Trashing the dress with Chris Hanley

John Michael Cooper created a concept which is now a very popular form of wedding photography. His picture of a bride on fire became talk of the town and the term "trash the dress" is now as common as landscape or portrait are in the photography world. "He started the whole thing," said Chris Hanley.

Trash the dress is a new approach to post wedding photography that was first introduced in the USA and Australia. But the power of the internet soon meant that trash shoots were taking place on British Shores.

"We've been doing trash the dress shoots for a while now, I was attracted to it at an early stage."

Chris Hanley began his photographic career 27 years ago and now he and his team specialise in "people pictures."

"We've always had an adventurous style of wedding photography. We were very different to the norm of the eighties and nineties. At that time it was all very traditional and we were giving  ours a journalistic, gritty type of look. From there we have progressed to be more adventurous."

Due to how new the idea was, the first trash shoot Chris did was made up of volunteers dressing-up in bridal wear. "We needed photographs to help us market the idea and that's still the hard part, marketing the idea to the mothers of the brides," explained Chris.

Trying to convince someone who was married the conventional way to trash a dress can be a daunting task for a photographer. "Never approach someone who has just bought a dress at a wedding fair, their face will drop and you will have a hard time persuading them that trashing their dress is a good thing."

The term given to the shoots are a little exaggerated as not many photographers do actually trash the dress. It's a term used to grab attention rather than explaining what goes off on a shoot. Chris likes to say they're "releasing the potential of the dress" and that it's "creation not destruction."

"I mean, what are they going to do with it? Put it in a suite bag and suffocate it for 20 years. It sees 6 or 7 hours of fun and champagne then it's put away. If you've spent good money on a dress why not use it and have fun with it."

A trash shoot gives a bride the chance to have her pictures taken without the worries of make-up and everything else she has on the big day. Its a chance for her to let her hair down and have some fun with the photographer. "It fantastic I love it, I get giddy when everything comes together."

From a photographers point of view a trash the dress shoot takes a lot of planning. You have to come up with a location, prepare some ideas for the shoot, decide how exactly you want to photograph the shoot and most importantly try to make it fun. Americans seem to love junk yards, old cars and lakes. Something which Chris says is getting over used now. The Australian market like the beach and this has made most brides in the UK think their shoots need to be on a beach too, but this isn't necessary.

"I've done a trash shoot with a couple on mopeds, they wanted an Italian feel to their pictures.  You can also have an urban, grungy look if you want to. One client even pulled on some wellingtons and we went dog walking with her Golden Retrievers."

No matter where your shoot takes place you have to remember it's all about the bride. When you're on a beach shoot for example you need to find somewhere for her to get changed and as you're shooting in water you need something for the bride to put on in between shots. "When the spray is lashing at you its exciting and adrenalines pumping but when you stop the cold hits." You also have to find a way to transport the dress back when it's wet, heavy and full of sand. "Big black bin liners are the way," said Chris.

If Chris is shooting along the coast he will make arrangements with a local hotel or café so they have somewhere for the bride to change. It also gives them a place to eat, drink and discuss in comfort their plans for the shoot. Another good tip is to offer the business the chance to have a copy of the photographs instead of paying them a fee for a room. "We usually meet, have coffee, chat about the shoot and go off and shoot the dry stuff to stop us feeling damp all day. Then after lunch we finish with the wet and windy look."

An enhanced fantasy is how Chris likes to describe what people expect from a shoot. Clients expect out of the ordinary, even if their chosen location is a bar in a city.

"Manchester for example has lots of trendy bars, cafés and clubs. Café light is beautiful. Blurred light coming through big windows always looks nice."

Of course if you're shooting in a city you get the added bonus of not having to travel which makes life a little easier. There's no lugging heavy equipment and you have a variety of locations to shoot in. "Twilight pictures are great in cities and tungsten colour creates a warm glow to a cityscape."

Chris shoots on Nikons, uses off camera flash and video lights on town shoots. "My average settings are ISO 400, F4 and I use a 200mm lens. I use the off camera flash, take an exposure for the ambient surroundings and under expose that by one stop and finally I add some fill in flash."

Chris prefers to shoot further away on longer lenses unless he's going for a wide dramatic look similar to the picture of the bride on the windmill. "That's my favourite shot," said Chris. He exaggerated the scale of the shot for this picture but for towns he usually shoots around the 200mm mark which throws the background out of focus. "I always look for interesting shapes and colours to add drama to the pieces too."

Due to the lack of sunny days here in the UK some of the shoots can look a little cold but Photoshop can come to the photographers rescue and add warmth to an image. You can also over saturate the backgrounds to add an extra bit of drama but Chris advises against doing this too much. "You don't want to Photoshop your pictures to death. The glossy magazine look is usually a good reference point."

So is trashing a dress something Chris would recommend to other photographers?

"Yes, it appeals to a broad range of people and it's very popular, we have trash shoots booked up for a while. They're also fun too, I can fill a card in five minutes.  O, and remember if the bride doesn't fancy trashing her own dress charity shops sell plenty which can be destroyed!"

To learn more about Chris visit his website.