The 2nd wedding of 3

Well this is our second wedding in less than 7 days. The first has now been edited and posted for the couple to view, all good feedback from there so far. Our next wedding was a little further afield, but the remote hilltop golf course venue presents some great opportunities. Our style ensures the Bride & Groom maintain total control of the day. If they want extra 'posed' shots then we will get them, if not then we maintain a photojournalist style and let the event unfold as it will. For this couple they wanted to have some fun, and we hope we helped them get that. Here is a selection of the shots taken on the day, I hope you find them of some interest.

The first of 3 weddings in 7 days

Feeling a little daughter, this being the first of three weddings we are about to do in the next 7 days, we set off for the first of our weddings. We are a family team, consisting of myself, my wife and my daughter. We also have a second shooter who sometimes works with us who will also be there today. As I have a second shooter available we ask if the groom would like some shots done at the house as he gets ready, to which the bride and groom say yes and I promptly dispatch my wife and the second shooter over to the house, while myself and my daughter head for the bridal preparation room. My second shooter is a photographer who has not done weddings before, and would like to start. I shadows us to see how we set up shop and work through the day. At the moment he lacks people skills and is a little reluctant to give direction to people, but he can work the detail shots very well. My wife goes with him to provide direction and help set up the shots we would like to get. My daughter is also a second shooter, but she has not, as yet, got the bug for photography, so at the moment she just likes working with her dad and who am I to complain at that. Our couple, Sarah and Carl, are a wonderful pair and we are looking forward to spending time with them. We do tend to attract a particular kind of client. We don't do divas or bridzilas, we don't do the kind of couple who just want you because you are the cheapest or you agree to give them everything for next to nothing. We chose people who we like as individuals, are happy to be getting married and not there to show off to their friends and who we would like to have a more long term photographic relationship with into the future. We are still in contact with the vast majority of our Brides & Grooms and are now pleased to know them as friends as well as clients. But back to today's wedding. The photos start at the bridal preparation, and the atmosphere in the room is just wonderful. Everyone is relaxed in each others company and enjoying every moment. Then it is on to the ceremony, where i am joined by my wife and the second shooter. The room is small to work with but all goes according to plan, yes we have a plan and had already visited the venue quite some time ago so there were no surprises on the day. The weather is holding, following days of rain the sun has come out for today, hurray. All the guests and the bridal party now head out for a nearby park for the group shots, with us in hot pursuit behind. Yes we have a plan in place here as well, been here and set out our locations already. All the group shots are in the bag and it is now time for the bride and groom on their own. All done and it's back to the venue for the meal and nighttime festivities, or the first dance which is what we are here to capture. From start to finish, about 15 hours including traveling. Now it's back to the studio for the sorting and editing phase, which I have just finished, some 3 days later. Here is a small selection from the day and I will be back to let you know how the other two wedding go, these are back to back and some traveling is involved.

A small wedding

New Model Shoot

A model I have worked with in the past, put a call out for a photographer to some new beauty shots for her portfolio, she hinted at a sort of goth look, on a TF basis. 

This sounded interesting to me so I gave her a call and offered my services.

While talking over the shoot it appeared quite strait forward.  Mainly head and shoulder shots, with some half length.  The model, Stephanie, had some dreadlocks put in her hair and wanted to get some shots of her new look.

I love working with this model, she is a very intelligent and unassuming girl, with eyes like a young Elizabeth Tailor.  Most of her past work has been of the fetish/heavy goth type, but I think she is waisting her talents and should concentrate more on tthe beatuy side of things, with some goth/heavy metal influence.

My daughter Lucy assisted me in this shoot, and took some of the images herself, and we got down to the task.

I opted to shoot against a green screen, something I am doing more and more of lately, which would give me the choice of dropping in verious backgrounds as I saw fit.

I went for a very pale complexion, set against her dark dreadlocks and dark lipstick.

I think that with some prior planning I would have got more silver jewelry into the shoot, but that will be for another time.

I am happy with the shoot and the shots produced, what do you think.

Ozzy the Boxer Dog Photo Shoot

While out with my wife and daughter the other week I noticed this gorgeous white boxer puppy with a young couple.  We asked if we could pet the dog and we all fell in love with him instantly. 

We learned that Ozzy, that was the name of the dog, was still a puppy and his owners doted on him.  On a whim I offered the young couple a free photo shoot of their dog, offering them a disc of the selected images from the shoot for free. 

Two weeks later Ozzy and his owners arrived at my home studio for the shoot, Ozzy was very excited and promptly thew up on my lounge floor.  No problem there as we are prepared for the little surprises our animal clients sometime leave us. 

The young couple with Ozzy were planning their wedding for next year and wanted to talk to me about that as well, so there was some delay for Ozzy while we chatted.  My cat, a ginger tom called Marmalade, squared up to Ozzy and made it quite plain who was the master of this home, which probably went some way to causing Ozzy to throw up like he did.

Once we entered my studio Ozzy just wanted to play and we had the devils own job trying to get him in the lighting zone.  Every time I laid out on the floor to get the shots he was all over me and my daughter, who was assisting me. 

It was so important to get him in the right place as he is white and I had to be very careful not to over expose.

Some 40 minutes later the shoot was over.  We had great fun doing it, they were not the best lite of composed shots, many were sent to the trash can, but the ones we kept were nice, what do you think.

To be a wedding guest

I recently attended the wedding of my wonderful niece and it was one of the first weddings I have been to in several years, where I was a guest and had no pressure on me at all to take photos.  As you may suspect I still took my camera and 2 lenses, just to snap away with and have some fun.

The temptation to get the camera working started out very strong, but once the official photographer arrived I surprisingly found it very easy.  After all the weddings i have attended where I have had to deal with guest photographers getting in the way, I was determined that this was not going to happen as a result of my activity.

So I deliberately put the camera away, while the official photographer was working and only brought it out when there was a lull in activity and even then I only used it to capture candid shots.

I loved watching another photographer at work, giving me the time to watch how he conducted himself and worked the crowed.  I took away several practices that I will adapt and employ in my working practice.

On top of all that I was able to fully participate in the day and enjoyed myself greatly.