Behind THE LENS

from Your Surrey Wedding - April/May 2023 (Issue 100)

Diamonds

Here’s your chance to meet the person behind the camera

MEET RYAN, OF RYAN COX PHOTOGRAPHY

In the beginning…

My passion for photography started from a young age when I used to go to Paris a couple of times a year to stay with a French family; the father was an old black and white photographer with his own dark room and used to shoot the most amazing street-style images. My dad bought me my first camera, a Chinon CE4 and a 50mm lens, which I used to take everywhere with me. I played roller hockey for GB and England and travelled the world playing and always took my camera to capture my travels. I had my own little dark room to develop my film and have always loved black and white images.

I’ve been capturing weddings for 25 years and have now started shooting weddings for the children of my couples from the beginning of my professional journey.

If I wasn’t a wedding photographer, I’d love to do more wildlife and travel photography and definitely if the opportunity arose be a full-time wildlife photographer, I would love to have the time to just sit and watch nature and capture its beauty, the amazing animals and documenting their lives.

For the love of weddings…

I love the bridal prep, there’s always a buzz of excitement and also it’s the first page of my job to tell the story of the day. Capturing moments as the story unfolds from meeting the make-up and hair artists to filming the venue being dressed and all the other elements coming together so that when the guests arrive it all looks perfect. We are then on to capturing the next chapters of the day to create my storybook of images for the couple.

The long-term relationships I have with many of my couples is what makes shooting weddings so special, being asked to do bump shoots for their babies, christenings, birthdays and capturing their children at photo shoots as they grow up, and of course as is now happening, capturing their children’s weddings.

Golden nugget advice…

For a couple, find a photographer whose work you love and book them, get to know them and share your vision of your day and then you will get the images you want.

What’s your favourite film/food/song?

A Star is Born with Lady Gaga and Notting Hill – I’m a big softie so I love chick flicks.

Italian and Spanish food! I love paella and Spanish seafood but Italian has to come first especially as it’s one of my favourite countries to visit and also where I love shooting weddings.

I have favourites from all genres of music, I was born in the ‘60s so I’m always singing along to songs from way back and up to the present day.

Ryan Cox Photography, Cranleigh, Surrey www.ryancoxphotography.com www.instagram.com/ryancoxphotography

Meet Rachel Of Rachel Thornhill Photography

In the beginning…

When I started my business, I focussed on portraits, families, children, pets, children with pets and so on. I knew I wanted to learn the ropes properly, so I took on a six-month work experience placement with a brilliant portrait photographer called Paul Wilkinson who has a beautiful studio Buckinghamshire. For two days a week, I assisted him on his sessions, and soon after I worked with him on a wedding. I completely fell in love with the whole process and even now, six years on, I spend most of the time with a huge smile on my face. I love my job!

Before I was a professional photographer, I worked in the record industry and ran a recording studio and video editing suite in Kensington. One of my roles was to film artist idents (video), and I’d often be sent all over the place to meet artists, often who had just arrived from the airport, so the last thing they’d want to do was be filmed. So, I learnt quite quickly how far a smile and being polite goes! Which definitely helps during the family group photographs ‒ working quickly, being polite and wearing a big smile mean we get them done and back to the celebrating before you know it!

As a working portrait photographer who shoots weddings, I choose to only take on a handful of weddings a year. I like to allow enough time in my workflow to meet with my couples before the big day, to have a walk through at the venues, and make a timeline of the day including other relevant suppliers, so that we’re not only all working together on the same page but maximising the opportunities for beautiful photographs with the best experience for my couples and their guests. Working well alongside other suppliers is always very important to me, because we are all there on the same team, helping everyone have the most amazing day. Having a schedule and a shot list in advance really helps things go smoothly.

For the love of weddings…

My favourite part of a wedding day? Oh goodness, so many! I see this in terms of my favourite shots to capture: the father-of-the-bride seeing his daughter for the first time, the first kiss, the walk back up the aisle after the ceremony are all very classic moments. But I think I’d have to say the speeches; I love capturing people’s expressions, the laughter, the tears, especially from relatives!

However, the icing on the cake for me is winning awards from the photographs that I know mean so much to my clients. I never go out with the purpose of shooting for awards, but magic often happens on the day and I’m ready to capture it.

I’ll always remember a wedding at Hartsfield Manor when the bride’s veil was misbehaving, and as we were coming back inside, a gust of wind took it off her head and up over the roof of the hotel before disappearing. She was understandably distraught, as it was her late grandmother’s veil and a family heirloom. We spoke to the hotel management to see if there was any chance that anyone could help us find it, but we needed to get the speeches under way. Fifteen-minutes later, just as the mother-of-thebride was asking everyone to raise a glass to those who were no longer with us, the manager of the hotel appeared with the veil in his arms, with not a mark on it! They’d found it caught on one of the turrets and had carefully retrieved it. We all joked that grandma definitely made her presence felt that day!

Golden nugget advice…

Try not to do too much on the day yourself. Delegate as much as you can, as people are often very happy to be involved!

What’s your favourite film/food/song?

Has to be Four Weddings and a Funeral, the first wedding was filmed at my church, St Michael’s Betchworth. I remember my friends and I seeing part of the filming, and telling everyone that Mr Bean was in the film and no-one believed us! And it’s why I always try to capture a photograph of the best man with the rings before the ceremony ‒ to make sure he has them!

So many first dance gems when it comes to favourite songs. All of Me by John Legend I adore, and it reminds me of shooting weddings at the Crazy Bear in Stadhampton; Grow Old With Me by Tom O’Dell always makes me smile, as does Shut up and Dance by Walk The Line, which always fills a dancefloor!