Hi, we're Emily and John we're a husband and wife photography
and video duo from West Wales and we've spent the last few years capturing
non-traditional wild and free weddings and allotments across the globe.
We've always been passionate about working with couples that create
weddings and celebrations unique to them. Couples who don't just follow tradition
or do things to tick a box but really get creative.
It's funny you spend years building your business and creating that dream job.
And when you get it you can never really imagine yourself doing anything else.
But then lockdown hit and weddings along with the rest of the world
came to a complete halt. And overnight we found our business and bookings vanished.
We were left questioning who we were as photographers and it challenged us to
find new ways to be creative so we could keep paying our bills while
we weren't able to shoot weddings.
We soon realized well we aren't just wedding photographers
and that doesn't have to be our whole identity,
We don't have to limit ourselves to one style or one industry and I guess that's the
beauty of being a photographer. It can complement and be the foundation
to let so many other ideas and passions grow.
If you would have told us back in March when we were just about to embark on the
busiest wedding season of our careers that come September all our bookings
would have been cancelled and we wouldn't have shot a single
wedding but instead we would have launched and be running our own online
clothing and hat store full time from our little house in Wales well we
would never have believed you.
We usually only shoot with natural light for our wedding portraits because we
love the soft clean look and how flattering it is.
For our studio shoot we wanted to mimic this as much as we could so we used the
largest modifier we had available, this was a large octabank with two
diffusion layers as our key light and then a small amount of opposite fill
to lift any shadows to lower the contrast.
And when we were planning our studio shoot we didn't want to use just a
standard white backdrop like most brands use
so we opted for a soft yellow paper backdrop to be more on brand with what
we were trying to create. For us being forced to stop and slow
down we've been able to really reconnect and figure out who we are as creators
and not just wedding photographers. Our cameras have been the tool that have
helped us create a new business and stay inspired during lockdown.
When we decided to launch Lovaine store we approached it with the same way as
when we launched our wedding business so we didn't want to be creatives that
appealed to the mass and who's style changed with every couple
or wedding. We only wanted to shoot non-traditional wild and free weddings
so from the start we made sure we knew who
our ideal customers were and we created our whole brand and
visual identity to only attract those customers.
And this experience launching and building the Wild Bride
really helped us with our store. Ensuring we knew who our target market were from
the start and we focus on creating a strong visual
identity and brand that had those ideal customers in mind.
We've also learned how to be creative on a budget and use resources local to us
like hiring our local community hall and
turning it into a pop-up photo studio so we could shoot all our website
content and lookbooks ourselves. Now instead of spending our weekends
shooting weddings we now spend our days at home hand packing orders.
From shooting weddings we're really experienced in working at all types of
weather so when it came to our desert lookbook shoot we felt really prepared
and confident that whatever the weather we were faced
with on the day that we'd be able to handle it and get the content that we need.
On a location shoot you've got your
models makeup artists you've paid people to travel
and put people in hotels and just like weddings thousands of pounds have gone
into the day and you won't get the chance to redo it so having experience
shooting in all light and all weather conditions
really helped us during our location shoot.
So our collection and color palette was really influenced by the old
western movies. You've got the beautiful barren desert
and the atmospheric light so the weather forecast for our shoot
wasn't ideal we had high winds low light levels and rain which meant we
needed to arrive on location before sunrise so we could
make use of that warm light and the lower wind you typically get at the
start of the day.
So from shooting weddings we're really
used to directing couples and their guests
so it's really helpful doing the store shoots as well with us directing the models.
And we also spent a lot of time before
weddings working on shot lists and timings
with our couples and this is something that we replicated for the store shoot
as well. This is a way you can guarantee you get
all the shots that you need and the client need
and if you ever get stuck creatively at any point in the shoot you can always
check the list and not get you going again.
So one thing that was different compared to weddings was having to find our own
models to photograph so this isn't really something we've had to think
about before as normally for weddings your subject
comes to you so this was quite a challenge to find people that not only
wanted to be involved but also fitted with our
vision so we really utilize social media especially speaking to our Wild Bride
audience and put out casting calls to find the right people that way.
Even though we can't wait to go back to shooting weddings we are so grateful for
how lockdown has challenged us and shown us that we can work through
and adapt our creativity in ways we never thought possible.