Darragh Mason Field of Mason Harris Photography discusses fine art wedding photography – and offers a pretty splendid competition prize

We are Geoff Harris and Darragh Mason Field, based in Glastonbury and Bristol respectively and we are fine art wedding photographers.

We create beautiful, romantic images of weddings in great light and surroundings. They are tasteful and artistic images to treasure for a lifetime. We also capture the joy, fun and spontaneity of the special day, and the many guests who attend. Working as a team, we are highly organised and proactive, and manage to cover all aspects of our clients’ wedding. The images our clients get would not be out of place in a glossy magazine, or on a gallery wall.

We’ve both always worked in photography. Geoff is a well-known photographer and writer/blogger, and former editor of Digital Camera, Britain’s best-selling photo magazine. He is a licentiate member of the Royal Photographic Society – an internationally recognised qualification from the world’s oldest such society, a member of the Society of Wedding and Portrait Photographers and a graduate of Aspire Photographic Training. Aspire is the UK’s leading wedding-photography school and Geoff continues to blog for them and attend regular courses at their HQ. 

I come from a long line of Irish photographers and studied photography at Dublin City University. I’ve travelled widely in Asia, Europe and America, writing articles and publishing photography, and my work has featured on the BBC and China.com website and in other leading newspapers and magazines. I’ve also exhibited in New York, London and of course Bristol. We decided to start our own business and Mason Harris Photography was born.

Those special, intimate a moments – a glance, or a kiss – as well as the big group shots. We work with couples and guests so everyone is relaxed, then we only shoot them in the best light. Rainy or overcast days can actually make flowers and decor look more colourful, so again, we work around it. It’s important to not get in the way or boss people around, and to capture the little details of the day – or the laughter and spontaneity of the guests, particularly kids. As photographers it’s our job to get a consistent quality and style.

To aspiring photographers, I’d say always be professional, work very hard and never forget the photographs your taking will be treasured for a lifetime by the couple you are working for, so they have to be perfect. Get used to working weekends. It’s also not good enough to be ‘good with a camera’ you need to know how to process images, manage workflow and clean up photographs digitally. 

It’s hard work being a Bristol independent, but a lot of fun. We get to move around a lot and meet many different people from all cultures, which is brilliant. It beats sitting at a desk doing the same job over and over, but it isn’t easy. There is a lot pressure to deliver on such a special day in peoples’ lives. It’s a competitive field, but we do feel there is an opportunity for a business specialising in sophisticated, fine art wedding photography at an affordable price.

It’s brilliant to be a part of so many special memories for the lovely couples we’ve worked with.  Right now our goal is to keep growing at our current pace and to get lots of recommendations from delighted clients. 

We had a bride’s mother burst into tears (the happy kind) when she saw our photos. That’s the kind of reaction we want to get. 

Mason Harris Photography are offering one couple their deluxe package worth £1,400 and includes:

Pre-wedding shoot at location of your choice
Two photographers on the day (Geoff and Darragh)
400 beautifully edited photographs
All day coverage until the first dance at the reception
Attractively boxed USB device with all 400 images at high resolution
Low resolution gallery for social media sharing
Interactive slideshow for your website, Facebook, Twitter, etc
To enter, simply like Mason Harris on Facebook www.facebook.com/masonharrisphoto and write: WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY PRIZE on Bristol24/7’s Facebook page. Good luck!

Only for weddings in the Bristol area and taking place this year. Competition closes at the end of March 2015.

www.masonharrisphotography.com