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Hi there!
I am John and welcome to John Scofield Photography! I'm a passionate, friendly and experienced multi award winning wedding photographer. Operating throughout Sussex, Kent and Surrey, I am committed to creating natural, contemporary, stylish images that you will be proud to display. Plain and simply I am 100% committed to wedding photography specifically and I shoot around 90+ weddings every year. I have developed a workflow and style that allows me to cope with many types of weddings from small intimate gatherings through to larger events with 200+ guests. |
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I still find time to love cameras and lenses and all the other bits and bobs too and I just love meeting people and freeze-framing their lives. I love the challenges of adverse weather, tricky light and children that won’t smile on cue! Its what I do and I wouldn’t change a thing!
I am a storyteller. Creatively capturing the happiness and emotion of special occasions is my talent. I visually record things that you are probably to busy to notice, and if you want the ‘wow’ picture we can create that too! There are many photographers around but I am different. I do my research, I arrive early, I leave late, I care and I can help guide you through any situation to ensure that the photography is everything you dreamt of. I do it all with a smile and will not stop until I believe I have done you justice. I am professional, organised and outgoing and just love the excitement and emotion that weddings and special events provide. Thriving on new technology, I invest heavily in equipment, software and processes that will allow me to make the most of your special occasion, creating timeless, artistic, natural images for you to be proud to display and enjoy for many many years. I am proud of my reputation and what my clients say about me – please read through some recent testimonials if you have time… |
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How did you get into photography?
My adventure with photography started from a very early age however the technology of photography was very different to what we have at our disposal these days. Fast forwarding a little bit I found my self graduating from university with an honours degree in design of which photography played a large part. I was fortunate to be sponsored during the final year of my degree by a local business that offered me a fabulous design position after graduating and I continued with my photography in my own time. I used to second shoot at weddings for a photographer friend from university and even at that point I took to it like a duck to water and really enjoyed every bit of it. I later went on to run the business I was working for as Operations Manager but with each step up the corporate ladder I found myself moving further away from what I loved so I hatched a plan to slowly build a photography business in my own time. Once the technology evolved allowing me to capture high quality digital images that could keep up with the way I liked to shoot I pushed the button and threw myself into shooting more weddings and less product and commercial photography. I enjoyed all types of photography and still do but the thrill of capturing a couples wedding was by far the most enjoyable as is also allowed me to use all of my skills and experience not only in a creative and technical way but also in dealing with people and getting the best out of them. One of my clients once told me that it was like having a best friend, seamstress, hairstylist, wedding coordinator and psychotherapist capture their day! I took that as a compliment as I do whatever I can on the day to assist and the service element of what I provide is very important to me. I only ever get 5 star reviews from my clients and if I ever received anything less I would feel like I have failed them on one of the biggest days of their lives.
How long have you have been doing it for and how many weddings do you shoot every year?
Many photographers are happy with around 30 weddings per year. For the last few years I have been shooting 50-70 per year and with all the postponements from 2020 / 2021 I have found myself with 96 booked in for 2021 and around 70 already booked for 2022. I have spent a lot of time creating a workflow that allows for volume shooting without the service and quality of images suffering. I love the busyness of the ever expanding wedding season. I enjoy all the relationships I have with the local venues that I visit regularly and I enjoy working closely with other wedding professionals that like me throw everything at their business to make it a success. 2015 was a milestone for me as it was then that I decided to slowly drop all the other types photography and really focus on the weddings. Since then I have won several Wedding Photographer Of The Year awards along with a handful of Certificates of Excellence regarding service. That being said I still spend time on portrait, event and commercial photography but it is minimal and mainly because I am so busy with what I truly love to do.
What has been some of your most memorable shoots?
I have had the pleasure of capturing some amazing weddings over the years from ones in tree houses and fields to castles and fine hotels but last year I shot a wedding in the Brighton i360 which was particularly memorable. It is basically a glass viewing pod that travels up to 450 feet in the air allowing for magnificent views across Brighton and the South East. It was a hot August day and I was on my feet for over 12 hours whilst carrying all the equipment I needed for the whole day but I wasn’t thinking about that and I saw it as a great opportunity to capture some very different creative images. I had 3 weddings that weekend and I’m pretty sure I lost several kilos in the heat!
Advise to potential couples as to what they should be looking for in a photographer?
We are entering a time where meeting suppliers face to face is difficult without wedding fairs but I would urge couples to take the time to read reviews and do their research. You need to first of all love the images and style of a potential photographer for your big day but you need to always make sure that you feel that you can tolerate them being around you all day! I know some amazing photographers but many either don't like the pressure of weddings or can’t hold a smile all day! We have technology on our side these days so make the time to have a video call and prepare a list of questions to ask the photographer. They won’t mind and its a great way of getting an understanding of how such a key supplier will perform on one of the biggest days of your life. Don't forget to ask about insurances, redundant equipment in the event of breakdowns and backups and make sure they are confident in controlling guests and situations to make the best of the time. Your photographer is arguably the only supplier that will be with you all day. They are your representative on the day and any failings on their part will impact on how you are perceived by you close friends and family members. They will see the highs and lows throughout the day and if you select the right one they will be like a guardian angel on your shoulder guiding you through the rollercoaster of emotions that is a modern wedding.
How you’ve had to adapt to the climate in terms of lower amount of guests or is it not that different?
I have shot several weddings during the summer and autumn of 2020 and an additional 6 weddings in December 2020 - all with obvious reduced numbers. I saw it as an opportunity to really focus on the couple, focus on their intimacy and their love. A large wedding can sometimes be a little distracting because as a wedding photographer you feel obligated to capture all the things that the couple may miss but if you’ve got 150 guests then there’s a lot of distractions that can sometimes take you away from what you are really there for. Getting the balance right between how and when to capture different things comes with experience and with reduced numbers it actually makes it a little easier. There are obvious key moments that absolutely cannot be missed and putting yourself in the right place and at the right time is something that you cannot learn from a book. You need to be able to anticipate peoples reactions to situations and also make sure you have the right equipment to be ready for that. Personally I shoot with 3 cameras on me. They have 3 different lenses on them and they are set up for different situations and moments. I don’t like changing lenses in situ as it is highly likely that you will miss a moment and it also increases the risk of dropping a lens or dirtying a sensor, all of which can mean some downtime at an important moment. My equipment is well insured but that will not help me on the day if it gets damaged so having a certain level of redundancy is very important. All of my cameras record to 2 SD cards at the same time and once back in the office they are then duplicated on RAID 1 drives and also offsite onto a cloud based backup system. I have backups for backups but you need that at every turn to ensure that images are not lost and equipment does not let you down. From beginning to end the whole day and beyond is as strong as the weakest link. I like sleeping at night so I have invested in many ways of insuring success. I also use a cloud based system for managing all of the clients data and documents from quotes, invoices and questionnaires to group shot lists so I always have access to the information wherever I am whilst knowing that it is safely stored for reference by either my clients or myself.
Is aerial photography something that will be adapted into your wedding photography?
I have always embraced technology - I love a gadget but drones are more than just a gadget and a fad. The laws are changing and allowing for more creative commercial photography and videography to take place with the right certification. I have a state-of-the-art drone capable of capturing high definition images safely and I am now offering couples and clients the ability to book a bolt-on package to add to their booked photography package to allow for this type of photography on their big day. I have used the time in lockdown to really hone my drone skills and study the subject, equipment and drone market and I’m really looking forward to offering clients aerial images to enhance their collection of wedding images from January 2021. Without the correct certification this type of commercial activity is illegal and of course dangerous for anyone in the immediate vicinity - piloting a drone is challenging at the best of times, there’s lots to think about and adjusting the aperture, shutter speed and exposure of the onboard camera to capture that perfect moment adds a certain challenge but we love a challenge here at John Scofield Photography!
My adventure with photography started from a very early age however the technology of photography was very different to what we have at our disposal these days. Fast forwarding a little bit I found my self graduating from university with an honours degree in design of which photography played a large part. I was fortunate to be sponsored during the final year of my degree by a local business that offered me a fabulous design position after graduating and I continued with my photography in my own time. I used to second shoot at weddings for a photographer friend from university and even at that point I took to it like a duck to water and really enjoyed every bit of it. I later went on to run the business I was working for as Operations Manager but with each step up the corporate ladder I found myself moving further away from what I loved so I hatched a plan to slowly build a photography business in my own time. Once the technology evolved allowing me to capture high quality digital images that could keep up with the way I liked to shoot I pushed the button and threw myself into shooting more weddings and less product and commercial photography. I enjoyed all types of photography and still do but the thrill of capturing a couples wedding was by far the most enjoyable as is also allowed me to use all of my skills and experience not only in a creative and technical way but also in dealing with people and getting the best out of them. One of my clients once told me that it was like having a best friend, seamstress, hairstylist, wedding coordinator and psychotherapist capture their day! I took that as a compliment as I do whatever I can on the day to assist and the service element of what I provide is very important to me. I only ever get 5 star reviews from my clients and if I ever received anything less I would feel like I have failed them on one of the biggest days of their lives.
How long have you have been doing it for and how many weddings do you shoot every year?
Many photographers are happy with around 30 weddings per year. For the last few years I have been shooting 50-70 per year and with all the postponements from 2020 / 2021 I have found myself with 96 booked in for 2021 and around 70 already booked for 2022. I have spent a lot of time creating a workflow that allows for volume shooting without the service and quality of images suffering. I love the busyness of the ever expanding wedding season. I enjoy all the relationships I have with the local venues that I visit regularly and I enjoy working closely with other wedding professionals that like me throw everything at their business to make it a success. 2015 was a milestone for me as it was then that I decided to slowly drop all the other types photography and really focus on the weddings. Since then I have won several Wedding Photographer Of The Year awards along with a handful of Certificates of Excellence regarding service. That being said I still spend time on portrait, event and commercial photography but it is minimal and mainly because I am so busy with what I truly love to do.
What has been some of your most memorable shoots?
I have had the pleasure of capturing some amazing weddings over the years from ones in tree houses and fields to castles and fine hotels but last year I shot a wedding in the Brighton i360 which was particularly memorable. It is basically a glass viewing pod that travels up to 450 feet in the air allowing for magnificent views across Brighton and the South East. It was a hot August day and I was on my feet for over 12 hours whilst carrying all the equipment I needed for the whole day but I wasn’t thinking about that and I saw it as a great opportunity to capture some very different creative images. I had 3 weddings that weekend and I’m pretty sure I lost several kilos in the heat!
Advise to potential couples as to what they should be looking for in a photographer?
We are entering a time where meeting suppliers face to face is difficult without wedding fairs but I would urge couples to take the time to read reviews and do their research. You need to first of all love the images and style of a potential photographer for your big day but you need to always make sure that you feel that you can tolerate them being around you all day! I know some amazing photographers but many either don't like the pressure of weddings or can’t hold a smile all day! We have technology on our side these days so make the time to have a video call and prepare a list of questions to ask the photographer. They won’t mind and its a great way of getting an understanding of how such a key supplier will perform on one of the biggest days of your life. Don't forget to ask about insurances, redundant equipment in the event of breakdowns and backups and make sure they are confident in controlling guests and situations to make the best of the time. Your photographer is arguably the only supplier that will be with you all day. They are your representative on the day and any failings on their part will impact on how you are perceived by you close friends and family members. They will see the highs and lows throughout the day and if you select the right one they will be like a guardian angel on your shoulder guiding you through the rollercoaster of emotions that is a modern wedding.
How you’ve had to adapt to the climate in terms of lower amount of guests or is it not that different?
I have shot several weddings during the summer and autumn of 2020 and an additional 6 weddings in December 2020 - all with obvious reduced numbers. I saw it as an opportunity to really focus on the couple, focus on their intimacy and their love. A large wedding can sometimes be a little distracting because as a wedding photographer you feel obligated to capture all the things that the couple may miss but if you’ve got 150 guests then there’s a lot of distractions that can sometimes take you away from what you are really there for. Getting the balance right between how and when to capture different things comes with experience and with reduced numbers it actually makes it a little easier. There are obvious key moments that absolutely cannot be missed and putting yourself in the right place and at the right time is something that you cannot learn from a book. You need to be able to anticipate peoples reactions to situations and also make sure you have the right equipment to be ready for that. Personally I shoot with 3 cameras on me. They have 3 different lenses on them and they are set up for different situations and moments. I don’t like changing lenses in situ as it is highly likely that you will miss a moment and it also increases the risk of dropping a lens or dirtying a sensor, all of which can mean some downtime at an important moment. My equipment is well insured but that will not help me on the day if it gets damaged so having a certain level of redundancy is very important. All of my cameras record to 2 SD cards at the same time and once back in the office they are then duplicated on RAID 1 drives and also offsite onto a cloud based backup system. I have backups for backups but you need that at every turn to ensure that images are not lost and equipment does not let you down. From beginning to end the whole day and beyond is as strong as the weakest link. I like sleeping at night so I have invested in many ways of insuring success. I also use a cloud based system for managing all of the clients data and documents from quotes, invoices and questionnaires to group shot lists so I always have access to the information wherever I am whilst knowing that it is safely stored for reference by either my clients or myself.
Is aerial photography something that will be adapted into your wedding photography?
I have always embraced technology - I love a gadget but drones are more than just a gadget and a fad. The laws are changing and allowing for more creative commercial photography and videography to take place with the right certification. I have a state-of-the-art drone capable of capturing high definition images safely and I am now offering couples and clients the ability to book a bolt-on package to add to their booked photography package to allow for this type of photography on their big day. I have used the time in lockdown to really hone my drone skills and study the subject, equipment and drone market and I’m really looking forward to offering clients aerial images to enhance their collection of wedding images from January 2021. Without the correct certification this type of commercial activity is illegal and of course dangerous for anyone in the immediate vicinity - piloting a drone is challenging at the best of times, there’s lots to think about and adjusting the aperture, shutter speed and exposure of the onboard camera to capture that perfect moment adds a certain challenge but we love a challenge here at John Scofield Photography!
