Lee Dann Photography – Oxfordshire Wedding Photographer

Yesterday was the first anniversary of Sophie at Simon’s wedding at Worton Hall (near Cassington, Oxfordshire; a venue I’m the recommended wedding magician for), and recently Lee Dann forwarded on some great photos of me performing magic at their wedding.

Lee is a great wedding photographer based in Oxfordshire. Lee’s style is primarily “documentary”, which means he tries to capture the day as it unfolds. Naturally, though there will be some ‘stage’ photographs such as the group shot, his aim to get the more natural look of of people interacting.

Sometimes a photo of a genuine smile or the twinkle in someone’s eye is so powerful and says so much. It’s true that a picture can say a thousand words and tell its own story, and his style does just that!

From my point of view as a magician performing at a wedding the style of photography isn’t actually that important to how the guests perceive the entertainment. However, it’s after wedding when the bride and groom look at the photographs the benefit of Lee’s style really comes through. Let me explain…

Photography at the Wedding Reception

Often when I’m performing at a wedding it will be during the afternoon drinks reception. Typically most photographers will like to gather everyone for the group shot quite soon, this means that guests haven’t started to wander off to get a drink, go to the toilet, get things out the car, or see if they can check into their hotel room. It also means they are still looking smart and haven’t started to remove jackets, ties, hats and shoes. But once the group shot has been taken there will be some family and friend shots, before the bride and groom are whisked away for more photos.

I will start often start mingling a little before the group shot (if there’s time!) by some close-up magic for small groups whilst everyone is getting gathered together but before they are formally assembled, then a brief pause whilst the shot is taken, then I continue as people start to break away. One of the downsides of this is the bride and groom don’t have too much of an opportunity to see much magic themselves during this period.

Fortunately the photo sessions won’t last all the reception so there is (hopefully!) time for me to show them a quick trick or two – as happened with Sophie and Simon. (Actually in their case Lee wanted them to relax a little first so I managed to perform some magic for them before they went off for more photos. And it’s the “documentary” still that Lee has that works so well with close-up magic and mind-reading. (I also recommend that I don’t finish once the drinks reception ends, but continue a little more at the start of the wedding breakfast. This ensures that I can perform some special tricks for the top table, as well as keep guests entertained whilst they are waiting to be served.)

Over the years I’ve had photographers and videographers wanting to stage the photographs of people watching magic. They’ll even tell people to react to the magic! Lee’s style means that he can capture the genuine reactions and expressions people have as they experience a brain-melting miracle happen in their very own hands – and that is a reaction that even the best actors can not emulate.

Documentary Style Photography

In fact, I often say that the best photographs of spectators watching close-up magic are the ones when I don’t even realise that the photographer is taking the photos. By this I mean that the photographer is standing behind me, pretty much looking over my shoulder. This gives the photograph context, as then you can see there is a magician performing something, and the wedding guests are watching and reacting to it.

Also, though the camera is now facing the spectators they are also not so aware of it because they are focused on watching the entertainment – not the photographer. This means they feel less self-conscious, and their reaction is genuine.

It’s also nice to get some “action” shots, where I will be doing something which isn’t getting so much of a reaction at the moment the shutter clicks. This may be something like trying to read the thoughts of a guests – when just seeing the natural body language of me and the wedding guests conveys what is happening to the viewer.

To be perfectly honest the trick I’m doing or the props I’m using are not important when taking a single photograph – it’s how the guests are reacting to it is the important factor. (Something that Lee understands!) I’ve had photographers and videographers focus on my hands, but all the bride and groom will have a picture of is my hands turning a card over – and miss shocked look on the faces of a dozen of their guests as they scream and shout in amazement. It really is a missed opportunity that can not be repeated – and shockingly some photographers are so focussed on looking through their camera they don’t even realise what they missed!

Check out Lee Dann, Wedding Photographer!

So all this means that a month, a year or even a decade later; when the bride and groom are looking through their wedding photographs they’ll still see how much fun their guests had – even if they weren’t there at the time to witness it themselves. Have a look at the photos that Lee took of me in action to see for yourself.

Check out Lee’s website at: www.leedannphotography.co.uk.

He’s also on Facebook and Instagram.