Family Time - Recalling Weddings and Photographers in the Sixties!

The second Bank Holiday weekend was one of my last work free weekends until the middle of August. One feature of being a wedding photographer here in Leamington Spa is that working at weekends means the diary soonfill up the weddings themselves, 'Get to know you shoots', meeting clients and attending wedding fayres. My wife is very understanding and supportive which is fab. When she said "Ok Martin, let's peel you away from the computer in your office, and go and visit my family together in Wivenhoe", I wasn't going to argue.Some people shudder at the thought of visiting their 'in-laws', but I'm very lucky in that I genuinely enjoy catching up with them. Likewise the village of Wivenhoe, in Essex, is a great quirky village and also where Harriet and I were married. My father in law, John, is quite a character and I will perhaps blog about him in more detail in the future. He was on particularly entertaining form that weekend and as ever was always interested in what people are up to. Just like many of us, he has a few habits. One is when talking to you he will suddenly walk out of the room, disappear for thirty seconds or so, and walk back again carrying on with the conversation as though nothing had happened!?! So when he asked me about how my summer is looking workwise, it didn't surprise me that as soon as I started to answer, guess what? Yep, he went AWOL !?! I gave up, stopped talking, and twiddled my thumbs waiting for him to return. Suddenly there was a loud thump on the table in front of me, John had collected his book of wedding proofs from 1962, check this out.

"Who was Zarb?" I asked John. "He was this lovely Persian chap who lived around the corner from us in Leicester, Persian is what we used to call people from Iran you know". Harriet and I loved flicking through the prints, I'm not sure she had ever seen this collection of images before either. It was hilarious listening to John recalling various events that happened on his wedding day, whilst his customary huge hairy eyebrows wafted around. Many of the photos showed his wife's wedding dress, with what seemed like a long train compared to the lastest fashion at the moment. When I mentioned this point, John said "Ann made her own dress, her train was much longer before we had a slight electrical malfunction on the morning of our wedding".

Harriet and I looked at each other in confusion as he walked out of the room again. "What are you talking about Dad" Harriet shouted. When he returned he answered "Ann and I were running hopelessly late, and as we rushed out of the flat to go to the church, I tripped over an electrical cord which short circuited with Ann's train catching fire". "Bilmey John, I bet you weren't popular" I said, "Not exactly" was the reply with his eyebrow forest rising.

The weekend went by in a flash as they always do. Eating gorgeous food, drinking the odd drop and having a good natter with Harriet's family. What was also lovely to see again was St Mary's church, opposite the family's cottage, where Harriet and I were married eight and a half years ago.

My nephew Harvey was a willing model for when I wanted to experiment with a certain shot I've been trying to master. There's no photoshop used here, just a particular technique in camera and with off camera flash.

It was a fun weekend, and great to catch up with everyone. Also it was fascinating to see John's wedding photos from so long ago. I wonder how many generations will say that in the future due to the digital age we are now firmly planted in. It really is special looking through old photographs in print. That's a subject I'll probably blog about in the future no doubt. Speaking of wedding albums, yesterday I went to a trade show that was organised by 'Folio Albums'. It was great having a look at their wedding album products, talking to their specialists and meeting other photographers. A few weeks ago I ordered a sample wedding album from them, using images of a wedding I shot last year in Leeds Castle in Kent. This will hopefully be delivered next week. Stayed tuned.If you enjoyed this article, you might be interested in reading Being Watched from last year. Please feel free to leave a comment below, it's easy to do, especially if you have a funny story about a wedding just like John. Don't forget you can follow me on Facebook and Twitter by clicking on the links above. Have a great sunny weekend everyone. Live with Passion, and keep trimming unruly eyebrows.