It’s been an epic wedding season for me thus far. Epicurean that is. Actually it’s been epic in general too but the thing about gastronomes is, they have good taste. That’s not an ill-concocted pun by the way; I mean that they have well developed tastes for a broader menu of things than food alone. I’m in danger of over-egging my metaphorical pudding I think. Taste. Taste and understanding. Understanding the ingredients that flavour things. When I first met with Beth & Daniel in person for their pre-wedding shoot (Daniel had already dotted all the I’s and crossed all the T’s over the telephone prior to my receiving the commission to photograph their wedding) Beth put forward a very well thought out observation as to how I do what I do and how it’s driven by a great deal more that simply photographing people. Framed as a statement, the observation carried the silent inference of also being a question. The answer was yes, it’s exactly that.
The specific form of the observation I needn’t relate; if what I present in my work and in my words resonates with anyone then they already understand what it is that I do, even if they haven’t gone so far as to rationalise it fully.
It’s what you like. It’s what I like. I liked this commission.
Very much indeed.
Beth made me a ham roll during my coverage of bridal preparations. I offered to make it myself but she insisted it was no trouble. She offered me salad and coleslaw too but I wasn’t sure it would mix well with my suit. That’s more an observation on my ability to eat cleanly when wielding a camera or two than on the precision of her roll making skills by the way.
The bride made me something to eat on the morning of her wedding. I could end the story there on a high. There’s a bit more to relate yet though.
Over the past three years I’ve seen one that was red, one that was green and one that was turquoise-blue but in a world of weddings where they’re typically white it never ceases to please my sense of the aesthetic when each and every time (in my experience at least) the dress turns out to be truly individual. Introducing the Art Deco number…
Meanwhile (or a short car drive later) at the East Close Hotel, Daniel and his groomsmen were enjoying a healthy breakfast of their own.
It’s the kind of reaction you expect from a groom during the best man’s speech, not during a pre-ceremony gathering…
I’ve no idea what was being said. I always wear headphones when photographing groomsmen building up to a wedding ceremony. I think I was listening to Pantera on this day.
Actually it wasn’t Pantera. Nor do I wear headphones. I simply can’t remember anything I heard. I swear.
I was but a minute or two behind the men as I found a good parking spot for a quick venue getaway post-ceremony but as I approached Saint Michaels & All Angels I spotted something that had me moving my camera in a direction diametrically opposed to that which my heart was taking, ie: the latter was sinking. The former was rising of course, just in case my meaning got lost in all the excitement. They were applying the buttonholes before I’d had a chance to catch up! Bang goes the chance of getting some of those archetypal images of man’s eternal struggle with floral decoration.
This is what you get for starting us all off with the buttonholes before Phill got here!..
A passing videographer misread the situation and seemed to think it was a pugilistic free-for-all…
It looked like fun, at first…
Perfect cornering by Beth, no hesitation on the line of sight, Pow! I wish there were two of me* on occasions like this so I could see the groom’s reaction** (*two of me available on request for an additional fee) (**the groom’s reaction can on occasion be occluded by third parties; terms and conditions apply) (this is no time to be talking business). The first look…
The people, in the window?*..
*Campanologists.
It’s not often I get a clear view of a vicar (I’m usually either looking at their rear from behind a buttress, or as a distant speck from the back of an aisle I’ve been expelled to) and less often again that I feature them but Rev. Rickman was a star to deal with and I particularly wanted to include him in the story here. If the bride and groom want photographs from up front, the bride and groom get photographs from up front; that was his happy policy and it earned respect, deference and reverence in return. He also delivers an engaging and very personal ceremony.
He delivered a fantastic inadvertent ice breaker too but we needn’t go in to that. I was wearing headphones. Listening to Pantera.
Andy, reportage wedding photographer agent provocateur. Always useful to have one around. More about Andy in part two…
Confetti. Spontaneous anarchy over regimented lines for me, any day of the week (most often Saturdays with the occasional Friday and perhaps even a Monday or Thursday once in a while)…
I’m about a third of my way towards finalising my forthcoming book on enigmatic wedding car drivers (genuinely, I find so many of them make for fantastically interesting photographic subjects)…
And on to Westover Hall Hotel, which really deserves a link. Westover Hall Hotel then.
Advisory note to wedding guests (and venue staff) on encountering photographers, #97: Photographers at weddings are there to photograph people; do feel free to wander into their shots without fear or embarrassment (except for wandering into the aisle during the processional and recessional, see advisory note #3, in between the photographer and guests arranged for posed group photographs, see #22, and in tandem with the process of stalking photographer and couple during portrait sessions, advisory note still undergoing legal scrutiny); it’s likely the photographer was waiting for someone to move in to shot to balance the frame…
See #74, revision C…
Carry on Sir; don’t mind me!
That’s okay; I’ll wait ’til you’ve taken your shot.
Don’t worry, it’s not going anywhere in a hurry. Anyway, I prefer photographs with people in.
You mean like this?
I couldn’t find any disco biscuits in there (oh, and the little one was delighted with her wedding booty; thanks Beth & Daniel!)..
I think I was a little early for the big everyone shot…
Or maybe a little late…
Still, if I worked really hard at it I could probably build up a full spectrum montage (it was rather nippy out there)…
He said gluteus maximus!..
Number 34 in the series, When you think you’re the subject of the photograph but actually you’re not…
Contact Hampshire Wedding Photographer Phillip Allen : phill@misterphill.com : 07870 696248
by Phillip Allen
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Antony - Next you’ll be telling us you blast up Slayer, Black Label Society or Megadeth before preps ;-) OJ. Great photographs and very entertaining blog post so far Phill.
Phillip Allen - Thanks Antony :~) A bit of dub-step for that time of the morning.