Wedding Albums

Having just worked on an album till 3 this morning to have it ready for printing, it dawned on me that I am either becoming more critical of my work or the standards that I am setting for myself have just become a lot higher. When I started out doing weddings one of my beliefs was that no wedding that I had shot would go out, without the images being placed into an album. The reason for this was twofold I shot the wedding and I had a story to tell. I still firmly believe in this. In those days I would drop off my film at the lab, have the images processed and scanned, do the colour corrections and have the images printed to my liking and standards. From there they would be placed and mounted into the album for presentation. The process would take me an evening or two from start to finish.

Call it progress, technology : but things have changed. With the event of new magazine style albums on the market, and a variety of handmade albums standards have become high and clients are expecting only the best, after all they are paying for it and deserve it. With an abundance of software, imaging programmes, templates and digital technology the creative focus of the wedding photographer has accelerated at an alarming pace, but not without it's learning curve. This is where words such as workflow, colour calibration and schedules have become common jargon for the wedding photographer. Am I working and spending more time on the creation of my wedding albums compared to say 5 years ago? Most definitely. Am I happy doing this ? For sure. Nothing gives me more satisfaction than completing an album which tells a story, capturing all the emotion and joy of a wedding. If I can do that then I have done well not only for my clients but for myself. It takes me on average approximately 50 hours to complete an album, some go quicker others need a bit more time. Every wedding album has a story to tell, and it is how the imagery is interpreted in the album which distinguishes a mediocre album to a timeless classic. So when my clients ask me how long before they get to see their album , you can work on anything between 4 - 8 weeks. I have a rule that I will not work on an album if I am not ready for it. Sometimes it might be an hour or two, sometimes even days, But once the inspiration is there, it flows and feels good inside.

Below are a few pages from a wedding album.

Enjoy.

Above: Magazine Style layout 40x50, opened fully it spans 100cm.

Above: Sample image from Bea's wedding.

Side view of the album, note how the page remains flush which allows you to spread your images across two pages.

Another view of the album closed.

An alternative option is having the composite images placed into the handmade leather album, this process is done entirely by hand making each album unique.

Above: An example of a 11x16 inch album.Opened up fully it measures 82 cm.

Opening page of the album.

Above: Selection of handmade Parent Album, these are ideal gifts to give your loved ones. All albums are kept safe and secure in specially designed presentation boxes.

Above: Side view of parent albums. These are available in a range of colours. As the leather is hand selected colour and tones do vary, making them unique and much sought after.

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