HOW TO GET THE MOST OF A LONDON CHRISTMAS ELOPEMENT SHOOT
So as is the way of things, the call came via a Facebook shoutout from my good friend, the supremely talented make up artist MEL KINSMAN. Julie and Ian, who had eloped ten years ago in London, wanted to re-live and re-visit the romance of that occasion.
Now, while everyone knows how picturesque and romantic London can be at Christmas, we all know also how crowded, confusing, congested and complex it can be. And if you are a professional wedding photographer, the light is not on your side either, given that it is gone by 4pm in December.
Well we had all the solutions. Starting off from the marvelous London Marriott Park Lane hotel, we had the able assistance of Steve and his black cab, booked out to us for the entire day. I cannot tell you what a break this is. Travelling on the tube can be fun, but it would totally not be my first choice for getting from A to B quickly and in comfort.
Our first location was the delightful St Ermins Hotel, on the edge of Mayfair where Yuletide sparkle and unparalleled service make this an absolute must for anyone looking for high class high tea. We stopped off at Smiths Square, behind parliament for a little bit of Peaky Blinders retro-style portraiture, before Steve dropped us off on Westminster Bridge.
Westminster Bridge, in case you don’t know, is more crowded than the entrance to a Taylor Swift concert, so any professional portrait photographer needs to be able to not only handle hordes of milling tourists politely and discretely, but also know their angles. The same thing went for our next bridge, the Millenium Bridge by St Paul’s Cathedral. We Londoners get forgetful and tend to call it The Wobbly Bridge.
Surprisingly, Tower Bridge was remarkably easy to deal with, probably because everyone wants their shot on the side next to The Tower of London. Which is all well and good in the mind’s eye. Realistically you can’t get both in to a decent shot, so it was a lot easier for me to pose my couple on the St Katherine’s Dock side. Her and at St Paul’s, en route back to the West End, I started to experiment a little with off-camera flash lighting, in order to get more drama and contrast, and to prepare for the encroaching darkness.
From Covent Garden onwards we were at the mercy of the crowds and the available street lighting. This is where, as an experienced commercial event photographer, knowing how to handle people and lighting and editing is crucial. Using a mix of backlight and available light and then adjusting colour balance in post led to some really lovely results.
Our final destination was the West End, from Bond Street and Burlington Arcade and then down to the iconic Fortnum and Masons which is always so beautifully decorated, finishing up at Regent Street, where the lights and the buildings curve so beautifully at Piccadilly Circus.
Chaotic as may seem for a photographer to drag a couple round all these picture postcard London locations at the city’s busiest and darkest time of the year, if you have your wits about you, if you know how to adapt your style and your lighting to move fast, and if you have a chauffeur who can stay with you for the day, then it is a whole lot of fun.
And finally, what Julie said at one point is so true; “People love love”, and amazingly, if you take on the awesome challenge of a London Christmas Wedding Photo Shoot, you will find the minute people see a wedding dress and a bouquet they are thrilled and all too eager to step out of the way, hold a light for you, offer their best wishes, and even, as when we were in Leadenhall Market, give a resounding round of applause!
All in all a fun-packed, romantic and thrilling experience and one I would happily take on every Christmas.
Congratulations to Julie and Ian!
