Zone Imaging

All my Weddings are memorable for one reason or another so it's very hard to choose one in particular. I see each Wedding I photograph as a bit of an adventure and look forward to capturing the Story that unfolds in front of my camera.

Artistic, Genuine, Natural, Fun & Diligent

I started my business and photographed my first Asian Wedding as a favour to one of my friends. I didn't know anything about the traditions and really the cultural differences. I quickly had to learn as from that first Asian Wedding I got another three bookings so I knew I must have been doing something right! Nowadays I find myself very comfortable with all the different traditions and subtleties that can happen from Wedding to Wedding. I know get the couple and families coming up to myself asking what they should do next! I do feel proud that I have entered a culture different to my own and that couples put the trust within myself to deliver the images they want.

Always prepare and have a running of the day as a basic plan but please remember that things will not always go to plan. If you can get your mind into this mode then when something is running late or doesn't go the way you planned it, you will be less stressed about it!

I photographed one Wedding last year when some of the Groom's family were abroad and couldn't make the Wedding. Some of the guests had iPad's and able to show the Wedding as it was happening on Skype to the family members abroad. When it came to the gifts the family had secretly sent over personal inscribed bracelets for the couple with a beautiful line from a poem. There wasn't a dry eye on the stage when the bracelets were given!

My process with my couples is to be relaxed as possible so that they can in turn relax themselves. I don't like to go straight into a couple shoot as soon as we break from the inside of the venue for example. I like to share my vision for the images first of all by walking the couple around the location first of all. By working this way my couples often comment how smoothly the session went and also how relaxed they looked on the images.

With Asian Weddings, most of the time the couple are on stage with family and friends coming to greet them and get the photograph with the happy couple. I always encourage and organise time for the Bride & Groom to come out of the venue if possible or to use a quiet spot within the venue, so that they relax and have portraits by themselves. After all it's my couple's day and most of the time in other Asian Weddings I have seen the couples portraits have been photographed on stage in front of hundreds or over a thousand guests. The result is a couple that look awkward or slightly embarrassed, that's why with my style and method I can get the images the couples treasure.

At one Wedding as is typically the case, the Groom arrived on a horse. Whilst he was on the horse he wanted me to get on the horse after him as he said his view of all the guests was a great vantage point for an image. Luckily I had a monopod with me so I could take his view point by putting my camera on the monopod and lifting it up. I didn't fancy getting on the horse myself!

As soon as my couples see rain on the Wedding day they immediately think that the day is ruined! I like to think that rain and dark skies can provide more photographic opportunities. I have taken some great portraits in the rain and just after whilst the clouds are still dark, I always carry a couple of umbrellas for my couples but also encourage couples to bring an umbrella on the day too. You never know with the UK even in Summer what weather we will get! I have also been told numerous times that rain on your Wedding day is good luck, in fact it rained on my Wedding day and I'm still very happily married!

I got into photography in my late teens. I wanted to record the daily things and events that I had been seeing through my eyes. I followed this up by studying photography at College. After learning about the technical aspects this then gave me the foundations to work on my style. Years later I am still learning and still fascinated by what an image can bring and how it can make people feel back in the moment.