Hi, I'm Stephen
...and I'm a wedding photographer
It's fair to say I know my way around a wedding! I photographed my first one over fifteen years ago, and I've been full-time for over a decade. And I love it. I love the creative challenge, I love the buzz of the day, I love meeting all these new people. And most of all I love producing beautiful images in the knowledge that they are going to be enjoyed and shared around for years to come.
about my style
I like to take a very light touch approach with my wedding photography. I'm not there to turn your day into a big photoshoot where your guests feel like they hardly got to see you all day as you were dragged off for another photo.
Of course there are still those times in the day when you'll probably want me to take the lead for a bit, in particular for your couple portraits and group photos. I promise I won't be taking ages at this point fiddling with poses, but you and your guests may well still want some direction and guidance. No problem - how much or how little is entirely up to you. Either way I like to capture these parts of the day as efficiently as possible while still producing the highest quality images you could expect, leaving you to then get back to celebrating with all of your guests.
It's all very relaxed, chatty, easy going. I promise you - especially if you're really not the type who loves having your photo taken - you'll hardly know it's even happening. The more that you get to spend your day enjoying your time with your friends and family, the more I can be there in the background making sure that the photos just magically happen around you.
ABOUT ME
I've always had an eye for a strong image, and after a previous life working in the public and environment sectors I've had the great fortune to be able to build a career around my photography. It started with a single DSLR and a kit lens, and then the gear collection inevitably started to grow, to a point where I was glad that it could at least in part pay for itself. I came to weddings very organically: way way back a friend asked me photograph their day, and that went well enough that someone else felt confident enough to ask me to do the same. It just grew nice and steadily from there, to the point where, fast forward a few years, I found myself in he enviable position where I could say farewell to the day job and hello to the rollercoaster thrills of self employment.
I'm entirely self taught, and I believe that this has allowed me to develop my own style and approach to capturing a wedding which works so well for both my clients and myself. Years and years of experience gained at every type of venue, from the grandest to the smallest and most intimate, and in every kind of weather and condition means that there is very little which a wedding day can throw at me and catch me off guard. (Never say never though! Just when you think you've seen it all...)
I really love doing this as a job, and photographing weddings is pretty much all I do as gainful employment (with occasional portraits and other commissions by request). I do however still have a life beyond the shutter. I'm really big on the great outdoors. I live out in the sticks in the South Downs, a few miles outside Winchester, which means that I literally have the countryside right on my doorstep. I can often be found running out on the trails or bombing around on a bike. As and when I'm able to get further afield I'll try and get out on the paddleboard (work in progress...) and on the golf course (have come to terms with my limitations and now very much concentrate on enjoying the few decent shots I might fluke in a round). Stand me at the bottom of a mountain and point me uphill and I'll be very happy.
Twin boys keep my wife and my hands full - they're both more active than me which is half the reason I'm working on all of the above, just to keep up with them. And for much of the rest of my time I can be found in the kitchen where I enjoy both cooking food and eating it in equal measure.
But that's enough about me. Let's see what I can do for you...