Throughout the month of November, our Photo of the Day series will be taken over by each of Rangefinder‘s newly minted 30 Rising Stars of Wedding Photography in 2019. The 30 honorees are featured in our November issue, and each of their full, 30-photo submissions, reviewed by the competition judges, can be found in our online gallery. For more behind-the-scenes insights, follow us on Instagram.

A nonconformist to the bone, David Ruff isn’t one to follow trends. While the wedding photographer from Glasgow, Scotland, does aim to create timeless keepsakes for his clients, he’s also not afraid to experiment with multiple exposures and hard light. “I’m a sucker for it,” he says, adding that his age-old obsession with vinyl album art and movies has also made its way onto his list of photographic influences.

His work carries a sense of mystery, even a hint at something haunting at times. “I always aim to go further outside the box when shooting, not sticking to any traditional methods,” Ruff says. “The more unconventional, the better.”

Below are Ruff’s behind-the-scenes insights on three of the photos from his submission this year.

Mirrors: a wedding photographer’s dream. It saves us many times with cramped, sometimes boring rooms, giving some cool angles and reflections. When there are loads of mirrors, I get too excited! This was a prime example. As soon as I walked into bridal prep, I knew we had to use them. Just before the bride was leaving for the ceremony, we managed to use two minutes to get the shot. I wanted to achieve directional light onto the bride so I pulled the curtains over slightly, then shot over her shoulder, composing the shot so that I was out of frame. It was tricky but totally worth it in the end, making some cool weirdness.

Always trying to think outside the box when shooting, I noticed this large plant outside during the wedding that to me resembled some kind of throne. I wanted to take portraits using it, and what better way to incorporate it than getting the bride right in there? After shooting this, it gave me some kind of weird Game of Thrones vibes, and it is now one of my favorite bridal portraits. The final edit I was going for was to emulate film. Kirsty’s look was so strong that the edit had to be perfect, almost a flashback into the past—the 1950s to fit her vintage style. 

Being a lover of double exposures, I knew I wanted to achieve something memorable for the bride: a tribute to her late father. She sent me a range of photos of him for me to look at and see if anything could be created. This more youthful image stood out to me the most. During the first dance, I snapped the bottom image with the beautiful hard light, shooting through the large windows and composing an image that was achieved in post, using a simple overlay to create the double-image effect. In combining these both together, I wanted to achieve a sense of nostalgia and a feeling of her father looking over her on the big day.