Five Minutes With A Wedding Photographer
You have your beloved by your side and your dream wedding dress on, you are clutching a bouquet of your favourite flowers and are surrounded by your favourite people to watch you say the words ‘I do’. There is one more very important thing to add: A professional wedding photographer to capture one of the happiest moments of your life.
Terri Pashley is the wedding photographer you want your special day to be captured by. Her modern reportage wedding photography approach, her sixth sense for the perfect moment to take a shot and the ability to bring out the natural selves of every couple mean your wedding album will be filled with stunning images to tell a beautiful story from start to finish.
Belle About Town picks her creative brain and asks what she thinks can help the relationship between the wedding couple and their chosen wedding photographer run smoothly.
How did you get into wedding photography?
Wedding photography is not something I set out to do as a career. I loved taking pictures for as long as I could remember but I originally set my sights on working in the magazine industry where I worked as a Shoots Editor for magazines like Marie Claire and InStyle amongst others. When I was planning my own wedding, a colleague of mine saw my Instagram account and asked me to photograph his wedding. I was hesitant at first but he had confidence in me so I ended up shooting my first ever wedding, and I absolutely loved it! Whilst planning my own wedding, I started feeling the urge to capture these beautiful moments for other people professionally. I slowly expanded my business whilst still working full-time in London and when I fell pregnant with my daughter, my husband and I moved to my hometown in Yorkshire and I decided to focus on my wedding photography business full-time. It was the best decision I have ever made. I can spend more quality time with my family and still be creative.
How would you describe your individual style and approach?
My style is very natural, I’m not really into super-posed photographs. I shoot most of the day in a reportage way, capturing the small moments you may not always see. I still want the emotion to feel real so I get the married couple to play small, ‘silly’ games together or encourage them to whisper ‘sweet nothings’ to each other, for example answering ‘Why have they married each other’. It may feel silly at the time but this tends to bring out the laughs and the real emotion. I am also very organised and I like to work with the couples on a timeline that works for them beforehand. Things always change on a wedding day and I’m ok with ‘going with the flow’ but having a certain structure or a plan helps my couples feel more prepared. The only set parts of the day where you are away from your guests are the group shots and the couples portrait shots. Some wedding photographers are not keen on photographing group shots and usually limit the amount but I know how important they can be for the family, so I never limit them. I only remind the wedding couple to include up to five minutes for each group shot, to get people rounded up and part them from their drinks.
What is your favourite wedding tradition or part of the wedding to capture on camera?
I’m a huge fan of couples putting together a wedding that is more about them than traditions. That’s not to say I don’t like traditions, I just think that if you don’t like the ‘cutting of the cake’ then why do it? Try and forget you are putting together a wedding and just put together a day you and your beloved will love. And if you feel happy, your family will be happy too. However, I do have a soft spot for capturing confetti shots, the more confetti the better!
Is there any style of the wedding you haven’t captured as yet but would love to?
It may sound a bit cliche but I genuinely love capturing all styles of weddings. I’d love to add a ‘festival style’ wedding to my portfolio though, I am an avid festival lover.
What is the biggest challenge of shooting a wedding?
Dealing with the unexpected on the wedding day. Things don’t always go to plan and being able to respond, adjust quickly and remain unflustered is important. From making sure you have the right lens or settings if the weather should suddenly change and you have less than ideal lighting.
What was the best moment you’ve experienced as a wedding photographer?
There have been a lot of amazing moments over the last few years but I have to say shooting a wedding on the Amalfi coast was a huge highlight. Even though I love shooting abroad, a little bit of an extra anxiety creeps in every time. I check my packed bags a hundred times to ensure I have all my kit, so prior to the flight I often forget about the exciting part of capturing a wedding overseas. However, during Anna & David’s couple shoot at the Amalfi coast, I captured them standing on the edge of an infinity pool and as the sun set I definitely had a ‘How on earth is this my job’ moment.
What is the best piece of advice you could give to aspiring wedding photographers?
Practice, practise and practise. Shoot as many weddings as ‘a second shooter’ or an assistant to a main wedding photographer as you can at first. I learnt so much from the photographers I second-shot for and it gave me opportunity to be creative without all the pressure. Also, get out there and get talking to other photographers or join some Facebook groups. The one thing I wish I had known is just how much goes into running your business. I put all my focus on doing a quality job of photographing someone’s wedding and I ‘forgot’ to run a business. Taking pictures is about 20% of what I do but there is the editing, marketing, doing the accounts, working with suppliers, workshops, writing contracts, researching new software and the professional kit too. It is definitely not a job to make a quick fortune with but it sure is incredibly rewarding.
If there was one place in the world you would love to shoot a wedding, where would it be and why? Do you have a favourite celebrity couple you would love to capture the wedding of ?
I do love to travel and have been lucky enough to photograph weddings in Italy and France. My husband and I are huge fans of holidaying in the USA, so capturing a wedding there would be a dream. Or Iceland, for its landscapes and the amazing natural sights. In terms of celebrity weddings, I think the pressure of shooting a really high profile wedding would be crazy. I think Josh Cuthbert and Chloe Lloyd’s recent celebrity wedding at Aynhoe Park was stunning. Anna Fowler did an amazing job with their wedding photos.
What are the three top attributes you need to become a successful wedding photographer?
- Get into it for the right reasons. I love nothing more than putting my absolute all into capturing the wedding and the married couple loving the results. I adore the wedding pictures from my own wedding, and knowing I have done that for someone else is just the best feeling ever.
- Work hard. Like I said before, second-shoot at other weddings and keep honing your skills. I still do it myself when I get chance because I can still learn something new.
- Don’t try and be like anyone else. When I started out I spent more time looking at who I considered to be ‘the best photographers’ and tried to be like them, instead of working on my style and my branding. Keeping up with the competition is important but not as much as bringing your own signature style to the wedding because that is why they booked you in the first place.
Could you shed a bit of light on what goes into the successful process of being booked, meeting the couple through to the big finale on their wedding day?
When I get an enquiry people usually contact me via my website which has all the details about my package and my work. If I am available for their wedding date then I send them through my brochure with more detailed information. It is rare the clients would like to meet up in person before the booking. After taking a deposit and providing confirmation via my booking form, the date is secured. These bookings tend to be one to two years in advance. I contact the couple again around 6 weeks prior to their wedding to work together with them on the timeline because the success is all in the planning.
What advice would you give to couples looking for a wedding photographer and for their special day to run as smooth as possible with regards to the picture taking?
Apart from making sure you love the portfolio of your chosen wedding photographer, make sure they are someone you would actually like to have at your wedding. Do check whether they are insured too. To make sure the day goes as smoothly as possible, apart from having a plan and timings set, my number one advice to them is to relax. It is easy to become stressed before the wedding day and unexpected situations could arise, including a sudden weather change. A fellow wedding photographer once shot a wedding in the middle of a storm. The wedding was set up in an outdoor tipi and the tables, chairs and decorations ended up floating as the whole venue flooded. The guests however took their shoes off and danced in the rain. The photographs were all amazing in the end.
What are the essentials you can’t leave without on your way to photograph a wedding?
I have quite a lot of equipment. I have my trusty ‘Canon 5D Mark iii’ and a back up ‘Canon 6D’ camera, a variety of lenses, mainly prime lens and a 70-200mm zoom, batteries and memory cards and then I have 3 flashes, flash stands and triggers. I usually have my laptop and hard drive with me to back up images during the wedding breakfast. I never leave anything to chance, I always have a back-up, I always keep memory cards on me at all times.
Who or what inspires you? Do you have any favourite fellow wedding photographers you are inspired by?
I’m constantly inspired by other wedding photographers, mainly through Instagram. There is a lovely network of wedding photographers on there who support and encourage each other. My first inspiration were actually the wedding photography duo I hired for my own wedding, McKinley Rogers. In the process of choosing my wedding photographer, I went a little crazy as it was the most important decision I needed to make for my wedding. I printed out various photographers’ portfolios and compared them for weeks but in the end, even though I adored the others’ work, after my fiance and I video-phoned Pen & Cam McKinley Rogers, I just fell in love with them. They were incredibly calm and such lovely people, and I knew straight away that I wanted them to capture our wedding moments. Gosh, they were just wonderful at the actual wedding, the pictures were amazing and they managed to usher people in the calmest manner, keep to our wedding schedule and were so much fun to be around.
Did becoming a mother last year present tough challenges for you to juggle motherhood and run a successful wedding business?
Being a mum and running a business might not always be in ideal balance. Fortunately weddings book up one to two years in advance so I can plan my schedule and also choose how many weddings I can take on. Don’t get me wrong, it is tough being a working mum. I work around daughter’s nap times and often do my editing late at night. Coincidentally, I’m about to become a mum to a second next year and this will bring with it even more challenges. However, it is important for me to keep doing what I love professionally. I love what I do and I thrive off of a challenge!
- For more information visit http://www.terripashleyphotography.co.uk/
