I am so pleased to be writing this, my first blog post covering my first training event as an associate photographer with Allister Freeman Photography. After getting over the initial excitement of gaining the position of associate photographer with Allister’s team the reality of the situation began to sink in and I admit, I felt nervous. Nervous that I’d be working in a lot of locations that I hadn’t before, nervous that I’d find the new kit challenging (more on that later) and ultimately nervous that I wouldn’t be good enough! Well, I need not of worried, as everything was great.

My first wedding that I would be covering would be Susie and Nick’s wedding in Stoke Poges, followed by the wedding breakfast and reception at Stoke Place. I was lucky to be working with Andy, Allister’s key associate on the day which was great as Andy’s documentary style is very close to mine and I knew I’d be able to learn a lot from him throughout the day.

When I joined Allister’s team I made the decision to follow suite and switch camps moving from Nikon to Canon. I did this for a few reasons, but mainly to keep consistency across the team with Andy, Allister and Ian all shooting with Canon gear. The new Canon full frame cameras are incredible pieces of kit that certainly help us make great images in all conditions by offering amazing low light ability and beautifully detailed images. I spent every day practicing with my new Canon leading up to the wedding, as I wanted to instinctively be able to change settings quickly without double-checking as I had always done before with my Nikons. The homework paid off; everything went smoothly.

Nick and Susie are a great couple who made Andy and I feel very welcome. The wedding ceremony was held at St Giles’ Church in Stoke Poges. It is a beautiful Saxon/Norman historic building with many gorgeous features. From there we moved onto Stoke Place for the drinks reception followed by the wedding breakfast. The drinks were free flowing at the reception, after which we all moved downstairs through rose petal lined corridors to the main hall for the wedding breakfast and were blown away by beautiful decorations, lighting and candles that adorned the room. After some excellent after dinner speeches, especially from Susie’s father Derek who is a real character and a gentleman, the partying began with an incredible first dance that Susie and Nick had been practicing for some time that went down a storm with their guests. At this point our day had come to an end and we bid the happy couple goodnight and made our way home.

Following on from the wedding the hard work really began and I met with Andy to go through all of my images, review my technique, learn Andy and Allister’s editing workflow and begin working on my images. It was an intense two days of screen time but very much worth it as I learnt so much from Andy, and produced some great images at the end of it. I look forward to taking forward the skills learnt at Susie and Nick’s wedding to my next job, this time working with Allister in London. I hope you enjoy my selection of images from the day.

This post marks the start of a new chapter in my career as a professional photographer. It is with great pleasure that I can now introduce myself as part of the Allister Freeman Photography collective.

It is important to have goals, a vision of what you would like to achieve and where you want to go with your craft. I have always looked to others in the industry for inspiration and one person who always stood out to me was Allister. His business style, his online presence and his standard of photography are all things I wanted to achieve for myself.

When the opportunity came up to become an associate, it was an easy choice to make. I submitted my portfolio and application and was thrilled to get an interview, even more so two weeks later when I found out I had got the job! It is such an honour to come in and join Allister’s brand, the chance to learn from two of the best wedding photographers in the country in Allister and Andy, to help me reach my goals and to take my work to a new level. Doing all of this as part of a team, with a long term game plan and all the benefits that collaborative working brings is fantastic.

It is going to be tough. I will have to take a step back, really look at my photography, accept criticism and strive to improve my technique and style with each new photograph I make whilst retaining my own unique look. That being said I am really looking forward to the challenge!

I believe this year will be one of the busiest of my career whilst I learn and improve in readiness of accepting my own wedding commissions under Allister’s brand, but I think it will also be one of the most satisfying.

The opportunity to bring new skills to the collective such as my panoramic tours or in particular my passion for filmmaking, is exciting, and is something we will be looking to promote in due course.

The journey starts here.