Katie and Aaron contacted me from Australia.

Their plan was a simple one - fly to Christchurch with a small group of family and friends, drive to Hanmer Springs and then get hitched at Riverview Lookout. Photographically, they wanted documentary style photos of their wedding, along with some photos of themselves just after their ceremony.

When I first started photographing weddings, I had really firm ideas about the type of photos I wanted to create with the bride and groom. So much so, I would have sketches and I would literally ask the bride and groom to hold each other in really specific ways.

And you know what happened with those photos?

They were pretty bad.

Couple’s looked shockingly posed and rigid and anything but happy and relaxed. Worst of all, the photos didn’t show anything of who they were as a couple. My attempts at creating the perfect bride and groom photos was crushing any chance the couple had of showing me - their photographer - who they really were.

Unhappy with my bride and groom photos, I took a deep dive into portrait photography. I studied some of the masters - people like Richard Avedon, Irvine Penn and Dan Winters, to name a few.

Along the way I learnt a humbling lesson: portraits are a reflection of the photographer.

That realisation changed everything about how I approached my bride and groom portrait sessions. As for the results, they started to change. My portraits of couples’ just married, became more and more about them.

Glimpses of who they are started to show through. Like in this photo with Katie and Aaron.

While I chose the location for the photos and provided the bare minimum of direction - namely, please walk over there and embrace - it was Katie and Aaron who held each, just the way they do. It was Katie who kissed Aaron how she wanted to. It was Aaron who decided to be Aaron.

All of which, helped create a photo of who they are.