So I was to spend the next 48 hours photographing the ins and the outs of the number 12 bus which runs backwards and forwards from Brighton to Eastbourne, a two and a half hour round trip. I was told that many of the staff at MyVision regarded this as one of the hardest assignments, as it was so openended, and there was no obvious route to take (excuse the pun) with the story telling element. My aim was to produce a narrative, not just photograph what happened to occur in front of me.

Sitting on the bus that morning, as the rain tipped down outside and the passengers stumbled on and shuffled off, it became clear to me that as the only constant presence, the bus itself had to become the central character, and what it sees and how it is treated by its inhabitants each day as it silently moves through the landscape, would be the story.

I observed happy smiling passengers, mums with their kids, showy teenagers, old folk alone, with time to pass, and acute solitude. Melancholia became the underunning theme, all the passengers in their own world with their own burdens, collected together under the watchful eyes of the bus, which appears in the photographs as a blurred impartial onlooker, framing the passengers as they travel.

Spending two days photographing the general public was a daunting prospect, as the confines of the bus meant that I could not take a picture and disappear – so I had to either communicate and explain myself, or skulk like I have never skulked before. I did both. My work was critiqued without mercy by my team leader each night, both critiques ending somewhere around  5am. Both nights I didn’t sleep as the first bus left soon after.

It was an exhilarating, intimidating and rewarding project. I got to spend time with some amazing photographers and made some great friends. We got together on Wednesday night at Jamie Oliver’s restaurant to watch the slideshows that we had all produced from our assignments. A lot of emotion, and a massive demonstration of top class photography. I don’t think I even ate anything apart from some bread.

Have a look at the website: www.myvisionworkshop.com

Here are a few of my favourite shots from the assignment:

Following our first day we will be subjected to a full on critique of our work until the early hours of the morning, with a view to going out and repeating the process the next day until we have completely nailed the assignment (a luxury you don’t get with a wedding of course, but a fantastic way to experiment and discover even better ways of getting great storytelling images). So 20 assignments being undertaken, 40 critiques, a full day of post production on Wednesday, culminating in an evening of slideshows, exhaustion, laughter and no doubt, some tears (and beers ).

A huge amount of effort has been put in by the organisers, and we are all looking forward to it immensely. I am constantly striving to improve, and although I reign supreme as the worlds greatest living wedding photographer (yes, I know, but it’s true, you ask my mum) I am looking forward to being dumped unceremoniously outside my comfort zone, with no fluffy dresses, yummy cakes or confetti to be seen – for a 4 day photographic armageddon that will chuck me out the other end, hopefully even more capable than I was when I went in.

Hmm what kind of picture can I follow that with????

Well – how about some hastily assembled random favourite documentary images from the archive?

Sarah & Crispin ordered a bright blue clearsky day and paid extra for the sunset which from the 39th floor of …30 St. Mary Axe (titter titter) was stunning. The service was also wonderful for many reasons.  The enigmatic Rev. Ross of St. Olave Hart Street let me quietly get on with my job, access all areas, while he gave a memorable and heartwarming address. I was happy to help when he asked me to grab a glass of water for Sarah mid-service, but when I got to the kitchen I could only find a coffee mug. That wasn’t going to look too classy in the pictures, thought I, and persevered. So Sarah if you are wondering why I took so long, I was zooming around the church kitchen like the proverbial blue bottomed fly looking for a bridalesque glass – which I eventually found. Sarah’s throat suffered a tad more than it should have for my fussiness, I fear

I am thankful to say that this year all my brides blessed with an undry wedding have been gorgeous and happy and have given not a hoot. That’s good. If it rains on your wedding day, remember there is nothing you can do about it, nobody up there hates you, and you don’t want your guests feeling sorry for you on your big day, so SMILE and ROLL WITH IT!

Traditional leather albums by Jorgensen Australia are of the highest professional quality, with corner protected coreboard matted pages, leather cover and presentation box. Holding up to 160 images (although extra pages may be added if required) these albums have a modern layout and a classic structure.

These images show the 40 sided 16×12 inch Panoramic album in Navy Blue, with protected corners

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Just to end, a couple of snaps of the view from my office – I think the village will be turning up with sledges and snowboards in a minute, and I need at least one hot chocolate before that happens. Have a great Christmas, thanks for looking!

Guy

And here are Will & Ali – she took a load of great pictures with my 70-200mm this afternoon and now figures that I am running scared! She is young but she will learn…..

Finchingfield is a beautiful village and the church is lovely, perched up on the hill. Spains Hall lies about a mile away, and the race was on to get back for Jamie & Charlotte’s pictures before the sun went down. We made it and I got some of my all time favourite sunset shots. I know you read this a lot on wedding blogs, but I really mean this, honestly truly, Charlotte did not stop smiling all day long, which made my day a real treat. A great couple with a great set of friends, at Spains Hall – can’t beat that!

Thanks to the newly beardy Dan “Santa Claus ” Neatherway for his amazingly nimble staying out of my shots skills. If you need a videographer, this is him…. Final plug – I was struck by the amazing talent of the singer/pianist Anthony Strong – cool as a cucumber and an incredibly talented feelgood jazz supremo – see him below.

Charlotte’s Dad wrote:” Just a quick note of thanks for all your hard work and effort on, what turned out to be a fantastic wedding day.

It must be somewhat galling to have ‘being invisible’ as one of your prime success indicators. Perhaps unobtrusive rather than invisible, but unobtrusive you were, we appreciated your calm understated approach to the day. You put us all at ease, and inspired confidence and trust. Not only of the wedding party but of the guests as well.

We have all seen the busy wedding photographer, all elbows and instructions. We preferred your style immensely. Someone said ‘Guy looks laid back’. Never, never in a million years were you laid back, your eyes never stopped roaming, looking for that perfect shot constantly on the look out, assimilating, judging and evaluating. You must have been exhausted at the end of the day.
Nerves run high as you know, and we are all anxious that things go well, your influence went far beyond the brief of photographer, and we benefited from your ability to shape many of the set pieces of the day.

The way you worked with the videographer was particularly impressive, sharing shots and supporting each other diminished the amount of direction needed and significantly increased our opportunities for success.

You are truly a ‘class act’ and we were fortunate you were available to share and record our special day.

Here are some of my favourites

The church is situated high up, looking out across to Beacon Hill – the local mecca for sledging and snowboarding, and there was a curious mix of wedding guests in long coats and hats, and scruffy urchins with boards and baggy trousers, wandering around before the wedding. To get the best shots outside the church I had to go off piste (well, off path at least) into shin deep snow, so it was wet socks and cold shoes for the rest of the day for me! However, I wasn’t going to miss the photographs for anything.

Katie looked incredible, and was happy to go for a wander in the snow with her new husband, so I could get the fairytale stuff. I couldn’t believe how well she did, so hats off to the bride. The light was fading fast – we had a 5 minute window before it got really dark, and got as much as we could in the time.

The marquee was phenomenal – draped in fairylights and sparkle – and with the snow outside it couldn’t have felt more festive. A great way to end the season before Christmas.

I edited the wedding on Monday after a fearsome 68 pace commute through knee high snow to my studio. The snow had blown in off the field and I had to get a shovel to open the door it was piled up so high. So I locked myself in from 5am and worked on the pictures until 4.30pm when they went online. Outside the boys were sledging in the field and the hot chocolate kept coming. Can you tell I’m getting excited about the holidays?

Katie emailed last night: “Hi Guy

Love Katie and Tom x “

My favourites

Here are some of my favourites – look out for small page boy in Welsh Guards uniform – fantastic!

The marquee guys had nailed it down sufficiently so there were no disasters, and the DJs (Penguins) lighting was mindblowing – for the sake of the photographs, I think it should be a legal requirement for DJs to have as much kit as these dudes turned up with! Working with my esteemed colleague Dan Neatherway of From the Hip video productions is always a treat, and as ever, there was no footsteppingon, and no shotgettingin.

At the end of the night I had to thanks my lucky iPhone stars, because my satnav went pouf in a puff of smoke and there I sat in the middle of a rainy field covered in mud not really knowing where I was. Strangely I had downloaded the TomTom satnav aplication for my phone the night before as a backup just in case of this kind of occurrence, and it got me home famously. With a little help from Red Bull, Quavers, and the Jam’s Greatest Hits.