Rob Dunlop – the wedding videographer

Rob Dunlop the wedding videographer

How do I begin to describe the beautiful work of Rob Dunlop, creative director at Pretty in White? Breathtaking, beautiful and captivating, what Rob and his team creates is far more than your average wedding video. Telling a story, Rob describes his films as ‘no gimmicks, no special effects and no cheese.’  Starting out as a wedding photographer, in 2010 Rob decided to branch out into the growing videography market and hasn’t looked back. More than happy to sit now and chat about the highs and lows of working in such a competitive industry, Rob quickly became one of my most inspiring interviewees to date. If you long to break into the wedding industry, work as a photographer or just love a good love story, this is an expert with advice worth listening to.

First things first, where did your interest in photography come from?

I went to art school in my early twenties and did four years training as an artist and illustrator. What I learnt didn’t directly feed into my career, but helped tremendously when I picked up my camera again ten years later. The composition and lighting I focused on when becoming an artist really helped me find my eye as a photographer. The impetus behind me getting my first DSLR was my project, a photography book called ‘Cosplay fever’, where I went to conventions and took photos of people dressed up as their favourite cartoon characters. Obviously my first attempts were not that hot, but after about a year or two of getting into that, I did more training online and offline, upgraded my equipment and found myself getting more fascinated by the genre of photography. I guess what I’m saying is what really helped me learn quickly was having that initial project to spend a lot of time on.

So how did you get into wedding photography, which is such a massively competitive industry?

I guess having taken several thousand portraits of people, I realised that taking pictures of living things and people particularly was something I really enjoyed. Obviously at a wedding it’s not a huge difference in that people are looking great, they’re having a really good time and are happy to be photographed. I started photographing for someone else, but I wasn’t completely inexperienced at that point, I think it you’re going to go into weddings you have to be confident using a camera. I’d also recommend working for someone else and not booking your own weddings initially, we call it being a second shooter.

How is a second shooters job different?

So you have a main photographer and the second shooter, who is taking photographs from angles the main photographer can’t get to. An obvious example is the morning of wedding, where it might not be logistically possible for the main photographer to take pictures of the groom getting ready, because he will be with the bride. So that’s when a second shooter would be invaluable. I worked as a secondary shooter for a good year before I took on my own job and started marketing myself as a photographer. By then I had not only experience of the camera, but of weddings and how they work. They’re not generally that different from each other; you have a pattern, you get used to knowing when the first kiss is going to happen and where to stand for the confetti shot. So my advice would be to find a good first primary shooter and learn a lot from them.

Great advice, let’s talk about your videos, they really are so beautiful – where did the inspiration for these come from?

I was working exclusively as a wedding photographer doing my own jobs for about a year before I started getting into video. The wedding photography market is a lot more competitive than the videography market, which is a much smaller niche. It’s easier to stand out I guess as there are so many good and confident photographers out there, but I would say videography is less mature as an industry. You might not have a huge amount of experience, but if you have a modern sense of what kind of music and editing to use, you might find it easier to get work in the world of video.

What are the main differences between the two mediums?

In terms of differences, as a photographer there is much more pressure on the day –being in charge of group shots and stripping down the venue so you know where to get the best shot in the best light. You are much more a part of the day and almost always meet the client before the wedding because personality is so important. With videos, you’re more fly on the wall – we try to have more of guest perspective without really being noticed.

Do you need more people when shooting a video?

With videography it works better if you are mixing close ups with wider shots and medium shots from different angles. For example, when the couple are doing their vows, it’s nice to have a shot from the isle and then cut that with a shot looking over the grooms shoulder at the bride’s face. It’s really difficult to get those two perfectly composed shots as a one man band. You end up leaving tripods around which is a bit of health and safety issue, maybe you miss the focus, maybe suddenly the sun comes out and on one of the cameras all of the footage is really over exposed. It’s much safer and you get more consistently good footage if you have two people on the team.

What is the most challenging part?

In terms of producing good footage, the most challenging part is finding someone who shares your vision, who understands your equipment and who isn’t going to leave you and set up on their own!

Weddings are such a live event, what do you do when things go wrong, or when you get back and don’t have the right footage?

Well we generally product short form films now in terms of the video, which gives us a lot of latitude in terms of what we include in the edit. Not everything always goes 100% to plan, sometimes the bride and groom surprise us, sometimes we are not given the information we need, sometimes the photographer will jump into our shot at the crucial moment, but hopefully we’ve got so much other amazing footage it doesn’t matter. It’s important to cover in your contract that it’s a live event, so you can’t do everything. Like the confetti shot – there’s not a lot of scope to get extra angles as everyone is crowding in and it happens so quickly. But things like the ceremony and the speeches, you need to give yourself time to set up extra angles, and you have to make sure the entire speech is captured, as you don’t know what’s important till afterwards.

My last question then, even though you’ve already given so much great advice, would be what are your top tips for someone hoping to follow in your footsteps?

Well people say this a lot, but it is very important – learn your craft to a level where you are confident. I would suggest having a project that requires you to work at it hard for a number of hours, for a number of days – not just going for a walk and taking photos of plants. You want something that is going to take over your life for a period of time and that will give you passion.

The other thing I would say is equally as important is business skills. The people that make a really good living as photographers are the people who are great at business.

If Rob has left you wanting to learn more about wedding photography, why not take a look at the courses listed on our site and get ready to fall in love?