Ian Bursill Photography bio picture

Welcome to Ian Bursill Photography


Hello and welcome to my blog site. I am a wedding photojournalist based in Loughborough, Leicestershire. I am one of just 47 exclusive members of the WPJA in England (Wedding Photojournalist Association) and shoot natural, emotive and captivating wedding images that records the day in a documentary style. This enables my clients and their guests to get on enjoy their day without worrying about the photography taking over.

I’m 42 and I’ve been into photography since I was 12, when my dad - who was a semi-pro photographer - bought me my first camera, a russian 35mm rangefinder. I was the school’s resident photojournalist, recording all of the fights and the duckings in the biology pool on pupils’ birthdays. We developed all of our own black & white work in the home darkroom and I shot about three or four weddings as a teenager before I eventually found girls, football & golf! I am happily married with two beautiful daughters.

At a close friend's wedding about seven years ago, the traditional photographer he hired took about two hours to shoot the formal group shots. As a guest, I was simply shooting for myself that day and noted that a lot of guests were complaining about the length of time stood waiting around.

My vocation was soon realised when my friend said that he preferred my natural and relaxed images to the official photographer’s work and my passion for photography & recording images in a photojournalistic style was rekindled. I now shoot digitally, working in RAW with the latest professional Nikon D3 & D300 cameras and pro lenses/flashguns. Most of my images are captured without the use of a flash, but utilising natural light. This also enables me to remain unobtrusive.

Chris and Sarah

September 23, 2008 – 1:28 am

St Edwards Church, Castle Donington & Hazelrigg Hall at Loughborough University were the locations for the wedding of Chris and Sarah on the 30th August. Both Chris and Sarah are originally from Castle Donington, but now live in Bristol, so it was nice for them to come home and share their day with close family. They even brought along a videographer from Bristol with them - Ben Pope, a nice guy and great to work with. I have some horror stories about some videographers, but Ben was a breath of fresh air!

This is the first time I have shot at this particular church, it is a beautiful venue and look forward to working there again in the future. Hazelrigg Hall on the Loughborough University campus was also a great venue with an incredible art deco interior and amazing stained glass windows. A selection of photos (not necessarily my favourites) are below to tell the story of the day in an abridged fashion.

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Proud new member of the WPJA

September 9, 2008 – 10:10 pm

I applied to become a member of the WPJA (The Wedding Photojournalist Association) on Sunday. The entry criteria is quite tough and Membership in the WPJA depends entirely on photographers meeting their high standards for inclusion. One cannot simply pay his/her way into the WPJA.

So I’m proud to announce that I’ve had an email today informing me that after having reviewed my website and image portfolio, they agree that I meet their membership requirements and I am now a member!

Leading the way in Wedding Photojournalism, WPJA represents the most discriminating talent around the world technically, creatively and visually. Qualified members hold industry-leading standards, skills and business integrity.

This is their mission statement…

“The Wedding Photojournalist Association (WPJA), an International, membership-based organization, represents professional photographers skilled in the documentation of weddings and events in a candid, unobtrusive style. The WPJA was founded to uphold excellence in the area of wedding photojournalism.”

I’m really looking forward to moving my creative work on to another level now!

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Helter Skelter

September 6, 2008 – 12:22 am

With my summer being so busy with all of the weddings and the work afterwards, I tend to get really slack about processsing my personal stuff. I’m making an effort this week to process some shots of the kids. This particular shot was taken back in May of this year and is of my eldest daughter Neve at Quorn Park in Leicestershire one Sunday morning. I love the vibrant colours, the shapes and the way that the spiral staircase leads you in to the subject walking up and seeing Dad at the top with that bloomin’ Nikon camera again!

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