Normally at a wedding I’ll have scouted out the venue during a previous visit or when I arrive on the day and I would have planned out a list of the different spots to grab some newlywed couple shots after the ceremony and group shots. During my first couple of years shooting weddings I would have stuck rigidly to that list, as my priority was to get those shots - after all, the posed couple photos are generally the pictures that get printed, framed and hung up on living room walls.

But as I’ve become more experienced I find myself increasingly aware of some slightly less obvious spots for getting a nice shot and much more able to adapt on the fly.

For example, at the wedding of Leanne & Shane a couple of weeks back, we were on our way down to the lake at the beautiful Cadbury House Hotel to take the first of the ten Bride & Groom shots I had planned out, when, walking through the car park with them, I noticed some nice flowers along a wall and said something like “Hold it there a sec guys!”. I lifted my camera to check there was actually a shot available and then asked them to balance rather awkwardly on a narrow kerb while I composed it. Framing had to be ultra tight to avoid cars in the background but I could just about make it work.

It's by no means my favourite shot from the day (we got some lovely photos shooting across the lake shortly after!) and it probably won’t be the one that Leanne & Shane blow up big and hang on their living room wall, but I like it and it’s a nice addition to their full set from the day and would definitely make it into any album they order. It took less than a minute to set it up and it gave them a nice extra photo for their collection. These type of shots really help to create a varied and interesting set of photos.

I feel I get a little better at this job with each wedding I do and I find it interesting that without thinking about it I am increasingly able to spot little nuggets of opportunities for photos that would have passed me by before. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing how creative I could become over time!