“I’m neither an economist nor a photographer of monuments and I’m not much of a journalist either. What I am trying to do more than anything else to observe life.” Henri Cartier-Bresson
I’ll always be a Sydney-sider but as you might have heard along the way, I’m now a long way from home and I now live on the rugged Basque coast- line in a charming town called Getxo with my beautiful wife and daughter. My lifestyle change after spending 6 incredible years in London has simply calmed the pace that I walk. First and foremost though, I’ll always be a traveler as well as a photographer so rest assured that no distance is too far when it comes to photographing your wedding.
As a kid, my dream was to live and work in the US Rockies, as a teen I wanted to see the world from Hanoi to London and after finishing uni, I craved to write my own ‘Motorcycle Diaries’ through South America. Fortunately, I did all of these with my camera in hand and along the way, my passion became my job.
As a photographer though, I’ve always wanted to to be invisible – I’m a street photographer at heart and I want to observe the natural. Cartier-Bresson once said “I’m neither an economist nor a pho- tographer of monuments and I’m not much of a journalist either. What I am trying to do more than anything else is to observe life.” This is my mantra.
I often get asked how I specifically got into wedding photography and with a wry smile, my answer is “with trepidation”. For years, I had misconceptions of what I thought wedding pho- tography was meant to be. When I realised that it didn’t have to be all about posing and long photography sessions soaking up the precious hours of ‘the big day’, it’s been such a rewarding, creative and ultimately, a genuinely surprising experience ever since.
HOW OFTEN AM I IN LONDON?
You’ll still find me and my Mac in and around my old local cafes every third week. Why? Because I love the city and I fortunately still get to work within and maintain my professional links that I established during my time there.
To sum it all up, I’m 36. I’m a wedding photojour- nalist. I love my job. I love coffee. If I could have dinner with any 3 photographers dead or alive, I’d call Don McCullin (the most brave), Sebastião Salgado (the conservationist) and David Bailey (snapper to the Rolling Stones) in a flash. As a photographer, I’m happy to say that I’ll always observed rather than direct and oh… did I mention I love coffee 🙂 Mick
THE WAY I OBSERVE WEDDINGS
There’s not a lot to this so I’m not going to over- complicate it. I’m a visual story-teller and wed- dings have an incredible narrative. The images that make up your story are my interpretation but it’s your day. I will not be there to direct you but instead, I will artfully document these moments as they occur.
For me, Cartier-Bresson was the one that intro- duced me into photography but there are two photographers whose work I draw on for inspira- tion more than any others – Don McCullin and Sebastião Salgado (and I don’t think either of them ever touched on wedding photography).
Whilst it might be difficult to draw on any dis- tinct parallels to their respective fields to that of wedding photography, it’s their influences that have made me into the photographer I am today. I simply love to observe.
Whether a scene’s composition directs me to someones fascinator, their hands or even their dress, I enjoy the challenge of finding something interesting and unique to photograph which can tell one or a thousand stories.
For as long as I can remember, I’ve always had an aversion to using flash. I love the depth of field, the shadows and the highlights when using the surrounding natural light to bring about an au- thentic feel to my photos.
As a photographer, 95% of what we do is about using the light to our advantage. Whether it’s using candlelight to illuminate our subjects or spotting the moment when the outside light is just right, I’ll always try and take advantage of these opportunities before considering anything else.
At the end of the day, every wedding is very unique and you can never predict it’s every move but in each wedding, there is a similar excitement and anticipation to that of a Grand Final sporting event and there’s going to be more than my fair share of incredible stories for me to photograph.