The Elite: Chris Hanley Interview

Photo credit: Chris Han­ley Photography

Chris Han­ley Pho­tog­ra­phy: The Elite: an interview

Chris, you’ve pho­tographed wed­dings at some of the UK’s most exclu­sive venues and run pho­tog­ra­phy train­ing work­shops in Italy and Spain. Which is best?

“The best is sim­ply the one I’m shoot­ing at the time. Why? Because I am so focued on cre­at­ing the most beau­ti­ful pic­tures for my clients. Observ­ing light and under­stand­ing how to use it or repli­cate it is one of the prin­ci­ple foun­da­tions of great wed­ding pho­tog­ra­phy.”

You’ve cre­ated some amaz­ing brands: Cher­ish the Dress, Vin­tage Cher­ish and Beach Bride, for exam­ple. Where does your inspi­ra­tion come from?

“A num­ber of ele­ments. Firstly we test and mea­sure ideas at the National Wed­ding Show. By ask­ing the right ques­tions to future brides, our own clients and lis­ten­ing care­fully to answers we can care­fully con­struct desir­able brands and products.

“The ini­tial ideas come from cin­ema and tele­vi­sion drama. We are reg­u­larly com­mis­sioned to shoot fash­ion col­lec­tions, mag­a­zine work and model port­fo­lios. Each one of these com­mis­sions is a fusion of cre­ative minds which often is the gen­e­sis of a brand idea.”

Photo credit: Chris Han­ley Photography

I always say you have magic inside your cam­era. What’s really in there?!

“A cam­era is a piece of equip­ment that holds the images. The magic is the photographer’s mind, their eye and their heart.

“Cre­ate an assem­blage of these ele­ments together with per­son­al­ity and tech­ni­cal skill and the magic will happen.”

What does it take to be an top UK wed­ding photographer?

“Apart from the pas­sion of want­ing to cre­ate beau­ti­ful pic­tures every time I hold a cam­era to my eye, 90% is work­ing incred­i­bly hard at my busi­ness. Watch­ing, lis­ten­ing, talk­ing to clients and the indus­try. Work­ing with the very best sup­pli­ers. Keep­ing a high busi­ness pro­file. Con­stantly striv­ing to do big­ger and bet­ter things.”

Photo credit: Chris Han­ley Photography

If you could live in any­one else’s shoes for a day, who would you choose to be? And can you do their accent?

“I’d love to be a bride for a day, so I could really really under­stand the emo­tion. Not sure about the shoe bit of your ques­tion though, most brides can’t wait to stop wear­ing them

If my bride spoke like Jane Hor­rocks then yes, accent no prob­lem

What’s next for Chris Han­ley Photography?

“We are blessed with a healthy look­ing diary for 2012. We have very lim­ited avail­abil­ity. We’d be delighted to offer Eng­lish Wed­ding brides some fab incen­tives. Email or call the stu­dio. 2013 wed­dings are already being booked, so far we have 4

“We are off to Sicily in Octo­ber host­ing some very spe­cial bridal fash­ion mas­ter­classes, and will be hav­ing a high pro­file at the UK’s most illus­tri­ous wed­ding shows. We are also offer­ing bespoke train­ing at our River­side Stu­dio in the art and busi­ness of wed­ding photography.”

Photo credit: Chris Han­ley Photography

Photo credit: Chris Han­ley Photography

Photo credit: Chris Han­ley Photography

Lose your­self in the magic on Chris Hanley’s wed­ding pho­tog­ra­phy blog and visit the offi­cial Chris Han­ley Pho­tog­ra­phy web­site to find out more — includ­ing con­tact details for those tasty-sounding incen­tives for Eng­lish Wed­ding brides!