How did I start my career as a Wedding Photographer in Dorset?

If you had asked me back in 2018, way before covid, what kind of photographer I wanted to become, a wedding photographer probably wasn’t at the top of my list. I was more interested in photographing my travels at the time. It wasn’t until my best friend asked me to take photos of his wedding reception in Guildford, that I discovered the wonders of Wedding Photography. I found that I really love to capture all moments and emotions of a wedding day, that get forgotten or missed when the bride and groom are so wrapped up in their big day. Photographing the wedding reception has to be my favourite thing to do, I can be really creative with lighting, using a combination of on and off camera flash and soaking in the beautiful ambient light from the DJ’s lights I can creative some really stunning shots on the dance floor.

bride-and-groom-first-dance-guildford

I literally had the time of my life photographing my best friends wedding reception. I actually made the decision that very night that I wanted to turn wedding photography into a career, it is the first time in my life when I have known exactly what I want to do, it’s a great feeling!

It was not easy to get things started, I only had images from the wedding reception, I knew I needed to expand my portfolio before I could get some bookings. With a lot of determination, persistence and a little bit of luck I was lucky enough to land myself the opportunity to become the second photographer for the amazing Beth Wilson (https://photographybybethwilson.com/). She gave me the opportunity to expand my portfolio and learn some valuable tips on shooting weddings.

After shooting a few weddings with Beth I was able to launch my own website using Squarespace (https://www.squarespace.com/) which allowed me to display my work in a beautiful format. Once I started advertising my website organically through friends and family on Facebook I soon managed to get a few of my own bookings for the 2020 wedding season. Although 2020, was a bit of a write-off, and so far 2021 at the time of writing in February, I was able to photograph tonnes of Micro-weddings in Dorset, Surrey and Hampshire. This allowed me to gain the fundamental experience I needed and the portfolio building images which have helped me secure lots of weddings for summer 2021 and 2022.

It hadn’t been long since I moved to Dorset and knew that it would be home for the rest of my life. So when I was setting up my website I marketed myself so that I would attract engaged couples from around my home which is Bournemouth in Dorset and the surrounding counties.

The success I have had so early on in my career has filled me with a lot of positivity, I am so excited about photographing lots of beautiful weddings in some gorgeous locations across the South of England this year.

To see what I have been up to since the beginning of my journey, check out my portfolio!