Wedding

What I like about photographs is that they capture a moment that’s gone forever, impossible to reproduce.

Karl Lagerfeld

Karl Lagerfeld, what an inspiration and how the fashion industry and of course the greater creative community and all those that consumed his incredible work is poorer without his vision and talent. I never met or photographed him but it would have been incredible no doubt. I'm not sure where I would start regards my idea for a portrait of karl Lagerfeld. He was an extremely busy designer responsible for Chanel, Fendi and his own label. Famous for his fast-talking efficiency, incredible output and talent and I imagine little patience with people. I doubt I would have been granted too long to photograph him. As a master of fashion and identity and with such a strong personal look I’m sure he would have taken over the session and presented himself to me in such a way that the photographic outcome would be more down to his posturing, clothes, attitude and approach. I would have been too afraid to guide his pose and eventually released the shutter and humbly scuttled out. I fear he would have been somewhat intimidating as a subject unless he knew you and trusted you. I also would fear that I would say something utterly ridiculous about fashion in an attempt to look wise and knowledgeable and then it would be downhill from there. But putting aside all these fears he would have been one amazing subject with that incredibly striking look he had.

Karl Lagerfeld shot many of his own portraits and fashion and its no surprise given his attention to details and need to be in control of all elements of the design and label. I'm wondering what it must have been like for his photographic assistants. Whether there was a respectful collaboration and harmonious teamwork. I would have given anything to assist him for the experience and the exposure to his genius. It would be something to look back in with immense pride. I reckon I would take a Chanel button as a souvenir and would keep it on my desk to look at from time to time and smile at the memories.

That reminds me of when I did try to obtain a souvenir (that sounds better than ‘nick something’) from a shoot. I was commissioned by Spanish Vogue to photograph The Chapmen Brothers. The famous duo from the YBA (Young British Artists) movement of the nineties. It was a massive main feature for Vogue spread over numerous pages and I was keen to deliver some great photographs. I had shot numerous stories for Spanish Vogue and was a roll, getting good reviews from the editor. The day had gone well and at the end I was sat in their studio packing up my kit with my assistant. I reached over to a box full of the tiny miniature figures that looked like toy soldiers. I took one of the figurines an asked Jake and Dinos if I could have it. These I imagine were some of the miniature figures used in the famous art piece Hell that I believe was part of the famous art show Sensation. Incidentally I also shot the opening of that ground breaking show for British Vogue and ended up at an after party at Tracey Emin’s East End flat. But that’s another story for another day. Now asking if I can take an item that is part of a treasured and key art piece is pure folly and cheek. They both gave me a look that left me in no doubt of what they though of that request.

But getting back to the quote is of course so absolutely true that the moment cant be reproduced once its passed of course you can all try to make it happen again but it wont be the same. When we used to shoot fashion with film we used polaroid to guide us getting the shot right. The polaroid would allow us to check the lighting, exposure, pose and more. Now what often happened was you would amazingly get the best shot in that first polaroid and the entire crew would all marvel at the team work, genius and the model would be congratulated and so on. But then you would be faced with trying to capture that exact same shot but now on film. And sure enough it would often be quite difficult to recreate the very same shot particularly if there is movement. So what we sometimes did once we got the lighting about right and thought we were close we would shoot a few frames of film straight away and hoped that the magical first shot was caught and kept. A good example is when I was in New York shooting fashion. I happened to be shooting in the studio next to the great Steven Meisel and I spent too much time wandering through his studio being nosey at the lighting set up and so on. He had an entire studio booked next to the main studio just for all the clothes rails and camera kit. It was the studio he was using to shoot the main fashion for American Vogue. I wanted to kneel and pray to the backdrop and inhale the essence of this hallowed special place. Now my shot involved a model leaping through the air holding a designer bag. Much like Steven Meisel’s models of course. I'm sure he got the idea from me! I do recall when I shot the polaroid the entire crew of make up artist, hair stylist, stylist and more all saw the moment the flash went off and knew it was a winner on that polaroid. Sure enough when we pealed the polaroid it looked fab. However subsequent rolls of film later we really struggled to get the very same shot. You can see the flash hit the model at that very moment the shutter is released and know if you have it even by just standing by and watching. Remember a roll of medium format film only has 12 exposures and so we burnt up a lot of film on that shot. I'm pleased to say we did get the shot finally and I will include it on this blog. Who knows whether it was as good as the one we shot when we first captured the leaping model an hour previously.

My New York fashion leaping girl — New York fashion leaping girl

When you shoot an event such a wedding everything happens so fast and you are documentary photographer capturing fast moving action in real time. You often cant ask everyone to go back and do that all again because you had the setting wrong on your camera or simply missed that key moment. You are paid to skilfully capture such life changing wonderful moments quietly and skilfully. For sure the moment truly has gone and is impossible to reproduce. This all adds to the stress of shooting such events and its never easy. Only the other week my photographer buddy and I remarked on how hard we find it difficult to sleep the night before a big shoot. The nerves never go away no matter how many celebrations we have photographed.

I confess there are brief moments that you can ask your guests to recreate if you feel you have missed it. It may be the moment two family members greet at the reception and you missed the delight and the expressions as they hugged. I have asked them to hug again and that’s all fine. But you can’t ask the entire congregation to go back to the church and do the vows one more time because you missed capturing the moment.

In all honesty I did once have a client complain that the balance of shots were biased to one of the families at a Jewish function I photographed in Mayfair. They were right and I had my reasons why it was harder to shoot one side side of the family. But I felt terrible my client was not happy and I offered to go back and shoot family portraits of them all for free on a later date. I did do that and I hope it helped but of course it was not at the actual original function. I also had a client complain that my images were too green. Now this was an engagement part at Kew Gardens in the main conservatory. The plants were all green, the lights added were all with green gels and I if I remember correctly some of the guests were wearing green. There is no doubt there would be somewhat of green bias at this very green function. Little I could do. I certainly wasn’t going to return and shoot the party again and remove the flowers, the green lights and anyone wearing green.

But as an event photographer you are responsible for capturing all the happenings and skilfully grab these fleeting events brilliantly, well exposed and sharp. I shoot on a manual setting the entire time and that means that for every single shot taken I am constantly assessing the ISO, the aperture and the shutter speed. Not to mention the consideration for the flash and of course the choice of lens. What power of the flash and the angle and position of the flash or whether to have the flash at all. Should I swap to a prime lens and if so which lens. All of these variables are being changed and calculated whilst managing the people and the entire environment. Its not easy and you don’t always get it right but it’s a very exciting challenge for sure. There is no doubt that digital has allowed us to rectify certain mistakes in post production later. But that doesn’t mean you can wander around casually and aim your camera regardless knowing that whatever the camera settings, it can all be rescued later in post. There has to be real discipline and skill and I feel I have that and employ it in most circumstances.

There is nothing like the frustration of the missed shot however. Many times at a function I’ve seen something happening and for whatever reason I’ve failed to capture it. Perhaps it was too far away, or the lighting was wrong or I was covering a different situation across the room. It happens and you have to accept you cant be everywhere all the time. You need to accept as karl Lagerfeld rightly says, that moment has gone forever. But one needs to be vigilant, focused and ready and I sincerely hope that is how I was when I was photographing Lily and Will’s wonderful winter wedding. I was second shooter to the great photographer Alex Lloyd and we applied our usual intense all coverage approach to this memorable celebration. The ceremony was at All Hallows Church Tillington and the reception, dinner and dancing was held at the incredible Cowdray Park. This was one truly fantastic day and a very exciting wedding to photograph. So many moments captured, impossible to reproduce.