Ok…brace yourselves…this post is full of awesomeness! Forget your average wedding film, this is cinematography turned up to 11. Sophia Bayly and Simon Moore are the couple behind bayly+moore who are behind the amazing these photos and stop motion films. I managed to get them to give us a little insight into their world.
How did you both end up becoming uber video and photographer geniuses?
We both played around with photography over the years as a hobby. Simon toured the world several times with a band and took photos on his days off. I studied graphic design at university and played around in the dark room just before they shut down the dark room and moved into digital. We met shooting a gig, talked photo geek talk and it went from there. We soon fell in love with photography and each other and just developed our talent by playing around with the camera and forcing our undeveloped talents on friends. We started shooting a few casual jobs and reluctantly shot a couple of friends weddings only to discover it was actually really fun! We discovered the brilliant medium of Stop Motion one day on a blog and figured it would be cool to try it out so we did and the rest is history.
How would you describe your style?
Compelling documentary with a touch of quirkiness.
What’s your favourite thing about weddings?
Cake. There’s also meeting some insanely cool couples all over the world that we’ve formed close friendships with. It’s an emotional day for all so forming bonds with couples seems to come naturally. We’re travel addicts so getting to go all over the world to shoot peoples weddings is a dream come true. They’ve spent months if not years planning this event so they take care of it looking great and we just capture it.
Tips for couples looking for a cinematographer?
Find a cinematographer whose style is right for you. To get a great result, a traditional wedding videographer often has to be quite up close and personal much of the day. There’s often 2 shooters + 1 or 2 photographers which equals 4 cameras around you all day. Even if they’re all discreet, they can’t help but be noticed. Stop Motion videos work really well for us, we both shoot regular stills at the same time as shooting stop motion footage so it’s easy to be discreet. Since we shoot all the footage as stills people don’t even know it’s going to be a film a lot of the time so it takes away the nervousness which can often come from being on film.
Now time to check out the films (and lovely photos)…grab some popcorn and get comfy.
Felicity and John
‘Flick’ & John are good friends of ours so naturally we were stoked to be a part of their wedding. It’s always extra special shooting friends weddings and knowing some of the guests. Aucklands unpredictable weather meant we got a half hour of sunshine to shoot some stuff with the bridal party then the rain forced us inside to an old Ford Motor Company warehouse which proved to be a wonderful backdrop.
Sarah and Ben
They had us at ‘elopement’… (here’s the email we received from Sarah:)
Subject: Hopeless Enquiry
Dear Simon and Sophia
I’m planning an elopement with my partner to Scotland in May (we’re based in Australia) and looking for the perfect way to capture the day for us so that we can share it with everyone who won’t be there. And so of course, your name keeps coming up time and time again with those absolutely gorgeous stop motion videos!! I could not think of a more perfect way to capture the day!! But alas… you’re in NZ!!!
SO…. because I’m a big believer in putting things out into the world even if they’re impossible…..… I don’t suppose you guys are planning a Scotland holiday in May at all are you????!!!! OH, how fantastic that would be!!!
(Sometimes a girls just has to try!)
Sarah
As luck would have it, the timing was perfect and we were due in London around the same time so did a trip via Scotland and witnessed a beautiful ceremony in an old abandoned castle on a stormy spring day then joined them for a seafood dinner reception at Oban’s seaside restaurant.
Jenny & Graziano
Right now these 2 crazy italians are staying in our lounge here in little old New Zealand. We first met them in Rome for their engagement shoot and their quirky, crazy personalities were so infectious we ended up sharing many pizzas and affogatos in Rome and in Jenny’s home town Feltre, an incredible cool legit italian town near the Dolomites in Northern Italy. Their wedding was effortlessly stylish in an amazing villa and will go down as one of our favorite weddings ever – awesome couple, stylish fun friends, some of the best food we’ve ever had and just a big adventure traveling through the Dolomites crazy narrow roads and villages.
Emily and Paul
Emily+Paul, Newport, Rhode Island… Wow. You know you’ve been with amazing friends in a ridiculously cool place and had a wild time when you try and sum it up and you’re lost for words. Crazy mist, early morning swims, yellow school buses, a-cabin-in-the-woods-on-a-farm-by-the-ocean, hilarious american girls, witty english guys, Pure magic.
As you say every shoe has a story to tell. What story would your shoes tell?
Jandels (or thongs/sandals depending which country you’re from) are what our feet get to live in most of the time. They’ve been into the dirty paths of Kenya’s Kibera slum through to walking up the mountains of Bolivia to the castles of Italy to home on the farm in the South Island of New Zealand. They’re pretty grateful for all the places they go and look forward to all their upcoming adventures!
Sophia and Simon are based in New Zealand, but do travel, so check out to see whether they are in your neighbourhood!
Gorgeous gorgeous work!