My thanks to Xiaoxiao for forwarding me her photos of the publication.

My photos from Xiaoxiao and Yang's wedding in London published in China Cosmo Bride

My photos from Xiaoxiao and Yang's wedding in London published in China Cosmo Bride

The location was stunning. Leading down from the main coast road, a small track led out onto a small isthmus with a beautiful sandy beach on the one side and a little harbour for small fishing boats on the other. St Nicholas is perched on the peninsula overlooking both bays.

As for most Greek weddings the service was quite late in the evening and with the sun rapidly setting it provided a very brief window of stunning light followed by a beautiful dusk… beautiful but a real challenge to photograph in such low light conditions… and when at last night fell I was forced to resort to the flash gun for the last few shots of the couple and their wedding party.

Mania and George are a lovely couple and wonderful people and their wedding was a joy and a privilege for me to photograph. I wish them every happiness

Here’s the film I was able to create with stills and video from the wedding…

ST. PAUL’S CHURCH, CHISWICK AND AFTER AT CAFE ROUGE

I first met Xiaoxiao 4 years ago when I was photographing another Chinese wedding.  Xiaoxiao was a student film-maker back then and was recording the event for her Uncle and Aunt… amazingly she had kept my card all that time and when she got back in touch earlier this year to ask me to record her wedding day for her, it was a great surprise and a compliment to me.

The day started at the salon where Xiaoxiao would be having her hair and make-up done and even getting dressed… in the salon basement..! as there wasn’t enough time to go back home and out to the church again… the lighting was awful and a real challenge but I think the result shows that beautiful images can be made in any situation…

Shooting in the low light of the salon basement was a real challenge but lended itself to the moment where many hands help Xiaoxiao into her dress

From the salon I raced ahead to the church to be in time to photograph the groom, guests and arrival of the bride… and then the heavens opened and it poured… both Xiaoxiao and Yang however are such positive people it didn’t phase them in the slightest. The low light was to be a feature of the day as with the rain came dark clouds that darkened the already poorly lit church even more.

Brides arrival at the church

Brides arrival at the church in colour

The service was both formal and yet intimate…

Xiaoxiao and Yang exchanging vows

Xiaoxiao and Yang during their wedding service

After the service the small group of family and friends made their way to the Café Rouge near the river where the couple made some time for a quick walk by the river and some portraits…

Portrait of the happy couple near the river

Portrait of Xiaoxiao by the river showing her beautiful wedding dress

I felt very privileged to have been asked to record the day for Xiaoxiao and Yang and privileged to have been welcomed so warmly in to their circle of family and friends… I wish you both every happiness..!

Bridal Party on the balcony of the Café Rouge

Photographers like most people in different fields of endeavour try to keep up with the times and this is where some of the pitfalls start to appear. It is not possible for a photographer to try to be all things to all people… we all have different strengths and weaknesses and what is important is that although we should move with the times we should also be true to ourselves and our clients.

I came into photography through photojournalism… I got my first camera when I was 11.. an old Kodak Instamatic 110.. and ran around taking pictures of anything that moved and didn’t move.. quite a few years later, not having lost my love of photography I went on to study at the London College of Printing where I undertook a Post Graduate in Photojournalism.

In the years that followed my graduation I undertook all kinds of jobs from press work to commissioned photo features for major international magazines, travelling all over the UK and all over the world in pursuit of interesting people based stories. I even travelled to Athens to cover the Olympics and Paralympics… and became so enraptured with the Paralympics I then went to cover the Winter Paralympics in Torino and following that the Paralympics in Beijing in 2008… and next year London 2012.

So I am a photojournalist… aka reportage photographer… aka documentary photographer… that is my background, my education, my experience, my passion…  it is who I am and it is what I love to do…  to tell stories with my camera.

In 2003 my “baby” sister decided to get married… and she wanted me to photograph her day for her… actually more than that… she wanted me to document her day for her.!…and so I came into the world of wedding photography. At the time I didn’t know any different and I just photographed her wedding in the only way I knew how.. in what has latterly become known as a “reportage” style.. but in a style that was natural to me as that is the only way I had ever photographed.

At that time people had just begun to talk about reportage and documentary style wedding photography and by pure happen-chance I stumbled into it.. and have been doing it ever since… as well as continuing to shoot the documentary work that I love.

But… as with all band-wagons… people like to jump on them..! and so it has been with “reportage” and “documentary’ style of wedding photography…  there are genuine documentary and reportage wedding photographers, some of whom come from a photojournalism background like myself and others who have simply developed their style over time and experience, and who create beautiful images which are true to the concept of documentary and reportage photography. They take great care and pride in their work and will provide you with a complete service taking care over every aspect of their photography and in the service they provide to their clients.

Equally there are genuine press and reportage photographers but who are basically weekend warriors, to coin a phrase, and they can only be described as hit and run merchants… they charge you a set fee for which you get a disk of unedited images and they wash their hands of you.. these guys are in it to make a quick buck and have little scruple in parting you from your money for minimum effort on their part.

And lastly there are the traditional wedding photographers who in order to cash in on a trend describe themselves as documentary or reportage wedding photographers but are in fact anything but… they are merely jumping on the band-wagon to try to stem the flow of business away from themselves towards a more contemporary and true to life form of wedding photography coverage… that’s not to say they aren’t good at what they do… but it is not reportage or documentary photography.

Reportage and documentary photography is an observational “fly-on-the-wall” style of photography whereby the photographer plays little or no part in the proceedings and will simply try to record the event in order to tell the story of the day using pictures… the expression  “a picture speaks a thousand words” should be true to all documentary and reportage photography… to be able to provide a photographic narrative of an event or story without the necessity for words.

Documentary and reportage photography at its best will capture priceless moments of emotion and action to make an indelible record of those moments forever.

In reality though my experience has taught me that most couples do not want strictly one form or another of photography for their wedding… but rather a blending of various disciplines.. they want the reportage documentary of the day capturing all the beautiful, intimate, funny and emotional moments… but they would also like some beautifully arranged, romantic and artistic shots of themselves as well as some group photos with family and friends.

So how to choose a photographer for your wedding…?

Setting aside budgetary constraints for the moment, the photographer you choose should tick a few boxes…

Do you like their work.., their style.? Do their images fit in with how, in your imagination, you would like to have your wedding photographed?

Do you like them.. as a person..? This person, regardless of what anyone may tell you, will form (if he/she is doing his job right) a major part of your day. My criteria would be along the lines of.. could I imagine Joe Photog as a guest at my wedding… is he/she someone we could actually be friends with.? The photographer needs to be able to blend in with your guests, firstly because in terms of reportage that is when/how the best photos happen and secondly because when a group shot does need to be organized there’s nothing worse than having a sergeant major with no people skills barking orders at you and your guests.

To close, the one thing I would say to any couple searching for a photographer to shoot their day for them is… meet with the photographer in person… to coin a phrase… do they walk the walk as well as talk the talk!!?? It’s the only way to see if you like them and you like their work.

Good hunting..!