Technically perfect?  No, brilliantly composed?  Probably not,  but I just like it anyway and a good example  (I think) of what Wedding Photojournalism is all about.  I am a fan of a scene within a scene and this is what made this image stand out to me, you have the Bride’s concern over spilling desert down her dress,  her friend helping with a make-shift bib but not letting that get in the way (it would seem) of a thoroughly good gossip!  All while the Bride gets stuck into her pudding apparently oblivious to it all.

As I said however my preference is to use the natural light available to me and I am always looking for the light at any venue and the 2 images below are examples of this.  The first one was a grab shot, the little girl had already blown the candle out once and I was hoping she would try again, the second image was at a wedding where it rained all day and we had to cover the Bride & Groom Portraits inside, this was a set up shot and I arranged the tea lights to provide the lighting and set the mood, the only other light was from a small wall light a few feet behind me.  Both are examples of where the use of flash whilst delivering a more evenly exposed shot would have certainly killed the mood.

Both were taken with a Nikon D700, a camera that has just been replaced by the D800, so will I be getting the new model?  No, in fact I will this year be keeping my eyes peeled for any good 2nd hand D700s that may be around.

Occasionally however common sense prevails and I am allowed to capture some images.  At this particular wedding I liked the informal setting there was no traditional desk & chairs setup, also the signing was setup in a position that allowed a small window to act almost as a spotlight on the person signing, it was a high-contrast  scene and for these 2 shots of the Bride & Groom signing I spot metered on the register itself, I just love the lighting in both of these images and from a story telling perspective they are far stronger than the staged setup shot that you often see.

Which brings me onto my latest purchase the Nikon V1, like many people I immediately dismissed this camera when the specs were announced, it has a smaller sensor than even micro four thirds and when launched was priced at a level that I felt was unrealistic.  The positive reviews however started to roll in, the price dropped a little and after I had a play in my local Jessops I found that I really liked it, there was also the matter of the FT1 adapter and my existing collection of Nikon lenses that finally convinced me to pick the one up,  so I purchased the V1 10-30 kit, the FT1 adapter and the SB-N5 flash.  This is not a review as there are many good ones out there, it is not even my own definitive user review which may come later, this is just my initial thoughts and early impressions of the V1 after a week or so of light use.

First impressions were good, the V1 feels very nice in hand and it’s magnesium allow body gives a feeling of real quality, the electronic viewfinder is very nice in use and the autofocus is (in good light) as fast as Nikon claim and as accurate as you would expect from a Nikon camera.  The image quality is very good, I have only used RAW and I would put the image quality on a par with the current Olympus M43 bodies which is pretty good, at high ISO if you pixel peep it is not quite as good as the new Panasonic M43 bodies or for that matter APS-C cameras, it though good enough.  Where the V1 falls down in my opinion is in it’s interface and maybe this is indicative of Nikon’s target market for this camera? There are precious few manual dials and the ones that are there cannot be programmed so you have to venture into the menu system to change the shooting mode and commonly used functions such as selecting the ISO.   The implementation of the movie button is also a little curious as is the absence of auto bracketing.    The ability to program the existing buttons or dials and/or having a “my menu” would make a massive difference to this camera so hopefully Nikon can do this via firmware.

Once you get used to the quirks however the V1 is a lot of fun to use, I have so far mostly been using it with the FT1 adapter and my 50mm f1.4 lens which with the crop factor gives a similar setup to a 135 f1.4 lens, not too bad at all.  Infact after my intial use I have decided to use the V1 in portrait project I am in the process of planning so watch this space on that one.  As no post is complete without pictures here are a couple of the latest addition to the Luxford household, both were taken with the V1 and 50mm 1.4, one is at ISO 400 the other 800, they are snaps grabbed around the house but should hopefully give an idea as to what the V1 is capable of.

This was just such an image, during the “mingling” period shortly after the ceremony I spotted this boy, he had obviously had permission to remove his tie now that the couple were married  and he could not wait to do so.  His proximity to the water makes the image in my opinion, it probably will not make it into the couple’s album, it was however one of my favourite pictures from the day, and in case you were wondering no he did not go for a swim!

It was a very pleasant hour or so covering the Mayor mingling with the staff before the ceremonial ribbon cutting.

Here are some of the images I took…..

The new customer reception area

The Mayor arriving

The mayor with Kwik Fit Chief Executive Kenji Murai

The Mayor with the Jamie the branch manager and Chief Executive Kenji Murai.

Cutting the ribbon.

One of the first customers.

Quite often I come across evidence of this during the wedding day and these moments usually make for some interesting images (to me anyway).  These are images that may not appeal to everybody and will probably never find their way onto a wall and maybe not even the wedding album however, the tie the story of the day together and also normally strike a chord with the couple bringing back some fond memories and ultimately providing a couple with memories of their day is at the top of my priorities at every wedding I photograph.

This is one of my favourite such images,  as a standalone picture it is pretty unremarkable,  I however like the composition and storytelling elements.  I especially like the level of detail in the list, the groom and best man certainly had their work cut out!  Mostly though it is an example of the kind of detail I am looking to capture at every wedding I shoot.

I do not use long lenses when I photograph weddings I much prefer to be close to the action, it helps me read what is going on and better anticipate situations that make interesting images.  This means of course that despite my stealthy SAS ambitions I am often standing in the middle of things where people will be able to see me.  This means that over the years I have had to perfect hiding in plain sight and the key to this is having guests accept your presence to the point where they stop noticing you.

This image of the father of the Bride’s speech is a good example of this, space was tight and I was standing in plain sight mindful of not obstructing the view of the guests behind me but focused on capturing the speeches.  I was actually pretty close the groom in the foreground but never once did I feel that he or the other speakers noticed me (I’m sure they did from time to time) and I was able to capture a terrific moment like this one. It is not a particularly artistic image but it is the story telling element that I feel makes it strong and I hope in years to come it will be one that brings a smile to the couples face when they look back at their photos.  As an aside the lighting was also very tricky here and required manual mode and some careful metering.

People would not risk an inexperienced or unqualified builder just to save a few pounds but it seems they are willing to take that risk with their Wedding Photography, many seem to think that if someone is offering themselves up as a professional then they must know wat they are doing and that digital makes it so easy for anybody, how bad can they be?  Well the last time I checked digital cameras were not able to compose a good image for you, how bad can they be? if you choose the wrong photographer, very bad!    A good experienced photographer may cost you a little more but the extra skills, experience and peace of mind that they bring to the table far outweighs this.  They will be experienced, they will be able to show a large number of complete weddings, their sample albums will be complete weddings rather than just a “greatest hits” , they will pay tax, they will have professional photography insurance, they will carry multiple backups in case one of their cameras, lenses or lighting goes wrong on the day (not uncommon), they will have contingencies to cover their own illness, they will be able to produce high-quality work irrespective of the weather and in the event of a total washout will be capable of setting up portable lighting to cover the group photos indoors, they will also probably provide you 200-300 high-quality  photos rather than a thousand snap-shots.

All of this makes it important to stand out from the crowd and this can at times be difficult as potential couples struggle to see the wood from the trees.  It always therefore nice when a couple go out of their way to send in positive feedback,  I have a collection of positive feedback over on the main site here and was delighted to receive a lovely email from a couple whose wedding I photographed earlier this year blog post here, the content of which is copied below.  In closing my biggest piece of advice to any couple (other than to just book me ) is to be mindful of the points I have made above and most importantly choose the photographer that you want and work back from there, the make of album, number of hours worked or number of photos taken pale into insignificance compared to the person behind the camera capturing the images and telling the story of your day.

Anyway that is enough rambling from me, onto the feedback………

Hi Neil,

I’m so sorry, it occurred to me last night that I didn’t email you to say that we received our wedding album safe and sound a couple of

weeks ago. It looks absolutely fantastic – well worth the money, your advice about the album was spot on.

We’d like to thank you once again for an excellent service – you captured our day perfectly. Your photography style and the end result

was exactly what we were after and hoped for, and we’re delighted with the result, as are all our friends and family. Your work on the day

was exceptional (I hardly noticed you unless we were doing formal shots) and you were incredibly patient, especially during the formal

shots. We very much appreciated the fact that you were communicative before and after the event, as it helped put our minds at rest, and

meeting us face-to-face was an excellent plan as it helped solidify the event and the photography process in our minds.

Many, many thanks once again – we’ll be recommending you to others.

All the best,

Leon & Rachael

One evening on the way back to our hotel we took a detour up Signal hill in an attempt to view the sunset over Cape Town.  We did however arrive too late for sunset and it was dark when we got to the top.  All was not lost though as the view of the city is stunning even at night and we stopped briefly at the side of the road to take some pictures, long enough to get the image below.

All in all we were stopped for no more than 5 minutes so no planning I just had to find the best composition from where we parked.  One of my best?  Certainly not but sometimes you have to work with what you have available.  South Africa is a beautiful place and it is most certainly earmarked for a proper visit in the future.