Geoff Kirby

Hi, I’m Geoff Kirby, a Nottingham wedding photographer covering the UK. I’ve been shooting now for over ten years. During my art college days, after trying out all the various art mediums, I found photography!

Once I was in that dark room you couldn’t get me out, well unless it was for shooting of course. I was hooked and then went on to complete my degree in photography back in 2000.

After leaving uni, I went on to have a string of camera retail jobs, ending up at Calumet and going on to work for the Press Association as a picture researcher and entertainment photographer, which was an amazing experience.

During my time at PA, I started to shoot weddings on the weekend up until it became my main income and then I made the decision to quit my day job and go into shooting for myself.

I got my first camera after collecting 200 Kit Kat wrappers and winning a tiny 110 film camera, soon after I got my first SLR and I chose the Nikon F301 which was awesome.

It took me a while to go digital as the quality just wasn’t there for me but when I did I went through a string of DSLRS, starting with the D200, D300, D700 and then buying the D4 and D750.

Cameras

Nikon D4 – This camera has been my rock for over the eight years since I bought it and it still delivers the best files from any camera I have used. It’s super quick to focus, the tracking is amazing and it’s great in lowlight not to mention the great ergonomics.

Nikon D750 – A great camera and clearly a lot smaller than the D4 but with larger file sizes and it’s awesome in lowlight. This camera will normally have my 85mm 1.8 on or my 70-200mm 2.8.

Nikon Z6 – Last year, I bought Nikon’s first generation mirrorless camera, (#latetotheparty) the Nikon Z6. It’s an amazing little camera and the files that come out of Z6 are stunning.

After I upgraded the firmware to version 3 the autofocus was vastly improved and gave me more confidence using eye auto focus along with single point focusing, which is ace.

To be able to see live in the EVF ( or back screen) your exposure is a real game changer as is being able to focus anywhere in the frame. So at the minute I have three cameras in my bag all with different lenses on!

As soon as the Z6 ii is available with its dual memory card slots I’ll be checking all the reviews on Youtube so I can make the move fully over to mirrorless.

Lenses

Sigma Art 35mm f/1.4 – This lens will stay on my D4 for most of the day at a wedding, it’s fast super sharp and has gives a lovely feel to my images.

Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G ED – This lens is a total workhorse and is over 10 years old, I used to use it for 70 % of a wedding day before I had the Sigma 35mm but now I like to shoot primes a lot more.

Nikon 70-200mm VRII f/2.8 – Possibly the best and oldest lens I have, tack sharp and at 200mm the bokeh is a dream.

Nikon 85mm f/1.8G – A great lens for intimate low light settings plus portrait shoots and it’s super sharp.

Nikon Z 50mm f/1.8S – This is my first Z series lens and I can tell you now it’s the sharpest lens I have, I can’t wait to try out the rest of the S line lenses.

Tamron SP 15-30mm f/2.8 Di VC USD – I bought this for some architecture work I was doing, it’s half the price of the Nikon and it’s just as sharp. It’s also great for those large group shots and amazing on the dance floor.

Nikon 60mm AFD Macro – I used to use these loads on a wedding day for the ring shot, but I tend to leave this in a bag in the car now in an attempt to lighten the load.

Lights/Triggers

Nikon SB900 – An amazing flash, I don’t use the flash a lot during the day but if there’s poor light at the venue or bridal prep I’ll be bouncing this from anything that’s white and balancing it with the ambient light.

However, the SB900 tends to overheat a little when you get trigger happy on the speeches when in a dark environment.

Nikon SB910 – This flash is a total workhorse and it’s never let me down.

Godox V1 and the Godox AD300 plus trigger – I bought these at the beginning of the Covid crises when all my weddings had postponed until the end of 2021 -2022, the thought process was during this time I get learn OCF as I’m going to have a lot of winter weddings. In reality, I didn’t have the time for anything other than fielding all my bride’s emails and home educate and entertain my two children!

Bags/Straps

I’m still rocking the Black Rapid with my D4 and D750/Z6 along with a Think Tank belt plus two punches. These are so useful throughout a wedding – first when I arrive at the church I can leave my bag in the car and just take a couple of extra lenses and a flash, then later in the day when I’m doing the couples portrait session.

Hardware & Software

I have an iMac 27″ which I do all my editing on and I have a 2018 MBP for on the move. Like most photographers, I use Lightroom CC and Photoshop but I do cull all my images from a wedding in Photomechanic.

Being a wedding photographer is such an amazing job, I feel so lucky to be able to share in and capture one of the most important days of a persons life.

I feel so privileged to be a part of such a great wedding community, especially over the last months during lockdown. If I could give anyone starting out in wedding photography advice, it would just be to be yourself, shoot from the heart and throw yourself into it!

www.geoffkirbyphotography.co.uk | @geoffkirbyphoto

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