Love was in the fare...now it’s in Wayne’s photos
Former cabbie becomes wedding snapper
A taxi driver swapped collecting fares for wedding fairs after following his dream of becoming a professional photographer.
Wayne White worked as a driver with Renfrewshire Cab Company for 20 years after moving to Scotland from England.
But photography was always a passion of his so he decided to set up Wayne White Photography four years ago to dip his toe in the wedding business water.
And it’s been such a success he hung up his cab keys 18 months ago to work full time as a wedding photographer from his home in Linwood.
Wayne said: “I was always looking at photos and would go to friends’ weddings and take photos and people would tell me they were better than the actual photographer.
“I was comfortable being a taxi driver. Then my mum passed away about nine years ago and my stepdad died about six years ago. It made me think about what I was doing at that point of life, there’s got to be better than just sitting in a taxi. There’s nothing wrong with that but I thought there must be more.
“My step-dad left me a little bit of money so I bought a decent camera and thought I’d see if I could do it. I started about four years ago. I was just doing about seven or eight weddings a year. It was a paid hobby, I wasn’t making anything out of it really.
“Then I was nominated for the Confetti Awards and it started to take off. It was at the point where I had to decide between the taxis and the weddings. It was a massive decision.
“I’m 47, it’s not like I’m 25 and if it doesn’t work out then I’ll just go back to uni or something. At the moment it’s working out and it’s a lot of fun.
“I love doing weddings, they’re such happy occasions.”
Wayne said his previous job as a taxi driver has helped with some important skills as a wedding photographer.
“I was a bus driver then moved to Scotland and started on the taxis. It was difficult being English, the reaction was horrendously bad at times, but I had to get used to talking to people.
“But what I learned with the taxis was to talk to all sorts of people – from old guys going for their shopping to young guys heading on a night out.
“That’s what I’ve taken in to my current job. There are a lot of weddings I’ve done where I’ve turned up as a photographer and left as a friend. A lot of people think I’m a member of the family who’s doing the photos.
“There’s one family in Fife where I’ve done six weddings and I’ve been invited to christenings as a guest rather than a photographer.”
Wayne is one of 10 photographers shortlisted for a Vows Award, one of the leading wedding industry awards in Scotland.
Nominations come from the customers and a panel of judges decide the winner by speaking to their customers.
Wayne will be taking his wife Lorraine, daughter Devin, 17, and her boyfriend to the awards ceremony on Monday, November 19.
He said: “I give up all of my weekends. We are season ticket holders for the Glasgow Clan, it’s a massive part of our lives but since I started this I’ve had to miss games.
“I’m giving up a lot of family time and they’ve been nothing but supportive.
“It will be nice to have them there with me on the night.”