What do you look like?

Hey, welcome to my third edition of my newsletter. This one is late out the gate, but here’s my wonderful excuse – it’s mid-wedding season and my 4 children are out of school for the summer, so I’ve needed to let some things slide.

There’s been an emerging theme for me this month that seems to be all about appearances.

You look like a prisoner

At a recent wedding, one of the guests joked that I looked like a prisoner. Why? Well, that’s because I chain myself to my camera.

As a documentary wedding photographer, one of the first things I do after shooting the wedding ceremony is ditch my second camera. Having two cameras strapped to me doesn’t make sense to me when I can help it. I shoot most of the day with one camera and one lens (35 mm). I find it freeing.

Before I got this wrist strap, I was clipping my camera in and out of my dual strap. On one occasion, I thought my camera was in the clip and I released it from my grip, and it had a run-in with gravity. I wasn’t letting that happen again.

I’ve found this wrist strap to be the best one that I’ve tried.

If you want to check out more of what I use to shoot weddings, read my What I take to weddings article HERE. Note – it needs an update. I now shoot with the Sony a9 III, and I have a full article detailing my thoughts on the Sony a9III HERE.

Underdressed and almost went to Colombia

I was invited to shoot an engagement party at the Hurlingham Club in London- the swankiest venue I’ve shot at! This sporting club is crazily exclusive. You can’t just join it. If you want to become a member, an existing member has to make a personal recommendation to the club!

Anyway, it was over 30 degrees on the day of the shoot, so I decided to wear shorts.

Big mistake. I felt a bit out of place while most guests were wearing suits, but in the end, that didn’t matter because the bride-to-be and her family liked the photos so much that they invited me to shoot the wedding in Colombia! It didn’t come to pass in the end because what I needed to charge to make it work was more than their food and drink budget; this was a shame because it would have been a welcome change from shooting weddings in Nottinghamshire.

My point is, even if you feel like a fish out of water, do your best, and who knows what opportunities are going to come your way?

Some of the photos from the shoot:

The winning t-shirt

This t-shirt has helped me land two jobs this month.

I was speaking to a couple about their wedding, and the Groom picked up on the band straight away.

Try this: next time you speak to a couple about their wedding, wear a t-shirt with your favourite band on, you just never know!

Cheers and ‘see’ you next month (view newsletter IV)

P.S. When you’re ready, I’d love to help you grow your photography business. Feel free to check out my wedding photography education page for details. Next month, I’ll be sharing details about my upcoming wedding photography workshop