I write this from America, desperately home-away-from-homesick for Aberaeron. If you ask me what my favorite town is in the entirety of the UK, it would be this tiny, harbour town with adorable shops and colorful row houses. Just twenty minutes from my mother-in-law's house, it inspired me to host this workshop just so I could bring people to see the town.
We were not supposed to have Abhinav and Anvita as our models and we were not supposed to shoot in Aberaeron. After multiple model cancellations, inclement weather to Snowdonia, and a bunch of jet lagged photographers made the call to cancel Snowdonia and stick near our rental cottage in Bethania, it all came down to last minute planning. Luckily, Abhinav and Anvita had agreed to model a few weeks before and were willing to go with the flow. As an adorably sweet couple who are students at Aberystwyth University, they were exactly the young love that suited the colorful town of Aberaeron.
Not much happens in Wales. There was an actual news report of some cows getting arrested on the radio on one of our drives. So to see a bunch of loud Americans in the middle of the high street, shooting a beautiful couple in vibrant Indian dress was probably the wildest thing the town had seen in a decade. Nonetheless, it was cold and our antics didn't last too long. Our models had to take coat breaks. You can not even tell how cold Abhinav and Anvita are in the photos- they were such good sports!
As a photographer, I see a lot of styled shoots being offered and promoted. I have planned styled shoots myself (obviously). I will forever stick to my morals as a photographer. I will always hire locals if I can. I will always hire REAL people of all ethnicities and sizes. I will always keep it simple with an emphasis on location and technical photography and posing. I think the industry has not only white washed "luxury" photography but made normal people like myself feel like photos like that were so out of reach. I am here to change the standard of style shoots- to shoot real couples who are genuinely in love and even out of their comfort zones sometimes. I really hope to encourage other photographers to hop on board with this idea. And to never apologize for it.
Models: Abhinav and Anvita
Co-Host: Madison Scott
Location: Aberaeron, Wales
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