I find that wedding photography in Perth is usually about finding some shade and avoiding the harsh summer sun. Yet in the winter it is a different story, the light is a lot softer and there are some beautiful colours to find. Han and Kim are a fun loving couple and love to laugh and it didn’t come as a shock to find that all of their family and friends were just the same. to top it off the bridesmaids had flown in from Singapore especially and they had caught up with their partying all week. We did the bridal shots at South Perth foreshore. The Perth City views are popular with wedding photography but I wanted to include some of the great shapes and light that come with working with architecture, in this case the narrows bridge. There is one thing that I love about photographing weddings is that they are a unique event that is never the same as the other. I think I captured the way that everyone embraced the celebration and the softer romantic side of Han and Kim that I started to understand during our engagement session and various meetings. This is a more subtle side of them that can be missed.

Kim and Han’s wedding reception was at the Broadwater Pagoda hotel in Perth. We had discussed in our planning meeting the idea of shots on the bridge over the freeway. I wanted to play with some natural source lighting and on the bridge we found that we could use the lighting from the freeway to create something unique. This image has a cinematic quality and it was one of those moments as a photographer that I knew this would be a special image. I love it!

Tim and Kandese got married on the 24th Of April 2010. It was a beautiful sunny day which is pretty much standard procedure for weddings in Perth. Everyone was up for having a great time and there was plenty of jokes flying around to keep any nerves away. The most stressful time was when Tim and the boys were struggling with fixing their ties but other than that it was all very relaxed. Kandese was really up for a laugh and after meeting her Dad Rob, I had a clear idea of where the humour genes were coming from.

The girls had the music cranked up as they pampered away and helped Kandese with her dress, I think she was up for a dance which made the bridesmaids task a little bit more of a challenge. One of the bridesmaids had travelled in from the bush where her and her partner run a farm, I love to talk to people from the country as they have so many great stories to tell.

Tying the dress is a tough task for Mum and the bridesmaids as they know that this a “wedding moment” that must go smoothly, there is plenty of anxious laughing. This is one of those times that I am working like a madman to capture the complete spectrum of emotions and I find when people are really concentrating they drop their guard a little and reveal how they feel.

I love to find my favourite quality of light that is so good for portraits, it delivers beautiful soft skin tones and adds a subtle depth as well. Every house has it and it is where I do my creative work. While I am photographing Kandese I can hear the “worker bridesmaids” carrying bags and arranging food, she is very lucky to have such cool friends who know how to make the day easy. I am very happy that my clients are always happy chilled out people and because they are like that their friends are usually cool cats too.

I really like this church in Vic Park, it has a really bright and warm atmosphere. Tim was there and was holding it together really well, I grabbed some portraits of him with the boys and then it was time head out to photograph Kandese arriving.

The ceremony is where the wedding photojournalism style that I love comes into play. There is no direction here and it my ability to anticipate and capture emotions and feelings that will create a powerful collection of photographs that tell stories.  I want to capture laughter, tears and love.

I think I need to get better at keeping the number of photographs down for my blogs. Trouble is I do feel very emotionally attached to them because they remind me of the people and day that we all spent together. I enjoy them so much that each wedding is another opportunity to create something even better, to tell stories and make beautiful pictures. The wedding day goes so fast that afterwards it is all about stories and photographs or videos that can help us all remember what happened. Editing the wedding and creating albums brings it all back to me. I’ll leave you with the rest of the day, we cruised into a sneaky little city location that I found. I love to go and scope out new spots. After the city we headed to AQWA wedding function centre in Hillary’s. It’s a really great location for photos with amazing views and the added bonus of a couple of “SHARK!” shots in the aquarium. It’s okay we don’t swim with them.