Ok so am I being a tad cheeky when I say destination wedding? I did not have to get on an airplane that is true but I did drive three and half hours though beautiful forests and farm country to get there. I had the window down, listening to Xavier Rudd watching beautiful scene after beautiful scene pass me by and occasionally I had a coffee in hand.

Here is a little sneak peak from Paul and Jasmins’ awesome wedding which was on their family farm dating back to 1892. Paul is an environmental scientist and it was really cool to find out that the Blackwood River starts on their property. I remember him telling me when we first met about how he and his family had applied for a grant and they had planted 3000 trees, shrubs and grasses all local native species to the area.

It’s nice to know there are good news stories out there concerning the environment and it’s something that my my wife Shannon and I are considering on our property in Margaret River as we develop our interpretation of a Permaculture Farm.

I chose this pic because it reminds me of how excited I was when Jasmin told me she had a ute and thought it could be good for a photo somehow. Instantly this photo popped into my head and I excitedly requested it be driven to the top of a hill where Paul and Jasmin could jump on the back. I loved the dark moody sky, so dramatic but the tricky part was lining up the light band of cloud to Paul and Jasmins heads to create a silhouette.

 

 

Imagine if the people in these photographs were your aunt, sister or grandmother at your wedding. Consider that they might not always be this happy and emotional in their day to day life. How much enjoyment would you get from re visiting these split second moments when people you know just let their guard down because they are there for you and they love you so much that they feel like this. Fantastic.

 

 

 

 

It has taken me many years to evaluate and know what really matters to me when I am asked to record and document a wedding. I find it hard to put into words because every potential sentence has a cliche or two lurking and I hate the thought of sounding like a sales brochure.

Discovering your style can take a long time.  When you have found your passion and what you love to do, you have to be brave enough to just be that person.

I have photographed weddings for twenty years now and only in the last five years has my photography matched what I am 100% passionate about. Prior to that, I was like many photographers around now, photographing what I thought I should to play it safe. I was covering all the bases whilst my work and satisfaction suffered.

There came a point where I realised that unless I was true to myself I was always going to be one of the many photographers out there. I would never have a defining style and I would not have clients that must have me for their wedding.

In being genuine to myself and my clients I have found many positives. My clients tell me how great I am (heh that is nice) I get beautiful posts and reviews thanking me. I need to keep the tissue boxes stocked at my studio because my work connects with people. My photographs mean so much to them that during their wedding premiere slideshow my clients get emotional. I have amazing wedding venues asking to recommend me and wanting to use my photographs for their advertising. Magazines ask to publish my work. Most importantly though is that I am photographing what I am passionate about. I am attracting fantastic clients that I love to hang out with. Their weddings are awesome, they are really cool unique weddings with a story to be told.

So what is my style, what is my passion. I love people and the connections they have to their best mates and family. If you put this into the context of “a wedding” there is a lot of emotion that comes from these connections. I absolutely love to capture emotions, happy or sad, when people are dropping their guard and revealing their genuine emotions for another person or just so  happy and excited that they look like they will burst. I know how to record emotions very well and I can build a beautiful collection of “photographs with a story” very quickly.

I do not interrupt an occasion that is wonderful and spontaneous to try to re create it in a contrived way. I move around all the time, I never stop but my clients often say they never saw me. They are often amazed at how much I have captured, things that they did not get to see or do not remember happening. Photographs that have captured their mother so happy and laughing that no one ever has managed to get. Imagine how good that makes me feel to hear that.

I also love to see beautiful light within a scene and I will direct my clients within that to create a photograph that would look amazing as an art piece on their living room wall. Landscape photography has been a passion since studying the great artists and the rules of composition for my photography degree. I bring this background into my wedding work to create compositions and light that are unique to me. I can say that with conviction because I have not looked at another wedding photographers work for five years or more. I get my influences from art and other areas of photography.

Lastly, have you ever heard the classic album bashing comment from a friend or relative, “don’t bother getting an album because it will just sit in the cupboard”? Well if your wedding photographs were just not you, posed and awkward then I would say fair enough lets get that out of sight and in the cupboard. I have heard people say they are embarrassed about their wedding photographs and they can not bare to look at them. My photography is about giving you photographs that bring your day back to you, every feeling, every laugh and tear. Imagine owning an album that could bring your wedding day back to you whenever you wanted to view it.

This is what Sarah and many of my clients have recently said about my work…

 

 

 

When I was studying for my photography degree in England I had this amazing lecturer, a really lovely old guy called Bill. We used to love handing out some banter to one another about our work etc. I would spend day after day in the darkroom excitedly developing and then wet printing my black and white prints. It was the best fun. When I was really happy with something I had developed I would put a wet print in a tray and take it up to Bill to show him, when he liked the work, he would simply say, “winner!” and smile.

The beautiful grounds at Voyager Estate are really interesting. There are lots of symmetrical lines in the pathways and the flower beds that create strong compositions in my photographs. This shot of Prue is really simple but I love the lines of the vines as they sweep down the hill. The changing in the shades of green as the light hits the leaves with more intensity creates a real interest to the eye. I like to create photographs where the viewers eye goes wandering around checking out all the different parts. In this photograph I tend to look at the background and then I look at the soft subtle colours of Prue’s bouquet. Her dress is neatly collected at the bottom, it’s crisp white colour stands out against the soft light cast by cloud cover.

Prue and Tim got married at Voyager Estate in Margaret River. It was a beautiful summers day in the South West and we had so much fun with the photos which I will share later.

What I really love about this photograph is the composition. There are so many interesting strong dark shapes that take up two thirds of of the composition. I think this sets the scene and gives the viewer a sense of how amazing the South West region is with it’s beautiful forests and spectacular landscapes. I love the story within this photograph. Prue’s dress is being fixed up by her bridesmaid in preparation for some photographs. I had seen an opportunity to photograph this from a more interesting angle.  Part of my plan was to include the rather sexy old Jaguar car in the background. That was enough for me to launch into the bush to see if I could get something really special. I think it was worth it.

To me, photography is an art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place… I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.

Elliott Erwitt

I really love this quote, it is so true. This photograph really defines this whole idea for me. I was at Cape Lodge photographing Dyana and Asher’s wedding and we were heading up to the vineyards. I was chatting as we walked up and I saw this scene. You had to be at a certain angle to get the full effect of the light skimming across the driveway. I noticed the light and pictured the photograph in my head as I continued walking and talking, my brain went into a mini melt down with excitement. Thats when I had to get this photograph and directed Dyana and Asher into a position that the light would frame them. I new this would be a really beautiful shot before I had lifted the camera to my eye. The camera is just an instrument to record what you see, now that is what is awesome about being a photographer.

Dyana and Asher absolutely love this photograph. They have a beautiful acrylic artwork hanging on their wall at home and their friends often comment on how beautiful it is. That makes me so happy.