on double yellows right outside the church
seconds before the bride arrived! I never trust
anyone’s directions now, I sold my car and
bought one with a built-in SatNav.How do you go about attracting the right
clients for your brand?
By being as open and honest as possible on
my website. Only showing the types of images
that I wish to shoot and writing my own web
copy in my tone of voice so that potential
clients have a good idea of my personality and
whether we’ll be a compatible match.There are a lot of wedding photographers
out there. What’s your attitude towards
the competition, both in terms of ‘staying
ahead’ and learning from others? How do
you ensure that you stand out from the
crowd for potential customers?
I try not to worry what the others are up to; it’s
a waste of time beating yourself up over other
people’s work or marketing efforts. We are all
different and each of us has our own vision
of how we might tell the story of someone’s
wedding day. I have attended workshops in
the past but to be perfectly honest once you
have mastered the techniques of photography
and you are confident on the business side of
things, I’d rather just follow my intuition of how
to cover a wedding. I don’t want to copy how
other photographers do things; if anything I’ll
do the opposite. Hence why I chose the name,
‘A Tall Long Legged Bird’! When researching
names for my brand I noted that the majority
of wedding photographers were using their
names, so I decided that I would choose
something else. It has definitely made me
stand out in this saturated market; my brand
is all about me, and that’s impossible for
anyone else to copy.What common mistakes need to be
avoided, in your opinion?
Don’t be tempted to use other wedding
photographers’ work as inspiration for your
own, look at other genres of photography
and art to get inspiration. Go careful with the
editing: fads and fashions come and go. Keep
it real and timeless, remembering the colour
popping a few years back: yuck! And now I
notice the grass is getting browner and the
skies are becoming turquoise. Looks cool now,
but how will it look in 10 years?What makes a great wedding image, in
your view?
A great wedding image, in my opinion, is a
photo that tells a story, one which can be
looked at time and time again and bring all
of the memories and emotions of the day
gushing back.How do you ensure that you don’t miss
great moments?
After shooting 200 plus weddings I can usually
anticipate when something momentous is
going to happen. It’s about being in the right
place at the right time. I’m marking my couple
as you would in a basketball match, I rarely
take the camera from my eye, I walk around
with the camera as my eyes. I shoot what I see.What upcoming plans have you got in
store for the future?
I’m really happy where I am now in life so I’m
not planning too far ahead at the moment.
I intend to carry on doing what I love and
capturing wedding days for as long as I’m
still enjoying it. If I ever tire of wedding
photography I’ll re-evaluate, but at the
moment, life is good!WeddinG Wonders