Unveiled 2011, London

On Monday I went to London for Unveiled 2011, a BJP wedding photography event held at the Hasselblad UK’s studio. Going to London on a Monday morning is not something I’d endorse as a pleasurable past-time to be honest. But getting up at 5:30 to catch my train and braving the tubes in a muggy 30-degree-London during rush hour to get back home was well worth it. I had an amazing time meeting new people and getting a chance to to talk to the speakers afterwards.

I love these type of events mostly for the motivation and inspiration they provide. Nothing makes me want to do everything right this minute like listening to someone who knows what they are talking about. And these people certainly did. Here’s my brief summary of the talks on the day:

• Catherine Westwood, Editor of Wedding Magazine: Her talk revolved around how and what to submit to a magazine as a photographer. In a nutshell submissions should focus on the main reason for their readers to read the magazine, which is inspiration. So details, details, details and anything that feels new and fresh.

• Lisa Devlin, who won the Unveiled competition last year: I was incredibly impressed by Lisa, both as a speaker and as a person. Her talk was entertaining, personal and it hit the spot in terms of information. She included so much in there, from how she got started as a wedding photographer 10 years ago to how she is able to get fantastic portraits on a wedding day without intruding too much on the couples day (by splitting them into two or three “mini-shoots” in case you were wondering). On top of that she is a lovely person to talk to, very honest, open and extremely likeable. If you were ever considering going to one of her workshops I can only recommend it.

• Alexis Cuddyre from OMG I’m Getting Married wedding blog: Here is a girl I immediately connected with. A bright pink dress, big perspex ear rings and a meticulously designed slideshow to accompany a talk geared towards how to use social media, blogs and branding to your advantage when it comes to building a photography business. I got a chance to speak to Alexis myself and it only confirmed my suspicion that she was awesome. The style of her blog and taste in weddings really resonates with me and I am very happy I got a chance to meet her.

• Hugo Burnand, Royal Wedding photographer: A week before the royal wedding I read in a press release that the event will be photographed by Hugo Burnand, on a Hasselblad no less, and I was excited. For the sole reason that I, too photograph weddings on a Hasselblad. Mind you, the weddings are not royal and my Hasselblad is a medium format film camera and does not have 50 megapixels. But still! I was quite interested in what Hugo would have to say about it at an event like this, geared towards other photographers. And surprisingly enough, he blew me away. His stories were fascinating, funny and deeply entertaining. Who knew a royal photographer could make a whole room laugh like this! He was possibly the most positive surprise of the day, what a treat.

There were cookies, sandwiches, expensive cameras to grope and a whole bunch of wonderful people to meet and talk to. Even the tropical temperatures couldn’t ruin the mood. I am very happy I went and would like to thank everyone who made this happen – I’ll definitely be back next year!