Why have them?
Good question I’m glad you asked - yes I’m talking to myself, or maybe you wondered too?
Theres nothing quite like seeing something with your own eyes or to be more precise in this instance, from your own personal viewpoint. If you’re a festival or concert go-er I’m sure you’ll agree that watching a festival on a tv pales by comparison to actually being there. Same with anything really, being there, feeling involved is the best experience possible.
Looking at something either photographed or filmed from a different perspective isn’t quite the same experience.
Photobombing. Cheshire wedding
Fly on the wall?
This is where from a wedding photography standpoint I’m rather different. If you’ve looked at a number of my pictures you may have consciously realised you feel like a real observer of what’s going on (or subconsciously done so). That’s to do with a number of things - what I use for that field of view, how I work, how I take pictures, how relaxed people are around me.
Someone said to me the other week “it’s like I’m there, actually there when I look at your pictures - they’re normal yet beautiful and compelling to look at, it’s weird like a sci-fi film where someone has downloaded the contents of a wedding guest’s brain and printed them out” odd but flattering description- that’s what I go for (not people’s brains rest easy). The look of being there, witnessing it first hand - someone involved, not a bystander.
I’m a guest
So there you go, the secrets out, I’m actually a guest at your wedding, not a photographer, real fly in the wall pictures of real life at weddings (actually not a fly on the wall that would be too distant, more like a fly on a guests head without the annoying buzzing sound). All the emotion, the nerves, the humour, the fun - and anything else your wedding brings, photographed from right in there, right amongst it, without actually people feeling awkward about the whole thing.
My philosophy is ‘you can’t tell a story unless you’re a part of it’ otherwise you’re just an observer, and that doesn’t work if you want a real connection, real personality and uniqueness from your wedding pictures.
Mum telling a joke. Cheshire wedding
Guests throwing napkins at each other. Manchester wedding
The guy who knocked the cake over. London wedding
Best man speech. Cheshire wedding
Tequila it makes you happy.. Cheshire wedding
Dancefloor love. Cheshire wedding
Wedding guests. Cheshire wedding
Try and act normal 🤷♂️. Cheshire wedding
The band. Cheshire wedding
Family moment. Manchester wedding
Anyway, I could carry on all day putting pictures up but hopefully you get the point I’m trying to make.
My approach is unique, to the general guest list on your day I am not a wedding photographer. Your wedding pictures will be about you, your day, the real things, not the fake stuff.
Trust me - these are the things in years to come that will show how good your day was, standing under a tree in an awkward pose will mean next to nothing, real people, real raw moments, people’s character, they are the things you’ll want to remember - invest in something meaningful and personal, not generic and mediocre.
This isn’t cookie cutter photography - it’s photography about you, unique and priceless in years to come. They are your wedding pictures, your memories.