When Warwickshire photographer AJTImages joined English Wedding last month, we were blown away by the creativity of his images. Fantasy fans and movie lovers will be captivated by these, just as we were! Alex invited us into his world to see just how these alternative wedding photos are created – and we’re sharing his inspiration with you today!

After a past in press photography, I photographed my first wedding back in 2008. This is when I realised my true love for photography was in weddings and I haven’t looked back. Here I am, 14 years later and I photograph 40 – 50 weddings a year and I absolutely love it.

Self taught over the years, with a passion for Photoshop and my creative flair, I began to create unique images of my children. They make great models. I’d have a vision in my mind and I’d create that using Photoshop.

It was from these images of my children that one of my couples who had booked me for their wedding photography had asked me to create a Star Wars wedding image for them. This of course pleased my inner geek and I could not wait to get creative and make their vision a reality. And this is where it all started and my creative wedding art has become increasingly popular ever since.

How my creative wedding photography works

Normally, my couples will reach out to me with things they love which fit a certain theme, such as Disney, Star Wars and Harry Potter, Alice in Wonderland. Sometimes it’s a mash up of ideas that each of the couple love. The possibilities are endless.

I then create images with this as a base. This involves a lot of brainstorming and drafting before the wedding and the creation sketches and concepts all build a vision in my mind, which I then work with on the day to set up the lighting and capture these shots.

Several of my creative artworks have also been created from a spur of the moment inspiration, either on the day from a location or an interesting spot of light or from an image that would just work perfectly.

My Nightmare Before Christmas wedding artwork

The groom had mentioned in his speech how it was a favourite film of theirs, so from that I pulled them out to the car park, set up the shot and the magic was done in Photoshop.

I love being able to make these all a little differently and having the flexibility to make unique artworks for each couple.

My photographic style in three words is unique, cinematic and natural.

Unique, because I want my images to stand out, to be something bold and individual.

I have always preferred to follow my own style rather than follow the trends and it has allowed me to develop a personal style that is true to myself featuring a full range of tones with rich warm golden highlights like warm firelight flowing into deep midnight blue shadows like the ocean at night.

Cinematic because I draw a great deal of inspiration from film, especially Science Fiction and Fantasy. I love the escapism of these genres, the imagination and creativity that goes into them and they drive me to push myself.

I especially love setting the mood of an image with careful attention to lighting and colour to give it that extra wow factor.

Natural because no matter what the image or how it was created it is my goal for it to appear effortless, as if the moment simply happened and all I did was press the shutter button no matter whether that was the case or not.

I’m often asked what I love about weddings

For me it’s all about the people. I love the smiles, the laughter, the dancing and the fun. I love seeing and capturing all the little stories that make up a wedding day.

Moments like seeing the bride’s mother in the ceremony looking like she might overflow with pride and happiness and can’t help but cry as her daughter walks down the aisle or the grandad who spends the evening with a tie wrapped around his head while he rocks out on the dancefloor with the children.

I am privileged to capture those moments and more, to ensure every story of every wedding is told in full.