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Our Philosophy to Photography
There are very special and enchanting moments in life that last only a fraction of a second. Our philosophy is to look very closely to find, capture and preserve life in its full beauty at your wedding, engagement party or event. Our relaxed and unobtrusive approach enables us to record the complete story in the form of photographic memories that will last for a lifetime.
1. Engagement and Wedding Photography
Style & Approach
“Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever... it remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything.” Aaron Siskind
Contemporary documentary wedding photography has become the preferred choice for many couples. The journalistic approach means the day can unfold uninterrupted with the photographer as an internal observer, capturing the very precious and sometimes brief moments. It is all about observing and then reacting to the emotions, feelings and love. When these moments are put together, they become a narrative of the day and will be part of a very personal family story that can be revisited for a lifetime or longer. The challenge is to see what is important for the couple, and therefore empathy and preparation are critical.
"All the technique in the world doesn't compensate for the inability to notice." Elliot Erwitt
With everyone today having relatively good cameras, it is even more than ever the distinct technique and style of the person behind the camera that makes all the difference and is ultimately the driver as to how much is spent for a wedding photographer. We build on our street photography and portrait track record and focus and capture all the little and big moments of your wedding, resulting in intimate, personal, and informal pictures that tell a fantastic story.
"To take a photograph is to align the head, the eye and the heart." Henri Cartier-Bresson
We use several high-grade Canon cameras (5D I/II series) combined with prime "L" lenses that enable us to work with available light, resulting in a very distinctive, flattering and artistic look. We observe, notice and react to what happens and we therefore don't only see, but also feel and anticipate great moments, besides blending in with your guests.
Coverage
We offer an outstanding service for a full day coverage:
- The narrative of your big day starts with the bride's preparations and can also include the groom getting ready with an optional second photographer. During this time we capture some beautiful moments of your fascinating transformation into bride and groom. In addition we take photos of all the important details, such as your dress, shoes and jewellery. All of this is completely unstaged and helps you getting used to us being around. This means you may forget about us eventually and we can capture the true emotions for the rest of the day.
The story continues with the photographs of the groom, best men, ushers and guests arriving. The magic moment of you as the bride and your attendants arriving is not to be missed, followed by respectful coverage of your ceremony (without the use of flash). After the register signing, we take candid photographs of the very happy hours to follow.
Before you and the guests enter the wedding breakfast room, we capture some details of the room and tables. The story then continues with you entering the room and the guests welcoming you. We continue to follow the flow for the rest of the day, i.e. speeches, cutting the cake, first dance and subsequent party.
Your formal bride and groom portraits and the agreed group photographs are taken when it interrupts your day the least. We prefer to split these more formal sessions into a two or three brief 10-15 minute blocks. - While you are on your honeymoon, we carefully edit the wedding images. During this stage the raw photographs are fine tuned for tonality, converted to black and white and cropped. This process is a significant part of the distinctive signature look of a photographer and therefore we do not compromise on this and provide you with the best results in-line with our style. Note that for every hour we take pictures, there are about 3-4 hours to be spend on post-processing these photographs, so our guidline is to deliver the pictures within 2-3 month after the wedding.
Our optional package add-ons include:
- “Double” bolt-on adds a second photographer for the whole day. This allows each of us to focus on slightly different aspects, thereby increasing documentation coverage of the day for an even more complete story.
- “Studio” bolt-on adds a 3-hours mobile studio setup, covered by a second photographer, providing a very different style as our event portfolio demonstrates. It's a great way to entertain your guests who typically love the opportunity to also have their formal studio portrait taken when dressed up on such an occasion.
- “Pre-shoot” bolt-on adds a 5-hours pre-wedding or engagement photo session (also available as an independent package). Great to capture your feelings and show your love. Please visit our example gallery as an example of what you could expect. Get your unique couple shots before the big day!
I am a Cambridge based photographer, covering Cambridgeshire, London and the South East. However, I am also happy to travel nationally or internationally for destination wedding assignments.
Please get in touch if you want to consider us to photograph your wedding.
2. Portrait and group shots
We offer a truly bespoke portrait service to ensure that we deliver the result that you envision. Therefore, no portrait session is like another and every photograph is unique. This requires us to plan every session carefully, so we discuss with you the various options and explore the different scenarios.
As shown in our portfolio, we offer the whole spectrum of portrait work including CV headshots, Facebook profile pictures, extended individual or couple portraits, family pictures, friends and group pictures, committee or corporate headshots.
We offer three distinctive styles that go with our portrait sessions, which are based on how we use light at the picture taking stage: natural light, flash on location or studio based photography. When we plan the shoot with you, we identify the most suitable option.
Natural Light
Natural light enables a very relaxed and informal approach resulting in reportage-style/photojournalistic photographs, which we often like to render in black and white, depending on your preferences. Some examples of our natural lights portrait can be found here.
"When you photograph people in colour you photograph their clothes. But when you photograph people in B&W, you photograph their souls!" Ted Grant
These portraits are often most natural in your familiar environment, so we could simply have a walk in your neighbourhood or the next park or garden. While doing so, we can make use of local features to enhance the unique and distinctive look of these images.
The most important artistic influence for this type of portraits we find in the work of Henri Cartier-Bresson and Karl Bissinger.
Use of Flash on Location
We have professional lighting skills and incorporate these in challenging and cutting edge assignments, where the combination of creative photography and sophisticated light is required. In our examples we show how artificial light used on location can enhance an image or convey a certain message.
Often the result of artificial light doesn't have to be as striking as shown in the example on the left, but can simply support a naturally lit portrait to brighten up the shadows and render a more flattering overall image. Note that using artificial light is more time consuming and less spontaneous.
The most important artistic lighting influences we find in the work of Zack Arias, Drew Garner, Annie Leibovitz and David Hobby.
Mobile Studio
The most controlled light setup is afforded in a studio environment. Our state-of-the-art mobile studio enables us to cater for most requirements, from a single person portrait or fashion shoot to large 30+ group photographs (see events section below).
Studio shoots are often considered boring, but they don't have to be. We encourage people to have fun in front of the light and often some stunning or funny pictures can emerge.
We look forward to make you look amazing!
3. Events
With our mobile state-of-the-art photo studio we capture all the fun of your event. Whether it is a small or a large setting, such as annual balls, dinners or black tie events, we provide the flexibility you are looking for. Check out some of our portfolio here. The size of the studio can be adapted to your requirements, even though our largest studio provides most flexibility. Our setup also offers two different and distinctive light setups, that can be run in parallel, one optimised for small groups and couples providing flattering light, and one for large groups of up to about 25 people.
We set up our mobile studio 2-3 hours prior to the event and then shoot throughout the day/evening, which typically results in about 500 photographs (assuming 250 guests). For these larger events we work in a team to deal with the huge workload.
We do not sell prints on the event, but provide free access to our online proofing service within a couple of days from where prints can be ordered.
Testimonials - or what others have to say ...
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