Hello, I'm Andrew
Wedding Photographer — Sheffield, Yorkshire & across the UK
I didn't grow up thinking I'd photograph weddings. Who does. Astronaut, fighter pilot, police officer, that sort of thing. I did the police one, for six years, as it happens. Ask me about it over a coffee.
Photography began properly in 2016. I was working as a Project Manager at a university, and my partner, Shaun, was heading off to Hong Kong over the summer to do some architecture work. I needed something to focus on while he was away, and between us, sat pondering with a cocktail in the Botanist in Manchester, we landed on photography. I bought an Olympus the following day.
I didn't really know what I was doing with it. I found a series of tutorial videos by a guy called Ben Long and threw myself into them, on my breaks, while I was ironing, right before bed, picking up a concept and then practising it the next day. It began with seeing the world around me as a collection of light and dark shapes, learning how each setting affected the final image, and ended up with me taking my camera on street photography walks around Sheffield during my lunch, making an interesting photograph out of whatever was in front of me.
It was on one of those walks, in Sheffield Market, that I met a florist called Karon (Meadows and Mulberry Weddings). I'd been photographing whatever the market was doing that lunchtime, her flower stall included. She said I should look into weddings. I hadn't really considered it. What I'd seen of wedding photography was soft and staged, lit to look romantic and effortless, and none of it looked like anything I'd choose to point a camera at. It's not a criticism, it's just not the shape my eye had ever gone looking for. It turns out a fair few couples feel the same way about their own wedding photos.
What it’s made me
Street photography taught me to read a space before anything happens in it, who's about to move, where the light's about to fall. Watching for a moment, and reading a space to know what may be coming next. That's most of a wedding for me.
I'm also an introvert, and a natural watcher rather than a performer, which is probably why I understand exactly what it's like to stand somewhere with nothing to do but be looked at. I only feel comfortable in front of people when I've got a job to do. Most couples find themselves without one during portraits, so I try to give them one, however small, rather than just leaving them to stand there.
Watching is only half of it. The other half is where I'm standing when the moment arrives. I still see a space the way I learned to in those first months, as shapes of light and dark, and wait for someone to step into the right one. Wes Anderson's films have always been an inspiration there, precise, symmetrical, considered, frames that hold a lot without anyone needing to perform for them. So when a doorway frames someone perfectly, or a line of guests falls into symmetry on its own, it's rarely by accident.
I don't leave the rest to chance either. The planning starts well before the day, the timeline, the running order, working out who's doing what and when with the venue and the other suppliers, so nothing's left to luck on the one day it actually matters. The same care carries through afterwards. One copy of every memory card stays in the camera, in my bag, and the other's in my pocket, never off my person until it's safely backed up, even when I pick up the pizza on the drive home. That's the only version of "I'll handle the photos" I actually believe in.
“Thank you so much! It was so nice sitting together and getting to remember the whole day again. You were literally everywhere at all times and I can't thank you enough for capturing it all for us.”
The rest of the time
I'm Yorkshire born, from a small village just outside Barnsley, and I've never really lost the habit of saying what I mean.
Home is near Sheffield, with Shaun, two kids and two cats, one of whom has a habit of wandering into video calls, so if we speak before your wedding there's a fair chance you'll meet her.
Most of our spare time goes on fixing up the house or getting outdoors. Last winter we bought a sixteen-year-old Land Rover Defender, and we're slowly turning it into a camper. No mistakes so far, unless you count buying it. It's taken us to the Peak District, the Lakes and Scotland more than anywhere else lately.
If your wedding is further afield, Shaun will often come along and we'll make a weekend of it, usually ending with a wander round the antiques shops. He looks at the furniture. I drift towards old cameras, second-hand books and anything to do with aviation.
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I will wear clothes, do you need to know more?
In all likelihood, I’ll wear chinos or jeans, a pair of Dr Martens or Nikes, a t-shirt with an overshirt. I don’t dress like a guest, because: I need to be comfortable on my feet photographing for up to 10 hours of a wedding; I need to be able to move, bend, crouch, stand on one leg, climb on a table, etc; and, also, I’m not a guest.
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Since 2019, and the number changes every week, so it’s hard to keep up. Enough that I’ve covered a lot of interesting scenarios, from dark caverns to family drama.
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I don't publish a number, on purpose. A count turns into a target, and a target is an incentive to keep something just to reach it.
Instead, I start with everything out and decide what earns its way back into your gallery. I'm looking for moments first, something actually happening, a look, a touch, a detail someone's holding.
I also take out the near-duplicates. If there's a photo of the bouquet in your hands, you don't need the one of it sitting on the table as well. And you won't open your gallery to find five versions of the same portrait with a slightly different smile in each. I'd rather every photo you scroll to be a small surprise.
Choosing which of those near-identical smiles looks most like you is part of the job, and it's why getting to know you before the day matters. What you get is everything worth keeping. There’s always enough to tell the story and fill an album.
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Always. Vicars, registrars and venue coordinators know their spaces far better than I do, and I'd rather work with them than around them.
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Yes. Public liability, professional indemnity, and employer's liability, which covers anyone working with me on the day, second photographers or assistants. All my equipment is insured too, and I always carry spare camera bodies and lenses, just in case something unexpected happens.
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Whenever suits you. I don't open bookings for particular years, so there's no waiting for a date to go live. The closer we get to your day, the more likely it is to have been taken, but it's always worth asking, even at short notice.
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I'll tidy the small things, a stray hair, a blemish, a fire exit sign that's crept into a frame. What I don't do is heavy retouching or reshaping anyone. The aim is photos that look like you on the day, not a version of you that wasn't there.
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I take my health seriously, especially during wedding season. If the worst did happen, I'm part of several networks of photographers, many of whom I've worked with, either as a second photographer or covering in emergencies, so I'd have people I trust to call on.
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Plans change, and it's always worth talking to me as early as you can. If your date moves and I'm free on the new one, everything you've already paid moves with it: there's no cancellation fee, just a new contract for the new date. If my prices have changed in the meantime, the difference may apply. If I'm already booked on the new date, it's treated as a cancellation, as set out in the contract.
A change of venue is usually just a case of updating the details. If the new venue is more than 2.5 hours from Sheffield, travel is quoted in the usual way.
Questions
Anything else? Just ask
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