Run Hide Survive recently remixed the Kaisers “Never Miss a Beat”. These images were taken in their studio in Sheffield. They have the most amazing retro synths I’ve ever heard . During the shoot they were playing along to some old school phil oakey type style music, it sounded awesome! Can’t help thinking this sort of sound is going to be big in 2009…
Shot for Sandman www.sandmanmagazine.co.uk
Of late I have noticed many “serious” photographers claiming that they don’t do weddings and children. I even found myself removing a few flickr contacts last week because of this reason. Let me explain my reasoning. As a photographer I have covered many events, I have been on stage with the courteeners at a gig in front of 5,000 people, I have photographed features for magazines with bands such as the view and the Enemy and I have had the pleasure of meeting some amazing people (some I would class as personal heroes). Now this all may sound like gratuitous name dropping, my partner and children will confirm I will quite happily name drop at will (don’t get my better half started on the email I received from Katie from the Ting Tings complete with a kiss), however it does serve a purpose. As much as working in this kind of environment is a bit of a buzz and quite exciting, it completely pails into insignificance when you compare it the stress and planning that is required for a wedding event.
During set pieces for photoshoot you can plan everything to the last detail, you are in control of the environment, the light and the people. When it comes to a wedding you need also need to be in control of your environment, however there are crucial key moments that you get one “pop” at. If you miss the bride and father coming down the isle or the you “may kiss the bride” moment then that’s it, it’s gone forever, you can’t stage a moment like that so the pressure is on. Couple this factor with the low level of light in the church and the fact that using flash within the service (from my perspective) would be completely disrespectful, then you are left with a pretty hard gig to cover. So getting back to my point, to criticise photographers who cover weddings and children and to question their credibility in my view is ludicrous. Maybe these “artists” should stop taking self portraits in whacky situations, step up to the mark and take on a real challenge 
These guys took some hunting down, they are in the middle of a large tour but managed to give me a couple of hours of their time. It was pretty cold out there and the light was failing but the guys were unphased by it all.
If you can get out to Exit Calm you really should. They make a pretty impressive noise, their guitarist in particular is pretty impressive.
We popped over to Jersey a couple of weeks ago to cover Zoe and Kevin’s wedding.
Unfortunately for me one of my flash units broke, this is a common problem with weddings and that is why as a professional photographer backup kit is a necessity. I learned this from bitter experience when I broke my Nikon DSLR and expensive 24-70 2.8 lens whilst engaged at a gig once. So these days I always have two camera bodies, 3 flash units and an array of different lenses.
The weather was not kind to us during the ceremony so the group shots had to be taken inside the church. luckily the weather perked up after the meal and we took Zoe and Kevin to the beach. As we flew over I had to leave my lightstands at home, queue Dave and Natalie holding my off camera flash(es) and umbrelllas!
Jersey is a beautiful island, I had not realised how small it is! We will be back over there as soon as possible and there is the possibility of covering some more weddings there in the future.
Click on the image for a slideshow of the wedding.
I had the pleasure of photographing Kevin and Michelle at their recent wedding in Wakefield. A great day was had by all and the weather held out for us (Just!).
Good luck to you both in the future, it was a pleasure to work with you.
Select the image to view a slideshow of their happy day.
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