Andy Dufton

I'm a huge car and motorsport enthusiast, who also loves travel, culture and basketball (Chicago Bulls fan). Photography is a passion and I consider it an honour to be asked to do what I'm passionate about, while documenting one of the biggest days of two peoples lives.

My style is a mix between documentary and posed, which I find works well to tell the story of your wedding day. I aim to capture natural moments while providing posed family shots and striking bride-groom portraits.

In general I'm quite a calm and relaxed person, with a playful sense of humour, which I've found helps to keep people entertained while I'm setting up a shot.

How I work, and what a day with me looks like

Most of my work is weddings, family sessions and commercial photography in and around York and the wider North Yorkshire area. Whatever the job, the approach is much the same. I turn up early, work out where the light is, have a proper chat with the people I am photographing, then mostly get out of the way and photograph what actually happens.

For a wedding, that usually means starting with the morning preparations, covering the ceremony quietly from the back and sides, then following the day through drinks, speeches and the first dance. Group photographs are part of it, because families want them, but I keep the list short and the process quick so you are not stood in a line for an hour while your guests drink without you. Couple portraits take twenty minutes or so, usually in two short bursts rather than one long one.

Family sessions are more relaxed again. We walk, the children run about, and I photograph them being themselves rather than asking anyone to say cheese. Commercial work is planned more tightly around a brief, a shot list and the way the images will be used, whether that is a website, a brochure or social media.

Before any booking we will talk properly, by phone, email or over a coffee, so you know exactly who is turning up and what you are getting. I know York well, from the city centre streets to the country venues outside it, which means less time hunting for backgrounds on the day and more time photographing you and the people you care about.