Birds of Prey Wedding with Hawks, Owls and a Vulture

I really like shooting weddings at Farnham Castle. I also love nature. So shooting Birds of Prey at a wedding was a total blast. Sarah and Andy asked me to shoot their Autumn Wedding in October this year. I don’t think anyone expected the glorious weather we had that day – talk about Indian Summer. As part of the days entertainment during the drinks reception, the couple had booked the Hawking Centre to bring along some birds of prey. This included three owls, a Harris hawk and Andy’s favourite – a vulture. As a photographer, I’m always trying to capture the essence of the wedding day in interesting images. As soon as I knew about the birds of prey being there and how important nature and wildlife were to Sarah & Andy (I’m a big fan of all wildlife as well) I knew I wanted to try and capture images that showed off the wedding venue – Farnham Castle but with the birds being the stars . My task wasn’t easy, as the sun was very harsh and the birds were mostly in the shadows. Also not easy to capture them flying. But, that’s where 20+ years of experience as a photographer come in handy – and of course a touch of luck. I was so pleased when I caught some of the birds in flight – simply beautiful. Sarah looks a bit perturbed in the vulture pictures, but who can blame her – that’s a big, dare I say ugly? bird flying right at you. Not really surprising that you’re going to pull some expressions…

Big thanks to The Hawking Centre (and Sarah & Andy) for allowing me to hold some of the birds too and also to the staff at Farnham Castle, who looked after us well as always.

Paul