GAY WEDDING BLOG

PLEASE INTRODUCE YOURSELF

I’m Ross and in no particular order, I’m a professional wedding and portrait photographer, published author, obsessive ‘Great British Bake Off’ viewer and reluctant runner.

WHAT MADE YOU WANT TO START YOUR BUSINESS?

I’d love to tell you that at the age of six, my grandfather gifted me an antique camera and I spent the rest of my childhood in the dark room following an early calling to the magical art of photography. However, the truth is that I didn’t really pick up a camera until my late twenties, but when I did, boy did it change my life. Not only did it provide me with a creative outlet and the opportunity to launch my own business, it provided me with a tool to empower others to feel amazing about who they are.

HOW DOES YOUR TYPICAL DAY LOOK LIKE?

Normally, no two days are the same and are filled with meeting new couples (one of my favourite aspects of the job), shooting pre-wedding shoots, shooting weddings, editing, networking with other wedding suppliers, eating biscuits, and dancing around my office in between boring admin tasks!

WHAT IS THE BEST PART OF YOUR JOB?

Making people realise how wonderful and how photogenic they are. I never over-pose or over-edit my couples as I strongly believe everyone deserves to be celebrated for being the uniquely awesome person that they are. 

When I witness couples fill up with emotion on seeing their wedding photos, and realising how fabulous they look, it makes all my hard work worthwhile.

PLEASE INTRODUCE YOURSELF 

Hey, I’m John, another blummin’ wedding photographer who lives just outside Ely with my wife, two utterly mad but adorable kids and a hamster called Murfuls (the kids named him, not me). If I am not taking pictures, I am looking after the kids, watching YT videos about hi-fi, listening to music and being a general all round geek. I am a big Aston Villa fan, I am starting to become more and more ashamed of my guilty pleasure for my love of cars and I was a former scientist for 19 years working in genetics. It’s been an interesting time so far, but I love my life and I ADORE my job.

WHAT MADE YOU WANT TO START YOUR BUSINESS? 

Ha! A question that has been asked me many times due to the fact that I had a good career and worked for a world famous academic institution that worked on one of the biggest scientific endeavours of the 20th and 21st century, the Human Genome Project. The true answer is that….I think I was done. I loved science, it’s all I knew from school and college and I still DO love science (back to being that geek again). But after 19 years, I didn’t want to DO science anymore. I needed a change. And I had already been paid for a few jobs and people liked my work and I can’t tell you how much I like taking photos, so it was my one chance to make a living out of something I truly loved doing, so I took it back in 2015….and here I am! Best decision of my life.

HOW DOES YOUR TYPICAL DAY LOOK LIKE? 

Well, recently, it’s been “interesting”. Covid has stopped me working almost completely and as my wife has been able to work full time from home, I have been home schooling my 9 and 7 year old all through the pandemic. But when we aren’t blighted by a virus, my day would be to get up, take the kids to school, come back and sit at the computer and do admin, marketing, social media posts….all the “downside” stuff of working for yourself and trying to promote yourself. The rest of the day would be filled with editing, replying to emails, couples, clients and then back to being Dad at the end of the school day. I try and pop a bit of exercise in there (I have a rowing machine…..works wonders) if not every day, every other day at least. 

If it’s a wedding day, then prep everything the day before…clean cameras and lenses, charge batteries, format memory cards, make sure I have addresses, phone numbers, money, bags packed and so on. On the day, turn up for bridal prep no later than 2 hours before the ceremony and then let the day flow….blend in, be part of the action, capture all the fun, smiles, laughing, love and silly faces throughout the day.

WHAT IS THE BEST PART OF YOUR JOB? 

Meeting people. Simple as that. I’m a sociable sort, so for me I love nothing better than meeting new people of all kinds. I love the diversity that humans have. I am curious, so I love finding out about people, their back stories, what makes them them. And when you are planning a wedding, getting to know someone is paramount as when you are with someone pretty much the whole day and apart from friends and family you will be the ONLY one who is there the whole day, I want to know my couples are comfortable with me and I know them well enough to know how to react and how they will react. It makes for much, much more realistic, natural photos and it means I can usually get shots that wouldn’t normally be seen. One of the things that lockdown has really highlighted to me is that I miss people. I used to think I was happy in my own space, but having the chance to go meet someone on a whim, to not be able to work and meet new people, that has been tough. So for me, absolutely the best part of my job is meeting new people, getting to know them and because of this, creating AWESOME photos for them because the couple are comfortable and happy with me around.