Saturday saw me back in Fermanagh – this time to photograph Ciara and Jonny’s wedding at Saint Michaels, Enniskillen and then up to the lovely Corick House Hotel in the beautiful Clogher Valley. Ciara and Jonny met in Liverpool and came back to settle in Fermanagh and their wedding was so emotional. Here are just a few of my many favourites.

Ciara sent me this lovely email after the wedding:
“Hi Dylan,
Just a message from Mr and Mrs Elliott!!!!
Just want to say a massive THANKS for Saturday.
You were so discreet on the day we wouldn’t have known you were there! We loved your company and really had the best day of our lives. We are so excited to see the pictures, let alone the album!! Its amazing how quickly the day goes in! And how quick you forget it all!
But really a huge thanks from both of us, everyone is so excited to see the pics! So thanks again and all the best, it really was a pleasure!
Regards
Ciara and Jonny!”

I’d like to send my best wishes to Ciara, Jonny, Rosie and all the family. I’m so pleased to have have been with you all on such a special day.

My thanks also to Sinead, Paula and all the staff at Corick House. See you next time!

Best regards,

Dylan

View my Portfolio

Contact the Studio

Last Saturday I photographed a lovely wedding at La Mon House Hotel and Country Club just outside Belfast. Corrina and Andy booked me as their wedding photographer last February and Caroline & I both instantly fell in love with Corrina’s name.

I’m proud to say that Corrina herself was a big inspiration for naming our daughter. I seem to be blessed with such lovely clients!

Corrina & Andy have beautiful mirrors in their home and I love capturing moments in mirrors. They lend themselves well to the voyeurisic, journalistic nature of my work.

Anyway, I shot the first image below of Corrina contemplating her day ahead, clasping her hands. Later, when she did the exact same thing right after the first kiss – my heart sang! What a beautiful moment!

To me, good wedding photography is about recognising these fleeting moments and capturing them – like lightning in a bottle.

The wedding day saw perfect early spring weather and this was the first wedding in a while for me where I haven’t had to worry about snow and ice. It feels good to be entering into the springtime!

Personally, it was lovely for me to hear Corrina’s name all day and this was such a lovely relaxed wedding.

Here are some of my favourite photographs from the day.

Thanks for reading – I’d love to hear your comments on any of the images.

Cheers,

Dylan

View my Portfolio

Contact the Studio

It’s hard to believe we’re almost two weeks in to the second month of the new year already! It’s around this time of the year where I look back at my work from the past twelve months and look again with fresh eyes at the weddings I’ve covered. So I thought you might find it of interest to know which photographs are my personal favourites from the whole year. I figure it might give you an insight into my approach.

The first image is from Miranda and Arthur’s wedding in Dublin back in June. The photograph was taken with a long lens to isolate the moment. I could see Arthur whispering into Miranda’s ear during a quiet period in the ceremony. A wide lens aperture blurs out the background so that all you see are Miranda’s smiling eyes. This image to me just sings! It just sings of the romance of their moment and the beautiful dynamic in their relationship. It’s a beautifully intimate portrait and I’m proud to say it could just be my favourite of the year!

The second photograph above was taken in September at Gemma and Scott’s wedding in Belfast – and for me this image is another pure storytelling moment. Gemma’s parents had been married in the very same church over thirty years ago. As Gemma and her Dad pulled up outside the church, the car door opened and before stepping out, Dad just planted a little kiss on her cheek. Again, it’s a really heartfelt moment from real life captured in the photograph – without any staging or directing from me. The reflection of the bridesmaids and the little flowergirl waiting in the background adds another dimension to the image.

Aside from photographing such lovely fleeting moments, one of the best things I see (where possible) is the couple’s reaction to when they first see their album. I love just sitting back and watching them thumb through the book with big beaming smiles. More than anything, that’s the reason I do what I do. Last week, Gemma received her album over in York in England and she sent me this lovely message:

“Hi Dylan,
Thank you sooooooooooooooooooooo much for the beautiful album we are both so pleased with it, I couldn’t put it down last night, every time I looked at it I saw something different in the photos! Again thank you for all your help it has been a pleasure working with you, you made the whole process so easy and enjoyable.
Take care.
Kind regards
Gemma and Scott”

I’m really proud to get great feedback like that and I have to say I can’t wait for my new wedding season to begin next month.

Rachel and Peter brought me down to Bray in County Wicklow just after Christmas to shoot their wedding at the beautiful Christchurch and Esplanade Hotel.

I received this lovely email when they saw their pictures last week:

“Hi Dylan,
Just wanted to send you a quick email to say thank you so much for the photos, they are fantastic, we had been waiting with baited breath for them and you really didn’t disappoint, really captured the day perfectly.
There are some in particular we just cant stop looking at.
Thanks so much again.”

Here are just a few of my many favourites:

Donna-Marie and Paul came home from London just before the New Year to tie the knot in St Mochuas, Derrynoose, Co Armagh (with reception at Darver Castle, Readypenny, Co Louth). Donna’s Grandmother had married in the same church forty years ago so there was a wonderful atmosphere during the ceremony and through the remainder of the day.

Donna-Marie sent me this lovely message yesterday after she had seen her photographs:

“Hi Dylan, Paul and I have seen the photographs and we are just delighted with them – was so emotional this morning when I seen them. Thank you so so much for capturing such wonderful moments.”

Here are just a few of my many favourites from the wedding:

If I had to choose three photographers that have influenced me over the years I’d name Garry Winogrand, Henri Cartier Bresson and Joel Meyerowitz.

Joel Meyerowitz was part of a movement of street photographers who documented everyday life on the streets of New York City in what many call the golden age of street photography. Even today, Joel’s ‘field photographs’ influence me a great deal.

His images were such that your eye could come into the picture anywhere on the scene, meander through the photograph and pick out detail upon detail. His use of wide angle lenses to include and describe ‘more’ within the frame were put to spectacular effect on the streets of New York in the late 1960s and through the 1970s.

Later, he would pioneer the use of colour in modern art photography. He’s still alive and producing work to this day. You can see the power of his documentary photography in his post 9-11 book ‘Aftermath’ which documented the story behind the clear-up at Ground Zero.

Henri Cartier Bresson was the first photographer to show me and many others, just what was possible within the confines of a photograph. His images are dreamlike moments snapped and preserved forever on film. Cartier Bresson had the eye of a mathematician. He was a photographic genius and is perhaps the most famous photographer of all time. Sadly he died in 2004.

Cornell Capa wrote this about him in the late 1980s:

“Henri Cartier Bresson has long been considered to be among the world’s most important photojournalists. His aesthetic of the ‘decisive moment’ – the revelatory instant – and his aversion to arranged photographs and contrived settings have influenced photographers since the 1930s.”

Last year I travelled to Paris and visited the HCB Foundation in Montparnasse. It’s hard not to stand in admiration of Henri’s little Leica M3 camera sitting displayed in the glass cabinet up on the upper floor. To think of what he achieved with just his eye and that little manual camera is so inspiring. In this day and age of modern cameras that’s a revelation.

Garry Winogrand was another New York ‘street photographer’ known for his portrayal of American life in the early 1960s. He roamed the streets of New York with his 35mm Leica camera rapidly taking photographs using a prefocused wide angle lens. His pictures frequently appeared as if they were driven by the energy of the events he was witnessing. Winogrand once stated that “a photograph has the illusion of being a literal description of how the camera ‘saw’ a piece of time and space.” How about that?

Tod Papageorge said this about Garry’s pictures in 1974:

“If they appear casual it is because they were meant to. Their mastery resides in just such an appearance.”

Fine words.

Here are some wedding images of my own that I know have been directly inspired by these three great photographers.

Can you tell which?

Shane and Aine asked me twice if I would shoot their wedding before I confirmed the booking last year. Being already quite busy last December, I was at first a bit reluctant to take on another wedding over my busy Christmas period. But the warmth of their personalities really convinced me and I’m really glad I got to shoot their wedding.

I had an absolutely brilliant time with them and I left that night with a contented heart. Shane remarked to me at the Culloden that Aine had said that I was practically invisible at the house in the morning – which was music to my ears as I pride myself on going into any situation anywhere and being completely unobtrusive whilst getting my pictures.

The weather was cold and icy with the last of the 2009 big freeze showing no signs of abating. Amongst the highlights for me was getting to help Aine, her bridesmaids and her little flowergirl to their wedding cars waiting at the top of the street (it was too icy for them to come down to the door). I was glad they all made it safely!

St Olcans in Armoy was packed to the rafters and the atmosphere at the Culloden later on was wonderful also. Again, I kept the formals to an absolute minimum and set about most of the day finding great moments.

Here are a few of my personal favourites as I continue the editing: