10 Questions with Mike Kelly

Mike Kelly is a photographer based in Ramsbottom who works across the North West, the UK and sometimes overseas. He specialises in weddings but covers other areas as well – including quite a few of the photos you may have seen on our site. Mike’s work’s been published worldwide, including the Guardian newspaper and Closer magazine here in the UK (he was also caught on camera working backstage for the BBC recently!).

Mike’s in huge demand at this time of year for his relaxed and fresh approach to wedding photography – check out his site at mikekellyphotography.co.uk. We finally pinned him down to answer some questions for us as part of our ’10 Questions With…’ series:

1. Why Ramsbottom?
It’s the perfect location – hills all around us, great motorway access, small enough to feel cosy but big enough to keep some great restaurants, bars and shops in business. Plus it’s two hours from here to the Lake District, North Wales, Yorkshire Dales, Peak District. We just need a beach.

2. What is your favourite local place to take photos?
I’d have to say all along the river valley really, whether you walk down towards Burrs or up to Helmshore it’s just beautiful in the evenings.

3. Any secret gems you can let us in on?
Not especially – just get the OS map out and go exploring. There are hundreds of little paths criss crossing the area with some really interesting routes. Try walking up and around Muswell Tor then across to Grane Road.

4. What’s the most exotic place photography has taken you…apart from Ramsbottom?
I’ve been out to Austin Texas a few times now for the South by South West music festival. It’s a fantastic event – hundreds of bands playing in tiny bars. An exhibition of some of my photos from Austin has just opened at the new Manchester Photographic Gallery (manchesterphotographicgallery.co.uk).

5. As an old campaigner in the industry what would your advice be to anyone considering starting photography?
I can’t really claim to be an old campaigner! I’ve only been photographing seriously for about 5 years myself. There’s an enormous amount of information on the internet and I spent years learning from sites like photo.net and some of the flickr groups. If you can find a group that’s right for you you’ll find that the global network of photographers is really supportive and helpful. Oh, and ditch the zoom lens that came with your camera and swap it for a 50mm 1.8 lens. It will cost you about £80. Leave that on your camera for a few months and learn to zoom with your feet. It will make a huge difference.

6. Would it cost a lot to get started?
It will cost you about £350 for a decent entry level DSLR and of course £80 for that 50mm lens.

7. What kind of work do you do?
I mostly do wedding photography which I love, but also portraits and some commercial work – I do freelance photography for the BBC which means I get to run around backstage at places like the Albert Hall from time to time. That’s a real treat.

8. Why wedding photography?
It’s the most stressful but also the most rewarding area to work in. I love the challenge of organising everything in advance and also trying to keep things fresh on the day. It’s an amazing privilege to be with a couple on such an important day in their lives.

9. What should people be looking for in a wedding photographer?
I think the most important thing is that you can build a good relationship with your photographer. The better you get on, and the more chances you’ve had to meet beforehand then the more relaxed you’ll be and the more natural the photos will be. Of course it’s also important that you like the style of photography – when a client calls because they love the style of my pictures then I know it is going to work out well.

10. Any wedding nightmares you can tell us about?
The worst one was a wedding where I was a guest at a remote village in Yorkshire. There was only one hotel nearby so all the guests were booked in there. On the way over in the morning I got a call from the groom saying forget the hotel, it had set on fire the night before and was still blazing. The bride’s family knew everyone in the area though, and by the time we arrived they’d arranged for all of the guests to stay in spare rooms in the village. It made it a really special day.