They say location is everything.
Ross and I have recently been playing with the idea of doing a “Trash the Dress” shoot with some of our wedding couples.
A “Trash the Dress” is not necessarily about destroying your dress as the name implies, but more about shooting the bride in a location you would not normally expect and/or posing them in a way you wouldn’t normally have them posed on their wedding day.
Unless you’re given hours you would not have time to drive to other locations and set up more creative shots with your bride. Plus, laying down on a beach with the waves crashing over you on your wedding day (!) is not really a practical idea.
A beach with just sand is nice and can be interesting, but I want somewhere that maybe has some rocks that are big enough to lay on or stand on in a nice dramatic pose.
Somewhere with a pier would be nice. Shots taken under piers can be very pretty and creative. Shots out in a forest can also be very pretty and haunting at the same time.
So The Search Begins
The first location we looked at was West Mersea.
Personally I didn’t think it was the most interesting of places for a shoot. Just a beach and not a pretty one at that. It was very muddy looking and plain, with sand that looked like builders sand! Too many badly painted huts crammed in to one location. Even with the sun out it didn’t look any better (sorry West Mersea L).
Further to the east of the island was our next location to check. Cudmore Grove Country Park.
As soon as we drove up, Ross and I thought it looked a lot better than the last location.
There was a lot of land. It had a beach with some big rocks, small cliff faces, some trees and grass areas, a big pond, even a refreshment stand and toilets (great for grabbing a nice hot drink and somewhere to change clothes).
We both agreed that the location had some real potential.
We took a long walk around the area discussing different shot ideas and Ross even took some quick shots as a reminder of the different areas.
Turns out the “Rocks” are actually big slabs of concrete. WWII gun emplacements that were one of our first defences during the war and had now collapsed into the sea!
We talked about the idea of having our bride laying down or standing on some of the “rocks”, or even hiding underneath some of them.
The cliff side of the beach was also interesting and very colourful and suggested several possibilities to each of us, assuming we could get access to certain areas.
Again, unfortunately, there was no pier. But having said that, this second location was certainly better than the first one we looked at. It was a lot more inspiring and there was even a Pillbox left over from WWII. Just picture it; a woman in her wedding dress standing, veil and train flowing in the wind, standing on top of it, with the sun streaming behind her.
After a quick very late lunch at a nearby pub (another bonus for the location!) we drove off to our third location.
Fingringhoe Wick Nature Reserve – what a great name! - but we didn’t let the name put us off J.
Unfortunately we’d spent far too much time at location 2. It had now gotten very late in the afternoon/early evening, so we decided not to get out of the car and simply drove around the area as much as we could.
From what we could see it had loads of woods and plenty land, some crumbling walls and in the distance there even appeared to be a body of water with a jetty/small pier.
This location will bear further investigation!
I think the last 2 locations are strong possible locations for a shoot. They’re not to far from each other either, so we could possibly use both locations in one day!
2 out 3 is not bad, but I think another day looking at other possible locations is needed.
More to come, so remember to check back.
No comments:
Post a Comment