Feature: Wedding Photographer Tony Hart

Welcome to my first Feature! The plan is to focus on people and things I think are awesome and I’m really excited to be featuring the wonderful photographer Tony Hart. I met Tony through my sister and have seen his photography career go from strength to strength. Here is a little about him and some great tips if you’re looking for a wedding photographer.

SYW: How did you become a photographer?

Tony: I’ve always been interested in photography, but this developed into a profession back in the early months of 2008. Post university, alongside a regular 9 to 5 IT job, I used to work as the manager for an unsigned band called “The Savage Jazz”. This pretty much involved minimum glamour and a wide and never-ending variety of jobs. Unsigned bands never have any money, and as such “Manager” might have been better described as “General Dog’s Body”. I began to derive a lot of satisfaction from photographing the band. Despite only having occasional access to my brother’s SLR and the standard kit lens, I seemed to be taking some reasonably good shots with greater and greater regularity.

My day job at Sun Microsystems bored the pants off me, but I was lucky enough to sit opposite one Maire Doherty. Her brother is a chap called Kieran Doherty, a former Reuters staff photographer with a portfolio and stories that tell of a wealth of experience, skill and ability. Look him up. She mentioned that her brother was a photographer and that I should sit down with him and talk photography and cameras. Despite worries about being totally out of my depth, I met up with Kieran and learnt more in the first hour I spent chatting to him than I’d learnt in the rest of my embryonic photographic career prior to that point. I had a working understanding of the basics of photography – aperture, shutter speed, that sort of thing – but Kieran’s real-life experience of countless photographic situations gave him ready answers to my vast catalog of questions. That same day, despite having just bought my brother’s camera, Kieran sold me an EOS 20D (quite a big step up) and I placed my ‘old’ camera on eBay!

I left my IT job and Initially I envisaged myself as largely running a web design studio and Kieran was one of my first clients. I designed his website and helped him get his Apple Mac-laden home office sorted out. In repayment he lent me equipment, taught me shed-loads of good photographic lessons and critiqued my images. In May of that year, my brother’s best friend got married at Keble College in Oxford. They had booked a photographer, but as an invited guest I decided to bring a camera along and shoot some photographs. In the wedding photography trade guests who shoot like wannabe pro’s are known as “Uncle Bob’s”. Invariably a well meaning, but thoroughly annoying relative with all the gear but no idea! Nonetheless Ruth & Miles, the bride and groom, emailed me a few weeks later to ask if they could purchase some of my pictures as they preferred my selection to the ones the official photographer delivered. For me, this was the point at which I realised that I might be a better photographer than I was a web designer. Web design is a tricky business.

SO! In the space of a few short months I went from a less than enthusiastic IT worker, who moonlighted as a band manager with a photography bug, through owning my first ‘serious’ camera, selling it almost instantly to fund a better one, met and got to know a cracking bloke, amazing snapper and extremely generous mentor and shot my first wedding over a probably infuriated pro’s shoulder! The rest, as they say, is history.

SYW: What would you say your photography style is?

Tony: First and foremost I am a wedding photojournalist. I believe strongly that a wedding is an organic event that is capable of passing off quite smoothly without a photographer present. With that in mind my role as a photojournalist is to ‘journal’ what happens rather than influence it. The emotions we care about at a wedding are the unforged moments that occur naturally as the ‘main characters’, if you’ll allow me the phrase, react honestly and sincerely to one another. The aim of my work is to photograph these reactions, their context and their setting in as tender and undirected a manner as possible and in doing so produce a photographic essay of the day.

That said, I like to make room for 20-30 mins alone with the couple on the wedding day to do some relaxed, lightly directed portraits. For this brief period I take my photojournalistic hat off and go for a wander with the couple. It’s much more about controlling composition and location – processes that go on silently in my head on, and ahead of, the wedding day – rather than about posing like there’s no tomorrow. It’s effectively a mini-portrait session during the wedding day. We’re there because it makes for cracking pictures, it’s slightly fabricated, and there’s nothing wrong with admitting so! I guess I take issue with disguise, there’s nothing wrong with shooting in a scenic spot, let’s just not fake the organic stuff. I value honesty in photography.

In terms of the images I create, I would say that black and white is a large component of my work. I have nothing against colour, I love it dearly, but I find black and white shifts the point of focus a little bit. It’s been said that with a colour picture we see people’s clothes where as with a black and white image we see their souls. It may sound a little cheesy and a little over-egged, but it contains an element of truth. Black and white removes distraction and helps us concentrate on expression, light and form.

SYW: What is your favourite thing about weddings?

Tony: Tough one. If I was forced to pick, I think I’d have to say awesome couples. There’s nothing as satisfying as photographing two people who truly love each other, totally high on life. So much good stuff flows from great couples. The guests react differently, the staff react differently, the good situations are amplified, the less than ideal situations (rain!) are treated with ‘come what may’ attitudes and even the most routine locations suddenly seem injected with new vitality.

Another thing I love are the transitions. Between church and reception, reception and wedding breakfast, the morning trip to the hair dressers etc etc. These chapters of the day are less obvious than the ‘main events’, but by their very nature are undirected and slightly chaotic and sometimes lead to the most interesting and poignant moments.

SYW: What advice do you have for couples who are choosing a photographer?

Tony: Make your decision on pictures, personality and approach. You have to love your photographer’s work. Pretty obvious really, but don’t settle unless you’re thrilled by their portfolio. There’s no point finding a wedding shooter with a fashion approach and then asking them to shoot in a photo journalistic style. Likewise there’s no point finding a traditionalist and asking them to shoot quirky. This is a mistake I see regularly and something that I discuss frequently in consultations. Booking a photographer who shoots one way and then insisting on, or creating, an environment where they are forced to shoot in an entirely different manner is a fast track to disappointment. Your wedding pictures won’t look like the ones you’ve drooled over because the approach was different.

Beware cowboys. The barriers to entry in the field are pretty low these days. Any Tom, Dick or Harry can buy a camera and lens and claim to be a photographer. A camera does not constitute a photographer. Established photographers will have experience of lots of weddings behind them, plenty of equipment redundancy/backups, an ability to advise you of what will and will not work and will recognise the value of proper consultations, venues recces and discussions with the people who make the day happen.

Finally, remember that your photographs are what remains once your wedding day has ended. A huge amount of investment goes into the average wedding, both time and money. When it’s all done and dusted, the bouquet tossed, the guests departed and the last piece of cake nommed, the abiding memory will be your photographs.

SYW: Speak now or forever hold your piece…anything else you want to add?

Tony: Most weddings include at least some formal or group photographs. The more time you spend having formal photographs, the less time you will have available to see your guests and enjoy champagne and yummy canapés! In the same way, the more time the photographer spends shooting formals, the less time is available for them to photograph the reception itself. I personally work quite quickly during formals and limit them to a maximum of 8 groups. I always say to allocate at least 5 mins per group. Ideally this much time won’t be needed, but to be on the safe side this is a reasonable overhead. At 5 mins per group, 8 groups will take 40mins, not insignificant. Trust me, you’ll want to be with your guests, you’ll want to see your parents and you’ll want to celebrate. The last thing you’ll want to do is stand for formals when everyone else is having fun! Don’t get me wrong, they’re vital, they’re important and they have to be done well. Nonetheless keep them short and sweet and go and enjoy your wedding!