness genuine surprise and humour.

WEDDING 365 PROJECT – Daily choice of a documentary wedding photograph selected from my catalogue, collated from time spent documenting these unique events. Ethos provided for prospective brides and grooms, shooting data for the togs intrigued by that kind of information. Please comment, it makes a World of difference.

SHOOTING DATA: 5DMk2, 24mm, F1.4, 1/500, ISO 1000.

ETHOS: I sometimes describe what I do flippantly as a series of happy accidents. With each successive year my work becomes more documentary in form and capture. My eyes are less script led and there’s a maturity developing that seems to find photographic opportunities. Here’s a very simple image. I love the way grandparents connect with their grandchildren. Add to that some artwork in the background that shouts story story story, this one could be titled; “Fly like a bird my son, fly like a bird.” My wife incidentally sees something entirely different; their clothed synergy, in shirt form.

WEDDING 365 PROJECT – A favourite documentary wedding photograph collated from my time spent photographing these unique events. Ethos provided for prospective brides and grooms, shooting data for the togs intrigued by that kind of information. Please comment, it makes a World of difference.

SHOOTING DATA: 5DMk2, 24mm, ISO 250, F4, 1/5000.

ETHOS: If 365 is designed to showcase a ‘click in the life,’ it seems fitting to show what I see when I walk ‘on set’ most wedding mornings. This, is so often the start of each wedding story. The fact that the scene is somewhat cluttered with the props of the day ahead, is perfect. This very real photograph tells the story far more than a pristine invention of the truth. “Let me clear the table at least?” No thanks, I’ll answer, everything is perfect, just where it is.

WEDDING 365 PROJECT – A favourite photojournalist wedding photograph selected each day from my catalogue, collated from time spent photographing these unique events. Ethos provided for prospective brides and grooms, shooting data for the wedding photographers intrigued by that kind of info. Please comment, it makes a World of difference.

SHOOTING DATA: 5DMk2, 24mm, F1.4, 1/1600.

VENUE: Lains Barn.

ETHOS: I’m a massive fan of the true grit contasty black and white, the type of print that Robin Bell would produce in his famous London darkroom. This was from 2011′s New Year’s Eve wedding, captured in an exceptionally dark corridor where pin spots were the only available light source. You wait, you wait, you wait, then someone offers an opportunity. I must have hovered around these guys listening to their conversation develop for five minutes or so.

I have a vivid imagination. Consequently when I photograph at country houses, stately homes, castles and monasteries, that imaginative touch paper is kindled. I’ve not seen any kind of spector and if things mysteriously bump around me I’m oblivious to it, but I do like the stories I collect on my journeys as a documentary wedding photographer. I was brought up on a diet of history by my parents. Ufton Court in Berkshire is one such venue with a glorious history dating back to the 15^th Century under various guises, and I’m fortunate to be one of their preferred wedding photographers. You approach the house along a sweeping oak lined driveway, the kind Euromillions winners aspire to. There’s one room I visit over and over, although never alone. Photographically it’s produced a number of undeniably posed scenarios, but I do enjoy the juxtaposition between wedded celebration and a little historic menace. It’s a small room in the house, perhaps the tiniest. Three or four metres by say two? It’s remarkably silent. From a time when Catholicism was shunned in our country, this is a secret chapel hidden up a winding set of wooden steps that is linked by a private tunnel to the nearby woods – apparently. You can hear your own thoughts very easily. Some say, you can hear others’ thoughts. I’ve not, yet. You’ll spot that room within the images contained here I’m sure. I’ve been meaning to add the venue to my web list for some time, so here’s a varied portfolio of recent and not so recent Ufton Court weddings. If you’re planning on getting wed there and I enjoy the privilege of being chosen as your wedding photographer, we’ll go visit that room. If anything goes bump that should otherwise stay static, I’ll race you down the stairs.

“It’s been almost eight years since I fell in love with you. And if I could go back and tell my seventeen year old self that I would marry you, I think I would just about die of happiness. As I read these vows, I know that before me stands a man who has captured my heart with all his brilliant light. I promise you all my heart’s devotion, and a hand to hold yours through each tomorrow. I promise to love you in good times and in bad, with all I have to give, completely and forever, in sunshine and shadow. I promise I will laugh with you, not just at you, and to make your dreams as important to me as my own. I promise to bake you lots of brownies, and to always kiss you good bye before you go to work. You are my pillar of strength, my soul’s fire. I love you.”

“Steph, I love you with all my heart and I am proud to be standing here today ready to become your husband. I never knew on our school trip to Paris that the girl who caught my eye would one day be stood before me ready to become my wife. I promise to be loyal to you, to care for you in every way I can, and to always look out for both our interests. Whether you are happy or sad, rich or poor, I will be there, forever. And of course I promise to always take out the bin, and to always have your favourite pickles in the fridge.”

“What’s your favourite photo or moment from today,” I was asked, roughly 7 o clock, sun still kissing the courtyard at Rivervale Barn in Hampshire, with evening guests yet to arrive to Dan and Emma’s wedding. Usually a question asked upon my return home and whilst downloading images from a day’s wedding shoot but not one proposed by guests, it didn’t in reality take long to answer. “Speeches.” Hardly a hesitation. “Yes, speeches.” See, for me, I’m engaged by clients to be professionally nosey. I’m allowed to do the one thing parents forbade us from for much of our childhood. I can stare. All day. All day, staring. Sometimes with a camera to my eye, sometimes just observing minus an eye piece. Perhaps I should rephrase this as observing, for the documentary aficionados. It’s why I am primarily a wedding photographer. I do get asked to shoot commercial work, and usually because a client wants to achieve the results seen within these pages. But you simply can’t recreate some of the emotional highs (and lows) I observe during weddings. So, a favourite moment; our groom Dan turns to his father and thanks him. It’s a simple gesture, and one I see often. If you click ‘read more’ you’ll hopefully see what I saw during the exchange I reference here. Dan doesn’t need to use a microphone to say ‘thanks Dad.’