Nicola and I set out a couple of weeks back to photograph Vanessa & Dan’s wedding at The Chevin Country Park Hotel near Otley. The great British weather couldn’t quite make up it’s mind all day, but the Hotel provided a lovely warm backdrop to the day. It feels a little like a massive Swiss Ski Lodge, and I like that

Paddington AND Elmo, she is a very lucky girl with class toys like that!

The kitchen table was the perfect place for a bit of Macro action, naturally lit for behind making a lovely shot I think

Here I am jumping on one someone else’s shot again, no flash this time, pushing the camera to the limit in almost total darkness!

The Chevin Country Park Hotel was an interesting challenge, and I love a challenge. The dark wood interior made more traditional lighting techniques less effective so we ended up using a balance involving a little more natural light than we normally shoot, and the cameras really did come into their own. The technology available now allows us to produce images almost impossible a few years ago. If you’d like to see some more, just click play on the slideshow below…

The night ended well, I think there is no shame in playing the music you secretly love at weddings and Vanessa & Dan’s DJ did a cracking job of almost releasing me full belt onto the dance floor when he played a classic rock and 80/90′s pop (think Erasure!) monster set. Professional as ever Nicola and I may (may!) have had a little boogie in the private of our own home when we got back

A great day and a lovely couple, we wish them all the happiness and thank them for inviting us along to their very special day.

Friends and family can view the whole set on Vanessa & Dan’s Wedding Website.

Last Saturday we spent a couple of hours in a Manchester park with Laura & Steve. They had booked me over the phone as they live all the way down South, so we grabbed the chance to take some pictures when they were visiting some friends up our way. The idea of these pre-shoots (or eShoots if you are a bit trendy) are to give us the chance to get to know each other a little so when it comes to the big day the whole atmosphere is a little more relaxed. It certainly worked out with Laura & Steve as I think we spent as much time having a chat as taking pictures.

Laura & Steve live in amazingly pretty part of the country, I photographed Sarah & Chris’ Wedding in a village close by last year. It’s the sort of place that is so English that you wonder if you are on a film set or something, can’t wait to go back!

I’ve been really busy lately, which is fantastic but today I found myself an afternoon to have a little fun in the studio with my new lights. Nicki was our amazing model and Katy did another sterling job on Hair & Makeup. This was just for fun, and that was the only brief. I’ve recently got hold of some fantastic lighting gear and I’m jumping at any chance I get to try them out. This is a real gear shift for me when it comes to Studio Photography as the Profoto lights are in another league to anything else I have used before.

To all you non-photography geeks out there you might think a light is just a light, but as you explore photography more you soon discover that light is the key to great photography and the understanding of it makes you a master! Now I’m not trying to pretend that I have got any where close to mastering this dark art yet but the journey is well underway.

Todays shoot went really well. We tried a few different looks and I played around with a few different setups. I used a beauty dish for the first time and fell out with my Tri-Flector. There were some unfortunate conversations about Cristiano Ronaldo but the less said about that the better

I’ve got a pretty hectic week ahead of me, but I have some great pictures of Vanessa & Dan’s wedding and Laura & Steve’s engagement shoot to blog and will try my very best to get them finished to perfection and uploaded ASAP, watch this space!

A couple of weeks ago Tanya asked me if I could come alone and shoot a wedding video for her. A few months back Rob Booker and I shot a video for Natalie & Dave but this time I went it alone! Shooting video is a totally different challenge to stills photography, I use a lot of the same equipment but the end goal is very different.

I took a different approach this time and left most of the gadgets in the car. I wanted a simple 5 minute film that would capture the feel of the day without being too stylised and funky. I knew from the moment I turned up and met Tanya that that was going to be a challenge, one of the first things she said was “Right, you need to be at the main gates at 12:35 to get the Knight in shining armour coming down the drive!” At that point I knew this wedding was going to be a treat and it didn’t disappoint. Fitting it all in was going to be a problem!

Rowton Castle is one of Shropshire’s best wedding venues and it was perfect for Tanya & Richard’s magical day. The end result is almost double the length I intended, mainly due to the extended speeches, first dance and band at the end. The speeches were particularly moving and left a good few people (myself included) with a lump in their throats. Check it out for yourself…

The Photographer in me couldn’t help take some pictures too. I had just 15 minutes to capture a few shots out the front of Rowton Castle while the other photographer took a short break…

Tanya is a very bubble and happy person, so it was great to capture some of that in camera.

Rowton Castle looks amazing at the best of times, but is extra special at night.

When trying something new it can always be difficult, you learn lessons each time you do it. Sending off your work can be a nervous time as you are never quite certain what the reaction is going to be. I was relieved when I got this text from Tanya… “Cris, it’s blown us away! Can’t phone you back because we are speechless. It’s fantastic, we are well impressed, it made me cry!” It was a good feeling to get feedback like that! While I really enjoy shooting videos, photography is my passion and what I think I am best at. But never say never!!!

Tanya runs the Vogue Hair Salon in Shrewsbury, and from how well she kept all the plates spinning at her own wedding I reckon she would be the perfect person to have at yours, so drop her a line!

A couple of weeks back Nicola and I took a trip over to Crewe Hall to photograph Caroline and Anthony’s fantastic wedding, I’ve been so busy there hasn’t been much time to update the blog, but I have a free day today so I thought I would share some of the images we captured on the day…

To make the day extra special Caroline’s Mum had made her dress from scratch. I love these very personal touches at weddings.

No wedding with kilts would be complete without a shot like this!

Big thanks to Caroline & Anthony for sharing their day with us. It was a lovely day to be part of especially against such a fantastic backdrop! Friends and family can view all the pictures here. If you need the password please contact me.

I’ve got loads to blog over the next week or so, and I’ll try my best to get it all.