Minutes of a Magic Hour

The wedding of Klina and Lee

2011-11-11T14:33:00.001Z

It was a busy day for Klina and Lee, first tying the knot in the Oxford Registry Office and then ambling to their alma mater Lady Margaret Hall for a renewal of vows ceremony, taking in the University Parks (and some pink champagne) with close friends and family en route. Klina wore a beautiful white dress made by her mother, and Lee wore striking purple shoes to accompany his morning suit. The day was full of similar fun, quirky details, summed up by the fancy dress code for the evening do, which the guests and the happy couple willingly took part in. Lee was transformed into Will Riker from Star Trek (though in his words: "a wig malfunction meant I ended up looking more like Ensign Ro Laren"), and there were rumours that he'd found a secret stash of Saurian brandy. It's difficult to do justice to all the fun, amazing things that happened that day, but hopefully the following pictures will give just a flavour...

Klina and Lee's engagement shoot

2011-08-03T16:24:00.000+01:00

I met up with Klina and Lee on a lovely sunny summer's day for their engagement shoot. They're tying the knot at the end of August and fingers are crossed for similarly lovely day then.

We started off with a few portraits in Klina and Lee's beautiful and very characterful flat in a development converted from a lovely old church and including the original church windows, which I included in some of the shots. We then moved on to Hampstead Heath, a short walk away. I was worried that the crowds on the Heath would make things difficult but we managed to find some relatively secluded locations for the shoot. At the end we came across a lovely little clearing which framed the couple wonderfully. The sunlight was very strong and the sun was fairly high up in the sky, so I shot in the shade and used off-camera flash on some occasions in order to add some emphasis and to counterbalance the bright background. Klina and Lee were a fun couple and I very much look forward to the wedding, which I understand will incorporate a fancy dress element. Marvellous. Can't wait.

Jewellery exhibition at the Academy of Medical Sciences, 41 Portland Place

2011-07-26T12:38:00.000+01:00

Thank you to Hannah and the team for making this job such a pleasure to work on. The Academy of Medical Sciences in Portland Place provides a great central London venue in a charming building. They've done a lot of conferences and dinners and the like (I understand) but are looking to branch out into exhibitions and the like. As you can see from the shots, that's something that they seem to do well!

The full set of photos on facebook

We Used To Make Things promo shoot

2011-04-13T16:37:00.005+01:00

Jumping to a much more recent job, here is the result of a recent shoot with the excellent We Used To Make Things (www.weusedtomakethings.com, but their facebook page is more content-laden).

I proposed a rather literal approach to the shoot in connection with the band name, and they were very good sports in helping to realise the shots (which involved lots of strange poses with lots of my two year old's toys).

(the main shot)

(an alternative)

(a partially finished shot, final version hopefully to follow)

Sophie and Steve's wedding

2011-04-13T10:09:00.004+01:00

Hugely belated congratulations to Sophie and Steve for tying the knot back in May 2009. The bride and the venue were beautiful (and the groom handsome, I'd add, in case Steve feels left out).

The Big Chill 2009

2011-04-13T09:38:00.016+01:00

This was the last year that the festival ran under the Canteloupe banner. It was notable for a zombie-themed first night in an attempt to break a world record for the largest undead gathering at a public event or somesuch. A lot of the following shots were used in official publications and also in an advertising/web campaign for Vodafone (not strictly speaking with my permission but more on that later).

Basement Jaxx rocking the main stage

It was great to see Lamb back - cracking set

Friendly Fires

Emilíana Torrini

Back from the dead

2011-04-13T09:37:00.003+01:00

It turns out that juggling two jobs and a baby/toddler (thankfully not literally) is somewhat time-consuming, and things like blog posts can fall by the wayside for considerable periods of time. There's light at the end of the tunnel now, so I think it's time to start catching up on some of the stuff I wanted to blog about...

Ben Mynott at the Big Chill Bar on 24 June 2009

2009-06-25T02:51:00.005+01:00

Fresh from the release of his latest Chillout Lounge CD (which I understand to be selling very well), Ben Mynott appeared at the Big Chill Bar today as part of the long-running Fluidnation event. Ben asked me to take a few more shots of him in action (to replace these shots that are now fairly old), and I was happy to oblige. This is far from my first shoot in the Big Chill Bar (but my first since the renovation of the DJ booth) so it was a useful opportunity to play around a bit with technique.

A few more pictures can be seen here.

Carole and Ed's engagement shoot

2009-06-24T10:16:00.005+01:00

Carole and Ed are getting married soon at two very exclusive venues in town - St. Barnabas, Pimlico and Kent House, in Knightsbridge. I'm looking forward to getting some lovely snaps at these two venues.

For their engagement shoot, Carole and Ed chose their home overlooking the City Road Basin, on the outskirts of the City of London. Although plagued by technical problems on the day for some reason (Sod's law was in full effect), I was able to use the backups to my backup kit to get some fairly relaxed shots of Carole and Ed both inside and outside their flat (on their balcony with a great view across London). See you guys at the wedding!

A few more shots here.

Baby William

2009-06-15T13:31:00.004+01:00

Apologies for the lack of updates over the last few months (and, like buses, three come along at once).

The reason should now hopefully be clear - meet baby William. He's great (now two months old) but parenthood is as tiring and demanding as they say! It is of course a great photographic opportunity, as these shots from the last two months will hopefully testify...

Katie and Dan's engagement shoot

2009-06-15T10:40:00.006+01:00

Katie and Dan will be getting hitched in August with their reception at the Royal Naval College in Greenwich, which I'm very much looking forward to. For their engagement shoot, we met up at next to a couple of other famous London landmarks - the Millennium Bridge and the Tate Modern gallery (within sight of St. Paul's cathedral across the river). The weather was perfect - a lovely balmy June day - and the South Bank was buzzing (that being more of an inconvenience than a benefit!).

The bright sun necessitated a more gadget-based photoshoot than usual, with some off-camera flash to mitigate the harshness of the mid-afternoon shadows. Most of the portraits were framed so as to include as many of the famous landmarks as possible - it seemed a shame to waste them! With a location like this it is of course a struggle to avoid shots that rise above the average 'holiday snap' - hopefully I pulled it off but you can judge for yourself!

More photos from the shoot can be seen here.

Emma and Darren's wedding

2009-06-15T08:56:00.007+01:00

You may recall Emma and Darren from their engagement shoot on Waterloo Bridge at Christmas. Their wedding took place in May in the most beautiful Royal Spa Hotel in Tunbridge Wells. The weather held, so after the ceremony in one of the hotel's elegant rooms everyone was able to enjoy a glass of Pimms by the lake in the hotel grounds. A vast amount of pollen floating around was an unexpected challenge - only by chance did our camera sensors avoid clogging up - but everyone valiantly persevered, supported as necessary in their efforts by the aforementioned glasses of Pimms.

Darren's contacts as a professional drummer allowed him to serve up one of the tightest wedding bands I've ever had the pleasure to listen to, which is just as well as many of the guests were professional musicians and no doubt demanded a high standard of music! As with all of the weddings I've had the pleasure to attend as photographer, much fun was had by all. I wish Emma and Darren all the best for the rest of their married life.

More photographs from the day can be found here.

Stephanie and Steven's engagement shoot

2009-03-16T12:58:00.004Z

Stephanie and Steven will be getting married in September 2010 in the lovely Gorse Lodge in Newark. I'm very much looking forward to shooting at that venue - it's a grand old hunting lodge with lots of antique hunting paraphernalia, and I suspect it'll make for some really special shots.

For their engagement shoot Stephanie and Steven said that they'd love to do something at Sherwood Forest, near Nottingham, because that was a location that had a particular significance for Steven. I thought that was a great choice, and was looking forward to making the most of the scenic and historic backdrop.

Here are some of the shots from the shoot. Many thanks to Stephanie and Steven for allowing me to repost them here - they were great sports during the shoot. (You can see a larger selection of the pictures here.)

In this shot I used some off-camera flash and balanced the flash and ambient exposure so as to enhance the moody atmosphere of the forest.

Erin and Chris' wedding (Toronto, Canada)

2009-02-16T01:02:00.006Z

It has been my great pleasure to know Erin for over ten years and Chris for a few less. It was an even greater pleasure to take pictures at their wedding.

Erin and Chris tied the knot in Toronto, Canada, where they both live and work. There are of course many differences between Canada and England, and it is (as ever) interesting to see how customs differ in particular in relation to weddings. But it is the way that couples choose to vary from the norm that imprints their personality on the event (and also keeps things interesting for the photographer!); Erin and Chris had planned a very laid back event that dispensed with much of the stiff formality and instead focussed on providing a great big party for their friends and family in a beautiful setting.

The wedding took place in the Berkeley Church, a rather 'underground' venue (they choose not to advertise widely) with a lot of cool credentials. It's a large building with lots of interesting spaces, and perfect for a wedding such as Erin and Chris'. It was of course lovely to get off the beaten track (namely England) and to explore the city of Toronto, hampered slightly by the unusually large amount of snow that had fallen in the city that winter. On a number of occasions I had to swap my smart shoes for a clumpy set of snow boots, but I was told that this was very much the done thing.

The day was a great success, and I had the pleasure of consuming vast quantities of tasty Canadian grub before, during and after the wedding (they do a mean brunch, the Canadians). The only downside was debilitating jetlag and some whiplash thanks to a minor skiing accident in Mont Tremblant before we all headed home again.

And now some pictures! You can see more here.

Before the wedding, Chris entertained his out of town friends at an upmarket pool joint (The Academy of Spherical Arts)

Alex and Darren's wedding

2009-01-20T02:00:00.009Z

Alex and Darren were treated to unseasonably warm weather for their wedding just before Christmas. The ceremony was at the world-famous Chelsea Registry Office, followed by a short trip to Chelsea Harbour to join the reception on a luxury cruise liner operating on the Thames. The crew of the Elizabethan (one of Thames Luxury Charters' boats) ran a tight ship, as it were, and ensured much merriment until the end of the evening.

London at night makes a great photographic backdrop, especially from the viewpoint of the Thames. Major landmarks such as Chelsea Bridge, the Houses of Parliament, HMS Belfast, the London Assembly building, the Tower of London and the Millennium Dome (as it once was) provide rich pickings for the photographer with the right low-light equipment. This was a real pleasure of a job!

Congratulations to Alex and Darren on getting married, and for hosting such a great bash.

More of the pictures can be seen here.

Emma and Darren's engagement shoot

2009-01-01T14:41:00.008Z

When I arrange an engagement shoot with a couple (that is, a portrait shoot to allow all of us to get to know each other before the wedding or civil partnership takes place), I normally have a discussion with the couple to choose a location for the shoot that will have a personal significance for them - be it their home, a place they both like to go, or a place where they met, for example.

For Emma and Darren, it was not so much a place that had a personal significance for them, but a time; Darren had proposed to Emma on Christmas day. Therefore we decided on a Christmassy theme for the shoot. This theme allowed for a number of interpretations, including some very obvious - and largely tacky - props and decorations.

The time around Christmas is distinctive in other ways, however. In the cold winter months the daylight has a lovely soft quality, and clear, deep blue skies often follow hazy, golden sunsets. Emma and Darren were also big fans of Neil Dawson, an artist who paints very distinctive and rather impressionistic city nightscapes (see here), and we thought it would be fun to try and recreate the look of some of those paintings.

Therefore we eventually settled on a less obvious interpretation of 'Christmas time', taking in the beautiful disposition of Somerset House and the views from Waterloo Bridge and down the Strand. It provided a number of challenges (balancing flash and ambient light, and dealing with a rather officious official who prohibited the use of a tripod inside Somerset House), and was a fun, if rather chilly, shoot. Thanks to Emma and Darren for being such good sports. And without further ado, here are some of the shots from the shoot:

Stay tuned for the wedding shots in May!

Best of 2008

2008-12-14T13:46:00.014Z

Some of the author's favourite photographs from 2008

2008 was an interesting year for me. At the beginning of the year I took the big step of going full time with my photographic activities. It's a big step because in this business there isn't a great deal of difference between 'full time employment' and 'full time unemployment', but I have no regrets - I feel fortunate that I have finally found a job that I truly enjoy.

In 2008 I mostly focussed (if you'll excuse the pun) on building up my weddings work, mostly by carrying out my duties as wedding photographer for a variety of lovely couples, but there are a whole lot of other things involved in running a successful wedding photography business: this year I have also launched and maintained my website and gallery; written this blog; booked wedding fairs; produced leaflets; built relationships with other photographers; provided reprints to guests; sourced new suppliers for boxes, prints and frames; tweaked and filled various accounting spreadsheets; commissioned a variety of forms of business stationery; stripped bare the shelves of my local Staples store; repaired a hard disk crash; filed away physical reams of correspondence and digital reams of photographs; met up with clients before, during and after their big day; registered on various wedding photographer directories; answered dozens and dozens of wedding enquiries; scouted locations; carried out engagement shoots in all sorts of interesting places; spent weeks of my life doing post-processing on all of my photographs; read lots of wedding photography magazines; writing blog entries and engaging in other forms of self-promotion; and so on. I have enjoyed pretty much all of these activities, I should make it clear - but I do wish that I got paid per hour for doing them!

Event photography is a similar thing to wedding photography (although the term 'event photography' means a lot of things to a lot of people) - as far as I'm concerned, it's all about capturing the places, people and events in the most flattering light - and I've had the chance to develop my business in this area as well during 2008. I've undertaken a variety of 'corporate jobs' this year (some in the event photography field), and I suspect that I enjoy these more than many of my professional colleagues. A job is a job, and I derive a great satisfaction from taking flattering portraits and capturing moments, whether it be for my best friend or a multinational. I haven't really shown off any of my corporate work this year (bar in the music field - see below), partly because getting proper clearance to use the shots can be a bit of a pain (due to the nature of the work), but maybe I can work some shots in later.

It is worth noting in passing that owning the copyright to a photograph does not necessarily mean that you can exploit it as you see fit (something which many of my colleagues are not aware of or simply disregard). in an extreme example I could get sued for libel if I used a photograph of someone on my website without permission (because it may suggest that they endorse my business). There are also issues with privacy laws, especially if the photograph was taken at a private event and/or in a private place. So I do try to get permission from everyone in my photographs before posting using the photographs in my website, blog or promotional material, but partly as a matter of courtesy. One exception is music festivals and the like, where a condition of entry on the ticket is that you consent to being photographed on site (perhaps a bit sneaky, but getting clearance otherwise is damn near impossible).

Speaking of music festivals and the world of live performance, I was glad to be able to indulge my particular passion for live music photography this year with some relatively decent acts. Music photography is a very difficult field to get into (at least, if you want to make any money out of it), so it remains something of an occasional hobby for me at the moment while I concentrate on the weddings business. 2009 holds some particular challenges for me in the non-photographic world, but I hope that I can find the time to give a little more attention to the music photography next year. When I made the leap from amateur to professional (at least in terms of getting paid which, after all, is the only true measure for photographers) it was by spending night after night taking pictures of unsigned and little-known bands, all the time refining my technique and equipment until I could comfortably deliver great low-light action photographs (a must for weddings and the like!).

Of course, it is pleasing to see that some of those little-known acts (at the time) are doing so well!

Belleruche, signed to Tru-Thoughts. Their second album 'The Express' now available!

Lastly, I think it is very important to keep learning and to keep trying new things, and one way I did that in 2008 was to start a little flickr group to carry out a series of photographic challenges. Sadly the group is now 'resting' after I handed it over to someone else, but maybe I'll try again next year. It was all very good fun, by the way.

So, without further ado, here are my faves from 2008:

Winter/Spring 2008

Spring was a little quiet, as I completed the process of quitting my job and shoring up my finances in readiness for a life as a full time professional photographer, but I still had time for a wedding and a few personal projects.

A portrait of my father (a great man) that I particularly like. Cheating a little, as it was taken just before the start of 2008.

Alison and Russell's wedding (still cheating, although now only two days before the start of 2008).

Nima and Mark's wedding at the RAC Club in Pall Mall in January. A fabulous dress!

For a dash of corporate job, here is Yasmin Le Bon captured at a style lounge event for the Baftas in February.

Fast forward to Easter, and I catch my brother in law and his son having a shared moment.

Portraits of The Cool Kats (Kat Arney and Kat Vipers)

A graveyard abstract, from a personal project (taking a black and white shot with severe technical restrictions).

The very talented comedienne Lauren Shearing.

The Council House in Nottingham, setting for Rosa and Andrew's wedding.

Summer 2008

The Summer means music festivals!

Various scenes from Wakestock 2008 (Blenheim)

The Farnborough Air Show 2008

Various scenes from The Big Chill 2008

Autumn/Winter 2008

Bombay Monkey play at Flomotion, at the Big Chill House

Stephy and Rob are engaged.

Stephy and Rob are married.

Maretta and Matthew enjoy the 'just married' moment.

So do Sam and Andy.

Sunrise on the Nile in Luxor, Egypt

There were many more great weddings, events, gigs, and so on, and many more photos I'd like to have put up here, but I don't want to bore everyone silly, so I'll sign off now and wish you all a pleasant end to 2008 and a brilliant 2009!

Matt

Luxor, Egypt

2008-12-01T16:59:00.004Z

And we return to Luxor... some pictures here of Queen Hatshepsut's temple, Karnak temple and Luxor temple.

The view from Queen Hatshepsut's temple

An obelisk at Luxor temple

Luxor temple again. The sense of scale is very impressive in places like this.

Old meets new in Luxor.

Embracing the heiroglyphs at Karnak temple

A local waiting around for tips in Karnak temple

Sunset over the Nile

Sunset over the Nile, again

Luxor, Egypt

2008-11-24T13:23:00.004Z

I recently had the pleasure of spending a week in Luxor, Egypt, which is home to The Valley of The Kings, Karnak Temple, Luxor Temple, Queen Hatshepsut's Temple, and numerous other sites of Egyptian antiquity. The Nile is also a beautiful spot to relax (once you get away from all the hassles and hasslers in the town itself).

I would highly recommend anyone to visit Luxor, and also to read up on the history and culture of the region (e.g. here). But for now I'll just let the pictures do the talking. This first set was taken during the course of a hot air balloon ride on the outskirts of Luxor. A must-do in my opinion!

Dawn balloon flights over the Valley of The Kings

Dawn over the Nile

Dawn over the Nile, again

Preparing to take off in the desert

View from a hot air balloon over the desert

Where the fertile Nile lands meet the desert

Looking down at harvested crops

The ground crew try to pack up the balloon as the ride finally ends

I'll put up some more pictures soon. In the meantime, you can see the whole highlights set here.

Stephy and Rob's wedding

2008-11-16T19:29:00.002Z

As mentioned in my last post, here are some shots from Rob and Stephy's wedding. Rob and Stephy got married in Amersham in a beautiful church, and had their reception in the nearby Crown Hotel. They opted for a selection of cakes and tea instead of the more traditional reception, and the hotel's chef did them proud. The weather was also superb, allowing everyone to enjoy the outside space in the hotel. It was a really pleasant day.

Stephie and Rob engagement shoot

2008-11-12T15:54:00.004Z

Stephie and Rob have kindly agreed to let me share some pictures from their engagement shoot and wedding. I should add that these are pictures that I have myself taken, but I consider it courteous to ask before using them!

First off: the engagement shoot, which took place in September in a very damp London, mostly around Grosvenor Square (in front of the US Embassy). Stephie and Rob are obviously both full of love for each other, and I think it really comes across in the photos.

I'll put up the wedding shots shortly. I am pleased to say that the weather was much improved by that point!

Flomotion at the Big Chill House (14 August 2008)

2008-08-15T02:28:00.003+01:00

Nick Luscombe and co provided another great evening's entertainment at the Big Chill House in London with live acts including Origami Dinosaur, Sound Sanctuary and Bombay Monkey (who were launching their fantastic new album, 130 Astronauts).

This was a real photographic challenge due to none of the house lights being operational for some reason (just some dim red floods - the default 'annoy the photographer' lighting setting), but it's good to be challenged sometimes :)

Bombay Monkey (half thereof, with guest scratch DJ)

Origami Dinosaur

Origami Dinosaur

Sound Sanctuary

Sound Sanctuary

The Big Chill festival 2008 (part two - Saturday)

2008-08-04T10:39:00.004+01:00

Here are some more shots from the Big Chill festival:

Beth Orton

Beth Orton

The Mighty Boosh

Noel Fielding from The Mighty Boosh

There's a few more pictures here.

The Big Chill Festival 2008 (part one - Friday)

2008-08-04T01:09:00.004+01:00

I'm just back from the festival. I was saddened not to hang around for Leonard Cohen's set (amongst other things) but it was beginning to rain, my lack of sleep was catching up with me, I'd lost my waterproof top, and my feet had come out in blisters - so time to call it a day I thought. I also missed lots of treats because I spent quite a while processing my pictures on-site; on the plus side I can now post those shots without further delay.

Roots Manuva

Roots Manuva

The Orb

The Orb

It's a great festival!

Saturday pictures to follow.

Farnborough International Airshow 2008

2008-07-17T13:39:00.003+01:00

On-site at the Farnborough Airshow to do a bit of corporate/commercial work, I took advantage of being where I was to do a bit of aerial photography (as you do). I think the B-1 bomber took the crown as the Loudest Damn Aircraft In The Vicinity, but a few other aircraft were also noisy enough to set off most car and house alarms in the vicinity. A fun day, but very tiring, and I got enormously sunburnt! Anyway, here are a few shots from this set.

One of the Blades' aerobatic team doing something crazy

All four of the Blades' team doing something crazy

An F-18 taking off

You can bet the pilot was feeling that turn

A Eurofighter Typhoon being put through its paces (with afterburners engaged - not a quiet aircraft)

Wakestock 2008 at Blenheim Palace (Sunday)

2008-07-03T22:48:00.002+01:00

The weather over the weekend was generally good and sunny, if on the windy side (which made striking a tent quite challenging). The sun brought out lots of smiles!

There were also fairly continuous displays of skateboarding and BMX tricks on the Vans-sponsored ramp. The pool gap was also busy again, including a wet t-shirt competition.

Then on to the evening's entertainment, with Estelle, The Streets, The Futureheads and Supergrass (amongst others) doing the honours.

Estelle

Mike Skinner from The Streets

The Streets

Supergrass

Wakestock 2008 at Blenheim Palace (Saturday)

2008-07-02T14:05:00.005+01:00

Saturday morning at Wakestock kicked off with some of the world's best wakeboarders competing on the lake beneath Blenheim Palace to see who could pull off the best stunts and tricks. It was a more relaxed affair on the lakeside, with the festival punters easing out of their hangovers from the night before with some free energy drink samples that were being handed out and hot bacon butties from the van parked nearby.

After the wakeboarding, everyone decamped back to the main festival site. There was more wakeboarding at the Pool Gap, a custom wakeboarding stunt pool erected in the middle of the main arena. There was the odd painful moment as the riders wiped out.

The festival had secured some pretty big names to play on the various stages spread across the site (not bad for Glastonbury weekend). The headliners on Saturday included The Happy Mondays, The Mark Ronson Players and Funeral for a Friend, who all gave very entertaining performances (having said which, Shaun Ryder and Bez from the Happy Mondays didn't look as if they were too sure where they were).

Shaun, Bez and a guest vocalist from The Happy Mondays

Bez from the Happy Mondays

The crowd goes wild for Mark Ronson

Mark Ronson

Mark Ronson, again

Funeral for a friend

Stay tuned for Sunday's action!

Wakestock 2008 at Blenheim Palace (Friday)

2008-07-01T12:15:00.003+01:00

Wakestock is "Europe's largest wakeboard music festival". It's been going for many years in Abersoch in North Wales, but this year they branched out to a new venue: Blenheim Palace near Oxford, in the village of Woodstock (an apt location for a music festival perhaps). It was a blast - highly recommended.

I arrived late on the Friday evening, but managed to snap some pictures of DJ Nu-Mark (and his appreciative crowd) performing in the Beach Arena. I'll put up more pictures from the weekend soon.

Seiko portraits

2008-06-18T20:24:00.004+01:00

Thanks Seiko. Make-up by Daisy Jacobs, who comes highly recommended (e-mail me for contact details).

The aim of this shoot was to get some natural, pretty shots in a fairly neutral setting (similar to Lauren's pictures below, even down to the tree) - and a new passport photo (not shown)! This shoot came about because Seiko was saying how she was very sad not to have any 'proper' pictures of herself when she was younger. I was very happy to take some shots so she won't regret the same thing about now.

I spent a bit longer than usual working on the posing side of things, although you wouldn't necessarily know it from these examples. Seiko said she was surprised (but had come to understand) how much there was too it. With my photography I prefer to let people just 'be themselves', but I think the real skill is directing someone so that they assume a natural mannerism for them which also happens to be a great pose. And then of course there is the fun of breaking the rules, but you've got to know what the rules are in order to do that...

Rosa and Andrew

2008-05-27T14:38:00.004+01:00

Congratulations to Rosa and Andrew on their wedding on 10 May 2008. The venue for the ceremony was the Council House in Nottingham, which is rather more grand than the name might suggest (see picture below). The reception took place at the Nottingham University Staff Members Club, located next to the stunning Millennium Garden in the Nottingham University campus. Truly a lovely place to get married.

There's a few more in the set here.

Lauren

2008-05-05T17:54:00.005+01:00

Lauren is a talented and funny comedienne (appearing at the Edinburgh Festival this year under the guise of 'Tea and Cake').

A couple of weeks ago we had a combined headshot / publicity shot (for her imminent new website) shoot. All of the shots were taken with my 70-200mm f2.8 lens, which provides a flattering perspective, and a shallow depth of field in the non-flash shots. (For the shots taken with flash in the studio, the aperture was - of necessity - stopped down to give the correct exposure.)

Here are a few of the results:

(larger versions are available by clicking the pictures and then clicking on the 'all sizes' link)

Thanks to Emily Hurt

2008-04-27T11:28:00.002+01:00

I like it :)

The Cool Kats promo shoot

2008-04-07T13:13:00.007+01:00

Kat Arney (a celebrated harpist who appears on a large number of music tracks by various artists) and Kat Vipers (a very talented and versatile singer) have teamed up to form The Cool Kats.

With Amparo Zamora kindly providing make-up, we met up for a promo shot late last Friday. I think we were all feeling pretty tired after a busy week, but everyone soldiered on valiantly :)

Keeping lighting simple (shoot-through umbrella at top right of shot and backlight at top left) we run through various poses around Kat (Arney)'s impressive harp. The two Kats posed gracefully and without much direction (I think they've done this before you know) and I tried my best to make the most of the impressive prop - the harp has such lovely curves that open up lots of interesting compositional possibilities.

I find that my style in the studio tends towards running through lots of different poses and trying to get people immersed in the shoot and relaxed. To avoid breaking the mood I avoid making tweaks to the lighting during the shoot, which can lead to me having to do more post-processing than perhaps I ought. This shoot was no exception, but I think the means justifies the end...

Anyway, here are some of the pictures (or view a slideshow):

Easter 2008

2008-03-24T11:31:00.007Z

I thought I'd stick up a few shots I took at a family gathering on Easter Sunday. Normally I'd leave my camera at home on such occasions (because I think it's good to get some downtime), but on this occasion my arm was twisted - and I'm glad it was.

One of my nephews (aged 4) mugs up to the camera something rotten, but when people (of all ages) do this, the solution is to keep taking pictures and otherwise get them so used to my presence (and my camera's presence) that they begin to forget I'm there. At that point, lovely candid/natural shots start presenting themselves.

(this picture was completely unposed - it was a test shot, in fact. I love the subconscious mirroring of gestures between my nephew and his father.)

(Molly the cat)

Poker

2008-03-17T01:21:00.003Z

I do enjoy the mix of psychology and strategy you can get in a poker game (even if I fail miserably at both). From a photographic standpoint, I am fascinated by the variety of poker faces and betting styles that one can find on show during a typical game...

More here...

The Big Chill 2008

2008-03-06T23:11:00.009Z

So today more acts are announced for the Big Chill 2008, and I can reveal that once again I will be taking pictures at the festival (although I suspect that the former statement has more drawing power than the latter).

Anyway, it's an excuse to dig up some of my favourite pictures from two years ago on flickr:

I'm looking forward to it already...

One that got away

2008-03-02T13:42:00.004Z

I forgot about this shot of Sienna Miller that I took at from the Bafta PR shoot (see below):

New portrait

2008-02-28T10:15:00.003Z

This was a shot from a very quick portrait shoot I did earlier this week, but I was quite pleased with the quality of light.

Baftas style lounge

2008-02-27T00:50:00.008Z

Carrying on from the old mini-blog here, I recently had an interesting job shooting at a style lounge for the Baftas. All the celebs were very good natured, although in my view that's not all that hard when people are giving you a ton of free designer goods...

Here's a few shots from the weekend:

(from top: Yasmin Le Bon, Neve Campbell, Jodie Kidd and Astrid Muñoz)