It’s no secret that I make a good living from wedding photography. But it wasn’t always like that. When I left the BBC after a successful career as a lighting cameraman, I imagined the transition to professional stills photography would be a piece of cake. It wasn’t. I managed to get work but my photography was dull and uninspiring. I suppose I just hadn’t grasped that ‘decisive moment’ stuff which is the difference between movies and stills.
When it came to weddings I was fl oundering. I’d walk into a hotel and struggle to fi nd anywhere to shoot. There was always a reason why a shot would not work – too much clutter, too dark, too busy, too boring, and so on. In fact, my results were so disappointing that I once told my wife Julie, ‘Never let me shoot another wedding.’ And I meant it.
Fortunately I persisted, proved myself wrong, and 200 bookings later, I love every wedding! So what happened? Basically I saw the light – literally. Knowing how to use that light is what makes shooting a wedding fun. I also obtained ‘the knowledge.’ That meant looking at other people’s wedding pictures, going on courses, having my own work assessed, and reading books like this one. As a result, I now have the confi dence to create images in any situation using just about any light source I come across. But although light is what creates our pictures and makes them look good, something extra is required to guarantee a sale.
What’s needed is the ability to capture emotion. It’s here that I’m grateful to Julie who has always been the best critic of my work. In the early days, before she had even picked up a camera, she instinctively knew which of my shots the clients would want. Unlike many photographers, Julie wasn’t bogged down by the technicalities of photography, she just saw clearly which shots worked and which didn’t. Later, as a photographer, that made her a natural.
Together, we embarked on a journey. Yes, we wanted commercial success. But we wanted to achieve it through excellence. We would do this by creating a first-class brand. In short, we wanted to present to our clients with the best possible wedding coverage – precious memories that would help them to relive the joy, the love, the humor, the excitement, and the fulfillment of their special day.
Our journey has not always been smooth – in fact it’s been a roller-coaster ride. But it’s always been exhilarating and we’ve never stopped learning. In this book, we’d like to share with you our experiences, our passion, and the lessons we have learned. It’s such a gift to be able to take pictures that make people happy!
Damien Lovegrove