Celebrating 30 years of Ian Spencer Photography

Thirty years ago I turn the key and unlocked the door to my first studio in Driffield, East Yorkshire.

It was a exciting time but I didn't know whether I'd get a single customer. Thankfully I didn't have to wait long before I got my first customer and the diary starting filling up. Since then I've met and photographed thousands or people and photographed hundreds of weddings. Many of those customers have come back and I've had the pleasure of seeing their families growing up and capturing their journey in photographs. It's extra special when the babies or children that I've photographed come back to me to photograph their weddings and children.

I love been a portrait and wedding photographer, to be honest I can't imagine doing anything else. Of course thirty years ago was only the start of Ian Spencer Photography's journey, My journey started some forty one years when I discovered photography at art college, from that point on there was nothing else that I was going to do. I loved the human form and found myself always drawing portraits so it wasn't much of a jump to start using the camera to capture people, using light rather than a pencil or paint brush. I remember the moment when you developed a film not knowing if the images you'd taken had come out and relief when they had. When printing a photograph there's nothing like the feeling when you see a photograph appear in the developer it was like magic. Sadly those days for most have gone. Now it's all digital, which ,don't get me wrong, is amazing. The quality and ability to manipulate images is fantastic.....but I can't help feel that the art of photography has lost something. we all take too many images, because we can, and the art of seeing a moment, an expression, predicting a photo before it happens isn't important anymore, you can just keep shooting until you get it. I used to shoot 24 images on a portrait and 120 images on a wedding and get enough to fill a wedding album, I wonder how many current photographers could do that now, including myself. I guess the old photography ways ,using negatives, is now for artist and not photographers so maybe is still is an art form.

Getting away from the tech side of photography and back to what really matters the people, the customers. I've mostly been a family photographer, I especially love to photograph babies, toddlers and children. I love the way babies and children are natural, which means capturing some of their expressions can be priceless. Of course they can also be the most challenging. You know what they say, never work with children and animals, and I work with both. You never know what you might get with babies and children which to me makes it even better when you capture a great image. I love it when the parents come back and are amazed that I got anything at all, I'm not so surprised as I have the advantage of looking through the camera and pressing the button so I know when I've got a good image.

I guess I should stop waffling as I may go on for the next thirty years. The last thirty years has been wonderful, I feel blessed to have a hobby for a job. To have a job meeting so many wonderful and interesting people and to share so many memories with all my customers, your special days become my special days. Thank you all for your custom, here's to the future and all those I'll meet again or have yet to meet.