Labour of love for globetrotting photographer

ON location . . . bride Sarah Cobbett poses for a picture

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Wedding photographer Mark Copeland thinks nothing of boarding a plane to get to his next job.

The Royton lensman followed a handful of couples to sunny holiday destinations to record their marriages - and was soon being asked to go to more far-flung destinations to do the same.

The 33 year old, who lives with partner Lisa McNeill in Rochdale Road, now finds half his work takes him to othr countries.

But the logistics are turning out to be a bit of a challenge, as he hops from aircraft to aircraft in a bid to make his next date in a different part of the world.

In May he has three weddings lined up - on the Greek island of Kos on the 28th, three flights later in Ibiza the following day, then 48 hours later over to Cyprus.

Later in the year he has a wedding on the Greek island of Skiathos swiftly followed by a 6.30am flight to Athens with a transfer to Rome, where a hire car to get him to Sorrento for a second wedding!

Mark’s biggest worry is about travel delays - but he always has multiple back-up plans in case things go wrong. “There’s always a way,” he says.

Mark runs Envision Images with his business partner Andrew Ridgway.

He said: “I had done a few weddings in Greece and because I could speak a bit of Greek it suddenly exploded.

“I was being asked to go with couples from here as well as doing weddings for Greek nationals.

“Sometimes I find myself with demanding schedules when weddings are close together, but I love the challenge.”

Last June he was shooting a wedding on board a masted sailing yacht in the Aegean off Greece.

“I was standing on the bow, shooting the party when the captain turned the yacht, I lost my balance and fell overboard with my camera and a number of the day’s shots.

“Luckily, I caught hold of a well-placed cargo net strung from the boom at the front, and I was pulled back aboard... camera first!”