Fiona Campbell Photography blog

You get on with the memory making – I’ll make sure the memories stay vivid in your very own website with printing facilities.

So you’ve seen your gorgeous wedding images. (Of course they were gorgeous – you hired me!). And your friends have emailed you loads of slightly ropey but nonetheless precious pictures. Now for the daunting task of collating them all!

With my new free personalised website viewing gallery everything is made easier for you. You can view my photographs and all your friends can upload and share their own pictures all in one place. Everyone can order a wide range of products without you having to do any work at all. Then you can keep the online gallery going forever and use it as your very own family website; a complete photography solution where you can house all your pictures and easily order prints, albums and framed prints edited by me to a professional standard.

Your very own personalised website is included for free for one year in all my photography packages, and just £5 per month after that. Here’s one I made earlier http://nathalieandfrederik.eu/

*All pictures will be checked before going live. Prices for individual orders start at £5 including VAT, plus postage. Prices correct as of 2012. The website is password protected for your privacy.

I like to keep space for personal work so as to keep my creative self in shape. Last week I photographed a flamenco dancer, an acrobat and this extraordinary contemporary dancer who is like a wild creature. It was electrifying just to be in the room with her as she created her unique improvised dance routines. In the images below I wanted to capture a sense of wildness and urbanness, and how the two co-exist both in harmony and in conflict. Of course, these images couldn’t be further from wedding photography, but the level of skill required for dance photography is very useful for a wedding photographer.  Working with dance photographer Hilary Shedel in her workshop, I learnt to choreograph a dancer and anticipate the picture that I was looking for. In the same way as Hilary has to anticipate the dancer’s every move, I have to anticipate every player in a wedding and know instinctively where they will be and when to take the photographs. A wedding is a fast moving event and requires total concentration of the photographer. With Hilary we learnt to anticipate where a dancer’s jump will be at its zenith, and press the shutter a millisecond before so that you get the perfect moment illuminated by flash.

I’m delighted to announce that I’ve just been invited to join the Artistic Guild of Wedding Photojournalists, an international accreditation body which invites (in my view) only the finest and most creative of reportage photographers to join their ranks.

http://www.agwpja.com

I believe that as it becomes increasingly common for anyone with a big camera to announce that they are a wedding photographer, so it becomes more and more important for couples to check that their photographer is accredited by one of the photographic guilds, in order to ensure that they are not disappointed by their photographs. Remember, anyone can buy a big camera, but learning to take good wedding photographs takes years of practice and is both an art and a fine craft. Many photographers shoot weddings to make a bit of extra money, but they quickly find that it is probably the most challenging branch of photography, because of the sheer range of skills it requires a photographer to employ at a very fast pace. I’m very glad that the AGWPJA consider that I have what it takes to join their ranks, which currently include as few as 14 wedding photographers in London. To join the AG/WPJA photographers must show creativity and skill in photojournalism as well as good business ethics and integrity. The AG/WPJA said about my work, ‘You definitely have the ability to take great wedding pictures! Welcome to the AG/WPJA! We are truly happy to extend membership to you.’

It’s amazing how a photograph can have the power to take you back to a time and a feeling. This photo of Natalie and Eoin Gillen getting married still makes me come over all sentimental. It’s partly because they look so happy and there is such a sense of momentum and romance about it. Natalie looks ecstatic, and very beautiful. I love that her friends are gathered around her and smiling as she moves forward. Part of the magic of the photo is personal: I inadvertently photographed my boyfriend (top left) before we had ever met, so the camera saw him before I did. To me it is proof of the power of photography, and a reminder of how important it is to have a good professional photographer at your wedding.

Contrast that with video. I have a video of my eighteenth birthday party, which is very entertaining to watch, but the annoying thing about it is that I can’t remember much about the event outsides of the video. Plus, I never actually sit down and look at the video. I don’t even have a video recorder anymore! I wish I had some decent pictures of me looking young and eighteen! Video simply cannot evoke the feelings of a good still, and you cannot hang a video on your wall to give you split second reminders of happy times. As one bride put it, ‘I see my wedding photographs on the mantelpiece and it reminds me of that happy day and of why I got married, through the good times and the difficult. It is my most treasured possession.’ It’s a wonderful feeling to know that I took that picture for her.

Later that evening David and I got talking and we’ve been dating for nine months now…

Just back from a gorgeous shoot in Bury on the old Lancashire Railway line there, doing a Cherish the Dress shoot of Grace Kelly and Audrey Hepburn, aka Chloe and Jenny in their stunning wedding dresses. Cherish the Dress is a fashion and beauty shoot which gives you the chance to show off your dress in all its glory. Designed by photographer Chris Hanley, the idea is to make the dress the star of the shoot. It was thought up for brides so that the dress could be given the attention it deserves after the wedding day, and the aim is to create some beautiful photographs of you at your most gorgeous.

The scene is set in a vintage location in keeping with your style and the style of your dress. We start with a pampering beauty session complete with champagne and a make up artist to make you feel like a supermodel. This is not about ‘trashing the dress’ American style (let’s keep that for the next shoot!), it’s more oriented towards glamorous indoor or civilised location shooting using both natural light and studio lights where appropriate to bring out the beauty of your dress. Then we create a beautiful album and framed prints of you in your dress.

I’m really excited about this new trend because it offers me a chance to do what I do best: Bring out your inner gorgeousness! It’s fun, it’s pampering, and it’s a must for all women who love their dress and don’t want to pack it away in a box just yet. Prices from £695, to include a professional make up artist to do your hair and make up, champagne and the shoot. Stunning bespoke albums and extra framed prints are also available with prices starting from £40.