Wedding
Fashion photography is the dream department of photography. When you’re a fashion photographer everything is an illusion from the start. Nothing is real.
There is a beauty to the simplicity of the camera. It’s a box you put between yourself and the subject you want to capture. When I assisted Avedon, he told me ‘Subject first. Technical last. Don’t over complicate’.
Tim Walker
There is much in the quote above to reflect upon. I can relate to Tim Walker’s thoughts and compare them with some of my own experiences as a photographer. But before that it would be only polite and respectful to praise the talents of Tim Walker. When I look at his photography I see an incredible imagination at play. I feel that I’ve stepped into his head for a moment and am seeing the world and life though his eyes. It’s a fascinating and unique observation that feels particularly English. If ever there were a brilliant fashion photographer to stamp some form of British identity onto the pages of British Vogue it would be Tim Walker. Even if he is shooting in the humid frantic streets of India, you somehow feel this is a world seen through the eyes of an English photographer. I recall numerous times being told by fashion and picture editors that I must try to identify and create my style and identity as a photographer. What does a Philip Berryman photograph look like exactly? Well there is no doubting what a Tim Walker photograph looks like and his success is evident. The world loves his vision.
Tim Walker
In the quote Tim Walker declares that everything is an illusion and that’s a great place to start for any creator working in any medium. That’s one of the best things about being a fashion photographer really and its massively appealing. There is nothing too wild and too odd and too imaginative and too exciting. You name it; if you can think of it then lets shoot it. There is no ‘we cant do that’ when it comes to trying to express a creative persons imaginations and dreams. I feel this is at the heart of ones identity as a photographer too. I love the idea that you see the world, the clothes, the models and the story through the eyes of that particular photographer. So if you have a concept for a shoot you need to ask who do we want to represent this concept and express this idea? Through whose eyes do we want to see this story come alive? Is it going to have a Bruce Weber feel, a Helmut Newton feel, or a Patrick Demarchelier feel to it? Each brilliant photographer would represent this story in their own eyes; express the story in their own peculiar manner. None of it is real and you can make it up and decide on the location, what the model is doing, what she is wearing and the styling and so on. Its all make believe and dress up and its all a product of your own imagination. Tim Walker’s imagination is for sure so more vivid than many other fashion photographers and he draws upon numerous sources of inspiration. A walk through his mind is like a tour of a museum or an art gallery. How on earth he disciplines that rich recourse and distils it down to the one story is a mystery. But it’s always so wonderfully focused and relevant. I feel that’s always been one of the over riding appealing factors of fashion photography when one is deciding which area of photography to work in. If you feel you don’t want to be trapped and fit in to some form of convention and follow rules then fashion photography could be just for you.
Tim Walker
Despite the incredible array of imagination we see in numerous fashion magazines, its clear that many of us like to continue to shoot fashion stories that for the most part do look very similar to many other fashion stories. We pay homage to many conventional images and happily repeat photographs that we see constantly. There is no shame in drawing inspiration from countless other fashion images, stealing some ideas, putting on your spin and respectfully paying some form of homage. That’s all fine I feel and I’m sure in previous blogs I’ve discussed how hard it is to be truly original. But that playful element of fashion photography is absolutely a good thing. There is a belonging to a massive club and we all kind of get it when we shoot a model in a particular way. We’ve seen it before, its part of the visual lexicon, it’s a familiar narrative and you are celebrating it. And even the best fashion photographers of course are not only repeating themselves but their images are to a degree a derivate of others. We are all drawing from popular culture and imagery from all sources whether it’s film, art, life and other photographers.
And yes ‘subject first, technical last, don’t overcomplicate’. Again I am sure I’ve discussed this before in other blogs. The need to not let the technical element of photography take over and cloud the child like natural vision and imagination. Digital photography I sense has not produced more imaginative and more original photographers. For sure its allowed greater access to the medium but the ideas come from the heart and soul. Richard Avedon says don’t over complicate and oh how I try to remind myself of that every time I shoot. Life is so busy and complicated as it is and it’s wonderful to try and edit and simplify the subject and the environment when shooting.
If you consider the reactions you feel when looking at certain images those feelings have not really changed a great deal. You respond pretty much the same way to typical visual cues. We are only human and despite our differences we, for the most part respond similarly to certain images. Whether it’s a cute animal, a beautiful face, a stunning landscape, a physical place that has a personal memory, the image of a loved one and so on. So we have no forced necessity to reinvent and over complicate the images. Fashion photography for the most part draws on the expected shared response to stimulating images of beautiful people in interesting environments wearing well designed clothes that we see as desirable. I feel great photographers are skilled at capturing something in a manner that they know will resonate well with the consumer of the images. We, the viewer are constantly touched, stimulated and drawn to their particular representation of beauty, life, fashion and love. I have my favourite fashion photographers because when I see their images I am perpetually moved and excited by their vision of the world. As stated before, I am a massive fan of Bruce Weber’s work and never tire of the impact his images have on me. So for sure there is no need to over complicate and the discipline of representing something devoid of clutter is a skill in itself.
Tim Walker
Now as a wedding photographer you encounter a world and environment that is already provided for you. You can’t be the set designer, the wedding dress designer, the florist and the architect and even choose who the bride and groom are. You are provided with all of that and it’s your responsibility to best represent this little world through your eyes. You can still be creative and put your stamp on it and show the world this couples wedding day through your eyes. This to me is so utterly crucial and one that I feel brides and grooms need to absolutely consider well when choosing their wedding photographer. The question should be ‘through whose eyes do we want our most special day represented?’ The task is to find a photographer whose creative vision is aligned with yours. You will be so disappointed if you choose a photographer who has a different idea to how the day should be seen and captured. It may not be that the photographer was not a good wedding photographer; it is likely that they just had a different creative take on how they want to represent what they saw. If you want your wedding photographs to have a Bruce Weber feel then don’t commission Juergen Teller to shoot it. And of course its not that Juergen isn’t a great photographer. It’s just that his style and approach and vision is very different to Bruce Weber’s. Just as a fashion editor and stylist choosing who to shoot a new collection decided that Tim Walker is right for that particular collection. They felt that his style and vision would fit beautifully with the concept and fashion story they have in mind. I feel some may say this is obvious but I sense disappointed clients are such because they didn’t choose a photographer whose vision is aligned with their own.
It can be tricky sometimes when a client books their wedding photographer through a party organiser and goes on trust that the organiser has picked a photographer that is suitable for the bride and groom. Essentially they may not research that photographer and identify whether they actually feel he or she is the right photographer for their wedding. I feel this can be problematic and must be addressed in order to avoid disappointment. There are numerous wedding planners & party organisers that have a trusted roster of photographers that they call upon and use for all their clients. This of course is fine as long as the skills and style of the photographer is correctly aligned with the clients taste. Personally I prefer a client to discover me and come to me directly. It allows us to build a connection that can also truly improve the quality of the images. Making that personal connection and trust is so important.
On this occasion I was called upon to be the second shooter along side the very talented photographer Alex Lloyd. It was a wedding during Covid. What will we call this period in future I wonder? The Year Of Our Covid/The Covid Years/Covid Times/Covid Hell? Well like any other photographer during the pandemic it was not as if we were super busy and the chance to get out and be creative and actually earn some money was beyond exciting. Olivia and Oli celebrated their union with limited friends and immediate family in the beautiful village of Charlbury. For sure this felt somewhat different to other weddings due to the circumstances. Many of the guests watched the ceremony from a barn with a live feed capturing the ceremony back in the church. But both Alex and myself threw ourselves into this commission with our usual enthusiasm and attention to detail. There were moments that really did feel like so many other weddings we have photographed and once shooting we were well and truly in a familiar environment. I sensed that all the guests were just so delighted to be socialising and enjoying life after so many restrictions. The smaller guest numbers meant there was an intimate feeling to the ceremony and celebrations and I sincerely hope our photographs reflect this.
I was mindful of what Richard Avedon once said ‘‘Subject first. Technical last. Don’t over complicate’. Doing my best to focus on my subject and not get too bogged down with the technical demands of the ‘digital beast’. And although everything was not an illusion as in the fashion world of Tim Walker, we did our best to capture some magic with what we were given. I can’t help wondering what Tim Walker and Richard Avedon would have created if they were behind the camera. A different kind if magic I imagine.
