BF Stop 2

BIG Folio presents an interview with acclaimed photographer Jeff Ascough, who was kind enough to answer a few of our questions and include a few of his brilliant images. We think the photos will speak for themselves, so without any further introduction: Jeff Ascough. 

BF: You are based in the UK? Do you ever travel for work? And where are some of your favorite places to go?

JA: I used to cover around 20,000 miles a year traveling to weddings all over the UK. These days I try and keep my business pretty local to me, as it’s becoming harder and harder to travel to weddings now as our roads are slowly being choked to death. I also only cover one overseas assignment a year. My favourite place to go is France. I love the light there, it has a magical quality to it. No wonder so many artists and painters were inspired by it.

BF: Did you have any other occupation before becoming a professional photographer?

JA: I became a photographer at 21, so I didn’t really experience another occupation. Apart from a couple of dead end jobs that I took on to earn some beer money.

BF: So when did you realize that you could make a living shooting pictures?

JA: When my first client bought a couple of 40″ black and white prints!! The hardest bit was printing them, as we only had a basic enlarger. I seem to remember that we had to set it up on a shelf and project it across the darkroom to the wall on the opposite side to get enough distance to make a 40″ print. He was thrilled with them, which gave me the confidence to see if I could make a living from photography.

BF: Was there a photographer (or anyone else) that inspired or influenced you?

JA: Henri Cartier-Bresson. His work still inspires me. He is the reason why I am a photographer.

BF: How would you best describe your style?

JA: Photojournalistic and voyeuristic, with a strong emphasis on composition and natural light.

BF: What is your favorite story from shooting a wedding?

JA: I have lots of stories and don’t really have a favourite. At least not any that I can share in the public domain!! One of the most interesting things that happened to me was during the meal at one wedding; we were due to get fed by the caterers. After a while the food wasn’t forthcoming, so we chased it up. Still nothing. Eventually the caterers came to us with a plate of food. However, we were sitting outside in the pitch black and couldn’t see what they had given us. So I got a small torch out of my bag and looked at the plate of food. The caterers had simply scraped all the finished plates from the guests onto this big platter, and gave it to us!! Just shows how important people think wedding photographers are!!

BF: Do you ever do any photography just for fun? If so, what are your favorite things to shoot?

JA: I take landscapes for my own enjoyment. It’s a release from weddings. I live right next to the coast, so nothing pleases me more than to walk along a beach with my camera at sunset taking pictures. I utilise the same approach to my landscapes as I do for my wedding work. I just walk about looking for pictures. I don’t use a tripod, or wait in one position for the light to change like many landscape photographers. I see a picture and just take it.

BF: Any predictions on the next big trend in the wedding photo industry?

JA: The integration of video and stills into a multimedia package, possibly given as an alternative to the wedding album. Some are making this happen already.

BF: What type of local publications or resources do you advertise in? What about international publications?

JA: I advertise in one high end national magazine. That’s pretty much it. I haven’t any interest in working overseas, so I don’t worry about international publications. I get asked to do interviews for different mags in the UK, mainly dealing with photography, and we’ve been asked to comment for some of the other bridal mags, but it’s not something that we rely on for marketing.

BF: What are you working on next?

JA: At the moment I’m working hard to complete my latest Photoshop Action set. I think I’ve finally achieved a realistic film-like black and white conversion, and this is really the backbone of the Action set. I’ve also updated a lot of my older actions to work effectively with the higher resolutions that we are using now. After that, I’m hoping to start a project photographing the North West coast in England. I’d love to do a book on the landscape and characters of this region.