London sunshine, 17th April

Steve and Gosia had a beautiful day for their wedding in Islington and South Kensington.

As is often the case nowadays I met up with the Groom and Steven went to the Bride. This time though we all came back together at Steve and Gosia’s apartment.

Gosia’s Dad traveled from Poland over night and because of the ash cloud had to hitch a lift with a courier’s van. He was tired by the trip but as Steven said you would go to those lengths to be at your daughter’s wedding wouldn’t you?

Steve and Gosia traveled to the Church together with me in the back seat of their Fiat 500 while Steven and Gosia’s parents got there by cab. It wasn’t until we had finished work and were about to get on the train at South Kensington Station I realised I still had the keys to the Fiat 500 in my pocket. So I had to hotfoot it back to the reception venue.

We always like working in London, it’s very different to the Lakes and it’s good to know that we are equally at home with London weddings as we are with Lake District weddings.

We hope, Steve and Gosia, you managed to find a way to get to your honeymoon and the ash cloud hasn’t spoilt your holiday, there was no way it was going to spoil your lovely wedding day.


Josh

Peter and Catherine, 10th April 2010.

Peter and Catherine live and work in London but both of their families have strong associations with The Lake District. So when they thought about where they would tie the knot The Lakes shot to the fore. Our weather cannot be predicted but Peter and Catherine couldn’t have wished for better, it was a glorious day for their Lake District wedding.

The service was at Hawkshead Church followed by a reception at Belmount Hall. We are back at Belmount Hall on 1st May for Rebecca and Campbell’s wedding.

Congratulations Peter and Catherine and we hope you don’t have too many difficulties with your flights home.

Rob and Annette, 7th April 2010

Most times we get an E mail enquiring about our availability and pricing that’s often followed by another asking to meet. Sometimes we will have further phone calls or E mails. Then we get the completed contracts and retainer. Usually, around a month before the wedding we will have a meeting or phone call with the couple to finalise the details.

Rob rang about a month ago to ask what we would charge to attend a vow renewal ceremony for an hour or two. We gave him a price and he said he would get back to us. Around a week later we heard back. “I would like to go ahead. It’s a big surprise for Annette so please don’t call me on this number”. So that was it we didn’t know anything except the date, the time and that we would meet them both at St. Martins Church, just down the road from the Studio.

We waited in the Church yard at the given time. We were in no doubt who the couple were because as they walked through the gate Annette burst in to tears. We attend a lot of emotional occasions but this was one of the most moving we have seen.

Congratulations Annette and Rob.

No Fools at The Cragwood

No Fools at the Cragwood

Sorry if we are a little late with this post but we have been pre-occupied with computers going bad, buying new ones and moving files.

We had the honour of photographing Kate and Justin’s wedding at The Cragwood on April 1st. We were a little worried about the date especially as we knew we were going to be working with The Cragwood’s manager, Phil, who, we all know, likes a joke. He was on his best behaviour though and the whole day was very much for real.

The brave guests ventured outside just long enough for us to make one big group picture but, as the snow capped hills show, it was freezing and everyone thought it best to get back in as soon as possible. Kate and Justin, being heated by nervous energy, dragged us down to the Lake to make a few portraits. We left soon after the speeches. Top of the bill was a riotous double act from Justin’s Best men.

We are very pleased with the pictures and we hope Kate and Justin love them as well. Best wishes to you both.

The Art of Observation part 3

The next installment of the art of observation, an article on our approach to wedding photography.


Cheers

Josh


The art of Observation

Part 3

The Invisible Observer

Steven Taylor


A few years back, when observational wedding photography was still quite new to the UK, I read an article in a Photography Magazine. The magazine was from a new trade association for wedding photographers, I wasn’t a member and I didn’t subscribe to the magazine, they had sent it to me to persuade me to join. The article was called something like “ How to get the Look of Reportage Wedding Photography”. It went on to explain that “Reportage” was about making pictures in black and white and creating pictures that depicted the subject doing something, not looking at the camera. They talked about using fast film to accentuate the grain (pre-digital of course), they suggested printing in the border. My point is the whole article, as it said in the title, was about achieving a look. That premise for me was miles off the mark. I got that look to my pictures because of my approach to the wedding day, because of my philosophy of being an invisible observer.



As I have said before, I found contrived wedding photographs embarrassing to make, and if I did I am sure my subjects did. I didn’t like the way the photographer dominated the wedding day. I didn’t like the idea of bossing people around just to make a photograph and I found the whole starring into the flowers thing totally naff (the 21st century equivalent is the bride holding her veil above her head to blow in the wind), just my opinion you understand. So for me, “reportage wedding photography” wasn’t about a look, if it had been it would have gone out of fashion 10 years ago.

Around the same time I remember an album manufacturer’s rep telling me he had a customer who said he would like to do “reportage” but didn’t know what pictures to make.

Do you mind if I go back to calling the style observational? Thanks.

Observational wedding photography is about truth. It is about telling the story of the day as it was, not as the photographer contrived it. There is no shortage of images to make on the day; I imagine that the photographer the rep was referring to was more comfortable making portraits, and that is the point of why there is such a gulf between traditional and observational wedding photography.



Since professional photographers have photographed weddings, usually, the photographer of choice has been the local, high street, family portraitist. A family portrait photographer sells his pictures to the family he depicts. He wants to flatter the subject. The pose is carefully arranged, props are introduced and the subject is lit in the most flattering light. Often the images are retouched to smooth skin and remove blemishes. When these people photographed a wedding their training meant they had to control all of the elements. Also until relatively recently film quality wasn’t brilliant. Films were slow or very grainy and 35mm images didn’t enlarge well. So most photographers worked with medium format cameras that were the size, shape and weight of a brick. Unless you were built like Arnie the cameras were best mounted on tripods and when the light dropped it was time for flash. In the eighties, when I started making observational wedding pictures film technology went through the “T” grain revolution. That meant we had films that would work well in low light, without flash and 35mm negatives enlarged much better so we could leave the tripod at home.



As somebody who was very interested in documentary photography, I consumed all the books and went to all the exhibitions within that genre I could, I really couldn’t see how that methodology couldn’t work on a wedding day. So, combined with my assumption and all the new technology I set out to make observational wedding photography. What happened next was a whole new generation of wedding photographers that, like me, were not portraitists.

That all said I am still concerned with looking for flattering images. Now instead of moving the subject into the right light, I position myself so that the right light falls on the subject. Instead of posing the subject I watch for the subject to find the right pose for themselves. It’s all about observation; I have been to hundreds, maybe thousands of weddings. I know that at some point while the Bride is signing the register the Groom will adjust his new wedding ring, it’s a pretty good chance that when the Bride’s dad walks into the bedroom and sees his Daughter ready to go he will gasp, cry, smile and beam with pride and at some point during the Bestman’s speech the Groom will bury his face in his hands.

So, being an observational wedding photographer is all about being an invisible observer not a visible portraitist.