Lately, I’ve been thinking about how at some point I went from being a photographer at weddings to a wedding photographer. Before weddings I was a music industry photographer and the first wedding that I shot was for my agent at the time. I said I would shoot it like a magazine story, meaning the behind-the-scenes of their day. Inevitably there were some set shots that it’s obvious have to be shot, like family groups and when they cut a cake or kiss at the end of the ceremony.
After writing about wedding photography trends and how many celebrities have used non-wedding photographers, such as the wedding of US actress Lena Dunham, I’ve been pondering about how to get back to being a photographer at a wedding or taking photos on a wedding day.
As a wedding photographer, you might get a little set in your ways or bring a lot of expectations to what and how you shoot. So I utterly adore this image from the wonderful Jessica Bevan. Creative thinking led her to take two standard wedding photography shots and combine them. It’s so very clever and fresh. It’s a delightful story that this bride made the cake and what a brilliant way to showcase it and involve all of their guests.
Nikon D850 | Nikkor 24-70 2.8 | f/2.8 | 1/2500| ISO 160
own preset
What Jess Said…
“My bride is an amazing cake maker and of course decided to make her own wedding cake, so she wanted to make sure we got some pretty good shots of the cake around Hever Castle before we left the location. They also requested a large group photo so I thought let’s incorporate the cake cut with the group photo to change it up as we all know cake cuts can be a little awkward!
As soon as the ceremony finished, myself and the team gathered everyone on and around the steps of the Loggia and told them we would be doing a big group photo. Doing it straight after the ceremony ensured that no one had gone walkabouts and that everyone was included. We then removed the cake and got another group photo with immediate family a little closer so that both shots were covered without too much stress of pulling people together.
When I was asked to do a big group photo with a guest count of 120 I knew I would need a large space and preferably a bit of height. So the circular staircase I thought would be the perfect spot which also created symmetry which is hard to achieve in big group shots. I wanted to remain a little bit of depth to the image so shot at an aperture of 2.8 so that the main focus was still the couple and the cake.”