First Wedding of 2009

My coverage of weddings in 2009 got off to a really great start with Anna and Bryan's special day at Woburn Sculpture Gallery. What a wonderful day it was! Anna was nothing short of radiant in her beautiful gown and Bryan was the very epitome of a model groom throughout the day.

I got to know Anna and Bryan when we did their pre-wedding shoot in Woburn earlier this winter. It was an unbelievably windswept day then, and their wedding day was one of equally challenging temperatures. You wouldn't know it, though, from their photographs. The warmth they share was clear for all to see and really bursts out of their pictures. It's evident that they are incredibly well suited to one another.

At the start of the day, I got some lovely shots of Anna's preparations at Flitwick Manor. This one shows Anna having her make-up done by Jo Saville who, I have to say, did a really excellent job:



We had a few minutes to capture some portraits of Anna and her attendants before I dashed off to Woburn. Here's Anna posing with the four-poster bed:



At the Sculpture Gallery, Bryan was waiting patiently for Anna's arrival:



And then on to the ceremony ...



... during which there were plenty of laughs:

Immediately afterwards, Anna and Bryan were presented with their first glass of champagne as a married couple (I'm not sure it was Anna's first of the day, given the number empty bottles in the room during her preparations - though she claims some were consumed the night before)!

Despite the wet weather, I lay on the ground to capture this shot of the bouquet, which also features a background comprising the splendid Woburn Abbey, our happy newly-weds, their stunning wedding car and a somewhat threatening sky:

Here's a very gallant Bryan helping his lovely new wife up a few garden steps:

Believe it or not, this classic shot was taken just 20 minutes after the one above with the threatening sky - just look at the difference!

Back inside (for it really was extremely cold) it was time for a few group shots before the speeches and wedding breakfast:

And finally, how's this for a real heart-felt greeting for Bryan from Anna as he stood up to make his speech:

What a fun day it was - congratulations Anna and Bryan on such a wonderful wedding. I'm sure you will enjoy a long and happy future together.

David

How To Freeze Your Fingertips

It's been absolutely freezing recently and that meant the ingredients for some cool winter landscapes were all in place. I shot this selection while my eldest son, Tadhg, was having his riding lesson. The sun had just dipped below the horizon once he was in the saddle, so I missed the beautiful sunset much to my dismay - still, Tadhg's gallop-and-trot is coming along nicely and the pictures I got weren't a complete disaster!

David

Rachelle and Lee's Wonderful Winter Wedding

Hello again and a Happy New year to everyone! 2009 promises to be a momentous year with lots of new and exciting opportunities that I'm really looking forward to. More of that over the coming days. For now, I'm catching up on the last of 2008's weddings in which Rachelle and Lee shared a magical winter wedding on a very cold late December day:

Rachelle got ready at her parents' home in Leighton Buzzard where there was an air of great excitement as the preparations unfolded. I think you'll agree that Rachelle looked absolutely gorgeous in her dress which was beautifully complemented with an exquisite bouquet:

Lee was equally relaxed when I arrived at the church. We had time to capture some great images, including this one which is one of my favourite portraits from the day:

The ceremony was held in St Baranabas' in Leighton Buzzard, a lovely light and airy church which was a delight to photograph in. Here's one of the happy couple looking thrilled that their big day had finally arrived - it's always good to see a bride and groom enjoying themselves so much during the ceremony:

Rachelle and Lee's Order of Service sheet is the main feature of this image, with the end of the pews and the aisle leading the eye to the newly weds in the background:

After the ceremony, we braved the cold for a few shots outside the church. I wanted an image that showed the blue clock faces in the steeple with the blue sky but which also featured Rachelle, Lee and their wedding car. The only way to achieve that was to lie on the ground with a wide angle lens on the camera. Lying down while I work is one of the perks of my job!

The reception was held at the magnificent Scuplture Gallery at Woburn. As you can see, it's a superb setting for a wedding that I'd happily recommend to anyone:

Before Rachelle and Lee made their entrance, we captured a few shots outside Woburn Abbey with the car:

And then some more portraits:

It was a splendid day and was greatly enjoyed by all the guests. For some curious reason, though, the wedding cake attratced a great deal of attention and found itself being photographed almost as often as Rachelle and Lee - can't possibly think why!

Congratulations Rachelle and Lee. I wish you both a truly wonderful life together and many, many years of bissful happiness.

David

Merry Christmas

Well, another year has flown by. It's been a lot of fun and I've had the pleasure of working with some really great people all year round. I'm off now to spend Christmas and New Year with my beautiful wife and two wonderful sons. I hope everyone has a great time this Christmas, relaxing and having fun with those who are most special to them. And I hope 2009 turns out to be a great year for all!

See you next year,

David

Hannah's Wonderful Portraits

I photographed Hannah during Elise's fortnight of work experience in October (you can view portraits of Elise in my post of 10 December). For this post, I'm featuring a small selection of images from the shoot. The main aim of the day was to give Elise chance to put into practice some of the things she'd learned during her time with me. But I didn't want to pass up the opportunity of taking some pictures myself. Hannah was a great model, very patient as Elise and I took our images. Here's one from the early part of the day, taken in Stockgrove Park:



That first shot shows off Hannah's amazingly blue eyes to great effect. Here's one with a much more urban feel:



Great lines in this image that draw you in to Hannah's eyes again:




Here's a nice shot, showing Elise at work with the camera - a bit of a moody pose from Hannah for this one:



A much happier looking shot, captured not in a field as it might at first appear but on a disused petrol forecourt of all places:



And finally a very relaxed image, taken towards the end of the day. My aim here was to mirror the colours in Hannah's top with the graffiti.

David

Sarah + Scott = Perfect Partners

Sarah and Scott's wedding at the weekend was a wonderful occasion. With a steely determination to ignore some of the year's worst weather, everyone had a great time. I started the day, as usual, with the bride as she got herself ready for the big day. I use the first part of the day to capture some of the details that will help couples to remember as much as possible about their day in years to come. This always includes a few shots featuring the bride's bouquet, and here's an example:



I suspect, however, that Sarah and Scott will have no need of an image of the bouquet to remember it by ... because having arrived at the church Sarah realised she'd left her bouquet at home. Brother-in-law Jeff was duly despatched back to the bride's parents' home to receover the offending flowers (hopefully dodging the speed cameras as he went) and so the bouquet took on superstar status even before most of the guests had seen it!

Before all that, though, there were portraits of Scott's stunning bride to take:



And, of course, images of Sarah's handsome groom to capture:



Once the ceremony got underway, it was conducted with excellent humour by David the vicar:



Another shot of the star of the show (oh, and I thought we'd put our bride and groom in this one, too):

You can't see it here, but this shot was taken in driving rain:

At the hotel, I asked Sarah and Scott to tell each other how much they love each other but with their eyes only - this always works a treat and, after the initial embarrased giggles have subsided, some deeply amorous expressions can be captured:

Best man AJ gave a sterling speech which, as can be seen here, was greatly enjoyed by the newly-weds:

Sarah and Scott had invited cover band The Blue Rinse to play at the reception, and they put on an excellent performance:

With the exception of the mad dash through my "confetti tunnel of lurve", this was pretty much the only outdoor shot of the day ... Sarah and Scott huddled under a brolly as the unrelenting rain drove down on them in the doorway of the Harpenden House Hotel:

But the rain didn't matter a jot in the end. Sarah and Scott had a marvellous wedding day and I'm sure I'm not alone in wishing them a very long, happy and romantic life together.

David

Elise's Amazing Portrait Shoot

A few weeks ago, Elise came to spend a fortnight with me on work experience. On her first day, we did my first ever Trash The Dress shoot which you can see if you scroll down a bit. Elise was a great assistant and took some gorgeous shots. The two weeks she spent with me were great fun and Elise showed gret aptitude for learning about photography, both as an art and a business. On her last day, we borrowed Elise's friend Hannah to act as a model while Elise put into practice all that she'd learned with me. I'll be showing a few of Hannah's portraits here very soon. But first, I thought I'd post a handful of the shots I took of Elise - who, as you can see here, picked up a hint or two about posing, too!



This one is just soooo cool - possibly my favourite from the day:









And I really love this one - the wall makes such a fantastic background:

David