From Lancashire with Love

On Thursday February 17th we were visited via Zoom by Nancy Barrett who gave us a presentation called From Lancashire with Love. Nancy’s talk was about her successful wedding photography business, but it did include some of her other photography and she explained how her liking for street photography and nature and the disciplines learned in both, such as fast reactions to capture a fleeting moment, had helped her when photographing weddings.

Nancy’s talk was divided into sections, each covering a different aspect of wedding photography, as she said, ‘it’s not all about photographing people.’ Nancy’s excellent images covered taking pictures of the flowers, rings and dresses (not being worn), all of which fall into the category of still-life photography. There was a section of brides getting ready, which illustrated first-class timing to get images of the father’s first reaction on seeing his daughter in her wedding dress, joy and tears featured in many of these moving photographs. There were images from the journey to the wedding, the weddings themselves, romantic quiet portraits, tender moments, the antics of children and the after-dinner dances.

Nancy’s photographs spoke for themselves, colour or monochrome, all superb. Nancy’s commentary was lively and full of laughter. There were many comical stories and instances of Nancy having to think fast when things didn’t go quite to plan. Nancy said she really enjoyed working with people who were the salt of the earth. Her banter with her subjects leading to some terrific photographs that really showed why she is much in demand.

The presentation also included many hints on getting the best from your subjects and location, as well as technical tips about equipment, one of the best being ‘if you don’t have all the kit, zoom with your feet.’ Nancy’s images showed a wide range of styles, such as soft gentle portraiture, reportage, the use of unusual angles and photographs full of energy, all of which added a great variety to her images and showed the many skills Nancy has mastered to create such a wide-range of work.

Thank-you Nancy for giving us a wonderful presentation that was extremely entertaining and educational, all of which was illustrated beautifully with your first-class wedding photographs.