Mon - May 22, 2006

Richard Hawley 

Tonight I travelled to Portsmouth to see the genius that is Richard Hawley (!) in concert. I went with my friend Will, a talented music photographer who wangled a photo pass to the gig for me. It was great to be able to have access to the stage to get some nice angles on the performance. Will is writing a gig review for the Reading University student magazine and for the BBC Radio Berkshire website which will be accompanied by my images.

The support act was Micah P. Hinson, a gravel voiced Texan who performed a superb short set on acoustic guitar, accompanied by harmonica.



Richard Hawley was in fine form fronting a 5 piece band who were all superb musicians. He hails from Sheffield and musically speaking he wears his heart firmly on sleeve. The influences of American music from the forties through to the sixties are clear but there is a depth to the music that shines through and bears repeated playing. Thoroughly recommended if you get a chance to catch them on the current UK tour promoting the latest album 'Coles Corner'.










Guitarist 'Shez'







Support act Micah P. Hinson from Abilene, Texas.


I think the singing got in the way of his smoking sometimes...



Sidekick Oliver on harmonica.
 

Posted at 11:59 PM    

Sat - May 20, 2006

Congratulations to Celia & Carl! 

Celia and Carl got married today in Addlestone and afterwards at the fabulous Great Fosters in Egham. A good time was had by all and it was nice to meet Anna & Greg, a couple who's wedding I shot two years ago. They have a brand new tiny baby boy called Ethan. Anna and Greg were good enough to refer me to Celia and Carl for today's wedding. Miraculously the weather held off in the afternoon which was great as Carl had arrived a surprised dove release for Celia. The look on the two pageboys faces were priceless as they opened the basket containing the doves! You'll have to wait until the bride and groom get back from honeymoon in Mexico to see these and the rest of the pictures. As always, let me know if you want to be notified by email when the wedding images get uploaded. In the meantime, here are few of my favourites from the day.


 

Posted at 02:57 PM    

Thu - May 11, 2006

In the garden 

My daughter Evie (aged 5) is spending some time gardening today. She's five and loves to be outside planting and generally getting her hands dirty. I shot some pictures (it's fascinating watching work going on :) ) and they looked really nice as a collage. This way of laying out images works really well - it's something we do for our wedding albums and increasingly for outdoor portrait sessions. There is a stronger storytelling element this way and I like to think it will be nice also for her to look back on when she's grown up. If only to think "Why was my Dad just taking pictures instead of helping me!?"


 

Posted at 05:02 PM    

Sun - May 7, 2006

Sat - May 6, 2006

Kate & Peter's Wedding 

Congratulations to Kate & Peter who got married today at Pennyhill Park Hotel. The ceremony was in the beautiful Library at the hotel and against all odds the weather held off for drinks on the terrace afterwards. The evening was rounded off with a black tie dinner and the bride and groom are off to Mauritius for two weeks. If you were at the wedding and would like to know when the full gallery of images is being posted, drop me an email and I'll let you know.

In the meantime, here are a few of my favourite images from the day.


 

Posted at 08:44 AM    

Fri - May 5, 2006

More work at Thrive 

Up at Thrive (the national horticultural charity) again today finishing off where I left it last week when the heavens opened. It's a beautiful time of year to be outside, life springing up everywhere. I've tried to reflect that in the images.

If you would like to see a slideshow of the garden images I photographed, turn your speakers on and click here.



 

Posted at 07:16 PM    

Wed - May 3, 2006

My new love... 

OK, I admit I'm a total iTunes junkie and although I resisted for a long time, I finally gave in to temptation and bought the new iPod Hifi . It's amazing how quickly times have changed and now that I have around 1500 tunes on my iPod (modest by some standards), it's so much easier to use than hunting down an obscure CD. It's great you can have different playlists for different times and I also a playlist for my kids (aged 8 and 4) to keep them happy during teatime (anything for an easy life).

The sound quality is pretty good, fills the room and has a very clear feel to it. Like all speaker systems of this kind you don't get true stereo spread but it's a very impressive sound none the less, and the bass is nicer than I expected as well. The little remote control you get with the system is great although I know I'm going to lose it very quickly :(






 

Posted at 03:58 PM    

Tue - May 2, 2006

Isabella 

Here's some images we shot of little Isabella who has just turned 5. I love the energy children of this age have, they don't sit still for 5 seconds ! This is great because you can get some images which are so full of life and they seem to reflect their characters so well rather than the posed, static pictures of years gone by.

My daughter is the same age as Isabella and it didn't surprise me that she turned up with several changes of clothing, including the red party dress ! Turn your speakers on and click here for her slideshow.









 

Posted at 12:27 PM    

Tue - April 25, 2006

Thrive 

I was up at Thrive's Garden Project at Trunkwell in Beech Hill today. The plan was to shoot some nice images to update their image library and have some new pictures for their reports and newsletters. Unfortunately the weather was against us and it rained...and rained...I bravely took refuge in a greenhouse until it finally stopped. I made a slideshow of some of the images shot today and you can view it here. The staff and fundraisers at Thrive do a really good job for a worthwhile cause. If you get a chance please visit their website to see if you can help. If you're a keen gardener they have an Open Day on the 2nd of July. You can read about it here.


I plan to drop by again at the end of the week to carry on where I left off today when the beautiful spring weather kicked in :) 

Posted at 07:28 PM    

Mon - April 10, 2006

Caleb 

Caleb is a young violinist and brother of Elias who I photographed last month. His Mum brought him in after seeing his brother's pictures and requested a similar style. Again the idea was for a variety of images for different uses. Here's a few of my favourites.


 

Posted at 02:54 PM    

Sun - April 9, 2006

Going Underground 

We took the kids to the Science Museum today and on the way back I decided to shoot some images in the underground in the big tunnel that leads from South Kensington tube to the museums. Shooting at slow shutter speeds is a bit hit and miss and the images you think won't work sometimes do (and vica versa :( ).

These pics were taken at around a 1/15th of a second and although I usually strive for sharp images, it was cool just to go for the blur. To make it more fun I didn't look through the camera viewfinder.

I think the sense of movement complements the subject matter quite well and they seemed to work so much better in black and white.



 

Posted at 07:58 PM    

Sat - April 8, 2006

Congratulations Hannah & Nick ! 

Hannah and Nick got married today at Greyfriars Church in Reading. The rain held off (unlike yesterday) and although it was a bit blowy, it stayed dry until the meal which was held in the conservatory at the Mill House Hotel. The couple are off to Edinburgh for their honeymoon (hopefully they'll get good weather there too) and as usual we will post all their pictures in our online gallery when they get back. Let me know if you wish to be notified of when that happens.

In the meantime, here are a few of my favourite images.

 

Posted at 07:32 PM    

Tue - April 4, 2006

A sky collage 

I often shoot pictures of the sky (I know, I know...) but I think like a lot of things you see everyday, you take it for granted and stop noticing it. Anyway I thought these four images looked really nice together as a collage. For some reason they worked better with a sepia tone here than in plain black and white, kind of peaceful.




 

Posted at 07:25 PM    

Wed - March 29, 2006

Spring ? 

I was at Pennyhill Park today photographing a series of meetings for a major multinational brands company and on the way out of the building I noticed for the first time this year that spring was on the way. It wasn't as warm as it could be, but it definitely looked to me that winter is behind us.

I shot this image in the pond at the back of the hotel on the way to the car park. The pond is only a few feet across but I used the incredible Nikon 10.5mm fisheye lens and corrected the verticals later in Photoshop. The perspective of the lens makes the little pond look like a lake.


 

Posted at 10:00 PM    

Mon - March 27, 2006

Sidney 

I photographed young Sidney today. I shot his parent's wedding a couple of years ago at Windsor Guildhall and Ascot Racecourse and, as always, it was a pleasure to welcome back an ex-bride and groom and their first child.

Little Sid is only a couple of weeks old here and it's really nice to photograph babies at any age but especially when they're so young. They change so much during their first months that it's difficult to remember how tiny they were when they were born. I'm pleased to say Sid's parents are coping well, they were up with him several times the night before the portrait session but didn't look any the worse for wear !


 

Posted at 09:53 PM    

Tue - March 21, 2006

Elias 

Elias is a talented young musician who plays a variety of stringed instruments. He brought four of them along to a studio portrait session today and the idea was to shoot some images for his new website and also have some images for future use for advertising, flyers etc.

Apart from the 'standard' style of images it was nice to shoot some more individual images with a bit more creativity. I think these worked particularly well in black and white and here are a few of my favourite images from the session.

 

Posted at 06:43 PM    

Sat - March 18, 2006

The Italian Job 

I was asked to visit the International Photography Festival in Orvieto, Italy this weekend by my friend Jim Lowe. Jim is one of the UK's leading architectural photographers and currently vice-president of the Federation of European Photographers. It was a nice short break even though it meant flying out of Gatwick at 0630 on Saturday morning...

Apart from the pleasure of attending exhibitions and seminars by leading European photographers, we had a little time for a wander around Orvieto. It's a mediaeval walled town built on an extinct volcano in Umbria, about an hour north of Rome. It was like walking through a film set with many narrow winding alleyways and streets. The worn facades of the buildings and the fabulous doorways contributed to the great atmosphere. The town was dominated by it's colossal 14th century cathedral which you suddenly stumble across when exploring. It is so large you think your eyes are playing tricks on you when you see it first.

Here's a few images I took there as we spent a couple of hours wandering around the town. It was nice as always just to shoot images for myself, something I think is important as it's a time to develop one's style and approach to a different subject.

 

Posted at 07:03 PM    

Wed - March 8, 2006

Megan & Alex 

Today I was asked to photograph brother and sister Alex and Megan at home. Their mother had a new kitchen built so it was a nice idea to shoot the pictures there. I love informal children's photography. When they are in their own home, children are a lot more relaxed. Sometimes with studio based photography children feel they have to 'perform' somehow and sometimes the pictures can be a bit contrived. Photography in the home often is more of a play time than a photography sessiom. Certainly there was a lot more rolling around on the floor ! I think the images are a lot more informal and this helps the personality of the children to come through.


 

Posted at 06:19 PM    

Fri - February 10, 2006

Liz and Steve tie the knot ! 

Congratulations to Liz and Steve who got married today at the Mill House Hotel in Swallowfield. It was a beautiful bright February day and the temperature was above freezing, which was a bonus :)

The service was very nice; this time of year weddings are a bit thin on the ground so it is great that the registrar can take a little more time without rushing off to the next wedding (and the next...)

Here's a small selection of images that I liked when I was going through the pictures after the wedding. As always, if you were at the wedding and would like to know when all the pictures are going online, drop me an email (via the Feedback button below).




 

Posted at 04:59 PM    

Thu - February 9, 2006

A Photo Shoot 

A slightly unusual job today as I was asked to photograph a clay pigeon shoot at Pennyhill Park Hotel. The client was a City firm who were having an out of town conference and wanted some photographic souvenirs of their day out.

Check out that picture of the clay pigeon shattering. That was taken with my new Nikon D200 . I was amazed that the autofocus managed to grab onto the tiny, swiftly moving target. Still, I am used to photographing small children at weddings so the clay pigeon was a piece of cake by comparison. The D200 is a lovely camera, I bought it to keep the mighty D2X company and it's very nice to use indeed. As it's a smaller camera, it's more unobtrusive to use which is great for any kind of people photography. I like to keep things low key at weddings and particularly enjoy photographing people whilst they are enjoying themselves during the reception. This kind of camera makes that easier and the image quality is fantastic.


 

Posted at 05:32 PM    

Sat - January 28, 2006

Congratulations Louise & Tom ! 

My coldest wedding yet as temperatures dipped to -20 degrees (probably) as Louise and Tom got married at the William of York Church in Reading. We huddled in our cars waiting for the church to open. Needless to say we shot most of the pictures inside although we grabbed a few outdoor shots. The reception was at the Great House in Sonning and (with the permission of the bride and groom I hasten to add) we walked down to the river to shoot a few pictures. It's always nice to show the setting of the reception I feel, so I was pleased to be able to show the waterside feature of the hotel . Swiftly back inside to warm up I left as the meal was starting in the newly decorated Regatta restaurant.

As usual, the whole wedding will be posted in a week or two. Drop me an email if you would like to be notified when we upload the pictures. In the meantime, here's a few of my favourites.




 

Posted at 09:44 PM    

Sat - January 14, 2006

Ceri & Mark get married ! 

Despite the dull DARK ! day at Pennyhill Park Hotel, a good time was had by all as Ceri and Mark tied the knot.

Winter weddings are so much more difficult to photograph due to the lack of available light, but I was pleased today to get some really nice images. The Bride & Groom are off to Canada for honeymoon. When they return to view their images I'll post a slideshow on my blog so if you were at the wedding, please check back then.


 

Posted at 11:43 PM    

Fri - January 13, 2006

Rory and Ellie 

Rory & Ellie's Mum sent them to be photographed today. We had great fun and got some nice pictures as you can see from the slideshow.








Check out the slideshow by clicking here .

You can look at all the images by going to the main site or by clicking here.  

Posted at 11:22 AM    

Wed - January 11, 2006

Wed - January 4, 2006

Pria 

Here's some images I really liked from a recent session for the beautiful Pria who commissioned me to shoot some nice relaxed images. I wanted to shoot some pictures with traditional studio portrait values but in a more laid back style.




 

Posted at 06:07 PM    

Sat - December 24, 2005

Happy Christmas 

- and the very best wishes for 2006 to all our readers :)


 

Posted at 07:36 PM    

Wed - December 21, 2005

Kung Fu 

I'm working on album layouts for some late summer weddings and I liked this sequence. Sometimes a series of images works better than a single picture on a page. I love the pose in the last frame !


 

Posted at 08:00 PM    

Mon - December 5, 2005

Nathan and his girls 

Resident website genius Nathan and his family visited today. You can view the full gallery here (for the next six weeks).

I really like the top picture of Nathan and his eldest daughter Neve and I love the contrast of new baby Isla's baby skin and Nathan's grizzled visage (sorry Nathan !)




 

Posted at 03:01 PM    

Sat - December 3, 2005

Antonia 

Peter and Eva brought their beautiful daughter Antonia in to the studio for some photographs. She's 7 years old and has changed quite a bit since I last took her picture aged one (Antonia that is, not me).



 

Posted at 07:45 PM    

Amy & Stephen 

It was a pleasure to photograph these two, I like the fashion magazine feel to these images. The toughest part of this shoot was persuading Mum and Dad to join in for some family pictures !




 

Posted at 07:39 PM    

Wed - November 30, 2005

Yan 

Yan is a classical violinist. She's soon to embark on a concert tour of China, performing with an orchestra as well as a duo for some smaller performances. She needed some images for the tour promotion - posters, programmes, flyers etc. so I was pleased to be able to help with the images. The brief was to create some contemporary images with a fresher feel than the more usual formal images. Here's a few of my favourites from the portrait session.



 

Posted at 05:43 PM    

Mon - November 28, 2005

Baby Isobel 

Isobel visited today. She is 5 1/2 months old. She brought her parents with her and we shot many cute pictures !

I really liked this one as it's not a typical baby portrait. She looks like she's going to make a speech :) Well done to her Dad who was lying on the floor, doing the glove puppet thing and making sure she didn't topple backwards !


 

Posted at 11:47 AM     Read More  

Sat - November 19, 2005

Debbie and Robert get married ! 

A chilly November afternoon and Robert and Debbie got married at Pennyhill Park in Bagshot. Mostly we stayed inside (for obvious reasons !) but I was pleased we managed to grab a couple of outdoor images.

I really like the one where the couple are silhouetted against the floodlit building. You can see the daylight just hanging on in the deep blue of the sky which contrasts nicely with the colour of the building lights. Well done to the bride and groom for venturing outside with me ! There's also a few more images here that caught my eye. Debbie and Robert are off to the warmer shores of the Maldives and Dubai for honeymoon and as usual the full wedding gallery will be uploaded on their return.


 

Posted at 03:02 PM    

Tue - November 1, 2005

A sunny seaside morning 

On this rainy November morning I was thinking about the summer and remembered this image. I shot it on a boat in Poole harbour when we took the children for a day out by the seaside. I grabbed my camera out of the bag and shot without checking the settings. The pic was totally overexposed, far too light for a 'good' exposure. I nearly trashed it, but there was something about the light, airy feeling that reminded me of that early morning boat trip.

A little Apple Mac magic, colours tweaked, a sky from another time and place added and here's my final result. Only now I'm thinking "I wonder if I could get it to work well in black and white....?" Must get some proper work done...





 

Posted at 11:13 AM    

Sat - October 29, 2005

Another Saturday... 

...another beautiful bride !

Rebecca married Simon today at Pennyhill Park. Despite being a grey October day, we stayed dry (well, mostly) and all went well. The bride and groom are off to Mauritius on honeymoon. As always, the pictures will be posted when they get back. If you were at the wedding and would like to know when their gallery is active, please email me !





 

Posted at 06:45 PM     Read More  

Tue - October 25, 2005

Stephanie, Shaun and The Bump 

With about 6 weeks to go, Steph and Shaun came for some 'bump' pictures. Late pregnancy is such a short period of time (although I have it on good authority that it feels like it lasts forever !), so in my opinion some pictures are a really good idea. Their life will be turned upside down very soon ! I think it's a nice idea that one day their child will be able to see how things started out for them !


 

Posted at 05:45 PM    

Mon - October 24, 2005

Lensbaby 

I've had this strange device for ages but only tried it out once. I decided to give it an airing in town in the rain this morning. Basically a lens baby is a lens mounted on a flexible, spring plastic tube that works a bit like the bellows in an old fashioned view camera .

You move the flexible tube around until part of the image comes into focus. It's a bit hit and miss, but a nice antidote to sharp, precisely controlled images. The pictures have a bit of an organic feel. With so much control over images possible these days, it's refreshing to shoot some pictures which have a unique look created in-camera as opposed to after the event in the computer.

I like the way it makes the building look like it's in motion, with only the nameplate sharp. I like motion in static images, it might be nice to try the technique on a wedding soon to get some images with a unique look to them. I do like the wedding albums I design to have unusual images in them to catch the eye.



 

Posted at 03:03 PM    

Sat - October 22, 2005

Rachel & Tim's Wedding 

It was the first time for me in a long time today at a register office as Tim & Rachel got married in Guildford. I'm still waiting for the Autumn weather to kick in but we had another beautiful day today. Surprisingly it wasn't too busy at the register office and we got some nice family pictures before moving on to the reception for some relaxed portraits in the grounds of the hotel.

Here's some images I liked when I was checking the pictures out on my return.

The full wedding will be up next week !



 

Posted at 08:28 PM    

Sun - October 16, 2005

Sunday Afternoon 

We visited some friends for lunch today and afterwards went for a walk in the woods. The children played hide and seek in the bushes. This is Lily.


 

Posted at 07:22 PM    

Fri - October 14, 2005

Thrive 

I was asked to shoot some picture for Thrive - a charity based a few miles from me in Beech Hill. They also have gardens in London.

Thrive's aim is to enable positive change in the lives of disabled and disadvantaged people through the use of gardening and horticulture.

It was a pleasure to work in the gardens at Beech Hill. Gardening is such a positive activity and, over time, makes a huge difference to the lives of the people that they look after. Please check their website if you can help either directly or via their regular fundraising activities.

The pictures I shot today are to be used for their 2005 reports and new brochure.



 

Posted at 12:41 PM    

Mon - October 10, 2005

Simon Alexander 

Simon Alexander is an amazing magician who specialises in parties, events and weddings. I think it's a really cool idea for weddings to keep the guests amused during the reception.

The idea was to create non-cheesy images for website and brochure use (no top hats or rabbits thank you !). It's an interesting subject to photograph. These are a few studio shots that I liked (I'm editing the rest today) and we may have a second shoot on location - somewhere atmospheric and a bit spooky would be nice.

If you meet Simon at a party he may get you to sign a £5 note which will strangely disappear from right in front of your eyes...and be subsequently found inside a lemon that you've been holding all evening...most disturbing !


 

Posted at 11:59 AM    

Sun - October 9, 2005

Marcus and Slim ! 

Wendy (AKA Slim) and Marcus had a fantastic wedding at Gravetye Manor in Sussex today. The venue was a beautiful country house hotel with great gardens and a terrific view down to the lake.

Wendy had a very unusual dark aubergine dress and Marcus went for the full-on Mr. Darcy look with riding boots and a cane !

The evening was a Masked Ball with an excellent band and when the photography finished at about 9.15pm, the party was in full swing.

We've got some cool pictures to go through when they get back from Mauritius. Here's a few that caught my eye when I was downloading the pictures at around midnight on Sunday evening


 

Posted at 05:32 PM    

Sat - October 8, 2005

Louise and Chris's Wedding 

Back to Pennyhill Park again for today's wedding. Flowers were by Russell New and the marriage room looked great as did the Library where the wedding breakfast took place. The weather was great for October and good fun was had by all. Chris and Louise kicked the evening off with a great dance routine and we took some nice images to round the evening off outside at the back of the floodlit hotel. The penguins ? That's a whole story on it's own :)


 

Posted at 03:26 PM    

Sat - September 10, 2005

A Wedding in Beech Hill 

Today's beautiful bride was Cheralyn who married Jonathan at Trunkwell House. She wore her hair down, unusually, as most bride's opt for the hair up often with a tiara. She looked great as you can see below.

Cheralyn was driven to the venue by her Dad in his blue Mk II Jaguar and wore an unusual coat with a hood over her Sincerity Bridal dress. The day went perfectly and the thunder was rumbling as they went into dinner in Langan's marquee - another summer wedding where we just escaped getting soaked.

A few images that jumped out at me are shown below. The lucky couple are spending their honeymoon in Jamaica. If you were at the wedding and would like to be notifed when all the pictures go online, let me know via the contact form on our main website.





 

Posted at 06:34 PM    

Fri - September 9, 2005

Charlotte and Stewart's Wedding ! 

Congratulations to Charlotte and Stewart (and their baby son, Harrison) who got married today at Warfield Church.

Charlotte wore a beautiful Susanne Neville dress with a lace jacket which looked fabulous.

Here's some of my favourites from the day, I was pleased to get some shots of Harrison in the church. Although he won't remember any of the day when he's older it was really nice to get some great images of him with his parents on the day.

As usual the full wedding will be posted when they get back from Greece.


 

Posted at 07:19 PM    

Tue - September 6, 2005

More hotel photography 

It's a tough life, hanging around a hotel all day :)

Today the brief was to make the rooms look spacious and also to shoot some 'detail' shots. These look cool adding interest, say, on a website page or brochure and help to give context to the main image(s).

We do a similar thing with our wedding albums and shoot detail shots of things that you miss during the course of an average hectic wedding day like decorations on the tables and also details of the brides dress and maybe the grooms outfit. It all helps to add flavour to the storyline. As always it was interesting applying techniques from one style of photography to another.

Here's a layout idea and below that some of my favourite images from the shoot.






 

Posted at 05:41 PM    

Sun - September 4, 2005

Odd shaped balls 

Whilst waiting patiently on a Sunday morning for a job to start, I snapped these two guys practicing their kicking on an adjacent rugby pitch. I like the way the size of the posts gives scale to the picture.

Shot with a D70 and the mighty 70-200 f2.8 VR lens


 

Posted at 04:42 PM    

Sat - September 3, 2005

Victoria and Chris's Wedding Day 

If yesterday was hot, today was hotter still. I was shooting Vicky and Chris's wedding in Sandhurst and at Highfield Park. A good day was had by all and they are off to the Seychelles on honeymoon.

Here's some images that caught my eye during editing...

 

Posted at 01:22 PM    

Fri - September 2, 2005

Congratulations Julia and Nick ! 

Just as I thought Autumn was about to kick in we had a blisteringly hot day at the Church in Sunninghill for Julia and Nick's wedding. The service was a joint C of E and Greek marriage celebration which was great. I wasn't entirely sure what was going on at some stages but I managed to shoot all the main parts of the service, including the crowns, walking around the table etc. It's really nice to shoot unusual ceremonies such as Greek, Jewish and Muslim ceremonies as it's so different from the majority of weddings I attend.

Here's a few of my favourite images from the day. Not sure why they're nearly all black and white, sometimes pictures just look better that way.






 

Posted at 01:13 PM    

Mon - August 29, 2005

August Bank Holiday 

And it's too hot to do anything, so I just shot a couple of flower pictures and noticed afterwards I'd composed them in exactly the same way which tells me I need to get out more. Or something.



 

Posted at 01:40 PM