Not every shoot I do is a wedding. This one was a car: a Delahaye 135S, photographed at The Peninsula London for RM Sotheby’s before it went to auction there in the autumn. It already had a bit of a past, having appeared in a Johnnie Walker advert with Jude Law.
The brief
RM Sotheby’s didn’t want pictures of a car parked outside a hotel. They wanted the car in a life: arriving somewhere, being looked at, being admired. So I brought in two models and we made small scenes around it. A couple arriving for a night out. Someone leaning in to look at the detail. A conversation beside the car that could have been at any party in Mayfair.
It’s the same thing I do at a wedding, really. Find the light, find one good background, give people something to do other than stand there, and let it look like it’s happening rather than being staged.
The Peninsula
The hotel was a good choice for it. The Peninsula has its own fleet of green cars and staff who are properly into them, and the entrance courtyard gives you room to work without much to distract from the car.
It’s also where these pictures earn a place on a wedding photographer’s website. I haven’t photographed a wedding at The Peninsula yet, but this shoot means I know the building and the courtyard. If you’re thinking of getting married there, my Peninsula London page has everything I know about the spaces.
These days I photograph weddings only, but this is the kind of editorial work that shapes how I photograph them. More on that on my editorial wedding photography page.
Barrie
