Where it started

A borrowed camera at my dad's wedding

Photography got hold of me at my dad's wedding. I spent a good part of the day watching the photographer work, and at some point she let me try her camera. Looking for a picture, rather than just looking, turned out to be something I did not want to stop doing.

That day also set the habit that still defines how I work. The photographer was watching people rather than arranging them, and it was the pictures nobody had planned that I remember.

The bride's veil spread across the lawn from behind, black and white

Bride and groom in the doorway of the house with the veil across the step

Bride and groom in sunglasses laughing and showing their rings

How I see

Natural first, with a steady hand when it helps

My preference is to step back. Given the choice, I would rather photograph you talking to your grandmother than arrange you against a wall, and most of a wedding day is photographed that way, from wherever the picture actually is.

I do direct when it makes the photographs better. Early in the day, a few quiet words about where to stand and what to do with your hands settles everyone. With big groups of family and friends I take charge, briefly, so that part is done in minutes and everyone can get back to the bar. And occasionally there is a composition worth a minute of your time, so I will ask for it, make it, and let you go.

Colour and black and white are decided picture by picture. I care a great deal about the finished photographs, which is why they are shown here exactly as they were delivered.

Three guests laughing together at the bar

Guests at their tables at the evening reception

Bride resting her chin on the groom's shoulder in the woods

On the day

What I'm like to have around

Early, for a start. I like to see the venue before it fills up, work out where the light will be good, and have a plan for the group photographs so nobody is standing around. After that I am mostly quiet. Guests tend to forget I'm there, which is the point.

You will get clear guidance when it is useful and none when it is not. If you have never been photographed properly before, that is fine; nearly nobody has. You do not need to know how to pose, and you will not spend the day being posed.

If that sounds like the kind of presence you want at your wedding, I would love to hear about the day you are planning.

Check availability How the day works

Bride and groom standing together among winter trees

Couple on stone steps beside a flint wall

Groom laughing against a wall of red ivy before the ceremony

Bride with bridesmaids and flower girls in pale blue