blog for you: Sharing the love - Supplier Spotlight featuring Stuart Wood Photographer.....

Today's 'Sharing The Love Supplier Spotlight' feature brings you the fantastic Stuart Wood - not only a fabulous photographer, but a truly lovely guy. Stuart's story is a fascinating one, with a career jam packed full of celebrities and interesting stories to tell, so we put him under the Wedding Affair spotlight and fired the following questions at him...

So how did you end up in the wedding industry?

I suppose it was inevitable that I would come back to wedding photography. When I first starting taking pictures, I was asked quite early on to do friends weddings which I found extremely nerve wracking, but also discovered that I worked very well under pressure and thrived on those adrenaline fuelled moments that I have learned to embrace and relish.

When I turned professional in 1991, I did do the occasional wedding in the 'traditional' way but quickly left these behind to concentrate my efforts on my career as a people photographer for TV, magazines and commercial work, where I developed my style and became particularly noted for my lighting techniques for which I very proudly became sponsored by The Flash Centre and Elinchrom Lights, who still kindly provide all my lighting equipment for me today.

A few years ago I became aware of the wonderful new way that wedding photography had moved on and rather than simply recording the main events of signing registers, cutting cakes and lining up the participants outside the church as if they were about to be shot, I saw that wonderful photographers such as Yervant, who to me is the doyen of all wedding photographers, were shooting weddings with such passion, style and mood that it took my breath away. The beautiful and moving images that I discovered were literally a revelation for me and I became so excited about shooting weddings again in this new style.

What I immediately had going for me was years of experience having to work quickly under pressure where I only have one chance to get it absolutely right and to a high-end standard that needs to grace the pages of the top magazines such as the Radio Times, Cosmopolitan and GRAZIA.

I truly feel that this is my unique selling point that does set me apart from a lot of photographers who simply cannot draw on such experiences never having worked at that level and I often get other photographers, some of whom have been shooting weddings for many more years than I have, asking to come out and assist me just to see how I achieve my images.

I always do everything that I can to achieve something further than just a likeness of my couples and we usually become friends. I always put them at ease and they never look false or bored or anxious and this genuine enthusiasm to give my couples the very best that I can often gets a special mention, sometimes even during the main speeches!

All these factors have provided a smooth transition to adapt my technique and style to my weddings, that have swiftly developed my current work to a place where I am now SO excited that I cannot wait to move this on and see where we can go.

This is a journey that I am SO looking forward to.

A few years back, when my current wedding style was in its early and embryonic stage, I attended a three day course with Yervant, who is recognised as being one of the top three wedding photographers in the world. On the last day we were asked to show our own work,which included what we'd achieved on the course and a few examples of our own previous work. While certainly not cruel, Yervant is definitely honest in his opinion and when I submitted my memory stick, I noticed that he went quiet for a moment when looking at my pictures! Then he asked me if I minded if he could say something, for which I agreed but braced myself for what was to come.

He told me that he thought I was trying to be someone else with my wedding photography. He told me that he had watched me over the three days and had looked at my commercial photography and he absolutely loved it and finally said that when it came to my wedding work, I should stop trying to be him and become Stuart Wood and I if I did, I could become one of THE top wedding photographers.

I instantly knew exactly what he meant and that he was absolutely right, but strangely I needed him to tell me.

To hear one of the top wedding photographers in the world tell me that was worth every penny that I spent on the course, and I can assure you it wasn't cheap!

A couple of years ago I met Yervant again and I showed him all my new wedding work since his course and told him to be as honest as he liked. After seeing it all,he simply said 'wow'. I asked him again to please say more to which he replied by putting his hand on my shoulder and saying 'no need, it's there'!

Tell us something about you that most people wouldn’t know.

I am a massive U2 fan and have travelled all over the place to see my heroes (sometimes on my own), or as that doesn't happen often enough, the better tribute bands, where, in both eventualities, I drink a little too much and lose myself in their fabulous music and sing myself hoarse, as I am sad enough to know virtually every word to every one of their songs!

I have also always been absolutely fascinated by Ancient Egypt. Before we had children, my wife and I travelled to Egypt and saw the magnificent sights, but the one thing that I discovered when I was out there that absolutely 'blew my mind' and was something that I had been previously and completely unaware, was that our 'Amen' (as in for ever and ever, Amen) is actually the name of the main Egyptian God Amun.

How cool is that!

So the one thing that probably most good folk would not know about me is that around my neck I wear an original Ancient Egyptian stone with the sacred symbol for eternal life called the Ankh (as in Tut-Ankh-Amun) carved into it 3,000 years ago by an ancient Egyptian, who probably wasn't THAT much different to us!

If that doesn't inspire me then nothing will!

Who, or what, inspires you?

I get inspiration from many sources. I love looking at other photographers work, but I also get inspired by cinema, paintings and literature too.

What is your greatest achievement?

My greatest achievement is our children, both of whom are different but wonderfully gifted and kind souls that we are convinced will continue to enrich the world.

Nothing else comes close.

When I left college, my professional goal was to get a Radio Times cover. As the years rolled by I managed to get just about most other covers, but the one that I really wanted continued to elude me, so I left a space on my kitchen wall where my Radio Times cover would one day hang resplendent, or I would croak, whichever happened first, as I would never, ever give in! I came so close on many occasions to getting my golden prize, but the magazine would eventually choose to use some other story as the main feature and bump my picture off to the confines of the inner pages!

What is it with this thing called life that deliberately puts the very thing that you want, your very own 'Holy Grail' merely a fingertip out of your reach?

So close !

Why is it then, that to travel only that fingertip's journey, life makes you claw and crawl your way through seemingly eternal miles of mud and grime to get there?

When the initial surge of frustrations evaporated, I learned to accept that this certainly teaches you the REAL worth of what you should be aiming for and the experience to be man enough to know its value.

On the 9th June 2007 my picture finally graced the cover of the Radio Times and I went out and bought EVERY copy that the newsagent had (except one, because they begged me to leave it for their elderly customer that every week, walked down to pick up his copy)

An enlargement of this cover has since permanently hung on the vacant space that for so long, patiently awaited it.

Although I pass it many times a day, now and then I will stop and just look at it and sometimes I may even give it a smile!

Since that time I have shot various covers for the Radio Times!

Ideal 5 dinner guests, past or present?

It may be an obvious one but my first guest would be the wonderful Stephen Fry. I recently had a chance to work on an ITV Drama that he is currently filming in Scotland, but it didn't quite work out because of other work commitments, which was very disappointing.

I would love to invite Bono, just to give me the opportunity to finally meet him. It would be interesting to listen to two heavy weight thinkers like him and Stephen Fry going head to head over the after dinner port!

Lady Gaga would be wonderful to offer some contemporary glamour and intellectual female points of view. I'm sure that she would add some lively and stimulating conversation.

For some lighter moments and wonderful laughter I'll balance this out with Morecambe and Wise.

What’s your favourite quote?

I probably have three favourites and would like to tell you them all if I may, as they mean different things to me.

1.The truly inspirational quote from the wonderful film, Dead Poets Society 'Carpe Diem' is fabulous and translates as 'seize the day', which we should all do so that we make everything that we can with the time that is given to us. I found this in a London shop inscribed in a paperweight and it now presides permanently on my desk where it continues to inspire me.

2. 'Let the common herd be excited by cheap things.

For me, may golden Apollo pour out full cups from the spring of the Muses'. This is by the Roman poet Ovid and was apparently one of the very favourite quotes of no less than William Shakespeare! It means that we should not be content to only accept the obvious and the frivolous, as most will certainly do, but to seek out and be fulfilled by things of real substance that will enrich our work and our lives.

3. The last quote is for me quite magnificent and was written by Abraham Lincoln to a lady who had lost all five sons in the American Civil War. It is also featured in 'Saving Private Ryan'. Like any writing of such quality, it is not diluted by time and it means as much now as it meant then and will continue to be a moving and fitting tribute to all who have died for our liberty or have lost friends and loved ones killed in battle.

'The solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom'.

Beautiful!

We know you’ve taken lots of celebrities pictures – any particularly memorable ones (for whatever the reason)?

Over the years I have met lots of famous faces including actors, sports stars and footballers, tv presenters, politicians etc and all this started from a college project where I contacted as many celebrities as I could and asked them if I could photograph them. Over 2 years I contacted 250 famous people and got to shoot 25 of them. This project literally changed my life and as a result I not only won the top student award at the Photographers Gallery in London, but I was also being commissioned by magazines, including a national, while still a student which thinking back, is actually quite remarkable.

They are all pretty memorable for various reasons and this work has taken me to some amazing places along the way.

What’s the one thing you can’t live without?

Probably coffee in the morning!

What’s your favourite film?

I have SO many, as I adore the escape of cinema, but if I had to choose one it would probably be 'Its a Wonderful Life' partly because of my love of Christmas with the family and partly because I can relate to the lead character never really leaving his home town!

What’s your favourite book?

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens...

It is a wonderful seasonal tale which has never been captured properly in any of the film adaptations. The actual story is so atmospheric, sinister and creepy with a genuinely moving ending. The storytelling by Dickens is masterful. I have read it every Christmas since the age of about ten and now enjoy reading it to my children, who adore it too. A couple of Christmases ago I tracked down a couple of original beautiful pen and ink illustrations for sale that were used in a published version of the book around a hundred years ago. They cost a fortune, but the children got one each and will no doubt treasure them forever.

If you weren’t a photographer, what do you think you would be?

I was about to move into management at Sainsbury's when I gave it up to pursue my dream of being a professional photographer and went to Salisbury College. My manager at the time told me I was mad to do this, because I would make a good manager. I told him that he may well be right, but I simply had to get it out of my system one way or another. Up to now it seems to have worked out ok!

As the modern fashion leans more to having various careers these days, I really don't know if I would still be a manager at Sainsbury's because the day I left that job, I really have never ever thought about doing anything other than taking pictures.

I always feel so fortunate to get paid for doing something that I absolutely adore.

Whose wedding (past, present or future) would you most like to do the photography for?

Wow!

Being SO fascinated with Ancient Egypt, I'll go for Rameses the Great and his favourite wife Nefertari who was so lovely that he referred to her as 'She for whom the sun doth shine', which is beautiful.

Just think of the fabulous locations and that wonderful light. Some historians believe that this Pharaoh knew Moses, so it would be one hell of a guest list! But boy, think of the pressure to get this one right and the possible consequences of not!

I would probably need to draw on all my experience for this one!