We chatted with the lovely couple behind Rope & Pulley, Katy and Matt, about their gorgeous photos and how they tell each of their couples’ unique story.
At White, we really look for artists that are able to create imagery that connects us completely to the love story being told. How do you guys do this so well? Creating beautiful imagery through photography and film is really about storytelling. All the best stories have truths in them, genuine moments of real life. As artists, nothing is more beautiful or compelling than real expressions and connections. These moments are candid, honest. They’re the ones that can be easy to overlook; a glance, a touch, these are the raw emotional moments that make up the day and they’re the moments we aim to capture.
How did Rope & Pulley start? I loved my wife the minute I saw her. Funnily enough it was in a photography studio, which looking back isn’t as much of a coincidence as I thought it was at the time. We talked about art, music and our favourite photographers and I can see now how everything was leading to us creating Rope & Pulley together.
Matt, you’re also an exhibiting artist and a TV editor, Katy you’ve worked as an Art/Photography teacher and you’re both Masters accredited, why did you decide to start shooting weddings? The saying, “What’s for you, won’t go past you” really sums up our decision to start shooting weddings. It just felt like something we so naturally wanted to do. Also planning our own wedding influenced this decision—we searched EVERYWHERE for a good photographer, finally found one through White Magazine and we were so grateful for the photos that he took. It’s such a pleasure to now get to do that for our couples.
Is trust an important part of your job? I think trust is integral to any relationship and this includes our relationship with our couples. The trust you give us is like that of a close friend. We know how lucky we are to be in the room at one of the most important days in your lives and to be trusted with the responsibility of capturing it in a beautiful, honest and respectful way.
What’s your approach when shooting a wedding? Having a meet up and getting to know our couples is really important to our process. It usually involves a few beers or a cup of tea and a chat about their story, the images they love and finding out what’s important to them. We then create a run sheet with the couple, scoping out locations if we need to and then we use this to brief our team. The advantage of being so thorough in the planning stage means that it allows for the flexibility that weddings often require. Recently we had to defer to a second location when a bushfire took out our first in Coogee!
Colour is such a subjective aspect of photography and film - how do you guys get it right? We’ve always been creative. We were those daydreaming kids growing up, the ones that made their own skit shows and drew their own picture books. We have the same sense of wonder and excitement we had back then when we’re shooting now. I think our style is really ambitious that way, and we know we’ve got it right when we have that same excited feeling while shooting or looking through our images. I think our neighbours have probably heard us yelling, “Wow! Look at this one!”
What does marriage mean to you? It requires dedication, unconditional mutual kindness and goodwill. Being married and also working together is nothing like what we thought it would be. We’re best friends, colleagues, confidants and each other’s cheer squad. We see so much potential in each other, and I think that potential is what we see in all of our couples and love to capture. They are all these things to one another, and they’re choosing each other because they can’t not know the rest of their story together. Being that storyteller for just one day with our photography and film is a real honour and privilege.
To see more from Rope & Pulley than these gorgeous photos below, head to their website here and shoot them an email here.
