How it all began...

At this time of year when we’re all going shopping-crazy, it made me think, what one thing have you bought that you could honestly say has changed your life?  I guess for a lot of my wedding clients, they might say an engagement ring!  Well I thought I’d share with you, that for me it was a photography magazine.  Like many young people, when I was at school I had little idea of what I wanted to do for a living but one day I went out and bought a photography magazine and you could definitely say “the rest is history”!

This one purchase literally “sparked me into life” and my passion for taking photos began in earnest.  With a new sense of direction and after a lot of hard work, I qualified to go to Plymouth Art College.

My first job was in Still Life Advertising in a studio in London where I was lucky enough to “stumble” into Terence Donovan, one of the most renowned British photographers of his generation. 

I became his assistant and worked on high end portrait photography with him, a fantastic learning experience to which I will always be grateful.  This led me to Stefano Massimo, son of an Italian Prince and talented fashion, portrait, lifestyle and now reportage photographer.  Although I was still on really low pay at that time, I was living a life of travel and 5* hotels, photographing such icons as the late Princess of Wales (the irony was I couldn’t even afford to tip the bell boy in my hotel!)

 Most of my twenties were spent working in fashion photography and then some years later after photographing a friend’s wedding, I decided to place a small ad for about £70 in Brides Magazine.  I got 20 weddings to shoot that year and haven’t looked back!

I love photographing weddings for many reasons, mainly for the obvious happy and optimistic atmosphere on the day.  I’ve now clocked up over 600 weddings and as you can imagine, have some amusing stories to tell from along the way. (Don’t worry, all those stories of hungover grooms vomiting on their bride, drunken bridesmaids falling into wedding cakes, bride’s hair catching light by a nearby fire eater have all been filed into my “Album of Horrors – The Private Collection” and names will never be revealed I promise!)

I love the variety of my work now, moving from weddings to corporate shoots, family portraits to school and nursery shoots and I defy anyone to say a photographer can’t do lifestyle and corporate photography as I hope my recent blogs have shown.  I simply love what I do and I hope this is evident in the photos I take.

Anyway, I've had a busy week as always, which has included photographing over 100 children in a dance troupe and we're off tonight to the Wedding Industry Awards event I mentioned a few weeks ago.  I will keep you posted on all of that in my next blog.  Wish me luck!

Signing off for now, 

Venues & vehicles with a difference...

I first met Natalie when I photographed her sister Lara and Stefano’s wedding a few years ago and here I was some time later, photographing her wedding to Adam.  It’s great when that happens!

Natalie and Adam had put a lot of effort into planning their wedding.  They chose a National Trust gardens and a local restaurant for their locations and organised a surprise Back to the Future car for Adam (very cool!) and a camper van with a chauffeur to travel in to their reception.  I love the fun and individual twist couples put into their wedding day, makes each one really unique.

Nyman Gardens, a National Trust house, gardens and ruins near Hayward’s Heath, West Sussex was a beautiful location for the ceremony.  After this, everyone headed over to local restaurant, Jeremy’s.  Nestled in the beautiful grounds of Borde Hill on the outskirts of Haywards Heath, Jeremy’s is an award-winning restaurant serving creative, modern menus and is a fabulous place run by Jeremy and Vera Ashpool.  It provides the perfect setting for a wedding, has a light and airy interior and an expanse of outside terrace overlooking the restaurant’s Victorian walled garden.

The reception was a BBQ and sit down meal and the cocktails were flowing.  I don’t think Natalie will mind me saying she was a bit tipsy towards the latter part of the day but held it together as every bride should!

Every time I photograph a couple’s wedding, I feel very privileged to be a part of such a special time in people’s lives.

Hope you enjoy these photos.  More next week…

Roger

It's all in a look!

Great news this week and it’s all down to my wonderful clients…

It’s been an exciting week for Roger Brown Photography as I’ve just found out that I’ve been shortlisted for a Regional Award for Best Photographer in the 2015 Wedding Industry Awards!  A massive thank you to all my clients who voted for me, I’ll let you know how I get on at the end of November.

I thought this week I would highlight what is, for me, the most important aspect of wedding photography - capturing the emotion between two people.

A wedding is not just a celebration of a couple’s love for each other but relationships in general – a father’s pride, a mother’s love, a best friend’s joy on the day etc.  These emotions should all be celebrated in the wedding photography.  As much as we want to capture the important details of a wedding day; the venue, the table settings, the flowers, the outfits, it’s these emotional connections that are the most significant.  What I try to do every time is tell a story through a series of images, like bringing together parts of a jigsaw puzzle to help create a lasting reminder of the uniqueness of a couple’s wedding day.

Take a quick look at this selection of images from recent weddings and hopefully you will see what I mean about that "special look" between people.

Have a great week!

Roger