If marriage is a journey, why not start yours in a great location? It’s a decision that’s a lot easier to make when your wedding photographer is Maciej Suwalowski, an expert in shooting happy couples in dramatic places. “I love shooting weddings in all the ‘I’s,” he laughs, “Iceland, Ireland, Isle of Skye, they have such raw environments. And also Italy with its old castles and ancient villages, all brimming with character.”

In fact, when we catch up with Maciej, he’s just returned from a workshop in Rome, teaching photographers how to do what he does. “A lot of photographers want to shoot destination weddings, and the best tip I can give is to get out there and practise. Get a good spread of example images in your portfolio before approaching real clients. It’s actually a great thing to do when you’re travelling yourself, because you can use friends as your subject and discover what works and what doesn’t.”

Speaking on his gear, Maciej loves to work with his two trusted Sony Alpha 7R V’s for his location weddings. “The cameras’ EVF and autofocus is a big deal,” he says, “because it brings peace of mind when shooting those monumental moments. Even on a day that’s full of chaotic movement, or when there’s a lot of backlighting, I know that I can look into the EVF and know that I’m not going to be let down by a bad exposure or focus, because what I’m seeing is what I’m shooting.”

Having a trusted camera is crucial, especially since the popularity of destination weddings shows little sign of slowing, but what are the reasons? “A lot of my clients are simply adventurous and want to combine their wedding with their love of travelling,” he explains. “For others it’s about going to a place that represents their heritage. And for some it’s simply about cost. After all,” he laughs, “if you live in a city, getting married there can be very expensive and you’re not even going anywhere!”

When it comes to getting epic shots of his couples, “sometimes I get several hours to shoot them,” he continues, “and sometimes just a few minutes, so if time is limited another good tip is to really work the situation. Couples are often told to make the most of the day, and it’s up to you as their photographer to do the same. When a couple is posing in a great location, I make sure to get a lot of different compositions in that spot. I step back, go wide, come closer, shoot details, move around them, shoot backlit… After all, you can’t nip back to Iceland because you missed something!”

As part of his process, Maciej also takes time to shoot the location alone. “The scenery is like a guest at the wedding, and I don’t want to miss anyone,” he smiles. “During the day, I find it important to shoot the landscape, the venue, the decorations, even the weather. If it’s raining, I’ll shoot the ripples from raindrops. My clients have chosen the setting, so I make it very much part of their story.”

Talking of the weather, “of course, it’s not something we can control,” he continues, “and even in July places like Iceland or Ireland can be stormy. But the couples don’t mind and nor do I. They know that as epic as the location is, the weather could be epic, too. Besides, though I don’t love the cold, I adore shooting in it. Photographing people as they embrace in those conditions can produce amazing emotion.”

Fortunately, the two Sony Alpha 7R V’s that Maciej uses are more than up to the task of shooting in bad weather or difficult lighting. “When you’re working in extreme conditions, it really helps that your camera is reliable,” he says, “and my Sony cameras are like an anchor in a storm. Knowing they’re weather sealed is amazing. I’ve had them completely soaked under waterfalls with water dripping from the lens and they’ve been fine.”

But the real ace of his Alpha 7R Vs is their resolution, Maciej says, and it lets him work in a very smart way. “To be honest, 61MP resolution is too much if I’m shooting 1000s of image in a day,” he explains, “so what I do is work in Medium RAW mode at 26Mp, only using the full resolution for the key portraits and group shots. What’s really clever about that mode is I can set a custom button to push into a 1.5x crop mode, giving me two lenses in one. So at the touch of a button, my FE 35mm f/1.4 GM is also a 50mm f/1.4, and both at 26MP.”

“Being in these amazing places is great for the couples, but working on location is very important to me, too,” Maciej finishes. “There’s a lot of burnout for wedding photographers, especially if they work the same old venues over and over, but travelling to new places is something that keeps my storytelling instincts sharp and my photography fresh. Like the Alpha 7R V, it’s the perfect fit for me.”