22|05|20

10 YEARS AGO – Carbisdale Castle Wedding

Bride and father walking down the aisle at a Carbisdale Castle wedding in Scotland

I received a message this week from a couple that I’d photographed 10 years ago – just a month after I started full time as a professional wedding photographer.

” Hi Andy,

10 years ago today you ran around at Carbisdale castle taking photos of our crazy German Scottish wedding… my dad passed away last summer after battling cancer and your shot of him with me walking me down the aisle must be one of the most wonderful photo of of us…thank you again for creating memories for us and all our family…

Lots of love –

Stephanie “

I was really moved by this. Not only that Stephanie had taken the time to remember my small contribution to the day but also as the weekend was still vivid in my memory. I was in a castle in Scotland with a 100 Germans and only a rudimentary understanding of the language and staying two nights in a turret… what’s not to love!

I think that weekend really cemented the ideas I had around wedding photography – natural, spontaneous unposed photography that adds rather than detracts from the flow of the day.

Of course I didn’t have an idea how to consistently achieve this. Not for an hour, or across a day, let alone a wedding season. But having that philosophy forefront in my mind meant that I could always see glimpses of what I was trying to achieve. So the more I practised, the more I studied, the more I kept down the path I wanted, the better I got at realising a way to photograph that was right for me.

The day I think I’ve cracked it is the day I’ve stopped trying

I’m still very much on that journey and always trying to get better and better with every wedding I photograph – the day I think I’ve cracked it is the day I’ve stopped trying.