FOLLOWING THE PASSION
The question has been asked, Why have I chosen to be a wedding photographer. In this blog, Following the Passion, I will answer that question.
Picture this if you will. An old house with a sunroom that is lit up by the beams from the Helios. Picture an old armchair in the corner of the sunroom, with a faded and worn brown tweed fabric. It is one of those chairs where you can just sink into and feel enveloped by comfort. Picture a side table hosting a flowering cactus, its flowers are like scarlet tears cascading towards the floor. Picture an old mahogany bookcase, filled to the brim with books and periodicals. Picture a young boy sitting in that old brown armchair, reading through those periodicals. That boy was me many years ago. That was my favorite place as I read wondrously through tomes of National Geographic magazines. I was enthralled by the stories and images within the pages of that very special magazine. The images, the amazing photographs piqued my interest in photography and all things visual.
Fast forward a few years, and one Christmas I was gifted my very own camera. It was an Olympus rangefinder. A very basic camera for the time but it was like water to a seed. The images I captured on that camera have long since been lost in the past, but I still remember the joy of getting rolls of film developed and then receiving an envelope with 24 glossy photos. That feeling is still with me today when I insert an SD card into my computer.
Some years later, and I am a father to three beautiful children. Digital imaging was in its infancy when I traded the analogue for the megapixel. My first foray into digital photography was a Kodak DX4330. The year was 2002, and I had 3.1megapixels at my disposal. It snapped everything from my children to daffodils to cows. Some of these images are still within my social media platforms.
I progressed on from there and delved into the bridge cameras (aptly named as they bridge the gap between point & shoots and DSLRs), then finally into DSLRs. At this stage in my life I was farming, but felt that I wanted to change careers. I applied for and got accepted into a 2 year photography course at a local polytech. So for two years I lived and breathed for photography. Papers covered all aspects of photography from landscape to design to commercial photography. In the second year we were given the paper on Wedding Photography. We had to organise a “fake wedding” to complete this assignment. For me, being people shy, I found this very daunting. I passed the assignment but was very much unhappy with my results. I preferred landscape over portraiture. My theory back then on this was that trees do not talk back. I completed my studies in 2014, and even got a diploma to hang on the wall (although in honest truth it is tucked away in a drawer).
My first real wedding experience was six months later. I had been asked to photograph a wedding of two lovely chaps at Ohakea Air Base. David and Stuart were married in a little chapel on New Zealand Defence Force property with the blessing from NZDF. When I was shooting this wedding I was caught up in the raw and beautiful emotions that were flowing. I cried a little at their wedding, as I have at every wedding since. It was a buzz being a part of their wedding. The biggest buzz though, was when they received all the images from the wedding, and the emotions that those images brought back up. That alone is like crack cocaine to a wedding photographer. Every wedding since has been a joy to photograph. To be invited into the fold on such an auspicious day is an honour for me as a wedding photographer. I look forward to the joy, the buzz and the chaos of each and every wedding.
The future holds the promise of many more weddings (including my own, that will be the subject of a later blog) as I hone my skills and grow as a photographer. Already my style is developing, which falls somewhere in between photojournalistic and creative.Please read my previous blog on wedding photography styles. There are many wedding photographers that are an inspiration to my craft, but one in particular stands out as he blends his creative styling with the beautiful landscapes of New Zealand. In the years that follow I can see my photography becoming synonymous with the beauty of Otago and Southland.
