Laura Babb
Wedding | Last Updated: April 4, 2024
I’m Laura Babb and I’m a London based wedding photographer. My journey to becoming a photographer started in 2008 when I decided to buy a SLR and take an evening class to learn how to use it. It was a bit of a flight of fancy at the time and I never dreamed that it would lead to me starting my own wedding photography business and then launching SNAP, the UK’s first festival for photographers.
When I started taking photographs I loved shooting urban landscapes, architecture and abstract slices of the urban environment. I didn’t ever shoot people so when a friend asked me to photography their wedding in 2010 I was more than a little apprehensive. I decided, though, to do the best possible job I could and to read as much as possible, plan as far as possible and hire in the equipment I’d need to do the best job I could.
It all snowballed from there really and I went from shooting that first wedding to shooting around 40 – 45 weddings a year.
My first SLR was a Sony Alpha 200 but I quickly switched to Nikon as my interest in photography developed. Mainly because my husband had a 35mm Nikon F80 and a few lenses, which meant that I had access to gear beyond the scope of the kit lenses I could afford at the time. My first Nikon was a Nikon D90.
I shoot with 2 x Nikon Df’s, a Sigma Art 35mm f/1.4 and a Nikon 85mm f/1.8 around 90% of the time. I have recently felt the need to shoot wider than 35 and have a Nikon 24mm f/2.8 but my Sigma 35 is a much more beautiful lens than the 24 so I often revert to 35mm.
If I could shoot on one lens for the rest of my life it would be the Sigma 35mm f/1.4. I would like to get a Nikon 24mm f/1.4 and Nikon 85mm f/1.4 at some point and both are on my wish list.
I have a Nikon 24 – 70mm f/2.8, a Nikon zoom lens that lives in my cupboard and is only taken out when I get a vibe that I’ll be dealing with a difficult vicar who makes me shoot the ceremony from the back of the church.
I also use a Neewer LED light, a Nikon SB-700, a Nikon SB-900 and Pocket Wizards.
For me, weddings are all about the story. Everything from the epic moments to the incidental and in between. I take a candid approach to photographing each wedding, with a focus on telling the story as it unfolds.
I shoot around 50% of my weddings in London and the rest all over the UK and Europe. Shooting more destination weddings is definitely on my wish list.
This year I launched SNAP Photography festival and I’m really, really excited about it. It’s the first event of its kind in the UK and will involve three days of glamping, workshops, campfires, film screenings, music nights and parties, all at the beautiful Fforest in Wales. It’ll be a great opportunity for photographers to re-energise, hang out, be inspired and become part of a new community and we have speakers like Sam Hurd, Ross Harvey, Dylan and Sara, Marianne Taylor and Andria Lindquist lined up.
It’ll be a great start to another busy wedding season for me next year and I can’t wait to get started.
Check out these 8 essential tools to help you succeed as a professional photographer.
Includes limited-time discounts.
