I’ve talked before about shooting weddings with English observational photographers like Martin Parr and Tony Ray Jones in mind, but I don’t think it’s ever felt quite as accurate as this one.  Perhaps it’s the seaside.  Both those photographers famously shot on the English coast.  Martin Parr with New Brighton in the North, and Tony Ray Jones in Ramsgate and Margate, just a short half hour train journey away from here in Whitstable.  I think also it’s how much this wedding at The Beacon House was about family and had that sense of community to the day.  In fact this is one of the most ideal venues for that.  See, also my first wedding there for fellow wedding photographer, Steven Hewson over at my Whitstable Wedding Photography blog. In fact, with only 40 – 50 guests, mostly filial, it felt like I’d been lucky enough to photograph an extended family day out.  And I absolutely loved it.  There’s a danger in weddings that too much can be made of the exotic venue or the size of the marquee or the bride’s mind bendingly expensive shoes that 90% of the time are hidden under her mind bendingly expensive dress.  And that’s not to denigrate any of it.  I’m just back from shooting a beautiful wedding in a turreted chateaux in rural France.  But I found the simplicity of this wonderfully warm and intimate wedding both very moving and also very inspiring.  The wedding was held at The Beacon House, otherwise known as The Artist’s Beach House, which is essentially a home with a garden and a seaview, and that’s all it needed to be.  The registrar was an old friend of Libby’s and the wedding singer was Casey’s sister-in-law.  And, honestly, I think this is some of my best work.  A snapshot of a newly extended English family.  Take a look.  Let me know what you think…
6 Comments
Phill
on July 15, 2015 at 2:46 pm
Reads like a book, Nick. A really very good book. A beautiful book.
Reads like a book, Nick. A really very good book. A beautiful book.
Such a friggin’ genius Nick. Wow. Send me your skills please. Lovely lovely lovely x
Absolutely wonderful Nick. So moving and so beautifully seen, from start to finish.
Exactly what wedding photography should be.
So many great scenes in this story. A fantastic first document of their family.
You brought documentary wedding photography to a higher level.