I hope this blog post finds you enjoying the Bank Holiday, and that the weather hasn’t been too extreme for you – do you see the brilliant pictures of lighting circulating Facebook? I’ve missed out on all this as we’ve whisked the kids away to southern Spain to enjoy some reliable sunshine! Don’t feel too bad for me…
What I actually wanted to talk about today is a recent styled shoot I did at the beautiful Irnham Hall near Grantham. Now, I’ve got a conflicted view of styled shoots, in that they can give an unrealistic view of wedding photography for potential clients. A real wedding day is a somewhat busy affair, with not a whole lot of time to arrange the shots you want – it can be a real “under pressure” situation! A styled shoot however, often provides a whole load of time to get the shots, and also more often than not has trained or experienced models instead of a real couple to shoot.
Because of this, I’ve tended to steer clear of styled shoots, but one did catch my eye on a Facebook group I’m part of, being run by ‘The Alternatives’. What appealed to me was that they planned to keep the day’s timings fairly up-tempo, moving from one shot to the next at a fair clip, along with 2 couples that were recently married, and in no way trained models. To me this seemed to be much more representative of a ‘real’ wedding day, giving me some great shots (honestly captured) for the portfolio as well as being able to meet like-minded photographers and suppliers. Clearly, as I’m taking the time to write about this, I signed up and turned up at Irnham Hall on a (very) bright Sunday, not really knowing what to expect.
The day was spent very pleasantly split between 2 couples, (the photographers split into 2 groups and swapped at lunchtime). I started with the lovely Emily and Gavin, capturing some images of Emily having her hair and makeup done, along with Gavin getting himself prepped. We then made our way out into an awesome walled garden, and the Hall’s greenhouses for some beautiful intimate pictures.
After our midday break, we swapped over and my group were taking photos of Drew and Adam, making wider use of the Hall’s grounds. Being able to photograph a same-sex couple was also part of the appeal of the day, as it’s something I’d not done before. Drew and Adam were both great fun, and clearly enjoyed being in front of the cameras!
As I said at the top of this post, styled shoots can give us great results, but they are still false representation if the images are claimed to be from a ‘real’ wedding. However, I found it a really good day of skills-building, bouncing ideas off other photographers and really getting back into the swing of things before the wedding seasons properly kicks in.
As ever, my thanks for reading, see below for a list (and Instagram handles) of the fantastic suppliers who made the day a success.
@emilykweddings - styling
@all_bunched_up - flowers
@meggieandma - dress
@georgettevioletmua - Makeup
@akitoavalanche - hangers
@irnhamhall - venue
@andersandboo - props
@london_victorian_ring_co - rings
@boxandbubbles - prosecco trailer
@raspberry_toast – stationery
@theconfetticakery - cakes and desserts
@opposuits - Mexican suit
@irregularchoice - shoes
@halohairdesignz - hair
@tillyvintage - vintage hire props.
