2019 | South East Wedding Photographer Of The Year

South East Wedding Photographer Of The Year | Jackson & Co Photography

“Never be cool. Never try to be cool. Never worry about what the cool people think. Head for the warm people. Life is warmth. You’ll be cool when you’re dead.” – Matt Haig

(***UPDATE*** After we’d written all this we ultimately were awarded Wedding Photographer Of The Year – National Highly Commended at The Wedding Industry Awards 2020!!! Eeeek!)

Last week, Hannah and I won South East Wedding Photographer Of The Year at the Wedding Industry Awards, which knocked us off our feet. We’ve also recently won awards with the Masters Of Wedding Photography which ranks us in the Top 10 UK Wedding Photographers for three years in a row now 2019, 2018 & 2017. It’s been a humbling few days.

All together that’s capped a year with seemingly no end of high points, the biggest of all being Jasper arriving to join George in all the mayhem in our house in March. It’s been a year like no other and I feel like I need to write this and send it off into the ether just so that I can stop, unplug and catch my breath for this last few weeks of December and really throw myself into sampling as many Mince Pies as I can before they disappear for another year.

We’re so lucky to find balance, this job can be incredibly all consuming and I see countless other photographers online talking about how much it weighs on them and I count myself and Hannah very lucky to have found a way that right now works for us all and means we can really relax and enjoy it every time we head out with the cameras. We’ve been a part of some of the best weddings we’ve ever experienced this year, we’ve become wholly comfortable with how we shoot, what we enjoy shooting and yet we’re constantly nudging ourselves forward to keep improving, not particularly for perfection, but more for constant progression.

We know that we love colour, we love emotion, and we’re more than ok that we operate purely within the spectrum of “Happy” and that our work probably doesn’t fit into any particularly stylised or specially edited niche, last year we felt like we’d really found our groove, and this year, well we really got into it. We’re not bothered about being cool or following the latest trend. We just love what we love and that’s enough.

We photograph ordinary people, on extraordinary days who are happy to be happy and in a nutshell, that’s where we’re at our absolute best. Picking up the South East Wedding Photographer Of The Year Award last week for Hannah and I was just a lovely nod to the fact that we’re doing what we love, in a way that we love and that it’s completely ok not to be anything other than that. It gives us enormous confidence to be ourselves and not to second guess what we think “the industry” is looking for, and just focus on our own enjoyment and making our clients happy.

Away from weddings 2019 was full of good stuff. Editing took over for a big part of the summer and I sat behind my desk giving my headphones a workout. Aside from George playing Shawn Mendes and the Frozen Soundtrack on a continuous loop from Jan-Dec (which I secretly don’t put up that much of a fight over) I got hooked on Michael Kiwanuka, revisited old Tom Petty and Fleetwood Mac albums, finally cracked Bob Dylan and spent hours pouring over his endless back catalogue, I listened to Lianne La Havas and The Marcus King Band at a volume that can best be described as punchy.

Around the sleepless nights with Jasper and a lot of building work on the house we had our most memorable holiday ever to Barmouth in Wales with about 25 of our friends which was as mad and chaotic as it sounds. George ran wild on the beach, Jasper got passed around for cuddles with everyone and anyone that wanted him and Hannah and I took a night or two each to go for a drink in the pub and catch up with friends we really don’t get to see all that much over the summer. In fact, I’ve taken so many family pictures that I love in 2019 that I’ll put together a separate blog post just for them soon.

Podcasts are my (healthy) addiction and really pinch my focus in when it comes to the long hours I spend editing, Films To Be Buried With, HeavyWeight, Radiolab and The Adam Buxton Podcast all got lots of airtime this summer. I didn’t really get to read too much but I did find all of the Harry Potter books on Audible and reawakened my complete fanboy, unashamed nerd for all things Hogwarts. I’d love to tell you what I watched on Netflix but I feel like I’ve fallen asleep by 9pm every night so aside from saying that Shaun The Sheep is the GREATEST childrens TV show of all time I’ve nothing much to recommend for you other than reruns of The US Office and Frasier!

I managed to haul my frame around a couple of 10Km and one 10mile obstacle course races this year with a brilliant group of friends which was a massive achievement for someone like me who used to be pretty unfit and now goes a bit crackers if I can’t play touch rugby or get to the gym a few times each week. It keeps me fit and full of beans ready to shoot as many weddings as I can fit into our diary!

As ever, the biggest thank you of all goes to absolutely every single one of our clients this year. Your warmth, your smiles and open hearts have blown us away, thank you for letting us be a part of your day, we’re forever grateful. We’ve still got a small handful of spaces available for bookings next year so if you, or any of your friends are looking for a wedding photographer then we’d love to hear from them!

So that’s it, 2019, done and dusted, South East Wedding Photographer Of The Year, wowzers, that still sounds crazy to me! Who knows what 2020 will bring but it’s got a high bar to meet.

Michael

South East Wedding Photographer Of The Year  |  Jackson & Co Photography

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