I woke up to see an article in the newspaper about the couple whose wedding I was going to be photographing today. The wedding itself was in London and then the reception at Blake Hall in Essex. The couple were great and the wedding was super low-key and in the hot sun with cocktails and ice cream and very nice gardens – another very nice wedding with very nice people.
Less than two more weeks to go until I return to London to photograph another wedding, this time in Kent, with more friends of a friend. It will most certainly be a lovely wedding, lots of it seems to be outside, walking from church to reception, or drinks in the garden so I desperately hope for some sun, as I am sure do Chloe and Rob.
I know the bride and bridegroom and they are very cool so it was never going to be a bad one. I had photographed the groom’s sisters wedding at the same house the year before (or was it two years ago?) and so knew my way around the place and the family and friends. The place where the meal was being held was beginning to flood so everyone set to in sweeping away the water. A really good ceremony written by the couple and given by a grandfather, very elegant, succinct and all things good. I found it quite hard at some points with the low lighting and small space to move around in during the wedding ceremony, there was nowhere I could hide to get the pictures from and felt a bit intrusive, I really do prefer to be especially invisible and inaudible during the ceremony. The speeches were part of the ceremony and my best friend’s boyfriend (their wedding is later this year and I am not the wedding photographer horray) was the best man, his speech was also supremely elegant. So good. I have another wedding photography job tomorrow at the Royal Opera House so must go to sleep.
The weather in Wiltshire was terrible this time, torrential rain that flooded the barn etc etc, so almost everything was moved inside. The light (darkness) and space made the photography pretty difficult but the people were as beautiful and fun as ever so there were at least some aspects that were easy. Off to the Opera House soon and then of course will start editing tonight and then for 24 hours on Monday in order to get the prints done beofre I return to Mexico City. Will post the images of Issy and Andrew’s wedding in a few days I imagine.
Such a nice wedding, such a nice couple, a beautiful ballerina bride, so gentle and kind and a really sweet bridesmaid who was the daughter of the bride. First went to photograph the bride getting ready at Claridges then onto Marylebone Town Hall (very familiar to me by now) for the ceremony and then to the Royal Opera House for the reception. We even got a tour around the Opera House afterwards, fantastic.
About to set off for my first wedding photography job this year. It is remarkable how I still get quite nervous beforehand. I have photographed a wedding at this very same house before, a couple of years ago and it was extremely beautiful. I am quite sure this will be no less so. Working as a wedding photographer is certainly quite strange work, as it is within a completely un-worky context so all a bit confusing, there are brilliant sides to this but it also somehow increases the pressure I think. Maybe not, but anyway, I do still get very nervous, much much more than I do for any other work, even if it is photographing Ian Paisley and I am not quite sure why. Well obviously, the responsibility of a wedding photographer is quite vast on a personal level and somehow this feels closer and more terrific than most solely professional responsibilities.
Wow, so beautiful and once again, such nice people, some of whom I knew and already knew they were nice but some new ones too! Ridiculously sunny and perfect we even did some shots of Chloe the bride and her friends running through a meadow, sounds silly but it was so great and kind of classic in a way. I think even the worst wedding photographer in the world could have got good photos of this wedding.
Only a couple of weeks to go until I leave Mexico City for London to photograph my first two weddings of the year. It will be strange to do some proper work again after so much adventure, newness and fun. And more so having recently celebrated my own wedding in the mountains of the Sierra Gorda. But I am very much looking forward to it, the first one is in a beautiful country house with beautiful people (some of whom I know) and I am sure will be very enjoyable. The second is in the Royal Opera House with an very nice couple and a relatively very small group of people. Weddings that take place completely inside always scare me a bit for some reason but I just need to go and have a quick look around with a model during the week and remember to concentrate a bit more than usual. I would be quite pathetic if I did not manage to get some good photographs in such a setting. I have my new 5d mark II which makes life a lot easier.
Recently have been getting more enquiries for this year which is excellent, mostly in the UK of course but a couple in Mexico. It looks as though I will be there for a week or so at the end of May/beginning of June and then from the end of June until the end of September. I am thinking of coming back after Chole and Rob’s wedding at the end of June for a wedding here in Guadalajara but it does not really make sense and may coinside with the Tayor Wessing Portrait Prize deadline in which case I will stay in London to print and hand in my 6 images – not sure what they will be but I suppose I may as well keep entering.
Everyone here seems to get married in Guadalajara, I have just received yet another wedding photography enquiry from there.