Welcome! I am Derek Christie and I currently live in Gullane, East Lothian with my wife Donna. We moved to the coast in 2020 and are loving strolls along the beaches with our two dogs, Casper and Oscar.

My son Blair has a severe learning disability and is autistic. He is our whole world and shooting weddings gives us the time to make sure he has lot’s of happy adventures. Being to do this job I love so much means I have around 300 days a year when I’m not shooting weddings and can devote time to helping Blair live a wonderful independent and fun life. We love going on lot’s of adventures, whether it’s the Lake District, Scotland or even abroad to his fave, Lanzarote!

I’m so lucky to be able to create memories and be there for so many couples over the years while those couples in choosing me, have allowed me to have time to be there for the big guy and my wife. It’s a full on role but we honestly could not have helped him become the man he is today without the flexibility of being able to do the best job in the world! To all my past couples… THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Casper & Oscar a couple of characters!

They love to explore the beaches and forests around East Lothian as well as the rest of the country. Scampering through the woods at The Galloway National Park or by The Garry River near Pitlochry… If there’s exploring to be done, they’re in their element.

I’ve been shooting weddings since 2009 and have many fond memories of some of the best days of my life. It’s not work, it really isn’t. I absolutely love what I do and love telling the story of each wedding through pictures.

Of course family will want a few posed photographs of parents/siblings etc. A nice shot of the bridal party too but for the most part, I want to tell the story of your day. Let you re-live the day in years to come as it happened. Those smiles and laughs as well as a few tears of happiness are far better at taking you back to your wedding day in years to come.

I'll offer sound advice on how to get the best out of your photos too. I'll organise the confetti shot for example so you make your big exit from the venue with all your guests looking on and throwing confetti over you both with smiles and laughter. This is the key to good reportage photography. I could just melt away and take pictures but there are parts of the day when things should be happening and the guests don't know what to do. It's my role as photographer to set up the next part of the day, then step back and capture the reactions as they happen. Kind of like an event manager until the reigns are handed over to the venue at receiving line or speeches time. The trick to this is that none of the guests see it like that. they are just having a great time.

Donna helps with the album design process, importing the images and setting out the first draft of the album for me to tweak and finesse during the busy summer wedding season.

I consider myself to be a very lucky person indeed! I have a wonderful family which sometimes, like all of us, presents us with challenges but I love what I do for a living, shooting weddings. To every single bride and groom who’s wedding I’ve shot and will shoot I will forever be grateful as it allows be to be an at home dad for the best boy in the world.

Autistic Adventurer YouTube Channel

As part of our adventures I have a YouTube channel - Autistic Adventurer where there are short films of our trips around the country and beyond. I shoot the video myself and edit it all to music to make it a fun look back for Blair when he’s sitting with his iPad. It’s also a lovely way to remember all those amazing trips.