This was taken during a styled shoot at Lochgreen House Hotel in Troon. Not a real wedding — a planned creative session with a team of Ayrshire suppliers, organised so we could all build new work.
I shot this one from directly above. The chequered floor at Lochgreen is a strong graphic surface, and most photographers work with it at eye level. From overhead it becomes something else entirely. The black and white squares turn into a grid, and the dress spreads across it like ink in water.
The practical side matters here. I was up high, calling directions down, while the model arranged the tulle by hand. Getting a skirt of that volume to fan evenly takes a few goes. You lay it, look, adjust, look again. The version that works is usually the fourth or fifth attempt, not the first.
Lighting was the harder problem. Overhead angles kill your options — you can't put a light behind the subject without it appearing in frame, and you can't put it in front without it landing in your own shadow. I lit from the side, low and close, which is why the floor falls away into darkness at the edges and the dress holds all the brightness.
This is exactly why styled shoots earn their place. On a wedding day I would never ask a bride to lie down on a hotel floor for fifteen minutes while I climbed above her. There's no time and it's not the job. But practising the shot here means that if a moment ever presents itself naturally — a bride sitting on a staircase, a dress laid out on a bed — I already know how to light it and how long it takes.
Lochgreen House Hotel sits just outside Troon, ten minutes from my base and part of the RAD Hotel Group in 2026. The house is Edwardian, with heavy panelling and formal gardens, and it holds both intimate and larger weddings. The interiors are darker than people expect, which suits a documentary approach — you're not fighting flat, even light all day.
The dress came from Dream Brides in Irvine, one of Kirsty's favourite photograph. The shoot was organised by Candid Content, with Karen Simpson Photography shooting alongside me, styling and décor by Pretty Little Details, flowers by Grassroots, hair by Lots of Locks by Marnie, and makeup by Darcy Duncan.
Location: Lochgreen House Hotel, Monktonhill Road, Troon, South Ayrshire KA10 7EN.
Keywords: Bridal Portrait (10), Lochgreen House Hotel (2), styled shoot (3).