It’s all about timing when photographing weddings. You can have the most amazing scenery and achieve a perfect composition, but if nothing happens the resulting photograph is going to be a little flat. I’m a reportage wedding photographer but first and foremost I am a people photographer. People are what make a wedding day for me and so I use people in nearly all my pictures in some way or another.

Quite often I will find myself playing the waiting game. I watch groups of guests, trying to predict when something interesting might happen. While this is going on my subconscious brain is already looking at the direction and quality of light, and my eye is wandering around looking for the best way to frame the shot. Sometimes I get lucky and things fall into place. Click. I have my shot. Sometimes it takes a little longer. Sometimes the perfect moment never presents itself and the scene I’m watching morphs into something else. That’s just the way it goes. I am there to capture what happens, not force a situation to create a great shot.

This picture came about following a wedding ceremony at St Marylebone Parish Church in London. With rain pouring down, the guests waited patiently under shelter for their transport to the reception. The best man was on look out and when I saw his head peek out moments before this I got into position and waited. Then as if by magic, the London Routemaster bus pulled up, perfectly framed by the tree, just as the best man peeked his head around to pillar. Click. I had my shot.

I really like the colours in this picture and the diagonals of the stairs draw your eye from the best man to the bus. I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.