This double page spread from the Wood Norton Weddings sample album shows three images from the same wedding - that of Nick and Alison in July of 2018.
The image on the left is a traditional groom portrait, taken using a long lens in order to blur the background as much as possible whilst ensuring the groom is in perfect focus. I asked Nick to stand in a way that feels most natural and to smile if he could manage it - as you can see from the images he was more nervous than happy, or at least more than he was willing to let on!
Nick had provided all of his groomsmen with a matching set of sunglasses, which not only made for some really cool photos, but came in very handy seeing as this was to be the hottest wedding that I had ever attended - reading a balmy 34 degrees centigrade in the middle of the day! We had tried to take a serious photo, with the groom and the ushers looking stern and stoic, but laughter soon erupted so I just kept on shooting. This is the best way to take real wedding photos as I call them - be there, and just keep shooting whatever happens. You normally end up with some fantastic reactions showing real emotions that you just can't fake. For the final image of this double page spread of the Wood Norton Weddings sample album, I chose to recreate the famous Reservoir Dogs opening scene (I'm sure you can picture it now, men, line-abreast in suits and sunglasses with the cool music in the background, all in slow motion.) Again this proved to be more entertaining than serious for the boys in the photo and again, the result is all the better because of it.
Location: The Wood Norton.
Keywords: Photographer-directed image (149), Wood Norton Weddings (129).