So, I’ve now been to two games and taken photos and the teams involved seem to really like them. It’s nice to feel appreciated!
There are many facets to photography. One area that we are becoming known for, is property photography. We are currently working with several estate agents and also commissioned by private sellers and holiday home owners to photograph properties. Property photography is quite technical and it takes a while to develop the skills to get the shots (and the subsequent editing) right.
To this end we have recently set up Property Image Services as a separate division of our marketing consultancy so that we can concentrate on this area of photography. We have also obtained our PfCO (drone licence) so that we can offer aerial property photography – which is very useful if the property has land attached.
I know. I know. I said I’d never do weddings. And I don’t. But I did do one. Recently.
In November last year (on my birthday, in fact) some very good friends on mine asked if I would be prepared to shoot their wedding. They didn’t want stiff, formal shots, but did want informal ‘capture the moment’ stuff and even hinted that they might like them in black and white. They would understand if I’d rather not (as I’d be invited anyway). I did take a few days to think about it – but as you’ve probably gathered, I agreed to do it – as our wedding present to the happy couple.
As it turned out, my wife Sara also got roped in and organised the flowers and some room prepping for the big day. This involved her meeting a florist, getting trained in making up boquet’s and buttonholes, as well as having to be at the flower market at 6am just before the wedding.
So, on the big day, which was on 14th April 2018, we were at the venue (the beautiful Hartlebury Castle) at 8am, ready with ivy to decorate the dual staircase in the Great Hall, the candelabra in the Dining Room and the mantelpieces in both rooms.
When the guests arrived I found myself dashing in and out of the venue photographing people as they walked up to the Castle and then back inside as they greeted the groom (Tim). The bride (Nicky) meanwhile was upstairs getting ready for her grand entrance. Dashing in and out meant lots of fiddling with the ISO. I actually set the camera on Aperture priority to reduce the amount of knob fiddling I’d need to do. I’m glad I did that – as the light conditions were changing all the time.
As well as me (the photographer) the couple had also asked a videographer to shoot the wedding. We tried to co-ordinate where we’d be in order not to get in the way of each other – but I suspect I got into his shots a lot!
At the allowed time, the upstairs doors opened and the couple descended to stairs. I had to walk swiftly backwards, shooting them as they came down and then walked towards the fireplace where the Humanist wedding was taking place. I moved around (as subtly as I could) during the service to get shots from every angle. Then it was the register. Then they walked back up the aisle with me walking backwards again in front. After that it was drinks, some outdoor shots and then the meal & speeches. The day was rounded off with dancing to the excellent band. (These shots were tricky as it was almost dark and I didn’t want to use flash so by this time the ISO was up to 8000!). In some the slight blur looks okay as you can see some of the movement.
All in all, it wasn’t quite as scary as I thought it would be.. but maybe that’s because Tim & Nicky are our friends and were not putting me under any great pressure. They just left me (and Sara who acted as my assistant in the latter part of the day) to get on with it. Will I do any more weddings. No, it’s very unlikely…. Or maybe I should never say never?
Recently I had the opportunity to shoot two models using two different lighting set-ups and two different cameras in a large studio. It was the first time that I’ve used anything other than a Nikon for a long time and it made me realise how familiar I have become with one particular camera and how rubbish I was at finding my way round a different one (it was an Olympus). In the end we got some shots though and I was quite pleased with the fact that I could make the camera do what I wanted (after a lot of faffing about). The ones taken on the Olympus (with speedlites) have the spiral staircase in the background and the others are taken with my Nikon (and 1 large soft box plus a reflector)
