My oddball little life outside Glasgow wedding photography
Hi, I’m Fletch. Nerd alert, rarely curt, Easy Going, extroverted introvert (ambivert).
Let’s start by addressing the elephant in the room. Because the elephant is debating fan theories in a Stormtrooper costume, and you’re bound to spot him eventually. So here goes, quick like a plaster. I’m a nerd.
I game like a demon, I binge anime into the early hours, and I love D&D!! But I’m not a loner by any means. My cardboard cutouts of Yoda and Chewbacca keep me company.
I get most of my exercise playing airsoft, which is like paintball with BB guns. I’m not a fan of long walks or hill climbing. But give me a chance to relive my childhood and release my inner toy-soldier and I’m like a bat outta hell! I love chilling with pals, taking the piss and belly-laughing our way through a few pints. And oh how I love a good dad joke! The more cringey and embarrassing, the better. I see more eyes roll than a pirate optician.
But beneath the propensity for puns, the delight for D&D and the obsession for airsoft, I’m really just a hopeless romantic and a massive softie. The love-filled, emotional parts of a wedding day are always my favourite to capture. Personally written vows are my emotional kryptonite, and it’s not unusual for me to well up behind the camera (“they’re soulmates!”, sobs the photographer through his Chewbacca mask).
Wolverine. Iron Man. Fletch. This is my origin story.
And I’m going to make it as romantic and cinematic as possible (just like your wedding photos!)
A wee young Scottish boy skips along a woodland path. “Come along, Alan”, calls his father from up ahead, and the boy breaks into a run. When he catches up, he finds his father playing with a camera he’d nicked from Oktoberfest.
Birdsong cascades from the canopy above, sunlight splits the clouds and Alan sees his future laid out before him like a blanket of dreams.
Cut scene. “Twenty years later…”
Alan sits at a desk playing minesweeper. He works for a multinational tech company and the world is beige. But when he’s not a downtrodden corporate stooge, Alan brings colour to the world with his DSLR. You could almost call it a secret identity? Although admittedly more Banana Man than Batman.
But after years of doing corporate photography, gig work and charity work, Alan yearns for something more. He wants to capture moments of genuine connection, smiles, laughter and love. And somehow corporate headshots just aren’t quite doing it for him. And like a bolt of lightning from the gods, wedding photography takes hold of his soul.
Youtube becomes his Kamar-Taj (think training grounds for Dr Strange). He gorges his mind on courses and styled shoots, hones his skills and becomes the wedding photography superhero we all know and love.
Roll credits.
Oh, I’m Alan by the way. From the story. But you can call me Fletch!