A behind-the-scenes look at a location portrait shoot with wedding singer Amara. Set in a stunning Yorkshire venue and finished in a golden rapeseed field, this shoot was all about natural light, honest moments, and the connection between photographer and subject.
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Amara is, ostensibly, part of the same local music scene as me — though she lives on a very different side of it. While I write sad Americana songs in darkened bars, Amara is a wedding singer, bringing soul and sparkle to first dances and champagne receptions. Her world, her audience, her vibe — all quite different from mine.
She came to me via a recommendation from Matthew Thomas Palmer, a previous client whose piano teaching business I’d done some work for. Amara needed a suite of new photographs for her website and social media: something warm, professional, and with just enough personality to appeal to brides, grooms, and venue bookers. After a short intro call and a flick through some reference images, it was clear that environmental portraiture was the way to go. I had a few studio setups in my head, but to be honest, all the shots I was imagining were location-based. So I was relieved that we agreed on that direction.
Finding a venue can sometimes be the hardest part of a shoot like this, but Amara had a contact at The Oakwood at Ryther — a former family farm turned high-end wedding venue with luxury accommodation, a chapel in a converted barn, and beautiful gardens. She’d sent me a few snaps, and it looked ideal. I arrived a little early to scout the light and pick out scenes, and although the golden hour I’d hoped for was still a way off, I found some solid options and made a mental plan for how to work around the harsh early spring sun.
We’d agreed that variety was key. I wanted to give Amara a broad but cohesive set of images that could work across web and social. Different poses, locations, outfit changes, a consistent feel. I'd suggested she bring a few clothing options so we could build mini “looks” around each location. That flexibility goes a long way in creating a full visual package.
When Amara arrived, I knew the shoot was going to be a good one. She looked fantastic, and despite a bit of nervousness — totally understandable for someone who hadn’t done a proper photoshoot before — we clicked right away. I gave her a bit of direction to get started, set up the lighting, and before long she was easing into it. As with a lot of people new to being in front of the lens, it’s about building trust quickly and then shooting through the moments between the poses. Those half-smiles, natural gestures, or a subtle closing of the eyes — that’s where the emotional honesty lives.
I encouraged her to keep gently moving as we shot. No stiff poses, no frozen moments. Just a flow that would give me frames to choose from, with the kind of natural warmth that connects on a website or Instagram post.
The Sony A7IV was my main workhorse, as always. I tossed the Ricoh GRiiix in the bag too — I always do, just in case — but it stayed unused this time. For lighting, I used a Godox V1 flash with an 80cm softbox on a stand, triggered by a Godox XPro II. I had studio strobes in the car as backup, but never needed them.
Lens-wise:
Outdoors, lighting was more of a dance. The sun was low and bright, casting harsh shadows and making it easy for expressions to be lost in a squint. I used the softbox for fill, sometimes balancing ambient with flash at f/8 or even f/11, which sounds counterintuitive for portraits but actually gave me lovely subject-background separation thanks to the depth of the scenes.
On the way to the shoot, I’d clocked a rapeseed field just a few minutes from the venue — those bright yellow blooms that carpet much of rural Yorkshire in spring. I’ve had an idea for a particular kind of shot in that setting for a while, and I floated it to Amara as we wrapped up the main location work. She was up for it.
We drove to the field, found a gap in the hedgerow, and with her friend holding a reflector to bounce the now golden-hour sun back onto her face, we captured what turned out to be some of my favourite frames from the whole shoot. The tones all fell into place — blue sky, yellow flowers, her blonde hair and a soft green dress that tied it all together. It looked like a painting.
Honestly, I couldn’t wait to get home and start editing. But really, it wasn’t about editing. It was about selecting. I’d got the look I wanted mostly in-camera, so the grade was light: warm, clean, professional. I did a cull that night, a proper edit the next morning, and then took a break for a day or two before doing one last pass. That “second edit” always helps — you see things you missed, or realise you don’t need to tweak quite as much as you thought.
Amara was over the moon with the results. And not just the images, but the experience of the shoot itself — which honestly means just as much to me. It’s easy to forget that for many people, being photographed is a vulnerable, unusual thing. So when I can create a space that’s fun, relaxed, and collaborative, that feels like a win.
In the end, this wasn’t just a shoot. It was two creative people combining crafts — her music, my photography — to tell a story visually. That’s always what I’m chasing with this kind of work.
You can see more photographs from this shoot in my Portfolio
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