I recently went to Lulworth Cove and Durdle Door in Dorset for the weekend. Unfortunately the weather wasn't that great and didn't lend itself to any great photographs...plus I didn't have my camera!!


Here are a few pictures from when I went in 2009. A pretty spectacular stretch of the Jurassic Coast.

May weddings

A photographed two weddings during May, both at the Frensham Pond Hotel, Churt in Surrey. Funnily enough it was where I did my work experience as a 15 years old!

The weather was slightly better for the first wedding, Natasha and Chris on the 21^st May. There is even a hint of blue sky in some of the pictures. For Natalie and Greg a week later, it was slightly more overcast which makes for a few more challenges when doing the shots of the bride and groom, but can make it easier as you don’t have to worry about the flare from the sun and unwanted shadows across peoples faces.   I hope you’ll agree that from both days I got some great results. It’s brilliant when the bride and groom are ‘up for it’ and don’t mind spending a 20 minutes of so on their own having their photos taken. It’s not like they will get to do it again…

Here are a few of my favourite pictures.

Guest close-ups

When I shoot weddings I always carry two camera bodies with me. One, because it gives me the flexibility to have different lenses in action at the same time but also because it means I have a back-up should one of the cameras fail for whatever reason. 

Whilst I shoot the bulk of the pictures using a 18-55mm lens I like to have my Tamron 70-300mm lens on the second camera. This enables me to get some really great close-ups of guests as they enjoy the day. Most of the time they don’t even know they’ve had their picture taken.

Children's photo shoot

Lyndhurst Community Centre in the New Forest hosts regular craft and gift fairs on most Sunday's through-out the year. In order to extend the attraction of the event I recently suggested that I attend and run a free photo, portrait session for children (and their parents) who attend the event.

The first session on Sunday 12th September was very well received with a number of parents asking me to photography their children.

There is always a challenge when photographing children, especially younger children, as they won't always do what you want them to, including getting them to smile at the right time. Of course, children are also shy when put into a new situation so it usually takes a few minutes to get them comfortable.

We've found that by having a bouncy ball to play with and some bubbles for them to pop, they soon come round and I can then get some good pictures of them engaging with what ever they are doing.

One thing I did find when offering these free photo shoots is that many people are quite sceptical about photo shoots and think there is a hidden cost that they are going to get stung with. This is obvioulsy an opinion of a few companies, although used as a view of the industry as a whole. When you explain that the photos are taken for free and they only buy what they want (at a decent price) their opinion changes.

I will be doing these free photo sessions at Lyndhurst Communicty Centre in the Junique Craft and Gift Fairs on the following dates. There is no need to book. Just turn up anytime between 10am and 4pm.

Sunday 28th November
Sunday 4th December

A beautiful greek island - Santorini

The greek island of Santorini, and in particular the town of Oia, is famous as being one of the most stunning places in the whole of Greece. On a recent visit, I can see why.

The town of Oia is your classic greek village, perched high on the cliffs overlooking the Mediterranean. It a soe amazing little streets that twist and turn along the cliff and through some amazing buildings. The restaurants, hotels and shops all cling to the cliffs and whilst some of the walks can be pretty steep, the result is one amazing place.

Oia is full of the blue roofed churches that you see on postcards and television adverts of Greece everywhere. If they don't tell you where it is, the chances are it's Oia.

This obviously gave me a great opportunity to get some stunning pictures of both the blue roofs and other amazing, classic shots of the town. Whilst it got pretty hot trying to find the best vantage point for the pictures, including escaping the tourists, I hope you'll agree the results were worth it.

Oia is also famous for it's sunset, with coach loads of people coming to see it every night. Whilst we were lucky enough to be staying in Oia, it didn't stop me taking pictures of the sunset most nights. Here are some of those pictures. Overall, Santorini is one beautiful place.

A Surrey wedding

Northbrook Park, a privately owned house and wedding venue near Farnham in Surrey, was the setting for the wedding of Nicky and James in late August.

Nicky, the bride was getting ready at the venue which allowed me to take photos of both her preparations and the groom and guests as they waiting for her arrival.

The ceremony took place in a very light and airy room which made my job easier as I didn't have to use a great deal of flash. This was also the case in the former orangery where the wedding breakfast took place.

Whilst Nicky and James didn't want too many pictures, I did get some nice ones of them together, as well as their guests as they enjoyed the drinks in the walled gardens.

I hope you enjoy looking at some of the results here. Good luck to Nicky and James for the future.

Portrait photo shoot

Portrait photography is wildly different from landscape photography and even different from shooting weddings. Whilst different they are equally enjoyable and something which I'm going to do more of over the next few months, including offering some free shoots at craft fairs through-out September and the rest of 2010.

These are going to be very simple affairs, with a basic studio set-up of white background, one flash head with umbrella and one soft-box, providing light from behind the camera and from the side to gain a balance of light across the subject face. Visitors to the craft fair will have their children photographed for 10 or 15 mins. From there, they will be invited to buy good value prints.

I did a recent trial session at the local community centre with a number friends and their children. Photographing kids older than 5 is more straight forward than toddlers, you tell them what you want them to do and they do it. However the last thing a toddler wants to do is stand still for their photo to be taken, so you have to be a bit more spontaneous with the way you shoot them. In the recent shoot young Harrison was running around all over the place so keeping him entertained with toys is all part of the challenge.

A few of the results are shown here. I hope you agree they have come out well and I look forward to the future shoots.