3rd December, Gemma and Redmond at Great Fosters
Another return to one of my very earliest wedding venues – I photographed here almost 15 years to the day and on that occasion took studio lights and a softbox to illuminate some family group shots. For these I had a Hasselblad with a waist level finder on a tripod.
Fifteen years later I was working with a selection of digital cameras and a variety of lenses to be able to shoot in low light with virtually no flash at all – and Gemma and Redmond were adamant they wanted no group or set piece shots at all, but instead absolutely everything photographically was to be reportage or fly-on-the-wall, with definitely no posing.
The ceremony room, the Orangerie, is helpfully bright – with glass on two sides it lets you make the most of the light on a December afternoon, whilst the reception area, The Painted Hall, had just – only just – enough light to use no flash for some of the pictures.
Thank you for all your hard work yesterday. Our friends and family commented on what a lovely person you were and how relaxed they all felt with you.
Gemma and Redmond spent the day doing exactly what they wanted, being with friends and family, whilst I was left to capture the day.
They were kind enough to send an e-mail the next day: ‘thank you for all your hard work yesterday. Our friends and family commented on what a lovely person you were and how relaxed they all felt with you’.
I often think this dimension to wedding photography is left out by too many people – you spend a lot of time with your wedding photographer on your wedding day and what he or she might be like to be with is not going to be obvious from ‘shopping around’ loads of websites.
