We've all shot weddings where we either don't feel inspired - whether we're repeating the same venue over and over, or we've lost our mojo - or we're just bored of shooting the same people doing nothing for hours. I was in this position last weekend, when a guest approached me and asked for tips for shooting the ambience of a wedding, because he was videoing a wedding for a friend soon. I gave him tip number 1 in this list, and it inspired me to share it with you - and all my candid shooting tips!

1. Listen just as much as you look

In a group of guests chatting, listen to the speaker, the cadence of their story and the tone of their voice. If the Facebook groups are anything to go by, us photographers love a bit of gossip, so indulge this side of you! Decide if it's a happy or sad story, and if it's happy, watch the group as they anticipate the punchline. Get ready for their reactions by listening to what the speaker is saying and being ready to capture them all reacting to it. Listen not only to the group in front of you but everyone around you too. (Sometimes they catch you, like below - especially if it's a particularly spicy chat... this is also a good shot to get!)

2. Frame to tell the story

Could you add something to the story if you just framed the candid with something? Maybe it's just other people's heads and shoulders in a group chat situation, so you're not just capturing the speaker. Or frame using signs, drinks, doorways, decorations, the bride's dress - anything that helps you tell more of the story, and that story at its most basic is: this is a wedding. Get closer, and further away. Don't be afraid to move away from the action if it means you can tell more of a story by including different things in the frame.

3. Play games if you're in Candid Hell

We've all been there - hours of candids and no one is doing anything new. Before retreating to the toilets to hide, try playing games with yourself. 

Challenge ideas:

• Shoot through something, like a window
• Try different angles, low down or high up
• Look for patterns such as stripes. Layer them up if you can
• Try to get 3 specific colours in one shot
• Shoot in a triangle - get something interesting in each corner
• Tell two or more stories in one frame
• Shoot around a corner, two different things happening independently of each other - bonus points if they juxtapose each other
• Try a different lens - usually shoot candids on a 35mm? Try 24mm or 85mm.
• Look for stories to tell
• Play with the light
• Find unusual things to frame people

4. If it's not happening, force it

Create activity. Encourage people to play games or move to a different area (for example to sign the guestbook) or move props around so people notice them. Or offer couples and families a mini portrait shoot.

5. Decide what you want to do creatively

When something seems to be happening, look at the scene and take a moment to decide the best way to capture it. Don't just be reactive and capture from where you are standing, or in a way that simply covers all aspects of the scene, but think about how to frame it to best tell the story. Does that mean framing certain parts in or out? Getting low or high to frame against a clean background and cut out distraction? Moving around to get more of the story in the picture? You might look weird lying on the floor... but it's worth it.

6. Keep looking around, allow yourself to get distracted or you'll miss stuff

Keep looking around when you're working a scene. This is a classic jenga shot, but when I saw people rolling a barrel in the background I framed them in the middle of the jenga scene and focused on them. Move around to get something completely irrelevant in the photo for a fun juxtaposition, like this jenga/barrel photo.

In the photos below, the couple had a "toads table" game which doubled as a guestbook, but no one was playing, so I told people to play and then sign it. I then took a shot of the maid of honour (below) framing the brass coins that you throw, to show what the game is, and then decided to move around to a different angle, which tells more of the story by including the pen pot and her face, as well as the brass coins.

7. Stick it out, wait it out

Missed a shot? Wait, and try again. If it doesn't work the first time, keep trying. Maybe someone keeps walking into your frame - wait till the subject repeats what they did and try again without the distractions. These musicians were the couple's friends, and I wanted a clean shot of the saxophonist doing this move where he lifts the sax up in the air, which he did at the end of every song - but someone was walking behind every time. It took about 5 songs to finally get a clean shot! As you can see I also got lower each time to make a cleaner shot. Having time allows us to do this sort of thing and keep us creative.

8. Stick around after a group shot

Sometimes the most natural and fun moments happen right after people are done posing. Once you've taken your posed group shot, keep shooting. They're more relaxed and will often be a bit silly. Candid heaven!

9. Do it for the couple's entertainment

Sometimes it's all about frame of mind. Imagine the couple are your best mates and they're not there, and you're telling them what happened at the wedding, using your photos. Imagine your couple going through the photos afterwards and saying "I didn't know that happened" or "oh wow those two random people were chatting, that's so cool that they got on".

10. Shoot more than one frame, keep shooting

Keep shooting to tell the story in more than one frame - sometimes a before and after can really tell a story, so stick around, don't move on as soon as you have "the shot" - see how it plays out, how people respond, what happens next.

Sometimes, you can do a lot of these things in one:

Like this moment when the guests threw a ball on the roof, so they found a ladder and climbed up to retrieve it.

I watched them play with the ball for ages and waited for a moment. 

I encouraged shenanigans by pointing out the ladder.

I framed to clean it up and stepped back to keep people in to tell more of the story.

I framed the other people and kids watching it unfold.

I kept shooting as the kid ran up to me to block me from taking photos of them being naughty going on the roof.

I had a good relationship with the little girl, she followed me around all day with a kids' camera and I humoured her with it all day, so she was confident to come up to my camera and play up to it by the time this moment happened.

I also knew the couple would LOVE seeing that this happened.

11. (Bonus tip) if all else fails, hide in the loo.