Photographing an event such as a summer ball or a school prom is quite a challenge. Lots of people to photograph in a very short space of time. Restricted space. Sometimes ‘difficult’ subjects.  Many photographers won’t touch this sort of commission with a barge pole. ‘Grip and Grin’ or ‘Firing Squad’ (line ‘em up and shoot ‘em) are two of the derogatory terms often heard in photography circles to describe this sort of work.

Our view is a bit different. We think that with the right approach, equipment and technique you can take great photographs at an event and they don’t have to look down-market or cheesy. Our objective is to get results that are 90% as good as we can create in the studio or on a location shoot, but do it in a fraction of the time.

Last weekend we photographed the leavers’ ball for Northampton School for Boys. It was the second time we’ve photographed this event. Last year we did outdoor portraits at the Guildhall. This year we were indoors at the Park Inn. Different challenges, same underlying approach.

I teamed up with an event specialist to print these photographs on the night. That means getting everything right in camera first time and printing  shots with no editing (normally we edit every picture before a client sees it).

If you are looking for someone to photograph your prom, ball or other event with flair and style, contact us and see if we can help!

Here’s a few of my favourite pictures from the prom:

Rosanna and James are getting married in Salisbury in August, and after their pre-wedding shoot a few days ago I’m really looking forward to it.  Its quite common for most couples to feel a little nervous at the start of their shoot.  As adults we’ve been conditioned by years of poor snapshots to think that we can’t look good in photographs.  That’s why the pre-wedding shoot is such a good idea.  We put that myth to bed which means couples can relax on their wedding day knowing they’re going to look great in their photos.

Normally I start a pre-wedding shoot with relaxed pictures and then as the shoot goes on I’ll mix in a few fashion-style elements to the images.  I call these Fusion Portraits™.  I’ve notice a trend recently that it’s these funkier-style pictures that couples are choosing for themselves.  Rosanna and James’ favourites were the last two pictures in this set.  They could have been lifted from the page of a glossy magazine and are going to look spectacular on the wall.

Thanks for a great shoot guys

Fun fun fun are the three best words to sum up Nicky and Martin’s wedding at Tewin Bury Barns near Welwyn.  Of course we enjoy every wedding and each is a joyous occasion but usually there’s a few nervous moments at the start of the day before the couple relax and start to enjoy it.  Nicky and Martin seemed chilled and determined to have a good time right from the off.

Karen as usual started with the girls. It’s so much better to have a lady photographer photographing the bride’s preparations.  Especially when they can have a mutual Jimmy Choo love-in.  You might notice a JC theme going on here. I’m sure Karen would have taken enough pictures of the shoes to fill the album.  Unfortunately she had to stop to give first aid to Nicky’s mum (another Karen) who had a nasty fall and (as it turned out) broke her foot.  Even that didn’t stop the party – I’m sure we spotted her on the dance floor later hopping about.  Get well soon Karen xx.

As usual I spent the morning with the guys, in this case Martin and his brother Steve, so as with all our albums both sets of preparations will feature.

Another good thing about the day was the weather.  In the sense that we seemed to be in the only dry part of the entire country.  The forecast rain fell all around us, but not on Tewin.  Hurrah.

Anyway enough chat, here’s some pictures.  This is a small subset of the 300 or so images that we’ll be showing Nicky and Martin later this week.  Can’t wait.