Farmers Image Of the Week #320

by | Dec 30, 2019 | Farmers Photo of the Week, The Blog

Sony A7III | Sony GM 24mm 1.4 | f1.4 | 1/500 | ISO 1000

OWN PRESET

Our last winner for 2019 and we have to end with a bang right? If you’ve been shooting winter weddings this year then I’m pretty sure you will have faced your fair share of challenges with lighting and the weather. It can break even experienced photographers but some simply excell in the more testing circumstances. I always think anyone can take a pretty picture in pretty light but when that’s taken away, really great photographers can get really creative. Luckily for this couple, Matt Parry is one of those photographers. I know when I saw this one come up on his feed that I couldn’t wait to hear the story behind how he achieved it.

Read Matt’s take on this shot below …

What Matt says ...

‘The dreaded 5pm December wedding!!! Although TBH I kind of prefer knowing from the offset that I will have no daylight at all to play with because a) I can do portraits whenever as I am not fighting a losing battle with sunset times and weather … and b) I can be upfront and manage a couples expectations right at booking stage.

It was cold and wet and miserable. I walked out of the reception venue on a busy London street and felt pretty uninspired BUT thats when I spark most into action..when I feel up against it. All I needed was some ambient light and a rectangle. I have learnt with practice that in urban environments its much more about what you don’t see than what you do with your compositions. 
A 2 minute walk offered me a closed for the day coffee shop, windows steamed up, dripping and diffusing the Edison Bulbs inside…BINGO.
Another advantage of Winter weddings is the sheer freezing temps do really make couples get in close. So I shot this with my mouth shut as no direction was required. I’m just knelt on the pavement, with the brides Bolero thingy on my head pointing my camera at 2 people passionately kissing, stood between bin bags, outside a Joe + The Juice on The Chiswick High Road.
Sometimes this photography lark is so much easier/less glamorous than we think!!!’