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.
FIG. 2 ISO 400 f/4 at 1/1000th
An album picture may come from the most unusual places. The random scatter of confetti on this stone pavement caught my eye at a recent wedding.
Fig. 3 ISO 400 f/3.2 at 1/90th
I laid these orders of service booklets out on an old chest at the back of the church. A vignette was added in post-production to create the illusion of a pool of light.
Julie's full detail shot of these roses excluded all extraneous clutter. Going in tight solves many problems at times.
Vehicle details have always been a good subject to shoot. You will have to do them well if you want a client to buy them though.
Fig. 6 ISO 400 f/4.5 at 1/180th
The out of focus part of this image is as important as the in focus bit. I often compose pictures using the out of focus background. I chose the Hasselblad H1 camera system because of the excellent bokeh of the lenses. Bokeh is the name given to the characteristic of the out of focus part of an image as created by a particular lens. I used my 210 mm lens on my H1 with its Phase One P25 digital back to get this look.
Fig. 7 ISO 400 f/3.5 at 1/125th
Pictures like these make great visual punctuation marks in wedding album design.
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