Contributed by: Henry Aarvold
I’ve been shooting weddings for 4 years now. I’m based in the North East of England but we work all over the UK. My style is influenced by a great many photographers so I wouldn’t know where to begin in trying to describe it. What is more important to me is that my photographs are a true reflection of the subject; I work hard to help my clients feel as comfortable as possible in front of the camera. Building a good relationship with each set of wedding clients is a significant part of how I work and it translates into better, natural images for the people I work for. I can’t stand contrived, forced pictures – I will pose people but never in a way that isn’t natural for them. Which sounds like hypocrisy when you consider a trash the dress shoot but my rules still apply – a bride can still look natural and relaxed, even if she is waist deep in water wearing her wedding dress, if I do my job right. A TTD shoot is really the ultimate test of the relationship I spend time building with my clients – no bride is going to do a TTD shoot if she doesn’t trust the person taking the pictures! Each and every shoot I do that involves people is influenced by the personalities of my subjects. And TTD is all about personality. This bride [Laura] was perfect for a TTD, exactly the right attitude – once I explained the concept and what we could do, Laura was immediately enthused and volunteered straight away. I’m not sure her mum was too impressed but I reckon her mind will be changed by the pictures.
We shot for over 6 hours in a great location and used lots of mini-locations – moving on every 30-45 minutes all the time varying the lighting as well as the posing, trying to avoid repetition. The shoot ended up with Laura wading out into the lake we had been shooting by all day. The only snag was it wasn’t as deep as I had expected, I had to wade out with her in order to get the shots I wanted. The light was really strong and contrasty which made things a bit difficult but it did lend itself to the feel of the shoot, I was very happy with the results and that I didn’t drop my camera in the lake.
Trash the Dress - Europe 