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Master Wedding Photographer

Jonathon Dow

LMPA DipPP

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Established 1997

More than just a photographer.

I began my career as a freelance photographer in 1997, officially launching Keylight Photography in 2001. After passing my photographic diploma with merit, I worked as a consultant across premiere outlets in the Midlands, teaching photography alongside documenting weddings.

In 2009, I took Keylight full-time and achieved my Master Photographers Association qualifications (LMPA DipPP). The MPA offers peace of mind to my clients—assurance that they are booking an accredited professional who has dedicated decades to the craft.

Today, Keylight stands proud as a high-quality studio, covering over 100 weddings a year. I am a true wedding specialist. My focus is entirely on your comfort, the flow of your day, and capturing the beautiful, unscripted reality of your celebration.

 

Jon
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Weddings Captured
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Days of Footage
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Thousand Photos Taken
FAQs

Some recent Questions Customers have asked.

Have a question that isn't covered here? We love discussing the finer details of your day.

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info@keylightphotography.co.uk 01827 875 643

I am fully insured with Photoshield, via the Master Photographers Association. This not only covers the usual Public Liability aspects, such as if someone trips over my camera bag, or I damage someone’s property etc., but covers in the highly unlikely event that I were not to be able to attend (this has never happened in over 3000 Weddings since 1997), and if anything happens to the cameras, the memory cards or for any other reason should there be a problem with the photos. With every single photo shoot, weddings, portraiture, commercial etc., I treat them with 100% importance and commitment. Both my professional reputation and the happiness of my customers are at stake all the time.

I have hundreds of references both on and off line to view.  The best place to see them is on the Keylight Facebook Page (Reviews).  And I ask and encourage my customers to leave a review.  I often receive Thank You cards and letters too, which is just lovely.  Having covered over 3000 Weddings, and hundreds of portraiture shoots, you can imagine the number of reviews, comments and references I have. These are also dotted about on the photo gallery comments.

Yes I can. These can be seen on the Keylight Facebook page too. It is very important for me to show full sets of photos from hundreds of Weddings, because many photographers are known to pick a small handful of photos from each Wedding and try to convince the customer that they represent the whole day.

The short answer is no.  All of my Wedding services are identical in that all packages offer you the works.  Full-day coverage from at least 2 hours before the Ceremony to capture preparations, right through to and including your First Dance(s) and things like fireworks / sparklers if you have them.  And preview galleries are visible on the Keylight Facebook Page (Galleries).  For customer discretion, if you wish or prefer not to have anything published online, I will keep everything offline and private on request when making your booking.

It would be lovely if you can, or the venue offers something basic for the photographer. But it is not a requirement, especially where it costs the customer an extra head-count on the meal arrangements.

Only for longer distance photo shoots and Weddings. As I cover the whole of the UK, and am based in the West Midlands (just off Junction 10 of the M42), everywhere is in good range. Generally, places in the West Midlands do not require travel expenses. For areas further afield, I calculate only the basic fuel cover and keep this to a minimum. Also, for longer distances if I need to stay over at a hotel for the night, I find the cheapest B&B in the area and add it on as a basic expense, or the customer can find a room if they are making discounted group-bookings at their venue.

Yes it is. I do not employ other photographers, as I do not trust others with the responsibility. All work is carried out by me, from Consultations, Photography, Editing, Administration and all the back-stage business things too. Occasionally, a Second-Shooter can be requested at extra cost, but is certainly not essential.

I can cover any style my customers ask for. Typically, most prefer for around 80-90% of the day to be covered in a Reportage / Photojournalism / fly-on-the-wall style, telling the story of the day as it unfolds and without the usual ‘pose and smile’ drawbacks. The remaining 10-20% can be posed group shots and other specific shots, such as Bride & Groom posed inside and outside the venues. Remember, there are other generations of friends and family at your Wedding, and they often like the good old mantelpiece group shot. So you get to gift the images to them.

I provide all of my customers with Copyright Ownership, be it Weddings, Portraiture, Videography (personal and commercial), whatever. All supplied media is easy to duplicate, burn extra DVDs, USBs, email files for printing and sharing. I reserve the ability to demonstrate the work in future portfolios, on and off line. But remember what I said in question 3? If you prefer to have everything kept private, then that is fine and agreed to. I have been doing this job for 27 years, so I don’t need to build demo portfolios all the time.

Turnaround time is around 3 months for the Wedding packages and a preview photo set can be made in 1-2 weeks of the Wedding day so you can have something to look at in the meantime.

No. I oppose photographers who do what I call “Spray & Pray” photography. Such is the nature of digital cameras that you can simply fire off thousands of shots without having to ration out the memory (not like the old film days!) and many photographers – particularly for Weddings – over-shoot the day with the intention of cherry-picking the best shots and erasing the others. I shoot consistently properly over the whole day and typically, for a 1000 photos, there are usually only 20-30 duds or tester shots. And wherever there is a dud shot (someone half-blinked and it looked a bit weird) the proper version is taken there and then.

For a typical Wedding these days, I shoot an unlimited amount which usually ends up around 1000-1500 photos. But remember, if your Wedding is really small; don’t worry if you only get a few hundred pictures, because there’s no point having ten of the same thing. Likewise, if your Wedding is big, I’d better bring plenty of batteries and memory! My record is over 2500 images given to one Wedding couple. And for Portraiture sessions, you’ll get plenty. It’s hard to put a figure on portraiture, because it can vary from really small sittings giving 50 or so photos, to complex family sessions giving several hundred.

For Weddings, I only require a £300 deposit to secure the date. And whatever the balance is, this can be paid around 2-3 weeks before the big day. For portraiture sessions, these can be paid for on the day. Payments can be made in cash, cheque to Keylight Photography or via Bank Transfer. It seems better these days to avoid having the expense of a Card Scanner/Reader, because the costs in running one seem pointless when most customers do telephone and internet banking. BACS Transfers are free and instant and give a digital receipt too.

Yes I can. Having covered over 3000 Weddings of all sizes, at all times of the year, all across the UK in varying weather and with varying time-constraints, I find it very easy and fun to coordinate entire Wedding days. My focus is to prioritise the comfort of the Bride, Groom and guests, especially in bad weather, with an aim to be quick with group shots especially and to give the guests as much time to play and have fun before the Wedding Breakfast is called. I have just the right personality to be able to manage hundreds of people and I never shy away from it. Being a performer of music and martial arts too (Piano, Drums, Singing, Tae Kwon Do and HoJo Jutsu) I thrive on stage and in public speaking situations.

Yes I do, and they are available from as little as £150 and include all the photos on a USB ready to print up for things like signing cards (the guests sign and leave well-wishes around the border, at the evening Reception). These can either be set in my studio, at the venue for your Wedding, or a neutral location.

Totally. As I specialise in New-born and kids photography, I find it a doddle to get the best out of them. And when there’s the odd kid who runs a mile from ‘Captain Cameraman’, I leave them to it, get the big zoom lens on the camera and capture them at play. I have also won awards for New-born photography (twice in 2014).

I have a Weatherproofing Policy (section 7a in the contract small print). I appear to be the only Wedding Photographer in the UK who offers free Bad Weather Retro Shoots, when the inevitable happens and we don’t at least get outside to shoot the Bride & Groom romantic portraits. After all the money you spend on the venue, you want to use it for photos, right? The only time travel expenses are added for this is when there were some on the original booking (for long distances). Retro-shoots can be arranged for a mutually agreeable date, days, weeks or months in the future.

Yes I am. I went full-time after leaving my full-time job in 2009. And I have never looked back. Since then the amount of Weddings I shoot annually rose to around 100-120. Between 1997 and 2009, I grew Keylight from part-time and eventually full-time, parallel to my old full-time job. Things got so busy that I simply couldn’t do both any more.

I can coordinate everyone to the comfort of the guests and the time constraints of the day. I can teach the Bridal Party how to correctly lace the dresses up, and I can do it for them if required. I can help with the Cravats and Button Hole flowers for the Groomsmen and guests. I can offer Speech Coaching either before the big day or during it, just before the Wedding Breakfast. I have often turned teary-eyed kids around to smiles and laughter with a simple bit of child psychology.

Between 2006 and 2022, I used a range of full frame Canon digital cameras, typically the EOS 5D mk2 and 3, as well as various others for video. In 2022 and 2023 I upgraded all of the cameras to a set of five top quality Sony Alpha 7 full frame cameras, for both photography and videography. These offer a huge increase in quality overall, as well as having amazing AI focus tracking systems to ensure that every shot is perfectly focussed, even for moving subjects. All photography is taken in RAW format and these can be rquested at additional cost. Please ask for more details.

Yes I do.  I only use a select group of companies.  For all photo printing (all sizes from 6×4″ to poster size) I use http://onevisionimaging.com/ based in Coventry.   Of course, you can also print at home or by using popular High Street printing companies too, but for a little bit more, you get a lot better quality.

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