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The fab Dominique Shaw of York Place Studios is our guest for episode 26 of the Podcast! With a whopping 13 TiR Awards under her belt – including 6 Story Awards – Dom has been on our Top Photographers of the Year list for the past two years in a row and, alongside her brother Liam, forms the inimitable duo that is York Place Studios.

As well as this Podcast episode today, we’ll be having a Facebook Live with Dom within the next week or so, where you’ll be able to ask her anything about what you’ve heard her say in the episode today, or just any questions at all. Keep an eye out on our social media channels for the exact time and date.
Stick with us today as Dom shares all about:

how she’s been coping with the pandemic,
the very beginnings of her business and buying the studio,
what it’s like working with her brother (Liam Shaw),
the first wedding she shot at just 16 years old
studying photography,
how she built her style; the unique style of York Place Studios,
her love of Fujifilm,
what makes her happy,
the roles they have in their business and how well they get on with each other,
tips for getting into street photography and how the affect that had on their style,
the videography arm of York Place Studios and working with videographers in general,
her favourite lens,
her top tips for layering,
behind the scenes of one of her specific Reportage Awards,
the importance of capturing the small moments,
tips on shooting without flash,
her advice on Story Awards,
and much more…

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Honoured to welcome the fab Steve Gerrard on to the Podcast for episode 25! As well as being a brilliant wedding photographer, Steve is also massively known as a music lover, having been a successful DJ himself, and having also photographed hundreds of bands all over the world. That’s why, for this episode, we’ve had a special ‘theme’ – a totally original (!) theme which we’ve called ‘Marooned Mp3s’. Steve had to think of just eight songs that he would choose to have with him if he found himself marooned somewhere, such as a desert island…
So, as well as all the usual chat about photography and life, you can listen to all of Steve’s music choices within this post, as we have embedded YouTube videos of all of his chosen tracks. You can also hear all his tracks (apart from one) on this special Spotify playlist, made just for this episode.
Stick with us today as Steve shares all about:

living with a famous name,
why he doesn’t like sleep,
his past life as a DJ touring the world, and how he got into weddings,
the time he went record shopping with Guns n’ Roses,
a surprising fact about him that most people would be surprised to know,
the relocation of his entire business and life from England to Canada,
some SEO nuggets of advice,
how the wedding industry differs between England and Canada,
what’s been the most effective in terms of marketing,
how his music photography influenced the way he shoots weddings,
one of his quite famous/infamous images (the traffic cones portrait),
how a specific song massively impacted his life,
some film recommendations for lockdown,
his ‘driving to a wedding’ song of choice,
his podcasts of choice,
outsourcing,
and much more…

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So excited to be releasing an extra special episode of the This is Reportage Podcast today! Instead of featuring a single guest, we have an incredible 47…! That’s right; we’re honoured to be featuring 47 of our members – tune in to hear wedding photographers from all over the world talk about how they’re dealing with the current pandemic, from advice on handling postponements, to suggestions on what to watch on Netflix; business tips to motivational mantras, and really everything in between. It’s so great to hear their voices and listen to their thoughts; we hope this wide variety of opinions helps and inspires you.

Thanks to the following This is Reportage members for contributing: Adam Johnson, Sven Soetens, Lauren McGee, Rob Rickman, Simon Biffen, Martin Hecht, Toni Darcy, Steve Wheller, Niklesh Malkani, Andrew Billington, Olly Knight, Gaelle Le Berre, Adam Lowndes, Julien Laurent-Georges, Laurentiu Nica, Melissa Ouwehand, Sasha Lee, Rossi Mechanezidis, Daphne Matthys, Amy Barton, Bogdan Chircan, Ally Stuart, Anna Wood, Linda Bouritius, Damion Mower, Peter Geluk, Marek Troszczynski, John Nelson, Ash Davenport, Michael Freas, Sophie Callewaert, Phil Salisbury, Lewis Fackrell, Kim Burrows, Jill Streefland, Sonal Dalmia, Citlalli Rico, Matt Badenoch, Carrie Davenport, Alexa Poppe, Yvonne Vaughan, Samo Rovan, Olivier Bolte, Joao Lourenco, Fille Roelants & Jay Doherty.

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When checking our Podcast stats recently, we were amazed to see that we’ve had over 15,000 plays – having only launched five months ago, we were really blown away by this!

To celebrate, we thought we’d have a contest based around our Podcast, because we really think the photographers we’ve interviewed deserve to be listened to by as many people as possible; the knowledge and tips they share, their backstories and life lessons, it’s all so fascinating (and, as a recent review kindly said, “very entertaining as well”).

So, we’re going to give away 5 This is Reportage memberships – with annual membership costing £100, that’s a total prize pool of £500 in value, as we’re giving away 5! The contest is open to everyone; new members and existing members (if an existing member wins, we’ll add a year on to their subscription).

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Honoured to have the fantastic David Scholes with us for episode 23! David was joint-ninth in our top photographers of last year; second in the UK overall, with 8 Reportage Awards and 2 Story Awards in 2019 (and more since). Not only is he a great photographer, but he’s also a lovely guy who’s a real pleasure to talk to. Stick with us today as David shares all about:

how his uncle, grandfather and great-grandfather were all wedding photographers,
his past life as a DJ,
his degree in photography and how he got into weddings,
his very first wedding and early approach,
what he gets from being a TiR member,
his tips/advice about Story Awards,
things he would have done differently (both in terms of life and photography),
editing tips and advice,
some of the very funny things that have happened to him at weddings,
the story behind one of his specific Reportage Awards,
how he picks images to enter,
Four Weddings and a Funeral and Bill Murray,
what he’s afraid of,
why he doesn’t want to be a wedding DJ,
some of his most memorable images,
what he’s looking forward to doing after lockdown,
what makes a good wedding photographer,
and much more…

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