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To all potential 2011 wedding couples. Please note that following the budget announcement of an increase to 20% VAT we have now set our prices for all 2011 bookings. You’ll be pleased to know that we’re not charing any extra for TIME only for PRODUCTS. The prices of our albums and other products have to increase as our suppliers will be increasing their prices also. Click here to download a full wedding price guide for your information. We’ve actually even REDUCED some of our prices a little to make up for it. The disk of files for example, and adding extra pages to your album.
This is so often the case at weddings. You get one shot at the day, and one shot at the key moments. You can’t exactly ask the bride to walk down the aisle again because you missed it. At Bryony and Adam’s wedding recently, I had a moment I just had to get right. They had a plan to do a hay bail roll, that means four massive bails weighing a couple of tons each, rolled across the field by the most alpha of males, competing for glory.
They were set to do it, then they weren’t going to as things were running late and light was fading. I managed to persuade them to sneak it in before there first dance but had no time to plan lighting or anything. Within a matter of seconds it was over. I was just running between bails trying not to get crushed, snapping away.
The best you can do this situation is know your camera, know your exposure, make sure you have space on your card, close your eyes and run. Well, keeping your eyes open might help.
It was a great moment to remember from the day, lots of fun, competition, heroics and victory. I was glad to be able to capture it. The fleeting moments are often the most precious.
I was inspired by this TED talk by Ken Robinson about how education can kill creativity, not only because he reminds me of Michael Cain. While mainstream academic subjects are incredibly important (I know, two of my A levels were Maths and Physics) we should not sideline the arts.
He tells a story about a lady called Gillian Lynne. When she was young her mother took her to a specialist worried she had a learning disorder. Watch the 15 minute talk to find out how one little observation by the doctor changed her life and brought the success she has found as one of the most successful choreographers of modern times.
The line he said that hit me between the eyes, that I knew I could put into practice tomorrow was:
“If you are not prepared to be wrong you will probably not find creativity.”
Following on from a previous post about painting in Photoshop CS 5 , not knowing whether it could server any useful purpose, I may have found a great little use for it.
I recently did little painting, shot it on my phone and then ‘retouched’ it using the new mixer brush.
I masked the people out to a new layer and blended the background together. Then repainted the people over the top and added rain, highlights and puddles. I think this has great potential for fixing up those paintings that I just do too much on, or aren’t quite detialed enough. It’s important of course not to let photoshop take over and ruin the romance of painting with real paint, I spend enough time in front of my computer as it is!
Wedding photography is ALL about the people. Photographers should aim to make images that people will look at and say “That is so them”. Rather than, “how beautiful”, “what a lovely dress” or even “You look so happy”. All of that is important but being real tops them all in my book.
I had one of those rare occasions recently where I get to just be a guest but I was naturally observing the photographer now and then. It’s always so easy to criticise, and of course no one is perfect. This guy was really good, one of the best I’ve witnessed for a while. He was unobtrusive, polite, prefessional. All seemed good.
When I checked out the photos afterwards I was a little disappointed. Not in the sharpness, colour, attention to detail or composition, these were all pretty good, as I said he WAS good. It was just the lack of character. I know the couple and the images didn’t talk to me. Underneath all the vignetting and shallow depth of field all I could see was a likeness of my friend, not a representation of his personality.
It just served to remind me how important it is to capture ‘people’ at a wedding. So if you’re in the business and finding the same; reflect. Stop trying to copy other peoples poses, lighting or editing tricks just for now and make sure you connect with the PEOPLE.
