The story so far…
Steve May was born in Canada, raised in the UK, flew to New Zealand in 2005 to find hope for his children, settled in ‘The Tron’, now living in Matamata because he fell in love with a woman there, we married in Dec 2018. Not to mention, he has an identical twin brother who lives in Ontario Canada and is also a wedding photographer and filmmaker!
It all began in 1994…
My brother Pete and I were at a friends wedding and the photographer didn’t turn up, oddly not unusual in those days. “Don’t worry mate, we have got this”, and so we began shooting our first ever wedding.
We have always said, there is a huge difference in taking a photo and capturing a moment, I just have the knack of waiting for a moment and capturing it discreetly. It’s the only part of photography you cannot teach, it comes from the heart, years of experience and the ability to predict a beautiful moment is about to happen.
1999…
In this year we discovered the internet and had a website built by a 14 year old pimply lad. A few weeks later, our little photography Company exploded. We would shoot 50 weddings a year whilst still holding down our day jobs!
How was it some photographers found weddings stressful and actively chose not to do them, it’s the best job in the World, I love it!
2005…
In this year Steve May emigrated to NZ and Pete moved back to Canada, we both became full-time wedding photographers. Once I got used to the sheer amount of bright sunshine NZ offered, I was away shooting weddings.
People often ask what kind of wedding photographer are you. When I first started out I waited outside the church for the happy couple to exit, captured a few family pictures and that was that. Today we capture your wedding from the early morning preps through to the late night partying. Sure we capture all the detail, the rings, the shoes, the table decorations but its always the people photography that wins the day.
Since 1994, I have shot over 1,000 weddings and I still can’t believe I do this for a living, it never seems like work to me.
2018… Steve May still cries
It’s true, I shed a tear at every wedding. The moment the father see’s his daughter for the first time. The moment her Groom captures his first look of his bride. The intimate moments of parents watching their children marry, and don’t get me started on the father daughter dances.
I only shoot 20 weddings a year these days and have not lost my passion one bit for being part of a wedding day, get in touch.
Something most people don’t know…
Steve May is ‘that’ person at an airport arrival hall silently people watching. You will observe some of the best moments seen anywhere, period!
I’ll often blink to pretend I am capturing a moment. A moment when friends and families are reunited again after years apart. Parents welcoming home their kids from the big OE. A husband embracing his wife from a short trip away, I love them all.
Finally, I just wish I could telepathically send the moments I capture in my blinked eye to their cell phones. One day, maybe in my lifetime this will be possible. Elon Musk will invent this I’m sure.
Lets chat about your wedding day, Steve May.