Richard & Claire

Many times I had driven past Reculver Roman towers in Kent, on the way to weddings in Margate, and had often thought what a wonderful place this would be for a wedding.

The ruins of an ancient Roman fort, sitting on the Thames estuary, spectacular views of the Kent coast, into the English channel. I had scouted the location a couple of times before and thought if I ever got the chance, then that would be the place to get good wedding shots.

Richard and Claire, approached me to do their wedding at Salmestone Grange, Margate, as the couple lived in Herne bay, thought it would be a good meeting point to get some pre-wedding bridal shots. Meeting up on a very cold late afternoon in January 2015.

Maybe later in the year would have been better, when the weather was warmer, but with their wedding in April, time was running out to get pre-wedding shots completed.

Reculver Roman Towers themselves are superb, the weather wasn’t, extremely cold with a biting wind.

Suffice to say we didn’t stay very long, managed to get a bag of excellent shots.

As it was late in the afternoon and although the sun was shining, the ambient light within the ruins was very poor. Lighting Richard and Claire were simple enough, a single Nikon SB910, softened with a large Rogue flash bender and diffuser, pocket wizards, metering from a Sekonic L-478 flash meter, metering off the flash exposure.

At least within the inside of the ruins, we were protected from the elements. And although would have liked to have got some shots of the couple at the front of the Ruins as the sun was going down, was just too cold.

Richard and Claire, Reculver Roman Towers, pre-wedding shoot.