A wedding at Amberley: shooting Tessa and Mike's day

How it came about

‍Tessa asked me to shoot her wedding a few years back. I’d done one or two before but hadn’t really thought of myself as a wedding photographer, and I think she knew it was something I wanted more experience in.

The day before

It was out towards Amberley, and they’d had a heap of rain. They were building the venue in a big shed in the back garden, and a water, power and sewage trench had opened up across the site. A truck went into it the night before, so the day started with the neighbour bringing a tractor over to pull it out. Then we were a go.

What was there

The groom’s grandfather’s Ford, a car Mike hadn't seen move in years. Tessa’s horses, which she really wanted in the photos. And a clown called Carrot, who brought a load of colour and life to the day.

How I shot it

I had Chris (Twenty Six Frames) as a second shooter. He chased the reactions, which freed me up for the documentary side I like. The GFX100S II with the 32-64 and the 110 made the portraits easy, beautiful quality and properly sharp. I kept the X-T5 going for the ceremony, fast with a high frame rate. I’d pair them, a 32-64 on the GFX with the 90 on the X-T5, or the 16 on the X-T5 with the 110 on the GFX, so I always had wide and tight ready.

Out of the camera, everything looked so good I barely touched it. Mostly just cropping.

What’s familiar from brand work

A wedding runs a bit like a shoot you’ve planned. You know the shape of the day, getting ready, ceremony, reception, so you can be ready for the moments instead of chasing them. Tessa and Mike mixed the order up, which kept it interesting.

The hard part

Keeping the batteries alive. I had six on the go and was swapping them all day. About a thousand frames in all.

The frames

‍These are my favourites, the ones that sum up the day for me. Not necessarily the ones the couple will love most, but the ones I keep coming back to.