et voila!

Hello! Here are the final images. And here's my thought process going into this (& most other) photo-shoots.

(i) My mind is generally blank on arrival. I don't like to overthink things beforehand. I generally wait until the very last second before commiting myself to an image. Up until that critical moment, I'm open to all possiblities. But I'm definite on one thing; to create fun, upbeat, glamourous images using as many 'city' type locations as we can cram into 2 hours.

(ii) The technical side of things is second nature. I don't need to think about it. But what I do need to ignite is the creative side. And this is where the couple come in. They're my main spark. Their energy, time investment & patience is crucial. It's essential that the couples I work with are on my wavelength. There are loads of pure PJ photographers out there who specialise in keeping silent & being invisible throughout the whole of your wedding day. But I'm not one of those. I want to ENSURE that you look stunning in every single one of your shots. Not leave it to chance. I'm vocal, I direct and I run & I laugh a heck of a lot! And I need that same enthusiasm reflected by my bride & grooms.

No time + No Input = No Fun.

(iii) As I lead the group, in my head I'm constantly looking for cool locations with great lighting. (the thing is I could always recce the location beforehand but on returning to it later, it would be old news. And I'd lose that initial buzz & freshness & sudden inspiration, crucial to how I shoot). So given the bright, overcast day - I see opportunities jumping out at me, every 10 paces. So I'm doing a hundred comparisons in my head, ranking the most immediate locations & still in my mind, directing Rachel into a striking pose to best fit those those locations. This is serious brain acrobatics! Because not only am I sussing out a whole range of ever changing location/lighting/pose scenarios, I'm also considering what is the best camera angle & composition PLUS deciding on the best combination of aperture, shutter speed, ISO & focal length to get precisely the shot I want. I don't shoot in the cameras 'P' mode I'm afraid. 'P' for Professional ;-)

(iv) So I'm walking along, looking this way and that, and I see a striking location. The light's perfect. Bang, we're off. And after 20 seconds of whirlwind activity, a lot of direction and a lot of laughter, the first cool shot is in the bag! Within a minute, we're off in search of the next location. I work TOO quickly. My mind is jumping all over the place, juggling all the different permutations that each scenario throws up and with each turn of the head, there's a completely new scenario to evaluate! There are a million ways to shoot each scenario...and it's my job to try and create something brilliant. In 1 minute. Sometimes less.

(v) And that's how quickly each of these shots were taken. Spur of the moment intuition plays such a huge part for me. Inspiration is sparked by everywhere I look and also by who I'm photographing. It's a hard thing to put into words and a harder thing to teach. I do not really know what I'm going to do until I'm doing it. Every photographer works differently. Some are precise, pre-planned and very deliberate. I'm not :-)

Click here for the slideshow of the final images... www.davidho.co.uk/rach&ian