I don’t think I’m going to get the chance to blog all the pre-shoots that I am doing at the moment, but I thought I would share Beth & Gareth’s with you. We met them up at Beth’s parents place near Harrogate and went for a walk in the woods behind their house. It was a lovely spot and we got some great shots…

I love this one

On each preshoot this year I am trying to do something I’ve not done before, sometimes it’s something simple, sometimes something technical and sometimes something a bit silly. Today something new was a sequence of images, press play to see the result…

I asked Beth & Gareth to think naughty schoolboy/girl waiting outside the headmasters office. They seemed quite good at it !!!

Can’t wait for their wedding in a few weeks !!!!

Yes that’s right, wedding photography at the Manchester Christmas Markets!!! Well, to be truthful a pre-shoot with Vicky & Andrew ahead of their wedding at Heaton House Farm in February. It’s an idea that I’ve had for a while now, here is how we got on…

So here we are at the entrance to the markets, nothing had quite prepared me for how busy it was! It was also bitterly cold so we kept moving…

…as you can see pretty packed, not much room at all to start taking pictures. Manchester City Centre is a fantastic place to take pictures and it didn’t take us long to find some prime spots…

This is what I love about doing the pre-shoots, this picture was taken up against the hoarding around a building site. Who would have guessed it!!!

Manchester Town Hall is a fantastic place to get married, it also happens to be a pretty amazing place to dive into to take some pictures if you are freezing your nuts off…

It was a real adventure to spend some time with Vicky & Andrew, I am really looking forward to our (hopefully wintery) return to Heaton House Farm to share their special day with them.

Look out for more winter themed pre-shoots in the new year

I met up with Nicola & Alex for their pre-shoot in the Castlefields area of Manchester. This is a fantastic part of Manchester and one used by a lot of photographers, and for good reason. Within a short walk there are a massive number of locations, almost too many!

It was a typical Manchester summers day, grey but bright, and we set off in search. I like to use the couple of hours I have during these shoots to get to know the couples a little more, it helps us all relax with each other and I think get much better pictures on the day. I also like to show people that often the less they try the better the pictures will be, just relax and enjoy the moment. We all have a fear of photographers I think, just like dentists it;s something we pick up at school. I try not to be like the scary wedding photographer you hear about, I like to enjoy the day and become part of it.

We had a lovely time and I am really looking forward to their big day in the new year. Here is just a small selection of what we got…

I’m really looking forward to tomorrow as I’ll join Dannish and 2nd shoot at my first Sikh wedding. Sunny (the Groom) is a most excellent photographer in his own right, so no pressure then!

As this is something totally new to me, even though I’m only 2nd shooting I went to meet Charanjit & Sunny to discuss their wedding and go over some do’s and don’ts. While I was there is seemed silly not to quickly go out and take a couple of shots, made even more interesting with Sunny’s interest in how I work and what I do…

Here is my take on this location, it was very interesting to be able to hand the camera over to Sunny and see what he saw, as you can see it was very different…

This image was taken by Sunny on my camera, using the same lights and settings. I’ve edited in my own way but I still amazed by how differently we saw the same location. I don’t think there are any wrongs or rights, but differences like this fascinate me, and leave me wondering what else was there that I didn’t see ???

Just around the corner from the first location we found a lovely field with access which meant we didn’t have to cause any damage to get these shots. As the light was dropping the sky behind gives these pictures almost a studio feel I think.

I’m really looking forward to tomorrow. It should be a very interesting day, although I not so sure the 5:30am start is so interesting! I’m especially looking forward to forgetting I am supposed to be on a diet and tucking into my first curry in what feels like an age!!!

After a very brief tourist’s guide to Liverpool, and by brief I mean driving down Penny Lane with some most excellent pointing by Geoff, we headed over to Sefton Park to have a walk, a chat and to take a few pictures. Louise had already pointed out that Geoff loves having his picture taken, but she was a little nervous herself. Without reason I have to say.

“I call this one Blue Steel…”

Straight of the magazine pages, gorgeous!

It was difficult to capture this one without giving Geoff the blond wig look

The Palm House was just closing to prepare for a Wedding but we snuck past security to snap the last couple…

After we left Louise & Geoff at the park we headed over for a quick peek at their venue. Stunning is not the word, can’t wait for the big day!

I’ve known Louisa & JP for about 6 years now, and I was delighted when they asked me to photograph their wedding later this year. Even though I’ve known them for so long it’s not really been from behnd the lens so we set out on a very hot and sunny day for a walk up to the Pigeon Tower starting at Rivington Hall Barn for a pre shoot.

We hadn’t walked more than a few meters before the first shot was in the bag…

And here is the view from the Pigeon Tower itself…

“The Hills are alive with the sound of…”

Well done to Nicola with the most excellent reflector action on this shot!

Taking an influence from Melissa & Matt’s Bluebell Shoot.

Although it’s not the end of the world if you don’t end up shooting on a day like this, it doesn’t half help!

I’m really looking forward to Louisa & JP’s wedding later this year, especially seeing how much Ukrainian style drinking/dancing can be squeezed in