A few weeks ago I photographed Emma and Gavin's Autumn wedding in Hemingbrough near Goole. The ceremony took place at St Mary's; a lovely little church that sat right across the road from the House where Emma's grandparents had lived once upon a time. Fittingly enough, that was also the church where they had also got married. Here is the story of their day.
More often than not in this country, the weather has a tendency to let you down. However, that was definitely not the case just a few weeks back when I met up with Matt and Jess to photograph their engagement shoot. It felt like a long time since I'd been out shooting in the sunshine on such a warm day. We started by going to the Wentbridge House Hotel in West Yorkshire. This was where Matt had popped the question to Jess just a few weeks earlier. The hotel itself was lovely, tucked away into the hillside amongst the very quaint village that surrounded it. The original building with its period features is complimented by a luxury annex that's been added in more recent times as well as the large lawn and fields to the side.
From there, we moved on to Cusworth Hall in Doncaster to get some more shots. Having shot there before, it made life a little easier. The grounds around the hall are incredibly beautiful with a nice variety of wild gardens, landscaped views and rustic courtyards. There's also a nice little cafe that does rather awesome scones with jam and clotted cream, which makes it a winner in my book, especially on a day like that!
Jess and Matt were both genuine, chatty and down to earth people and also extremely comfortable in front of camera. I'm more than happy with the images from the day and was really spoilt for choice in the end. Huge congratulations to them both. Enjoy.
Christmas time often provides that rare opportunity for families to come together as a whole. This couldn't be more true for the Thew family. Having recently increased in number and with a son who lives on the other side of the world, they were extra keen to make the most of their short time together over the holidays. Louise asked me to come along and get some shots at the family home before heading out for a walk around the local nature reserve. Whilst out on the walk, it provided the opportunity to get plenty of photos of little Oscar, the toddler of the family. Attempting to ask to a child of this age to stand still and smile for the camera for anything longer than 2 minutes was always going to be a challenge; so new surroundings with twigs, water and animals was always going to be a welcome distraction. It also made for some really nice photos. Here's just a few of them.
Gladly, I can finally post just some of the shots I took for Kirby and Adam’s wedding at Oulton Hall in the back end of 2013. From a photographers point of view, you couldn’t really ask for a more perfect wedding to shoot. The location was stunning, with plenty of spaces and grand features. The couple themselves were very laid back and perfectly comfortable in front of camera. The finer details such as the brides dress, bouquet, table decorations etc.. were all so exquisitely thought out and personal that this wedding was just a dream to photograph.
Thank you to both Kirby and Adam. Here are just some of the photos from your day.
First thing tomorrow morning, I'll be heading over to Oulton Hall in Rothwell to shoot Kirby and Adam's wedding. I made my first visit to the venue just a couple of weeks ago when we shot a few pre-wedding photos (seen below). On that day, we had a bit of a mixed bag of weather and I just hope it's kind to them tomorrow.
As well as the plush surroundings and the autumnal feel that this wedding is going to have, I just know that Kirby's extravagant and eclectic taste is going to make this a great day that's going to look fantastic on camera.
Having been in New York City less than 24 hours, everything was still feeling extremely surreal by the time my first shoot came around. Scheduling my couples shoot competition winners on day 1 was done with the idea of easing me into things. It would also provide me with the opportunity to see quite a lot of the city in one day, helping me gather my bearings and effectively killing 2 birds with one stone by shooting and exploring at the same time. It felt quite fitting that my competition winners weren't actually New Yorkers. At least, not from the city anyway. Brian and Sarah live a fair drive outside of all of the hustle and bustle and rarely get the chance to visit Manhattan, therefore this was as much an opportunity to do some sight seeing for them as it was for me. I didn't actually realise, but Sarah had been keeping an eye on my work for a while and as soon as I'd opened the competition for entries, an email was waiting for me within a matter of hours.
As arranged, the Foran's met me outside the Rockerfeller Centre. The plan was to experience 'Top of the Rock' and then to just go with the flow and see where we'd end up afterwards. They arrived along with their son, Brian Jnr. As you can see, he's a really cute kid who has bags of personality and seemed all too happy to have his photo taken.
To say that the weather wasn't kind would be the understatement of the year. During our eventful day we dealt with strong winds, rain, sleet and snow. The view from the Top of the Rock was 50% at best. Enough to put most tourists off from paying to go up there in the first place. If anything, it meant that we weren't having to fight through crowds of people to get some nice shots. No views were restricted and we were able to roam around freely.
After experiencing the amazing views, we went to get some much needed coffee and warmth at the Starbucks amongst the hundreds of shops which sit beneath ground level of the Rockerfeller. We decided that our next stop would be to try and get on one of the water taxi's before dark, which would allow us to see many more of the New York landmarks. We managed it, just. It was the last one of the day. Not many people were daft enough to be out on the water with it being this cold and wet. In fact, at the time of boarding the boat, I can only recall 2 other people being on there. Each of the remaining pick-up points only brought a handful of extras on board. All of which opted to stay inside the boat for shelter. They obviously didn't fancy being blasted by the elements out on deck! I absolutely loved it though!
I really couldn't have asked for a nicer family to photograph and spend time with on the first day of my trip. Not only were they super friendly and informative, but they were also incredibly interesting. Brian works as a videographer for a living so I had plenty to chat to him about and Sarah was so well prepared and full of ideas that it meant I could enjoy my day as a tourist and not just as the photographer.
By the time our day came to an end, the snow was coming down pretty heavily. My feet were numb. I was drenched, hungry and completely exhausted. I'm pretty sure the same can be said of the Foran's, but they were insistent on staying in Manhattan for a little while longer to make the most of their day. Despite the conditions, this was such a great start to my trip and I think we got some great photos. Below are some of my favourites. Hope you enjoy.
