Weddings and magazines.

Well we’re beginning to come to the end of the main wedding season. Traditionally May through to September are the main wedding months. I still have a few weddings booked right up until the end of the year but after October there will be longer interludes between them. I’ve also been doing some magazine work the last few weeks and have a few more in the pipeline over January and February. The recent work has been quite diverse and has included titles like: Best Scottish Weddings, Real Life Weddings, The People’s Friend, The Scots Magazine, Scottish Home and Country and has ranged from small features like Wedding Gallery, through to a two page spread, a six page main feature article and a front cover. I’ve also been involved with producing some new brochures for a few Scottish wedding venues.

Some of you already know that I did a lot of magazine work for a number of years. However, when Coffee Table Books entered the wedding market it fuelled my enthusiasm for weddings even more so I cut right down on the magazine and publishing work to devote the vast majority of my time to weddings. Not only is the designing of Coffee Table Books a great outlet for creativity, but I knew I would also be ahead of the game as I’d been doing similar design work for the magazine and production houses. All wedding photographers know that the key element of Coffee Table Books is their design. The actual production, or manufacture, of the final book is carried out by your chosen finishing company. There are quite a number to choose from all offering differing levels of quality, and therefore price. A photographer will choose which company he will use to produce the final book based upon these two elements and his client base. For me, I want the highest possible quality so I use a company here in Edinburgh who use superior materials and are where I can physically call in and ’touch and feel’ the product all the way through the production process. I pay a little bit more for this than if I opted to send the work out overseas, which I know a lot photographers choose to do. Of course, other wedding photographers in Edinburgh, and indeed anywhere in the country, can also use a high end production company, so that is why it is the design that sets the albums apart and makes the flow of each book unique. For photographers who produce really stunning Image Books, their design is a closely guarded secret. I am often asked by fellow wedding photographers and photography students how I created certain layouts and spreads, as many of them are not possible in the album design templates that are commonly used. Of course, I tactfully decline to answer these questions, lol! But this is one reason why I still like to keep my hand in with magazine work. As well as supplying the photography I’m sometimes also consulted on the actual look and feel of the article or feature. This has enabled me over the years to work closely with a number of Editors where I’ve learned a lot of inside tips and tricks. So, when digital technology suddenly made it possible to produce a set of wedding photographs as a Coffee Table Book I jumped at the opportunity!

Another reason I like to keep my hand in with magazine and publishing work is that it keeps the photojournalistic side of my wedding photography sharp. There really is nothing like working on a commission for a magazine or journal to appreciate the true meaning of the word ’photojournalism’! When it comes to commissioning photography magazine Editors are quite ruthless, which they have to be. They will commission you once and if you don’t come up with the goods you’ll never get a commission again. There are no excuses in this field. You turn up for the assignment - you get the photographs - you deliver them to the Editor. You cant say “Oh, but it rained on the day” or “things didn’t go as expected” or “we didn’t have enough time to get all the photographs”. They are not interested in any of that. All they want is a set of stunning photographs. I recall one occasion I was sent down to Floors Castle for In Britain magazine and part of the arrangements were a half hour session with the Duke of Roxburghe, which was also to include an interview. On the morning I was phoned by the Duke’s personal assistant to say I would only get fifteen minutes with him, even though the magazine had booked the half hour. But then when I got to Floors the Duke himself decided he only had five minutes! And believe me, this is not an uncommon occurrence. So you can see how your skills really do get honed to perfection. Incidentally, (in case you were wondering, lol) on this particular commission the Editor liked the photographs so much she ran the article as a seven page feature when it had originally been scheduled for four and the Roxburghe Estate liked it so much they booked me to come back down and do some photography for the Roxburghe Hotel.

I adopt exactly the same policy with couples I meet up with looking to book me for their wedding photography. I simply promise them that they will get superb photographs from their wedding day no matter what! I’ve included throughout this post a few images illustrating some photojournalistic shots from recent weddings that captured key moments and expressions from various stages of a wedding day. I can’t post any ‘secret’ Image Book spreads for obvious reasons, lol, but if you can make it along to the Queensferry Hotel open evening next Wednesday between 6pm and 8pm I’ll have plenty of books and albums for you look through over a coffee or glass of wine.