This time around we have the amazing Gareth McGaughey. Gareth is a very experienced wedding and portrait photographer with many awards under his belt. He has a particular flair for documentary style weddings often remaining almost invisible throughout the day. Have a look at his website and instagram here....
https://garethmcgaughey.com/
https://www.instagram.com/garethmcgaughey/
Give him a follow while you are on his socials. So here we go......
To Start... How did you get into photography?
I've always had an interest in photography but after the birth of my daughter 14 years ago I picked up a camera to document her early years. I eventually started photographing families and weddings.
Is there any one particular persons work that has influenced you most?
Not one in particular. I've been heavily influenced by documentary photographers, particularly from the Magnum Photo Agency. Trent Parke, Jill Freedman, Alex Webb, Joseph Koudelka, Alec Soth and W. Eugene Smith to name but a few.
What is the one thing you wish you knew when you started taking photos?
Be more patient. Waiting a few more minutes can turn a good shot into a great one. Compose your shot and wait. Resist the urge to move on.
What gear do you use and why?
Canon R6 and usually a 35mm and 85mm lens for my wedding work and a Fuji x100 for personal. The Canon system is robust, fast and great in low light situations. Perfect for fast moving weddings. The Fuji is small, silent and light with great files. An ideal everyday camera for me.
Have you a favourite lens (or ‘lenses’)?
Canon 35mm f1.4. You can do a lot with a fast 35mm prime.
Is there one piece of camera equipment you wish you hadn’t bought or never use? Why?
I had a Canon 135mm f2 for a while but quickly realised the focal length was just too long for me.
Do you take any essential items other than a camera and lens on a shoot with you?
For weddings, a small video light comes in handy, particularly for winter weddings. Noise cancelling earbuds to protect my ears during the dancing. Electrical tape,energy bars, spare shirt and trousers. Dioralyte for summer weddings.
Have you got any 'favourite' settings?
Always aperture priority mode except if I'm using flash.
What do you use for post-processing and what’s your workflow like?
I back up to a least three different hard drives immediately after a shoot. Then it's onto culling and editing. For software,I use Lightroom always. I keep it simple. One colour preset, one black and white.
As for hardware, I have a 'Shuttle Pro V2' in my left hand with buttons customized to my most used setting adjustments, a 'Logitech Mx Master 3' mouse in my right so I don't have to take my eyes off the screen when I'm editing. Working on muscle memory accompanied by some up tempo music in the background.
Have you a favourite photo and if so why is it your favourite?
I don't have a favorite but every year I make a photo book of images of my family. My favorite images are in those books. It's important to me that these images are committed to print. The idea is that my kids can pick any year in their childhood when they are older and get a real feel for what life was like in that year.
Any final words of advice or wisdom?.
I think a good connection with your subject matter is very important in photography whether that's people, landscapes or wildlife etc. I think it's also a good idea to draw inspiration from other sources outside of photography for your work like art, music or films etc.
