PART II

Surrounded by reluctant subjects had me wondering "where to next". There are a few twists and turns in ones career and mine came when a friend asked me to photograph there wedding. I was rather hesitant but reluctantly agreed. After a few hours of research on the net, I realised I had made one very big mistake but "TO LATE", cant back out now. So off I went, in an attempt to prepare myself as best I knew how. As it turned out, this was to be one of the most challenging and stressful missions I was to undertake.

The big day came and all hell broke loose. Firstly a rouge confetti block hit the groom in the back of the head causing him to lurch forward, standing on the brides dress and ripping it. The formal pictures were over sooner than expected when the best man left to find a missing relative and never returned. Before long, most of the wedding party left never to return as everyone seemed to be off looking for everyone else. The next issue was my stuff up as I neglected to re-set my colour balance at the beach and all the images from that point on were blue (thank you God for RAW format).

With elevated stress levels and a misguided belief it was plain sailing from here on in the intoxicated best man failed in his attempt to complete his speech and with a spilt beer, proceeded to suck up the puddle from the carpet then just as I'm heading out the door, a young over enthusiastic boy falls off a chair, cutting open his chin and is shot off to hospital for stitches.

I believe this to be a rather hard baptism of fire but undeterred and six years on, I am photographing weddings as often as I can and loving it. Its a world of privilege for a photographer to be invited to photograph one of the biggest days in a couples life.

Wedding photography is described as the most demanding form of photography there is and shouldn't be entered into lightly by anyone but for those looking to give it a go, I encourage you to do so but you have to put in the hard yards to educate yourself about whats required. It really is hard work but with massive rewards. Its a magical opportunity to seek out amazing images and be involved in creating memories which will last the happy couple a life time.