A welcome return to Soughton Hall.

Its hard not to be very impressed with the gorgeous Soughton Hall as you approach the venue down the sweeping majestic drive. I’d had the pleasure of shooting a wedding there before so I knew what a lovely day I was in for. I also had photographed an engagement shoot with the fab Tim and Natalie in Saddleworth so I doubly knew that today was going to be pretty special. However as I sit here writing this I have just been editing the images from the day and I have to say that even I didn’t realise how special a wedding day and wedding images Soughton Hall would produce. I’ll go into how these shots were created at the end of this little missive but for now, wow Tim and Nat I think we nailed it!

Wedding preperation

I arrived at Soughton Hall nice and early to do some establishing shots (we were also shooting a film) and to gently get into the day by getting some shots in my head that I could do later. Tim was getting ready at Beaufort Park Hotel, so this is where I met my talented assistant Imran. There was a nice atmosphere in the fellas room with some gentle ribbing as blokes do, but it was very good natured you could tell that there was a lot of love in the room, a slight bit nerves also but nothing the odd tot of whisky wouldn’t quell.

Back at Soughton Hall the preparations were well under way, assisted (perhaps not) by Natalie’s much loved dogs, who would make a guest appearance later after the ceremony. The space and light at Soughton Hall is perfect for the getting ready shots I can fade into the background nicely.

As I’ve mentioned before and Ill go into more detail later on, every wedding is a collaboration. There are so many people that go toward a great wedding and great wedding images. All this is orchestrated generally by the bride and in this case Natalie certainly had put together a great bunch of people around her. The bride (and bridal party) looked fab in the pictures and this certainly is partly due to a good make up (and hair) artist, Natalie’s was Sarah Elliot and you can tell she’s an experienced creative make up artist.

The dress to was to die for, well you don’t need me to tell you how good Natalie looked do you, the images speak for themselves. This Maggie Sottero dress was supplied by Blush Boutique who are literally across the road from me in Uppermill. The flowers too just suited the day perfectly, these were supplied by Wild Floral Design.

The ceremony

Whist setting up my film cameras I noticed that the dark room from where Natalie would be approaching her pensively waiting groom Tim was intermittently lit by windows. This paid off with a lovely shot of the approaching Natalie and her very proud father. Also where I was stood in the very grand ceremony room at Soughton Hall was lit by candles this helped nicely too. The ceremony was really really lovely and its totally clear that this lovely couple are 100% made for each other. A fact that would be bourne out in Tim’s heartfelt speech later in the day.

Time to shine

After the ceremony is was time for myself, Imran, Tim and Natalie to sneak off to do some creative couples shots. To say that this went well is an understatement so I’ll just leave you too look at these yourselves and decide.

Time to dance

After the meal and great speeches, which the best man certainly smashed, it was time for the dancing. This is where we departed, leaving behind us a wedding in full swing, a wedding that I for one will never ever forget and I’m very grateful and privileged to have witnessed as I’m sure all the family and friends of Natalie and Tim feel the same.

Tim and Natalie you totally pulled of an amazing day for all involved, enjoy your road trip and I know you will just have the best lives together, its obvious.

Hair and make up – Sarah Elliott

 Florist – Wild Floral Design, Chester

Cake – The Cheshire Crumb

Dress – Maggie Sottero from Blush Boutique, Uppermill

Stationary – Lillybear

Cookie baker – The Bride !

The photography bit!

Every so often I will go into a little more detail about the thought process and technique behind some of my images. I get asked this a lot so I thought I’d share some secrets with you from this wedding. So if your not interested in photography please skip this part and I hope you enjoy looking at this fab wedding.

The Martin Parr school of photography

Just recently I’ve had my style of wedding photography compared to the style of one of my favourite photographers Martin Parr. This of course is a lovely compliment. Really I mainly see wedding photography as ‘documentary photography’, it just happens to be that I’m at a wedding! For 95% of the day I try to fade into the background and do not get involved with the flow of the day at all. So I’m sure that subconciously Martin Parr has influenced my style of photography, he certainly has influenced me more that any wedding photographer as I generally don’t look at other wedding photographers work for influence. I look at fashion, advertising and spend many an hour visiting art galleries and taking in everything they have to offer, including coffee and cake! If I had to site another wedding photographer I’d say Kevin Mullins is defiantly a guy to look up. His work is just about 100% documentary. Where I do like to do some artistic couples portraits, Mullins keeps way from this and he’s very good and successful at it.

When you start out as a photographer you are told to develop a style, with ever really being told how to do this. Really its a case of using all your influences ( it would be called copying if it wasn’t in the art world!) and distilling them into something that becomes yours. I realised a few years ago what my distinct style was and now it just seems easier and more natural to shoot that way.

Photographers love to talk about equipment and I normally shy away from this, its how you you use what you have not how much you spend on your gear. As an example of this I recently had some of my images go pretty viral in Thailand from a recent trip I took there. I used a camera that cost £5, HERE are the results I hope you seen what I’m getting at.

So having said that this year changed over to shooting weddings on a Nikon z6. I think its been the biggest technical change in my photography since going from film to digital.

Apart from the great quality, the ease of use and the lightness the main 2 things I’m really enjoying is being able to see in the viewfinder the changes I’m making to the exposure and also the silent shutter is a real bonus to my style of photography. The lenses I use are all prime (no zooms). I use Nikkor 24mm f1.8, 50mm f1.4 and an 85 mm f1.8. On my belt I have a Peak Designs camera clip where I have 2 lenses, all this means Im very mobile and not obviously a ‘wedding photographer’!

Exposure is the absolute key to photography, light is our paintbrush and when you work this out the way you take pictures will change for the better. The Nikon z6 has allowed me to see the finished image as I press the shutter , you will never again see me reviewing an image on the back of the camera (chimping), because I know I’ve got it right. Many of the images in this post have been totally transformed by using exposure. I have overridden what the camera thinks is the right exposure and either under or over exposed the image to create something much more appealing and fitting to my style.

For years now I have been using a technique where I use a long exposure and purposely shake the camera a little to get a painterly effect, there is no Photoshop involved in this its just photographic technique. Apparently its called ‘kinetic photography’, I didn’t know it had a name!

HERE are some more of my examples of this.

So there you go I hope I haven’t bored you and if you are interested in some training please get in touch. Imran did 🙂

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