Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O, no! it is an ever-fixed mark,
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.
Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle’s compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

I think we often forgot how special weddings are, and how remarkable it is to hear such vows joyfully and solemnly spoken in days like these.

From this day forward;
for better, for worse,
for richer, for poorer,
in sickness and in health,
to love and to cherish,
till death us do part.

Two persons living separate lives collide to form a new, lifetime-lasting entity. Shakespeare’s 116^th sonnet delves the depths of the love felt on these days; a love that alters not, remaining unshaken by tempests.

I consider it a privilege to have been asked by Ele and Greg to document this day for them.

I very much enjoyed the experience. Wedding photography is pressurised, yes, but more than anything, provides opportunities to capture some of the strongest emotions felt in a person’s life. What excellent subjects for an aspiring photographer!

To wild cheers from the crowd, a man hangs some bunting across the street.

Today I walked from the Louvre to the Champs Elysees with a friend, discussing, amongst other things, the luxury cars that frequently passed us. Towards the setting sun we walked, myself taking photographs, him stopping to humour me.

A little tired, we descended into the circulatory system of Paris, the Metro, and went our separate ways. After countless escalators, I reached the depths of the RER platform. With camera in hand, I looked over my shoulder up the staircase, and my gaze fell on a figure sprawled across the stairs. Having taken the escalator, he had previously been out of sight. My heart beat raced as I took the stairs three at a time, reviewing first aid training in my head, and wondering whether I’d have signal at that depth to call an ambulance.

As I approached, the darkness lessened, and the figure became clearer: a man, old, reeking, swollen, asleep on the steps.

Poverty is not hidden in Paris; one often walks past beggars or is asked for ‘une petite piece, SVP’ riding the metro, but only in the darkest places is this greatest need found; those who aren’t faking it – those who have nowhere to lay their head.

I didn’t wake the man; I didn’t know what to do. How does one help? Walking down the stairs, I turned and shot two frames, and took the metro back home.

Why? Why do so many men and women find such satisfaction in taking and sharing photographs?

I believe photography is communication. Through the manipulation of light on a sensor, an artist has the power to create meaning.

Throughout the last century, photographs have not only documented important moments, but shaped and evolved, shocked and surprised, motivated and inspired generations. Photographers are heralds and orators – whether through careful, slow planning or impulsive lightening-speed reactions, a photographer works with a tool to tell the world a story. As Monet understood his brush, the Photographer uses camera in his hands to direct light in such a way as to speak.

A photographer possesses amazing power, and the responsibility to use that power in presenting a full canvas, worthy of the spectators’ investigatory gaze.

This is what I hope my photography might one day become.

David wrote a song to God, expressing the depths of his regret. This is an excerpt.

Hide your face from my sins,

and blot out all my iniquities.

Create in me a clean heart, O God,

and renew a right spirit within me.

Cast me not away from your presence,

and take not your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of your salvation,

and uphold me with a willing spirit.

This is one of my latest pieces of digital painting. Click for the image in higher resolution.

Here’s some work from a recent trip to London.