2017 Leica Wedding Photography: John & Reema

2017 Leica Wedding Photography: John & Reema

Wedding Venue: Hengrave Hall, Bury Saint Edmunds IP28 6LZ

Matthew Osborne Photography / MrLeica.com

April 2017

 

John & Reema

Last April (2017) I was invited to photograph John and Reema’s Hindu wedding at Hengrave Hall in Bury Saint Edmunds.  John is my ‘little’ (youngest) brother so it was a family wedding with me attending as both a guest and the primary wedding photographer.  We had already done the English wedding ceremony part at the registry office in London so this was the wedding part two!  Hengrave Hall is a stunning wedding venue but quite a distance from Coventry.  We all travelled from John and Reema’s home in London to Bury Saint Edmunds for a weekend of fun and for the Hindu wedding ceremony.

I used to photograph more Indian weddings than English weddings in the past, both Sikh and Hindu weddings.  (This was before I moved to Leica so a few years ago now).  Coventry had a large Indian population and I was working as a primary wedding photographer for a few different wedding photographers in the Indian community and also as a wedding videographer as part of an Asian wedding cinematography team using my Nikon D800 camera at the time for video.  Since moving to Leica cameras I think my wedding style has become more suited to English weddings (white weddings) as I like to photograph a lot in black and white.  Black and white weddings are my preferred style in most situations given the chance and also for model photography much of my work is B&W photography).  I also use traditional film cameras and feel the look seems to suit the white wedding dress better, regardless of whether I am using colour film or black and white film.

For John and Reema’s wedding there was going to be lots of colour so every photo was taken in colour.  I used two digitial Leica M cameras, the Leica M240 with wide lenses and a Leica M8 with the Leica Summilux 50mm f1.4 ASPH lens.  I found the wedding a lot of fun but equally very difficult to photograph.  The lighting was not ideal for a lot of the day with a lot of colour cast inside and me needing to be in three places at once much of the time, as a guest and as the main wedding photographer so it was difficult to setup off cameras lights.   That said really enjoyed the day, and seeing family and friends and John and Reema liked their wedding photos.  I feel I could have done a far better job if I shot it all again but I guess that is how we improve!  Below are a few sample images from John and Reema’s wedding.

Leica Wedding – Leica M240 + wide lenses (15mm,21mm,28mm)

Leica Wedding – Leica M8 + Leica Summilux 50mm f1.4 ASPH lens

(Just a few token examples as I used the M240 as the main wedding camera)

Thanks

Thanks John and Reema for such an awesome day! Great memories. 🙂 xx

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2017 Leica Wedding Photography: Martin & Emma

2017 Leica Wedding Photography: Martin & Emma

Wedding Venue: Mottram Hall Wedding, Cheshire

Matthew Osborne Photography / MrLeica.com

April 2017

Leica Wedding Selfie

Martin & Emma

Martin’s Dad, Paul kindly contacted me back in 2015 to say that he followed my photography work online and would I be available to photograph his son’s wedding in 2017.  I think this was my furthest in advance wedding photography booking I had received at the time but of course I said yes and before we knew it we were in 2017.  The wedding venue of choice was Mottram Hall in Cheshire.  I had not photographed at Mottram Hall before but it is a beautiful wedding venue with amazing grounds and the stunning house at the heart.  I travelled to Cheshire from my home studio in Coventry and met everyone at the venue.  After saying hello’s to Martin and Paul I met Emma and the girls to start bridal prep photos and the rest of the day kind of past in a blur!

(Thank you Emma for smiling pretty much non-stop all day!  It made for very easy photos and makes such a difference to wedding photography.  A “smiley wedding” will always look more beautiful than a less smiley wedding regardless of the wedding venue or the wedding dress (for example).  Smiles attract my eye at a wedding so the more smiles I see the more photos I take.  It was lovely to see a very happy couple and the sun even came out to help us for some of the outside photos!)

Leica Wedding – Leica M240 Camera

Here are a sample of Martin and Emma’s wedding photos captured with my Leica M240 camera.  The most used wedding camera lens on the day by far was the Carl Zeiss ZM Biogon 21mm f2.8 lens.  Very sharp and wide enough to capture all the action.

Note* After not viewing the files since April 2017 until now I reworked some of the images (cropping and B&W conversions mostly) to suit my current taste.

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B&W Film Wedding Photography: Harriett & Ash

B&W Film Wedding Photography: Harriett & Ash

Coventry Wedding Venue: Best Western Weston Hall Hotel, Bulkington

Matthew Osborne Photography / MrLeica.com

December 2017

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Before I share some of my Leica wedding photography from the real weddings I was booked for last year here is a wedding look photoshoot from the end of 2017.

UK Leica Wedding Photographer, Coventry

As a UK Leica wedding photographer and Coventry based model photographer I enjoy photographing weddings and models with an array of different cameras, using both digital and traditional film.  A wedding day is usually very time pressured so arty wedding photos tend to be low(er) on the preference list for many wedding couples.   Many couples seem to want a ‘nice’ record of their big day captured with a still camera (and these days normally on video too).  This means I am usually super keen and excited to make a wedding couple some creative and arty wedding photos but I normally don’t get the same eagerness back.  We normally meet with a compromise of a few quick posed photos in less than ideal conditions often at the end of the day.  Model photography is the polar opposite to wedding photography.  Both me and the model(s) are very focused and fired up to create our best images together yet regardless of what it takes or how long it takes us. As a result my model photographer is probably on level above my wedding photography for the simple reason that we put the effort in the get the results we desire.   I fully appreciate that a wedding day is not solely focused on me make some nice wedding photos and it is not all about me me me.  They booked me to capture them on their big day but my selfish side always thinks if only we could have got that one more special shot at the wedding venue in the amazing light.

So with that in mind I set to work to bring together a group of like minded individuals to help me create the type of wedding photos I would like to offer every couple if the interest was there.  I rang round and managed to pull together a dream team of awesome people to collaborate on a festive wedding photography look photoshoot before Christmas.  I wanted to show what the old Leica film cameras can do (and Hasselblad film camera) and some digital Leica wedding photography with my usual Leica M240 camera.

UK Models – Harriett and Ash

First stop was models.  I called upon my amazing model friends Harriett and Ash who must be the best fake couple going.  (I don’t know how they do it!) I have worked with them both together several times before and I love how elegant they look.  It also helps that they are both extra lovely people!

Coventry Wedding Dress Shop  – The Bridalroom, Atherstone

We then needed a wedding dress for the day and Vicky at The Bridalroom Atherstone kindly supplied us with a beautiful wedding dress in Harriett’s size together with wedding veil and shrug.  I’m no expert on wedding dresses but if you live in the Coventry area and are searching for a wedding dress I would say give Vicky a call or stop by at The Bridalroom in Atherstone for a look around.

Coventry Wedding Venues – Best Western Weston Hall Hotel, Bulkington

I viewed different Coventry wedding venues and the one that stood out the most to me for my vision was the Best Western Weston Hall Hotel in Bulkington.  The Weston Hall Hotel wedding venue has beautiful old windows and nice grounds and is the perfect backdrop or venue for a wedding.  Graham at Weston Hall kindly gave us free run of the hotel for the day so we were spoilt for choice as to which room to use.  All the Best Western staff were very accomodating and welcoming and we had a really nice day there.  I will certainly visit Weston Hall Hotel again as Bulkington is not far from my studio in Coventry.  If you are planning your wedding in the Midlands I recommend the Best Western Weston Hall Hotel as a Coventry wedding venue.

Coventry Wedding Flowers – The Village Flower Shop, Bulkington

Once I had decided on a wedding venue for our mock wedding I then wanted to collaborate with a local florist so we would be able to have fresh flowers on the day and a wedding bouquet to use in the wedding photos.  Graham at Weston Hall Hotel recommended The Village Flower Shop in Bulkington.  I called Sara at the Village Flower Shop and explained my ideas as to how I would like a wedding bouquet to look so it matched my thoughts and complimented the rest of the styling for the wedding photoshoot.  Sara offered to make us two different wedding bouquets, both styled as festive wedding bouquets, one white rose bouquet and one red rose bouquet.  Sara kindly delivered the flowers to the hotel ahead of our photoshoot and we were all amazed at how fresh the flowers were and the high quality and detail considering they were for a wedding test shoot.  We received two wedding bouquets and two matching button hole flowers for the groom’s jacket.  I have photographed quite a few weddings and these were some of the freshest wedding flowers I have seen and they come with an excellent service.  If you are planning a Coventry wedding I highly recommend The Village Flower Shop in Bulkington for a wedding bouquet.

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Wedding Camera Bag – Leica Cameras + Hasselblad Camera

I wanted to try various camera and lens combinations so I had two 35mm Leica film cameras, a Leica M3 camera to use mostly with the new Leica Macro-Elmar-M mm f4 lens, and a Leica M4-P camera to use with a Leica Summilux 50mm f1.4 ASPH lens and two Zeiss wide angle lenses – a Zeiss ZM Biogon 21mm f2.8 and Zeiss ZM Biogon 25mm f2.8.  I then had some film to finish in a Hasselblad 500CM film camera which I used with the Zeiss Sonnar 180mm f4 lens.  I shot nearly all black and white film but did include a roll of colour 120 film which I still need to develop.  For test photos I used my digital Leica M240 camera.

Here are some of the mock wedding photos taken on the day

Leica Film Wedding Photography – Leica M3 / Leica M4-P

Leica Wedding - Leica M3!
Leica Film Wedding Photography
Leica Glow - Wedding Photography
Leica M3 Wedding!
Leica Wedding - Leica M4-P
B&W Film Leica Wedding

Hasselblad Film Wedding Photography – Hasselblad 500CM

Hasselblad Wedding
Film Wedding Photography
Hasselblad 500CM + Acute-Matte D Split Screen

Leica Wedding Photography – Digital Leica M240

  • Black and White Wedding Photography

B&W Wedding Photography
Merry Christmas!
Leica Wedding B&W
B&W Leica Wedding
Leica People
Leica B&W Wedding
Leica Wedding Photographer

  • Colour Wedding Photography

Leica Wedding - Zeiss ZM 21mm
Leica Wedding Photos
Leica Wedding Photographer UK
Leica Wedding Photographer Blog

Thanks

A big thanks to everyone involved, Harriett, Ash, Graham, Vicky and Sara.  It was a really enjoyable day for me and Harriett and Ash said they enjoyed it too.  I normally photograph attractive models across Europe but there is something really special about wedding photography.  I think I enjoy capturing the interaction between multiple people in a frame and composing an image with multiple subjects rather than the usual solo model.

You might say that I should do street photography like many other Leica photographers but my taste is much more specific than that.  I like to create images rather than have to get lucky on the street and find an image.  I enjoy beauty, elegance and light and how these interact and I like to have control over how the final image will look.   That is probably why I prodominatly photo models where I have full control of styling, pose, model and to an extent lighting.  I have less interest in photographing the typical Leica street scenes unless the light or geometry is extra speical.  That said, I do think if you are good at street photography then it should help to make you a better wedding photographer (for some aspects of the job).

MrLeica Wedding Instagram account

For anyone still reading and who enjoys Instagram I have two Mr Leica Instagram accounts. If you enjoy model photography or wedding photography feel free to stop by and say hello!

@MrLeicaCom – Model photography page

@MrLeicaWedding – Wedding photography page

 

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Thanks

Matt

Destination Leica Wedding Photographer

Destination Leica Wedding Photographer

Before I start sharing some of my Leica wedding photography from 2017 I thought I would take the opportunity to share a small sample of images from a wedding I covered in Florida back in 2014.  This is the furthest I have travelled for a destination wedding and it was my first visit to America.  I was in Florida for I think three nights but it was still a memorable trip!

The Lightner Museum Saint Augustine

The Lightner Museum Wedding Venue (St. Augustine, Florida)(2014)

The wedding ceremony was held at the beautiful (and for me very unique) wedding venue called the Lightner Museum situated in downtown St. Augustine. It was my first time I had photographed a wedding under palm trees in the sunshine and the weather was quite a contrast to the UK December weather back home. The bride, groom and wedding guests got ready in the morning at the Casa Monica hotel and after the wedding we returned to the hotel for the wedding reception.  Below are a few wedding photos to evidence my memorable trip.  These pictures were taken with my previous camera, a Leica M9.  I certainly notice the quality difference now my eyes have adapted to the more modern Leica M240 camera I currently use. (Some photos have been cropped for this blog post)*.

Leica M9 Wedding Photography

Leica Camera Wedding Bag

Leica M9 camera (digital)
Voigtlander Super Wide Heliar 15mm f4.5 lens
Zeiss ZM Biogon 25mm f2.8 lens
Leica Summilux 50mm f1.4 ASPH lens

Leica M8 camera (digital)(borrowed from groom as 2nd camera)

Leica M2 (film camera) (not used for wedding)
Leica Summicron 50mm f2 v5 lens + E39 yellow filter
35mm black and white film (Kodak Tri-X 400 & Fuji Neopan Acros 100)

Tourist Photos

And as it was my first visit to America here are a few tourist photos!

Leica + Voigtlander 15mm f4.5
Voigtlander 15mm f4.5
Saint Augstine Fort
America's Alterrnative to an Audi
Saint Augustine Fort - Tri-X
American Trucks - Tri-X
Leica M2 + Zeiss ZM Biogon

Destination Wedding Photography

With the exception of this Florida wedding which I flew out for especially I have not been very lucky with regards to all the other destination weddings I have been asked to cover. I think over the last three years or so I have had 100% confirmed requests to fly out and photograph weddings in Barbados, Italy and most recently San Francisco (Oct17 where I was already booked for a UK analogue film wedding the same day). I have also been asked to cover weddings in India, Hungary, Greece (some from memory) but these bookings were <100% going to happen.  I have photographed weddings in Russia (Tver), Ukraine x2 (Uzhgorod), Poland (Sopot) and Hungary (Budapest) but for these weddings I was not the main photographer. I was in town with my cameras at the time of the weddings and got involved one way or another. Some were full weddings, others just the  wedding ceremony and for one just post-ceremony photos.

Here are a few old wedding photos from taken in different countries

Ukraine Wedding (2015) (Leica)

Leica Wedding - Ukraine
Leica Wedding, Ukraine

Russia Wedding (2013) (Pre-Leica)

Russian Wedding Photography
Russian Wedding (2)
Russian Wedding
Russian Wedding Photography
From Russia In Love

Hungary Wedding (2010) (Pre-Leica)

Happily Married
Hungarian Wedding
"Who's going to catch them?"

Destination Weddings

I travel a lot with my photography and have done so for the last 2-3 years especially. I fly mostly to Europe for model photography photoshoots to work with local models and model agencies. I also travel to run my photography workshops (1-2-1 photography tuition). I was fortunate enough to be asked to run two one week model photography workshops in New York, several photography workshops in Zurich and one workshop in Amsterdam. I think I am overseas with my cameras now at least every other month throughout the year.

So will all that said, if you like my photography and would like me to fly out to cover your overseas wedding do not hesitate to ask. As you can see I like to travel to photograph in different countries and destinations.

One great thing about Leica cameras is they pack small so are great to travel with! 🙂

Matt

Florida Wedding

2016 Leica Wedding Photography: Flic & Mark

 2016 Leica Wedding Photography: Mark & Flic

Birmingham Wedding Venue – Fazeley Studios (191 Fazeley St, Birmingham B5 5SE)

http://www.MrLeica.com

October 2016

 

 

Mark & Flic

Mark and Flic chose the Birmingham wedding venue Fazeley Studio in Digbeth.  I knew the area from my model photography and the area attracts some of the most talented graffiti artists.  Every time I visit Digbeth I discover some new cool looking artwork. Fazeley Studios doesn’t look like a normal wedding venue from the street but once inside the high ceiling and stain glass windows designs are really beautiful.  With it being so close to Birmingham city centre I think Fazeley studios is still a bit of a hidden gem.  (Writing this over a year later I did cover a second wedding at Fazeley studios in October 2017 for Nick and Naz).

Here are a selection of Flic and Mark’s wedding photos captured with my Leica M240  and Leica M8 cameras.

Wedding Photography – Fazeley Studios – Leica M240

Wedding Photography – Fazeley Studios – Leica M8

Leica Camera Wedding Bag

I used two digital Leica M camera bodies to minimise swapping lenses. I shot wide with the Leica M240 as it is full frame and closer with the Leica M8 as it has a 1.33x crop factor.  Lenses used were:

Leica M240 Camera
Voigtlander Super Wide Heliar 15mm f4.5 lens
Zeiss ZM Biogon 21mm f2.8 lens
Voigtlander Color Skopar 35mm f2.5 pancake lens

Leica M8 Camera
Leica Summilux 50mm f1.4 ASPH lens + IR cut filter

2016 Leica Wedding Photography: Sarah & Cris

2016 Leica Wedding Photography: Sarah & Cris

Wedding Venue: Hotel Felix, Whitehouse Ln, Huntingdon Rd, Cambridge CB3 0LX

http://www.MrLeica.com

October 2016

Hasselblad XPan Wedding!

Sarah & Cris

Sarah and Cris kindly invited me to cover their wedding at Hotel Felix in Cambridge last October.  Cris was a fellow Leica photographer/ enthusiast so I took my usual wedding camera, the digital Leica M240 camera but also my older digital Leica M8 camera so I could use two digital Leica M camera bodies.  I also took my digital Hasselblad H3D-31 camera to use for the wedding portraits. Lastly I managed to get a couple of photos with my 35mm film Hasselblad XPan camera. (Example above).

It was a beautiful day and I don’t think I have ever met such a smiley couple! (and bridesmaid!) 😉  It was a real joy to photograph people having so much fun.  I think I went home with smile lines myself! 🙂

Here are some of the wedding photos, split by camera for the fellow camera geeks!

(Quite a few photos but it gives a good idea of what me and the cameras can do)

Leica Wedding – Leica M240 Camera

Leica Wedding – Leica M8 Camera

Hasselblad Wedding Photography – Hasselblad H3D-31

Camera and Lens Details (From Best Memory)

Leica M240 Camera
Zeiss ZM Biogon 21mm f2.8 lens
Zeiss ZM Biogon 25mm f2.8 lens
Voigtlander Nokton 35mm f1.2 ASPH lens(I think)
Leica Noctilux 50mm f1.0 v2 lens (little)

Leica M8 Camera
Leica Summilux 50mm f1.4 ASPH lens + IR cut filter

Hasselblad H3D-31 Camera
Zeiss Sonnar 150mm f4 CF MF lens via CF lens adapter

2016 Leica Wedding Photography: Sarah & Ed

2016 Leica Wedding Photography: Sarah & Ed

Wedding Venue: Tythe Barn, Charbridge Lane, Launton, Bicester, OX26 4SR

http://www.MrLeica.com

September 2016

 

Sarah kindly invited me to join her and Ed on their wedding day at Tythe Barn, Bicester UK.  Sarah wanted all digital wedding photograhy so I didn’t take my analogue film cameras.  Thanks for a lovely day Sarah and Ed and here are a sample of their wedding photos I captured.

*For any viewers that also appreciate cameras and the geeky stuff, I shot the majority of the day on my usual Leica M240 rangefinder camera (hence the title)(with a few different lenses including the Leica Noctilux 50mm f1.0).  I also had chance to use my recently purchased digital Hasselblad H3D-31 + 80mm f2.8 kit lens.  Both cameras have their strengths!

Leica Wedding Photography

Hasselblad Wedding Photography