Back to Basics – Louise Sumner ASWPP

Building on her own experience of setting up a wedding photography business, Louise Sumner is aiming to share her knowledge and advice with delegates at her seminar at the 2012 Convention

Back to Basics – Louise Sumner ASWPP image 1

The Convention is a great place for picking up first hand advice and tips and actually discovering how other people have perhaps tackled the same problems that you might have faced yourself. It’s encouraging sometimes to find out that you’re doing things right or to get a fresh insight about things that have proved more challenging, while for those who are just entering the profession it can be invaluable to hear about someone else’s journey and to hear how they might have tackled the challenges they encountered.

All the more reason why Louise Sumner’s workshop at the 2012 Convention, which is going to focus on the basics of wedding photography, will be sure the draw a full house. “Many people want to know what the solid foundations of wedding photography actually are,” says Louise, “and my seminar will be a great place to start. No one will need to feel uncomfortable and there will be no question too small that I won’t be able to help. After all, everyone has to start somewhere.

“The things I will be looking to cover will be how to structure a wedding,

posing, developing a good rapport with your client and many more tips that are designed to help delegates negotiate the quagmire of wedding photography.”

It’s appropriate that Louise is now in a position where she can lend a helping hand to other photographers who might be looking to break into the business because she, more than most, has a good understanding of what it’s like to initially view photography as a hobby and then face the challenge of turning that interest into a full-time career.

Back to Basics – Louise Sumner ASWPP image 2

“I first discovered photography when I was very young,” she says, “when my dad got me a Kodak 127 camera. I loved taking images and then joined a school photography club where, at 12, I started developing my own film and learning how to print. The darkroom was a place of wonder for me and I will never forget the first time I saw an image emerging from the developing tray…it was pure magic!

“At the age of 16 my brother, who was a graphic artist, gave me my first SLR, a bulky Russian Zenith camera. This gave me the opportunity to explore image making a little further. Even before Photoshop was around I would cut out images of models from magazines and place them on objects like plant pots and shoot them to make it look like they were miniature figures in a big world. At this time I would also dress my friends up in funky outfits and create make-up and hairstyles for them. I suppose you could say this was my first venture into fashion photography, and I loved it.”

At 18 Louise was accepted to what was Trent Polytechnic where she did a BA (Hons) in Photography. During this time she won a fashion photography competition hosted by Paul Smith, the British menswear designer, and Mont Blanc Pens, and her prize was a trip to New York and an exhibition at the ICA in London, incredibly exiting for a young photographer just finding their way.

Following her graduation Louise went to work Nottingham for a company who produced visuals for developers and planners, and following her stint there she moved to Chicago, where she had enormous fun creating images for an animation company.

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