We’ve been doing market research

We like to keep an eye on how we are doing from time to time. To see how easy it is for people to find us and just to reassure ourselves that we are doing the right things. The difficulty is we don’t really have much contact with an enquirer if they decide not to book us and clearly if a couple don’t enquire we have no contact at all. So, what we set out to do is probably inconclusive that didn’t dawn on us until after we started to read the replies.




Still we liked the replies so much we thought we would like to share some of them.

We E-mailed a random selection of last year’s couples and some of this year’s Brides to be. We asked two questions

Can you remember how you found us?

And

What made up your mind to book us?




Here are a few of the answers:

“We found you through a Google search.

We absolutely loved your website, the home page caught our attention immediately, with various different types of shots and especially loved the added extra of the music. It sounds silly but if you can imagine yourself in the picture with the same sense of happiness the shot and music can fill you with then you're definitely on the right path for finding the perfect for photographer for you. Get's you really excited for the big day!

Thanks again, it's been nearly a year now!”



“Google search for Windermere wedding photographers.

Your approach, general appearance of your website and your gallery.”

“We found your website after trawling the web for wedding photographers in the area, and was one of the first things we looked for. Thinking back, your blog was also the deciding factor as to us choosing our church! As far as adverts and the like that caught our eye from the (still) ever-increasing pile of wedding magazines in the living room, I can't really recall any other advert that stood out - perhaps one from Lytham, but nothing else. The internet was definitely key for us finding you guys, as it allowed us to have a really good look at the styles and quality of photos and find photographers we're really happy with.

What made up our minds to book you?
The style of photographs, the quality of the photos, meeting you both in person, quality of chocolate biscuits, the strength of the coffee and the quality of chocolate biscuits (so good, they're worth mentioning twice!) And besides, you look like you could be quite handy on Photoshop if needs be!

In all seriousness though, it was the photographs that did it, plain and simple - to the point where we've restructured our entire budget to make sure we can have them.”


“1. Your names were on a list given to us by Linthwaite House Hotel.

2. I had been through nearly 2 dozen websites - weeded out the ones that seemed 'average' and yours were one of the best in terms of music (different), clarity of navigation (you'd be surprised at how many are rubbish!), variety of pictures (love, love, love the black and white ones) and the snippets about you two were very interesting.
I really wanted to email you, find out your prices and hopefully book you for our wedding - there's just an air of timelessness of so many photographs and I hoped that you would be the ones to capture this at our wedding!”

“We found you at our friends wedding! We loved their photos and the fact we were on some and hadn't noticed you taking them. This is what we wanted for our day! Loved the website too.

We thought we might not be able to afford you but having the flexibility of being able to book by the hour was excellent for us. Also the option of not being forced in to a traditional album and paying for the reproduction rights was perfect for us too.

Thanks again we still love our pictures!!”



“We found you on the Internet through a search on Google ''wedding photographers in Lake District''

We decided to book you as you were very helpful on the phone and were the most reasonable, out of the few we had looked at, for what we wanted.”

“We found you through the net, we liked your style of pics and we decided to use you guys after meeting you, as you were professional but friendly”

“We found you after hours and hours of searching online, looking in magazines etc. I think I came across your site on one of my web searches. Jim in particular was looking for a certain artistic flair in the photography and eventually we found you guys! We liked the balance of the formal/informal shots and all the smaller elements and details you caught on the weddings.


We decided to go with you on the day we met you both in London! We knew we loved the style and were reassured by the full albums you brought along. The friendly chat and enthusiasm of you both for what you do and also Jim's wedding car choice made us feel like you were on our wavelength and would capture what we were hoping for on the day. “

“No problem although I can't remember the answer to question 1. My best guess will be on the web or in the back of a wedding magazine.

For question 2, it was the lovely style of pictures, your helpful approach to answering my dappy questions and your pricing.”



“The Grange Hotel supplied us with a list of recommended suppliers and you were on that list. I looked through them all and preferred your style out of the others.

We felt comfortable with you both and that you understood what we wanted from the pictures, you talked us through everything and showed us lots of sample work, we loved the albums you showed to us, was an added bonus to get 2 photographers on the day and you were within our budget. Lots of reasons really!”

“Fairly simple: Internet search for wedding photographers and we liked what you had done for others on your web site.”

Pre Wedding Shoots in London

Last weekend we went to London again. Remember this time last year we met 4 couples for pre wedding shoots in London and drank too much coffee? Well, we do like continuity. So this time we met not just our wedding couples but some of their family members as well, and again we drank far too much coffee.

Last year we photographed Andy and Lenore’s Lake District wedding. Andy’s brother Nic and his fiancée Max liked what we did and the way we worked for Andy and Lenore so they have booked us for their wedding in Cheshire this July. They live near to Andy and Lenore in Highbury so they were our first visit.








From there we went on to Primrose Hill and met Charlie and Cormac. They are great fun and Cormac picked up on our coffee rush. Steve was on overdrive, “quick into the vegetable shop…Josh add some light!” Cormac’s impression of Steve was enhanced by his Irish accent. We are looking forward to their wedding at The Langdale Chase on 23rd April.







Finally we had a meeting organized in Canary Wharf with Svetlana and Martin. We did their pre wedding shoot last year and we are photographing their wedding in Siena in June. First of all though we had a brief detour to Svetlana’s brother’s Docklands apartment. Anatole and Lydia have two small children Benjamin, who is 2 and a half and the newest edition Arielle who is just 5 weeks old. We are looking forward to meeting them again on 15th June in Tuscany.

Trade secrets revealed…

James Stewart is a photographer in the US and joined our Facebook page recently. He had some questions about the way we work and as we had some requests from others as well we thought it might be interesting for photographers and clients alike if we answered those questions here on our blog. We have no secrets and we are very happy to share technical and aesthetic approaches with other photographers. You can use the comments section on here or post on our Facebook page. We would like it to become a regular feature. We may not always have the answers but we will do our best.



So here is what James asked on our Facebook wall:


“Thank you for taking the time to write...I do have a couple of questions. When you are making the photographs I see here...you also take the more formal shots as well right? How do respond if you get clients that want you to do more formal shots and less observational shots? How much of these great shots are made post-wedding? Are there shots you take in many weddings that while they aren't traditional...are sort of your signature photograph? I also notice that many of the inside church photographs are made using natural light, what would you set your ISO to in order to capture enough light? I'm sorry for all the questions, but I would appreciate any help you could possibly give...Thank you again...”



I will take James’ questions one at a time but first I think there is a general theme running through. We tell the story of a wedding day through pictures. We are both academically trained in photography, which is not common among wedding photographers, so as well as the how we take photographs we contemplate the why we take photographs or why our clients want us to. I think that is quite unusual in our profession and goes some way to explaining what we achieve. Every image we make has a purpose. We photograph a wedding with the narrative in mind. We are not looking for single stand out pictures but sequences and series of story telling images, that’s why our slideshows work as well as they do. Because we have read the likes of Susan Sontag and Roland Barthes we understand a little about signs and signifiers that allude to narrative. So we look for the “tells” that complete the story.



So for James’ first question… Yes we do make “formal” group pictures and portraits of the couple. We talk to the couples that book us and we listen to their ideas of what they would like from their photographs and we always aim to please. I have been photographing weddings for 35 years so our “formal” (I’m putting that in quotation marks because they are pretty informal actually) are not bad but that is not what we are known for. So a couple who are looking for a lot of formal pictures are probably better spending their budget on somebody who does that sort of work. Family groups are an important part of the photography of a wedding day, it’s a rare opportunity to get the family together and some people have a knack of avoiding cameras so the formal situation might be a once only chance. But… we recommend that the list of requested formals is kept short, from our point of view, it’s better to make fewer, bigger groups than lots of small ones. We suggest the list is kept to 4 or 5 and one with everyone on if location and weather allow. That’s also true of the portraits we make of the couple. We don’t want to turn the wedding into a photo shoot. We would like our customers to take away an album that helps them to recall their wedding day not a memory of having their picture taken. Also we do not ask our customers to adopt unnatural poses for the sake of the photograph. For similar reasons I have a problem with added filters and effects but I think that might form the basis of another question.



I’m not quite sure what James meant by “post-wedding”. If he meant after the day the answer is none. All of our wedding pictures are made on the day. If he meant after the ceremony, the answer is most of the formals. The tradition in England is for the Bride and Groom not to meet on the day until they are at the altar, or in front of the registrar when the ceremony begins. Polish weddings, we have done a few, the Bride and Groom arrive together. So we usually do the formal pictures after the ceremony at the reception venue. Josh sometimes photographs the Groom, parents and attendants before the ceremony and I might do the same with the Bride.




I don’t think we really have signature images. We often see pictures recurring that we have made before but that’s probably because there are similar events going on that add to the narrative. We both like reflections, in mirrors, windows even shiny cars. We tend to use foreground objects out of focus, or shoot through naturally occurring frames. Guests can make great objects to frame and shoot through. We like using cars and buildings and we live and predominantly, work in one of the worlds most beautiful landscapes so it would be wrong of us not to make something of that. Principally though we respond to the personality of the wedding and the story of the day.



James said that he noticed that many of the inside Church pictures are made using natural light. All of our pictures are made using available light. Either natural daylight or room lighting. We don’t use flash or added lighting. We might, on occasions, use a reflector to bounce light back into a portrait or group picture. There are two reasons we don’t use flash. One, we want to preserve the atmosphere of the day. Added lighting is for the sake of photography only and although it can be done beautifully has nothing to do with the way it is on the day. The second reason we don’t use flash is we like to be unobtrusive, as soon as we fire a flash everybody knows there is a photographer in the room. So, ancient buildings and English weather all add up to very low light levels. Back in the day when we shot on film we really struggled, push processing film to add punch to underexposed highlights and non existent detail in deep, dark shadows. But we have arrived in the digital age and using the equipment we have now is like we have discovered the alchemist’s quest. We use Nikon D700’s. They have a full size sensor that offers up low noise even at very high ISO rating. We are more interested in noise reduction than we are megapixels so the D700 is our ultimate bit of kit. They are also small and fairly inconspicuous, we don’t want to stand out as photographers. In Church we may find ourselves working at 1600 ISO but first dance pictures are often made at 6400 ISO. We use noise reduction software in extreme circumstances, if we have had to pull detail out of shadows. We also add film grain effects. For two reasons, grain appears more attractive than noise and tends to mask it and two because we still love the look of Tri X deved in Rodinol.



I hope that helps, James and anybody else who may be interested. Please add comments or questions and we will answer them in a further post.

The 5th at 12, not the 12th at 5…

Last Saturday we were waiting for our 1pm sitting to come in when we got a phone call, “Hi Steve, its Dominic, you are photographing our wedding on the 16th of April.” “Hi Dominic, how are you?” “we are fine, we are in Grange, we were expecting you at 12 for our pre wedding shoot?”. When we looked in the diary we had put them in on the 12th of March at 5pm instead of the 5th of March at 12, luckily Dominic and Emma are lovely people and didn’t hold it against us. We did our studio sitting and got to them for 2.30pm and made what we think are some stunning pictures (we think it was worth the wait!). We are looking forward to the wedding on the 16th of April (we will be there at 11am on the dot!).