Fiona Campbell Photography blog

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.

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.

All respect to Times motor racing correspondent Kevin Eason and his wife as of today, for their 60 hour marathon home in time to get married. I wish I’d been there to take the wedding pictures, (although I imagine it was hard work editing out all the bags under the groom’s eyes after 46 hours without sleep!) The groom was stranded in Shanghai last Sunday. At 11pm Sunday London time, three hours after his flight was cancelled, he set off.

‘I soon felt I was in a follow-up to Four Weddings and a Funeral: Four flights, 21 air-hours, six airline meals, 46 hours without sleep and a hair-raising taxi ride.’ From Shanghai Eason flew to Hong Kong and then to Tel Aviv, hoping to connect to Rome. At Rome there was chaos. But he made it to Paris, the final stop. There he was met by international Jacqueline Rescue Service. The bride to be couldn’t wait and had got up at 3am and taken the Eurotunnel Shuttle to drive to Paris in a Ford Fiesta. There was no way she was letting a volcano get in the way of their wedding day. And all respect to Eason for managing to file an article on it in the Times to boot! He writes today, ‘She got her man, and today she gets him for the rest of her life.’

From The Times, Saturday 23rd April 2010