Shutter Go Click Photography | A Year In Review 2020
oh FUCK.
Wellity wellity wellity... what a ball bag of a year indeed. Despite Covid taking an enormous toll on 2020 weddings. It’s pretty unbelievable just how much has happened in this 365 days like no other. Yes it's that time again. Where I pretend I've managed to get my yearly retrospective out in a timely fashion. I kick back with my headphones in hoping to block out the distant cries of my new born son. (Please Note: He isn't alone. There's plenty of creatures to keep him company at the bottom of the garden) I slap the knob on my office heater to full intensity & take you on a journey through Shutter Go Click Photography's 2020. Strap yourselves in ladies & gents, because this one has more bumps than an arse implant convention. YES!
Jeez this year started so damn strong as me & Paige headed to California where I got to photograph a beyond incredible family. It kinda blows my mind we managed to do that before the shit hit the fan & Covid-19 put a stop to travel, weddings, livelihoods & general fun times. But in the spirit of “love ain’t cancelled” me & Paige made excellent use of isolation by accidentally creating a baby. Oops.
Badass micro weddings/elopements & family shoots still filled a year with all the love. I created & launched the new shuttergoclick.com & me & Paige spent pregnancy travelling from one end of the country to the other celebrating her getting larger than my Volkswagen Polo.
On the 13th December 2020 Casey Robin Learoyd was born into the world sending our lives into love filled chaos. The remainder of the year was to be spent in a bleary eyed jammie wearing stupor & remains so to this day.
Oh 2020 you have indeed been a cruel mistress.
But in a lot of ways I still love you. You’re a bit like a crying baby at 3am.
A lot of noise but when you shut the Hell up it’s just so damn sweet.
RYAN XOXO
BEFORE YOU READ ON. REWIND TO BETTER TIMES.
CHECK OUT SHUTTER GO CLICK PHOTOGRAPHY. A YEAR IN REVIEW 2019
WEDDINGS
Even the smallest of weddings can have the biggest of heart. I began 2020 with 30-40 weddings in my calendar & ended the year having photographed only seven. 2020 has indeed been one of the toughest years for our industry which alongside many others was brought to a standstill by Covid 19 restrictions & still is to this day.
I actually consider myself one of the lucky ones. Aside from been fortunate enough to receive government support. (I know plenty of people who didn't) I have managed to fill the gaps between lockdowns with family & portrait sessions, beautiful micro weddings & elopements, not to mention the crazy support past clients have bestowed upon me by purchasing prints & albums from their galleries.
I'm consistently blown away by my couples ability to embrace the plethora of changes that have been thrown their way. Their drive to stay positive. Have understanding that their wedding might take on a different form or happen at a different time. A fuck all obstacles attitude that resonates what truly matters... Each other.
I’ve met some of the most incredible & hard working humans in this industry. Without a shadow of a doubt, battered & bruised we will come out the other side with confetti in our hearts & love on our side.
Here's to a Love Not Cancelled.
SEE MORE WEDDING PHOTOS!
SEE MY WEDDING PRICING!
REVIEWS
BEN & OLIVIA
Right... where do we start... firstly I guess I need to apologise for taking a full year to write this review... time flies.. but then again the fact I’m taking time to do this on our anniversary speaks volumes of the high esteem in which we hold Ryan. I first met Ryan when he was photographing a friends wedding... and even though I wasn’t engaged at that point, I decided if and when I do get married.... Ryan is the one. (Photographer that is!!)
Not long after getting engaged we met Ryan and Paige at the Northern Monk to discuss all things weddings and get to know each other before the big day. Such a great laugh and lovely lovely human beings. Ryan and Paige were simply fantastic before, throughout and after. On that day they simply felt like long time friends and it was a pleasure to share their company and have them share and enjoy our day also.
The shots, images, moments and memories captured were truly magical. Ryan truly is the High Wizard and how he can capture a moment or a feeling in the way he does I’ll never know. It’s truly unique. It’s not just photos. It’s capturing the essence of you and your story... from the beginning. So here we are a year down the line... reliving our magical day, looking at smiles and moments forever captured and bringing them all back to life again, through our story that Ryan captured.
All thanks to the High Wizard himself... Ryan. Shutter Go Click. Take a bow dear Sir... for we are forever and eternally grateful.
RACHEL & JAMES
This review has taken me far too long to write, I have found it incredibly difficult to put in to words how beautiful our experience of being photographed by Ryan on our wedding day was. Shutter Go Click first came on our radar in 2016, after seeing his wonderful photographs of an old school friend’s wedding. I immediately began stalking Ryan on instagram. His art created a sense of wonderment that I became quickly addicted to.
When James and I got engaged and began planning our wedding we weren’t sure what we wanted, but we knew for sure that we wanted Shutter Go Click as our photographer.
I was amazed at how quickly Ryan got in touch with us after initially booking him, and how wonderful he was to talk to over text. He arranged a meeting over a cuppa and from the get-go we were laughing, Ryan’s personality put James and I at ease from the very beginning. Talking to him was like talking to an old friend, and we couldn’t wait to work with him.
This year has not been an easy one for anyone, and due to the pandemic James and I had to postpone our wedding with only two weeks to go to the big day. Ryan was amazing, and I can’t express my gratitude to him for making everything so easy and stressless. He worked with me that morning and within about three hours we had everything sorted out.
I won’t lie, I was a complete stress-head on the lead up to the wedding, waiting for Boris to decide if we, along with so many others could get married or not. When it finally came down to it, James and I decided to go ahead with the wedding despite the restrictions that were still in place. It meant that not everyone could be there, and that we couldn’t have the day we originally imagined all those months ago, but it did mean that we could get married and that was all we wanted.
On the big day Ryan was the first person I had seen all morning, he came up to my room and I have to say in that moment he became more than just my photographer, he eased my nerves and talked me through how the day would play out. He went above and beyond making sure that everything was ok, and preventing me from having a complete meltdown. Throughout the day Ryan ran around capturing every last detail of our special day.
Ryan is hilarious, I was literally crying with laughter throughout the photoshoot, from hiding in bushes Homer Simpson style to terrifying James with a spider infested phone box. Ryan made our time spent with him an experience and not just a photoshoot. Those memories will stay with us forever, and not just because we have some awesome photographs but because of the fun we had taking them.
James and I are shy people and we weren’t sure how well we would cope with having our photograph taken, but I have to say it was amazing, and we honestly can’t wait to work with Ryan again. Any excuse! So if you need a cracking photographer, a best man, a bridesmaid or even just a friend, then look no further than Shutter Go Click Photography.
CHARLOTTE & KAITY
Ryan was always the only wedding photographer for us. Having obsessively followed his work for years, he was already booked by us before he even knew who we were. From the moment we met him, he put us at ease, for a couple who don’t really like to pose for photos, his beautiful styling was perfect for us.
I’ll be forever grateful that after our ceremony he took myself and kaity somewhere quiet to reflect on the fact we had just got married, allowing us precious time together for some amazing photos and before we were swept up by our lovely guests all wanting to see us.
The photos speak for themselves, I still share them regularly and everyone always says how beautiful they are, they truly are incredible. Ryan is an all round amazing guy, he will make you feel like you are the only people in the room, he is an artist.
My advice to everyone is that Ryan should be the only photographer for you, no one else even comes close! Just call him, you will not regret it!
JODIE & IAN
Ryan’s style is so original and unique that my new wife was willing to change the day of the wedding to match his diary. He was the first part of our wedding that we arranged as we’d seen and loved his work on Instagram before.
On the day Ryan was everything you’d expect - punctual, friendly, creative and got to work straight away to capture our day. In addition it’s worth mentioning that Ryan’s experience with weddings is invaluable. His instincts on what to capture and how are great. Plus he’s a dab hand at attaching buttonholes. Might seen small but little touches like this make Ryan a relaxing influence on the day.
Afterwards communication was top notch. We got our previews a few days later and our gallery a few weeks after which is no mean feat given the amount of work that goes in. We shared our pictures with friends and family and we’re overwhelmed by the amount of love for them. People were saying they’ve never seen anything quite like them.
Many were saying that they were the best wedding pictures they’ve ever seen. Nothing that we didn’t know already of course :p Thanks again Ryan
THE ANDREW’S FAMILY
I’ve never written a review before. For anything. Ever. So, as I type these words, my first thoughts are, “How do I repay him? How could I possibly write something that justifies just how good he is? And won’t people just assume that Ryan wrote this?!”
The crux of my review will be about, a) me: a bit of an introvert, b) my wife: a photographer, and (of course), c) how Ryan – Shutter Go Click photography – managed to exceed our expectations. So, let’s start with me: I’m one of those “awkward af” kind of chaps. But because my wife is a photographer, I’ve done a couple of shoots before. However, my experience of them was… not great. As you can imagine, for a guy that doesn’t like socialising – at all – the idea of standing in front of a camera and “posing” is very unnatural to me (I will talk about Ryan in a minute, I promise).
My wife – a photographer herself – has been following Ryan’s work for a while. So, when the chance for a shoot with him came up – a not-so-subtle birthday idea – I seized the opportunity! Admittedly, I was wary that Ryan wouldn’t deliver, only because I know my wife well enough to know that her expectations were through the bloody roof! I kept saying, “It’ll be nice if we get 2-3 nice shots that we can print. That’s all we need.”
Now, onto the shoot! Does this even qualify as a review? It seems more like a blog at this point. Anyway, Ryan (alongside his amazing partner, Paige) are just the most wonderful, genuine folks you’ll meet. I immediately felt at ease and that feeling continued throughout the day. In fact, by the end we both thought of Ryan and Paige as people we’ve known for ages. I cannot put into words just how lovely these people are.
Ryan was tasked with working with an awkward chap like me, a photographer with (arguably) unrealistic expectations, a teenager, a young girl, a toddler, and animals. In other words, we did NOT make it easy for him! But Ryan delivered. In fact, he absolutely relished in all of it. He was always talking to us, making us laugh, giving us direction but – importantly – also allowing us to express who WE are as a family.
“It’ll be nice if we get 2-3 nice shots that we can print. That’s all we need”, I said. Ha! Now we have so many wonderful memories from such a perfect day, we wouldn’t be able to agree on ten times that amount, and we will most definitely become repeat customers.
How could I possibly write something that justifies just how good he is? Put simply, I can’t. But what I can say is: THANK YOU.
LAURA & DAVE
Ihad been following Shutter Go Click on social media for years. Long before there was even a whiff of me getting married. Because I once saw his pictures, and immediately knew that when the time did come, Ryan HAD to be my photographer.
So as soon as we set our date I contacted Ryan straight away. In fact, I actually made sure Ryan was available BEFORE we confirmed with the venue! That's how adamant I was that Ryan was going to be our photographer! Our entire wedding was perfect for us and I wouldn't change a thing. But booking Ryan was probably the best thing we did. Ryan was easily contactable and even easier to talk to from the outset. Then the morning of the wedding he and Paige entered our home to an immediate hug from our one year old. From that moment on I think it's fair to say they were both accepted into the fold of my family and friends.
They brought even more fun to the day, and even though the day of our wedding was probably the windiest day since Dorothy got sucked into a twister, the outdoor pictures are incredible! Ryan is an artist and the time he puts into the pictures, plus his creative eye, and not to mention the beautiful pictures at the end make him worth his weight in gold.
I always said Ryan's pictures look like they have a little bit of magic in them. And that is exactly what I see when I look at ours. Thank you Ryan
CHECK OUT MORE SHUTTER GO CLICK REVIEWS!
FAMILIES & PORTRAITS
I'm not actually sure what I'd have done without family & portrait sessions this year. Not only have they boosted me financially throughout the last 365 days but way more importantly than that. Family & portrait sessions have kept me somewhat mentally sound during a bleak period of time where weddings were no longer permitted. I don't do this job because I have to. I do this job because there's nothing else I can do. There's nothing else I want to do.
In January 2020 I was booked for a family session with the incredible Kauths of Sunshine & Reign Photography & their five badass kids in California. Been able to do this job at all let alone be trusted in my abilities to be flown half way across the world was beyond incredible & such a privilege.
Of course that honour transcends beyond that. To every single family & couple I have photographed this year no matter when or where. I thank you from the bottom of my heart. You guys have moved me with your clear intent on securing not just the survival of Shutter Go Click in these dire days, but in delivering the power to make it thrive.
Here's to Family.
SEE MORE FAMILY & PORTRAIT PHOTOS!
SEE MY FAMILY & PORTRAIT PRICING!
WORKSHOPS & MENTORSHIPS
After squeezing a workshop into February before lockdown hit. Huge delays meant I wasn't able to host another until September. I also felt it was best to reduce numbers down to allow for more social distancing. I've been indundated with sign ups for future workshop dates since my last one. Rest assured another will undoubtedly take place at some point in the future.
That leads me into saying that this will be my final educational workshop at the Chimney House in Sheffield. As much as I see the value in the recent inundation of "Portfolio building styled shoots" seeing 20 odd photographers with identical images at the same location with "model couples" can't help but make it feel a little disingenuous. My workshops pride themselves on providing a mix of educational content with real couples as subjects & that's how they're gonna stay.
Of course please understand that isn't me having a massive dig at those workshops. In the current climate with not many weddings they are a great way of honing new skills & attracting ideal clients. I just personally think peeps would be better off contacting their favourite real couple, friends or family members & giving them a free shoot. You'll save money, real people are rewarded & your work will be different from other photographers.
So my workshops next step will more than likely be going on tour. In the meantime I'm still offering online one to one mentorships based on The Theory of Creativity. Check those out below for some lush lockdown learning. YES!
Experience. Evolve. Escape.
EXPERIENCE. EVOLVE. ESCAPE… FROM HOME
FEATURES
Extra. Extra. Read all about it! Shutter Go Click Photography has been featured in a range of national & international publications in 2020. here’s a selection of my favourites from the past 365 days. YES!
BEST OF THE BEST WEDDING PHOTOS
JUNEBUG
“Today we are excited to share with you the 2020 Best of the Best Honourable Mention winners!”
ROCK N’ ROLL BRIDE MAGAZINE | ISSUE 33
“Not only do I still adore a proper physical printed magazine. But seeing a few of my photographs right there in my hands made me relive that distant spark of joy once more.“
XANTHE & SIMON
ROCK N’ ROLL BRIDE
“The couple’s love of 1960s decor and 70s disco inspired Simon and Xanthe’s September 2019 wedding. In fact, their reception venue, Caroline Street Social Club in Saltaire, was the first thing they booked and based the rest of their theme around.”
AN INTERVIEW WITH ROVE THE PODCAST
“Ryan Learoyd of Shutter Go Click Photography joins us on today's episode to discuss his path as a creative wedding photographer. Ryan walks us through how he infuses his personality brand and appeals to couples' looking for an alternative to traditional wedding photography.”
GEMMA & JASON
ROCK N’ ROLL BRIDE
“Gemma & Jason had a particularly interesting inspiration behind their wedding day – the desire to capture some weird, Victorian-style portraits!”
GEMA & MATT
ROCK N’ ROLL BRIDE
“We had to have Ryan and Paige from Shutter Go Click Photography with us as we wanted them to document our mad time and also be our only guests and witnesses.”
SEE MORE SHUTTER GO CLICK FEATURES!
THE NEW
SHUTTERGOCLICK.COM
Easily my biggest business achievement this year was finally pulling my finger out, utilising the first lockdown & sitting down to build the new Shutter Go Click Photography. For nearly 10 years I have struggled with the same website but simply didn't have the time to invest in creating a new one. When lockdown hit at the beginning of 2020 & all my weddings were either postponed or cancelled. I wrapped up my editing queue & set about planning a website that would finally represent me & my brand.
First & foremost I wanted a piece of the internet that would truly slap you around the face with a wet sock of Shutter Go Clickocity. I wanted it to be colourful yet simple. Ooze personality & encapsulate everything Shutter Go Click Photography is to me. I didn't want some dreary, mundane third person cheese fest. I wanted excitement & powerful prose. Modern & clean navigation. I needed the ability to craft long form content & take absolute pleasure in doing so.
Because my previous website provider didn't even offer a blog facility. I had my main site & my blog with two different suppliers. This meant bringing everything into one place. I combined my site, my blog, my store, my workshops. I made pages for every single questionnaire & brought everything into one brand spanking new home that I could be oh so frickin proud of.
Not just that but I wanted to change the entire way I delivered photographs to clients. I migrated the last years worth of weddings & portraits to a new image delivery system. One that could match & keep up with everything I wanted Shutter Go Click to be. Exciting visual store fronts run alongside speedy easy to use beautiful galleries.
It took around 6 months from drafting those first initial ideas to launching the new Shutter Go Click Photography. Of course It's by no means perfect. But the beauty is the foundations are already there.
Here's to having a tiny pocket of the internet that I am so blood proud to have created myself.
Here's to the New Shutter Go Click.
BECOMING THREE
Over all this year definitely hasn't just been about handling business. It's funny really. In every single yearly retrospective I've posted I've mentioned I have struggled with finding a work life balance. When the shit biscuit that was 2020 came around & all my work got cancelled. There simply wasn't a bloody choice than tilting the scales in favour of "reality."
& I have to be completely honest. I've absolutely fucking loved it.
It was the 5th April. A date more commonly associated with the end of the tax year. Me & Paige had spent the previous evening getting pissed & playing *Ticket to Ride Europe. Don't ask me who the Hell won. It seems that any & all events preceding the 5th April 2020 have been erased from my memory. Like Will Smith in a black suit had waggled his shiny stick & all had been forgotten.
For once memories had not ejected my noggin because of my ineptitude to have a single alcoholic beverage without suffering a 4 day hangover. But because of something else entirely. Something you pee on...
Oh lockdown, if you stick two sexy fuckers like us in a house together what on earth did you expect was going to happen.
Yep... These two pretend grown ups went & made a bloody baby.
Of course I wasn't disappointed, I wasn't crying into my pillow that my life was over. Sure we both exclaimed a large "Oh Fuck" into the vacuous kitchen as though that tiny positive signed pee stick would reply with calming words. But we hugged, we smiled, we laughed, we were happy, we both wanted this. After all it was bit of me & a bit of the incredible woman I absolutely adored, loved... Frickin worshiped. We were gonna do this.
We spent the majority of the run up to December squeezing in as much as Lockdown restrictions let us experience. We travelled up & down the country & I mean the entire length. From Loch Lomond all the way down to St Ives Cornwall. Sometimes for badass elopements, other times for breaks away. Where hitting the road for 6 hours was as much of an adventure as the place itself. Those 8 months felt like a celebration of our time together before the impending bump was a bump no more.
Casey Robin Learoyd was born on the 13th December at 2:24am weighing in at 9lb & 9.5oz. The labour, induction & C section that brought him into the world was one the most moving, traumatic & love filled experiences of my entire life. It's insane how seeing someone you love go through so much can shake you to your bones. There's an even deeper intensity of feeling that can't be put into words that I have for this human. My Paige I love you as a woman, as a warrior & now as a mother.
So there was this entirely new tiny person in our lives. I'm not going to dress it up for ya. Been a parent has so far been the toughest time I have ever experienced on this floating blue marble in space. No amount of "enjoy them being small", "soak in these beautiful baby cuddles" from fellow parents can set you up for the beyond tiring, shit fuelled cry fest that is those first few weeks of parenthood.
But wrapped up in those overwhelmingly sleep deprived moments. Those times where you're trying to get an hour of kip but your kid sounds like someones punching a Velociraptor. There are fleeting moments of the truest happiness you will ever experience. That windy smile after an evening bottle. That tightening grip on your index finger. That long pause when his eyes meet yours & you realise you're his entire world.
Here's to Parenthood.
*Notation: Ticket to Ride is indeed the board-game & not some cleverly disguised euphemism
THE FUTURE
To quote last years retrospective directly...
"I ain’t no fortune teller & I ain’t got no crystal ball. But one things for certain, the future excites me more now than it ever has. Yes there will be more weddings, more portraits, more badass frickin workshops. But it’s the unknown that I find most tantalising
& I embrace that unknown without fear like a rattlesnake in my pants."
Oh 2019 Ryan... you naive man baby. How little did you know that the “unknown” was indeed going to turn your whole existence, business & otherwise entirely upside down. Not to mention that rattlesnake in your pants went & did a whoopsie & made a a tiny tosser. Never mind though there's always 2021. Surely nothing can go wrong this year...
2021... "Hold My Beer"
