Wolf & Co Photography brings an architectural eye to wedding imagery and is offering 25% off. Plus, his experience as a black man in the industry and a call for change.

You know us, here at Most Curious we love a bit of architecture/design/fashion/wedding world intersect. This is a very special one. Osman Marfo-Gyasi of Wolf & Co Photography is an architect by day and a photographer, well, the whole rest of the time! Architecture, in its purest form, is about the relationship between light and shade and objects, how you can work with those elements to create a desired effect, aesthetic and function. You can FEEL that eye in his wedding work. The lines and composition are always satisfying, the use of light seems to be another character in the shot and you can tell he knows how to work the shadows to bring out or hone a certain atmosphere.  

Osman is London based but can shoot all over the world. We are delighted that his message dropped into out DMs and to tell you off the amazing deal he has running on his wedding package till this Saturday 16th May - 25% off for key workers and 20% off for us lesser beings! This is for 8 hour coverage and for bookings in 2020 and all year 2021. You can find out more about the package here.

But that is not where this message ends. The words we read and images we saw, instantly piqued our interest, made us wonder why he wasn’t on our radar but also accompanied by a heart sinking moment. And so - We are passing the mic over to Osman on the blog to day to throw a spot light on his feedback on his experience as a black man working in the wedding industry. An experience that leaves him feeling isolated and wondering and analysing why his OBVIOUS talent and 24/7 work ethos isn’t bringing in the bookings? We don’t want to speak for him, we want his voice to be the one you hear on this gigantic gaping hole of an issue we have in this industry. And we honestly thank him so much for being so honest and forthright, challenging and clear on his experience.   

But strap in - his initial message was to reach out from the lonely place that he stood and our interview that followed is not only a look into is beautiful work but a compelling call to action for what we can all do to do better. They are powerful, proactive, practical, useful and generous words. It is hard to leave the ego and the door, we KNOW this, but let’s give it a go, listen and learn and take it as a gift, a chance, to step out of your comfort zone, ask ourselves some BIG questions, and move forward.  (This is an attitude I have been trying to make my own, following some education and revelations from inspiration and endlessly brave diversity consultant Nova Reid of NuBride, who has a focus on the wedding industry, who we really recommend you checking out if you haven’t already)

What was your path into photography?

I didn’t study Photography seriously until my early 20s (I am 32 now) but I have always been a creative from a young age, mostly drawing and graphic design. I was given my first camera, a polaroid 696 close up (that I still have!), at around 8 or 9. I still have photographs from a school trip to Wales in 1998 and a summer camp I went to in Geneva, I even took it to school on the last day in year 6 so those probably were my first portraits. 

I grew up in an Islamic, Ghanaian household in South London so I was exposed to the geometric shapes and patterns on mosques and the fabric colours around me. I was hooked on simple things like, on my visits in Ghana, seeing the silhouette of villagers carrying food and shapes of their garments against the backdrop of palm trees.

I was always creating stories in my head from these details. 

I studied Architecture in 2006 which forever changed how I see the world. I became more conscious of the way light, form, function and lines worked. It took a while but I started to understand the harmonies of rhythm and composition in the build environment and began to explore these elements in my photography.

Now I work my 9-5 as a qualified architect but in my spare time, I continued the photography shooting portraits and small events and for the past three years, wedding photography. I hope to make this my full time job one day, the goal is to spend more time with the family and work for myself.

Who would be your ideal couple from history?!

They are father and daughter but it would be Fashion designer Ozwald Boateng and Emilia Boateng.

In the picture I have shared, you can see I'm wearing a tie designed by him. It's the only thing I can afford for now. I bumped into him once on Piccadilly in 2018 and thanked him for inspiring me and told him I’ll get a suit made so maybe one day!

Osman in his Ozwald Boateng tie. Suit to follow!

I discovered Ozwald during university and it was like a shift in understanding and seeing what it is like to be black and truly successful in a traditionally white and british creative industry. He worked against the grain to restructure tailoring and I look up to how hard he works to affect attitude across the country. 

I would love to take portraits of him in his own collection. His clothes give black culture, especially West African, a voice within haute couture fashion. That’s our heritage, but is modern in its cut and colours. He made suits fashionable for the black men both young and old from Lawrence Fishburn to Stormzy and I applaud him now using his platform to shake off the false perception of Africa and giving back to Africa’s infrastructure.

Who are your photography heroes and how would describe your own photography style?

I have a few, Gerry Windogrand, is someone I discovered on my masters course and influences how I try to tell a story with a photograph. Sean Tucker shoots such powerful portraits and has made me want to get more into flash photography and try my hand at telling a story with one image.

Current Instagram photographers I admire are Chris and Gillian from The Curries, Marni from marni_v_photography, Marianne from marryandchew, Nigel John and Josephine from joelvis_photo. 

My own style I think is narrative, and is something I picked up from my architectural studies. We’re taught to explain our concepts and ideas as a story of events or design choices. In weddings, I look for natural, unexpected moments. Narrative, fly on the wall and with very little intervention.

I try to make public spaces feel intimate and I like to play with light and colours.

What has been your favourite wedding so far and why?

Frieburg in Germany, it was my first destination and for an old friend from school. He trusted me wholeheartedly. They were married in a vineyard overlooking the Black Forest near the bride's hometown. The entire day felt so intimate and tailored for them. The groom is from Cyprus and the bride German so it was a very unique blend of the two cultures. 

After the ceremony, a family friend of the bride, who is a farmer, gave them a pair of horseshoes with their names engraved on them, this was cool in itself but they then had to hammer them together on an anvil as a sign of the permanence of their union. Then later as the reception was starting, two drummers appeared out of nowhere and everyone on both sides of the family were up doing Turkish folk dancing and clapping. I didn't expect it at all but it was very cool to capture the moment.

What do you love about shooting weddings?

A wedding is such a unique event in someone's life and they're almost all different and subject to the cultures, backgrounds and beliefs of people who are getting married. A lot of emotion, effort and time goes into organising them and I find I am drawn to the complexity of the day. It really makes you realise how much can happen in 8 or 9 hours and how many emotions the human body can experience in this time.

I find the vows are my favourite. It's the moment most couples are anticipating and I find they’re the most pure and emotional moments of the day and it's usually at that point the groom (and I) ends up in tears.

You reached out to Most Curious with your experience as a black man working in the UK wedding industry, sadly something you have experienced as a barrier in getting work. Would you like to use our platform to shed light on your experience and get your message out there to our audience? What do you think could help in making this industry feel more inclusive and diverse? We are here to listen, learn and do whatever we can to be part of and act as a catalyst for change.

“What’s wrong with your hair!” This was something my mum said to me just yesterday whilst on a video chat with me. I haven't retwisted my dreadlocks or trimmed my beard due to the lockdown and she was making comments on my appearance. She told me that I need to look more professional and that I should cut my hair. I joked that I am a creative, it’s how we look but she sadly tells me I’ll get stopped by the police more often if go out looking like this. 

How many of my white photography peers can tell me their work isn’t affected by how they look or what they wear. If they answered a Zoom call to a client in a hoodie (which is exactly what I do), would they be negatively stereotyped? No, they would be seen as creative, too busy ploughing through Lightroom to change clothes. If I did so, I could be seen as lazy and unprofessional.

Osman and his one year old son Idris.

I reached out as the only way to describe working in the wedding industry as a black man is, I feel invisible. I have a few close friends and acquaintances I know who are black men working as photographers but outside that bubble, there is not much said in the wedding photography business from black men and for black men. 

There is a little bit more headway, because of consistent hard work, for black brides and grooms to be on instagram squares and wedding shows. I just cannot find the guidance and narrative and support for those behind the scenes.

I had to delve into a detailed narrative on education when answering these questions because I will be racially profiled on face alone. Being a photographer these days, you have to give your whole history over to ease others. Not only does any black person have to work  harder, it has to be with transparency. If you thought of me as “articulate”, and well educated, you are racially profiling me. 

I am fortunate to be a man. I am not working with the double bias black women face in the industry. With white male peers, at least there is a common ground in gender. There is chumminess and bravado. But that is where it stops. A white man can forge stronger pacts with who they relate most with, other white men. I can join any group in the wedding industry thanks to social media but even after you pay to get in, who gets to be successful in this space? Who really gets the most from it when there is a lot of white narratives and representation. And the black faces, which are still few and far between on white social accounts, borders on tokenism and an air of overcompensating. 

From experience, a black male wedding photographer who is successful in photographing a lot of white couples, are making themselves stoic and independent in this business. I have asked to second shoot to help build a portfolio and learn the tricks of the trade but been told to spend more money on style shoots to attract the types of clients I want and they are sticking with their usual (mostly white) guys. 

What I think should be happening is if you are a black photographer and relatively successful in the game, please share it out. It doesn’t mean I want to cash in on your success. That is your hard work and your client list. If you do have the opportunities that allow other black people to shadow you, be a second shooter for free, for the experience. To speak to the crowds and build up confidence, why are you against mentoring that life? It happens in other professions and I was lucky to stumble across something similar in my architectural career.

Let’s be honest, the dominant and most vocal consumer in the wedding industry is the white bride. In order to reach out and be heard over the crowd of white men and women photographers, I have to appease. I have to manage my appearance, make it less intimidating. I have to soften my website, speak about gaming and include a childhood photo and one of my white fiancee to relate. These are the things that do make me who I am but it does conflict with my racial identity. I worry the black faces on my pages will put the white client off. It is a double whammy, the less they see of themselves in my squares, the less capable they think I am at photographing them. 

I come from a religious black African household and I am in an inter-racial relationship. I already live a deeply personal split life. It is exhausting when the photography world is affected too. It can work its way to self hatred trying to live on an equal playing field and remain voiceless and ungrounded. It is probably why I turned to creating buildings in a career first. Even in brutal, conflicting materials,  there is precision, harmony and purpose. And everybody appreciates it. It doesn’t work like that on a human level.

I wonder if I look too gritty for a wedding. Not poised enough. Not romantic enough.

What more can be done is for white social outlets to keep on interviewing and profiling black professional people the way they want to be heard. Give them a voice. Share their hard work. We can do it on our own channels but other than a bit of curiosity, white consumers avoid buying into them. You have to give us the platform at times. The more black faces that are seen with a story, the more we are humanised. The more chances our work gets seen alongside white photographers, similarities with quality and integrity is noted.  As things normalise, we can wear what we want in interviews, workshops, meetings and should still be seen as professional as our white peers. For every white media, organisation and consumer, reach out to us and make a lot more of your squares about black success and black experience. 

Lastly, as a newcomer (sort of), I urge white wedding suppliers to please recognise lack of diversity within your peers. Consider hiring POC when you are looking at outsourcing, mentoring or having a second shooters.

For more information or chat more to Osman visit Wolf & Co Photography

Email him here osman@wolfandco.photography

And follow him on insta @wolfshootsweddings