Here is a round up of my 5 top favourite things about being a wedding photographer! I hope this blog post will find engaged couples in and around Dorset to help them in their search for a friendly, relaxed and professional wedding photographer.
Travel
I would say this is my top favourite thing about being a wedding photographer. Anyone who knows me well knows that I love to travel anyway, but combining travel with my passion of photography makes it even better! I am very lucky to live in such a beautiful part of England, having the chance to drive across the beautiful counties of Hampshire with its patchwork field landscape over the rolling hills of the South Downs National Park or saying hello to the wild horses in The New Forest. Or the stunning and very hilly geography of Dorset’s’ Jurassic coastline. I also get to see some amazing historical sites such as Stonehenge in Wiltshire on some of my journeys. As well as going on some breath taking road trips I have shot weddings in some gorgeous cities in the South West such as Salisbury and Bath, both drenched in history. In the future it would be my dream to expand my horizons by photographing weddings in other countries, also known as a destination wedding photographer.
Venue
I love photographing at a variety of beautiful wedding venues in Bournemouth, Dorset an Hampshire. The rural counties in the south west of England offer a great variety of venues from elegant Manor House wedding venues tucked away in the hills to rustic style Tipi tent weddings under the trees of the New Forest or on the golden Sandy beaches of Bournemouth and Poole. Poole is even home to an Italian Villa located in Compton Gardens, I have booked my first wedding here next year (https://www.comptonacres.co.uk/the-italian-villa/), I can’t wait for this wedding, it looks beautiful! The amazing variety of venues allows to create amazing variety in my portfolio.
My favourite venues which I have photographed in so far is Carey’s Manor in The New Forest, Hampshire (https://careysmanor.com/). Carey’s Manor is a 18th Century Manor house near Brockenhurst which is now a hotel/spa. Its a beautiful manor house surrounded by nature and forest. The guest rooms have large windows which make them perfect for the getting ready photos, which always look best with natural lighting. The ceremony room is a beautiful room with oak beams and wooden panels on the ceiling and walls which follows the forest theme. Another venue which I will also mention before I stray too far from the topic of this post is The Kings Arms Hotel in the historic town of Christchurch, Dorset. It’s a beautiful hotel which has a gorgeous wooden pavilion for wedding ceremonies in the field opposite. Conveniently, the remains of Christchurch castle, also known as Norman house are right next to the pavilion which makes an ideal location for a romantic bride and groom photo shoot before the reception kicks off.
My favourite aspects of Photography
I love how wedding photography combines some of my favourite elements of photography, (this is partly what drew me into becoming a wedding photographer.) A large part of photographing weddings is portrait photography, there is nothing I love more than achieving a beautiful portrait with a creamy blurred out back ground. Another aspect of wedding photography which I adore is using artificial lighting, also known as flash. I love using flash because it allows me to be a much more diverse photographer, without flash some photos would just not be achievable (or just look plain sh*t,) such as during wedding reception where the lighting is naturally poor. I do believe that being able to light any situation is part of what makes a good photographer. Finally, I love capturing fast paced action shots. There are times in weddings when you need to understand how to manually manipulate the camera settings to capture high speed action. This is so I can freeze the motion of my subject without any motion blur, I've had plenty of practice on dogs and sports for this technique. Occasions when I might use this during a wedding would be when a little boy decides to run down the aisle during the ceremony, it’s always an amusing moment to capture! Lastly, wedding photography allows me to capture events as they happen in a story like way, this is why I am known as a documentary wedding photographer. This is my favourite way to take photos, I have never really been a fan of taking posed shots.
Job satisfaction
Photographing weddings bring me a lot of joy and satisfaction, during the whole process of booking clients, the wedding day and post production. I don’t think many people can say that about their jobs, I certainly don’t have the same passion for my day job! The joy that wedding photography gives me really does help me stay motivated to keep building my business. My favourite part of the job is probably the day after the wedding when I send the bride and groom around 10-20 sneak preview photos from their big day! I love the anticipation and their reaction to my work. Not only does it keep them excited and know that I have done my job, but it’s a useful marketing tactic for me, I usually write a mini blog with a link to their gallery so they can share the preview with their friends and family easily and my work can instantly be seen by lots of people.
Food
Anyone who knows me best knows how much I love food! Something I hear quite often is ‘How can someone so small eat so much!?’ Being a wedding photographer means that I always get a great variety of food during the wedding breakfast when I take a break. My favourite option is a hog roast but I also really love tucking into a buffet and of course a slice of wedding cake before the long drive home. Of course I don’t just help myself to food, it’s agreed in my contract that I will be fed during my break.