Chris & Lynne's Pre Wedding Shoot

Today I was down in Hastings meeting up with Chris Steward & Lynne Phillips for their Pre Wedding Shoot. We met up at the Powder Mills Hotel which is where Chris & Lynne are having their Wedding Reception on the 15th August; a beautiful setting with it's own lake within the grounds.

After a cold drink in the bar and a quick chat about their up coming Wedding we all then went for a walk around the grounds taking some photos of the two of them in their casual, everyday clothing. I guess we were shooting for around about an hour, in which time we got some really great shots; but then both Chris and Lynne are good fun to photograph and the weather was fantastic.

Roll on the 15th :o)

Shooting with my mate Raff :o)

This past weekend I was photographing a wedding at the Headlam Hall Hotel, Nr Darlington ... a beautiful venue with truly stunning gardens. I started taking photographs from around 11am, with my friend Mark photographing the bride Gemma as she was getting ready, and me photographing the Groom Ben and his best man Paul.


All in all a great day ... very relaxed, perfect weather, great guests and a wonderful Bride & Groom .. what more could you ask for :o)

Experimenting with a PP technique ...

Over the coming weeks I'm going to be working on a project with a Hair & Beauty Salon in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire called Oxygene which will involve working with a model agency, Hair Stylists and Beauticians but I'll let you know more about that nearer the launch date. In the meantime though, in preparation I've been working on a post production technique that I'll be using which you can see on some of the portrait shots I've attached.



This sort of colouring is being used quite alot at the moment especially by a Hair Product Company called Aveda, so I've added my own little tweeks to personalise it; still some work to be done, but hey, you get the idea.

Here also, is a black & white version ... enjoy :o)

A couple more of Joseph

Couldn't resist adding a couple more photographs taken of Joseph during yesterday's family portrait shoot. I love both of these images because they make you wonder what little Joseph is thinking.

Enjoy.

A trip down the Thames ...

Yesterday morning I was over in Marlow, Buckinghamshire for a family portrait shoot with Pete Boyd, Vicky and their 3 year old son Joseph. Rather than take the photographs at their home, Pete had the idea of us going down to where they have their boat moored for a little bbq and then onto their boat for a trip down the river .. which we did and thoroughly enjoyed.


Little Joseph was an absolute star who clearly loves to have his photograph taken. I don't think I'll ever forget the innocent words of "has the wind blown all your hair off?" that came out of his mouth when I first turned up at their home ... out of the mouths of babes huh ?? .. mind you, I'm convinced his dad put him up to it :o)

Heathrow Summer Ball 2008

Yesterday evening I was out at the Sheraton Skyline Hotel, Heathrow photographing the 3rd Annual Heathrow Summer Ball; a black tie event in aid of the "Dream Flight" Charity which raises money for terminally ill children so they can go on the trip of a lifetime. Organisers Nick Bell, Kersten Peters, Dave Ramage and John Gildersleeves did a wonderful job organising such a big event - attended by hundreds of Heathrow Airport and airline staff, with raffle prizes ranging from British Airways return tickets to New York, return tickets to anywhere in Canada and so on ...


I'm not sure at this stage exactly how much was raised during th evening so I'll let you know as soon as I find out. Needless to say, whatever was raised it's going towards a very deserving cause.

A Private Moment ...

The Newly-Wed Mr & Mrs O'Connell are now back from their honeymoon and from the emails I've had, it sounds like they had a wonderful time; but then they did go to the Maldives for two weeks :o)

I'm due to see them this coming week for the viewing of their wedding photographs and I can't wait. Anyway, in the meantime I thought I'd post up another image from their big day. If I remember rightly the staircase this shot was taken in was quite cramped and 'roasting hot' so this meant working as fast as possible and then out. As always, Paul & Erin went with the flow ... a joy to work with.

Villa Vista (Croatia)

If your idea of a relaxing holiday includes great weather, delicious food, beautiful scenery and staying in a wonderful Villa then I'd certainly recommend Villa Vista in Croatia. This is one of the Villa's that Mark & I were photographing and stayed in during the four days. The owners, Rob & Petra House, have done a wonderful job in offering a Villa that is both modern and extremely comfortable so I thought I'd post up one of 1445 photographs that we took to give you a quick glimpse of what it looks like.


This second image was taken on one of the days when we'd started taking photographs at 4.30am and didn't actually stop completely until 9.00pm. So, as you can imagine a beer and a dip in the pool (25 degrees at midnight) was extremely well received. (That's me on the left with the receeding hairline .. which I'm told is quite fashionable these days :o)

One of life's characters :o)

Whilst up at my good friend Marks' house over the weekend, he organised a portrait shoot with one of his pals from the Village ... a chap by the name of Blair. I'm guessing we spent near on one hour taking photographs of Blair, who was a complete star. Having done a recce of where we wanted to take some shots, right on cue, Blair arrived, driving a tractor from the 1940's and was dressed in true 'man from the country' clothing .. perfect for what we had in mind for the shoot. I don't think I've laughed so much during a photo shoot ... Blair is just one of those guys, a true character that just has this knack of saying things in such a way that have you in hysterics. I'm sure we would have taken alot more photos, but the weather took a turn for the worst and before we knew it, rain was pouring and thunder and lightning filled the sky.

A great afternoon's shoot ... which I would love to repeat when I return :o)

Back home :o)

Well it's been quite a week ... over in Croatia for a few days photographing a couple of stunning Villas ... home for one night and then up to Harrogate for some more photography. Despite it being quite tiring, I've gotta say, I've loved every minute of it.

The week in Croatia was fantastic .. hard work, but fantastic. My good friend and fellow photographer Mark Raffan came along to assist me photographing two beautiful villas and we had a great time doing so. Despite getting up around 4.30am on a couple of the mornings to take photographs just before the sun rose, we managed to sample alot of what Porec, Croatia has to offer. Beautiful scenery, fantastic weather, fabulous food and extremely friendly people ... what more could you wish for? Needless to say, I WILL be returning :o)

Here's a few images that I took whilst wandering around Porec one afternoon ... geez, I wish I was there now :o(