Vintage

Some of the posts from the old Rainywood Blog from the .co.uk site…
Blog #5
Top 10 tips for wedding photographers(version 1)

A good week just gone as it was the first wedding of this year.

It’s so nice to be back shooting a wedding & this one was a classic with FIRE, THE BATMOBILE & A PLASTIC HERON! What more could you ask for? I never set out to be a wedding photographer but I’ve fallen into the roll & it’s become something that I love.

The first wedding i shot was for a family member, i was nervous as hell, worried about every detail, I’m not saying I was entirely happy with the results more pleased that I didn’t mess the whole thing up but through all the little mistakes I made I learnt so much.

Lessons that I still carry with me every time I shoot. This is my first version of my top 10 tips for wedding photographers.

• Make lists, they help!

• Talk to the Bride & Groom, before during & after, your working for them!

• Never shoot the wedding breakfast, it looks minging!

•Don’t take every piece of kit you have, you don’t need it all & it’s heavy.

•Don’t wear your suit jacket, it’ll be too hot.

•Get as many stock photo as possible before the day, it’ll save time.

•Make friends with the Mother of the Bride, she will be your best friend.

•Wear shoes you can run in!

•Get good glass!

•Get a mic, because you never know!

Maybe it’s not the definitive list but just pointers to remember, I’m far from an expert yet & constantly learning.

I think learning & adapting is the best weapon a photographer can have, just speaking to other photographers can give you such an edge, reading lots of magazines, books & articles is more of an obsession but still a great tool. My favourite place to hunt out lessons is on YouTube, with “froknowsphoto.com” being my goto photography channel, check him out & like all the links please tell them Rainywood sent me!

A big sporting weekend coming up as it the England Handball Finals at The Copper Box & I’ve been asked back to shoot it as I did last year (www.facebook.com/rainywoodphotography) for those albums.

Of course I’ll let you know how it goes.

Woody

Blog #4

Time for another instalment of the Rainywood Blog.

Been busy as always hitting Rainywood as hard as possible, not always an easy task with other commitments, family & the day job sometimes take over.

I’m far from asking for sympathy just telling the story, unlike alot of my pears I came into Photography late, I didn’t know when I was a child that I wanted this for a career. (I wanted to be a Jedi!)

I’ve always enjoyed taking photos but never had the thoughts of doing any more than that.

In 2011 my wife unknowingly pushed me into it by signing me up for a one day photography course along the Suffolk coast, she had done her research & asked the right questions & told me my little compact camera would serve me well enough.

However my vanity got in the way & I purchased my first Canon DSLR, after the course, I started my self education, reading every magazine I could find & watching YouTube as much as possible, it was then that I started to compile my wish list of kit.

It was at this point my sensible wife put the line in the sand & uttered the line “if you want this stuff for your camera, earn it from your camera!”

Rainywood was born at the beginning of 2012 still got a wish list & I’m still learning but happy with the progress so far & hopefully long may it continue.

Cheers Woody

Blog #3

I’ve been quite for the last couple of weeks so to make up for it here’s an extended blog & I just hope It still reads OK.

Busy isn’t the problem writing is, I’m still new to writing regularly, last time was school and that was because I had to, never by choice.

I think I have plenty to say it’s just getting it down without it seeming like the ramblings of a mad man, just need to find my style and get some consistency.

I’ll continue to welcome any feedback or comments as hopefully that will make me a better blogger.

On the photography front(hopefully that’s why your reading this), I’ve had some interesting shoots.

Shot my first comedy gig, a completely different style than my normal work, had to work a lot harder to get shots, one comic on the stage and to have to try and get the humour across, decently a welcome challenge, have a look at the results on the facebook page.

http://www.facebook.com/rainywoodphotography

As well as more local rugby I’ve also shot a rockabilly band called Shane and The Korrados, was looking forward to this as I love live music and this band are very good, the bonus came with the people in full 50s kit, petticoats and all jiving for most of the evening, the shots are also on the Rainywood page.

Spending loads of time as ever at the desk trying to make everything come together, when I started I knew there would be work to do but how much still catches me out.

Not that I’m complaining.

Cheers for reading.

Woody