Chris and Karen Wedding viewing

I have just had Chris and Karen around the studio to view their Wedding image slideshow. Such a great feeling to be part of a couples special day and be able to re-create all those moments, memories and at times fill in the missing pieces of the day. They have left such wonderful comments in my guest book; I wish them well for the future. Here is an abridged version of what they have to cherish.

Chris and Karen pre Wedding shoot

I met up with this lovely couple for their pre-Wedding discussion and photo shoot last month.  For those not aware the purpose of these sessions are so that as the prospective Bride and Groom get to know me as the Photographer and how I go about my business on the day as well as having a bit of fun whilst showing them how to stand, cuddle, pose and generally allow me to make them look even better, so that it is one less stress to be concerned about on the day.  The other part of the visit is to gain as much info about their plans for the day so that I know where and when to be and in some cases what to expect.

Chris and Karen were great, they have a beautiful location for their reception and I look forward to capturing their special day very soon.

Prom Dress shoot in the Snow

Tash always said that if a decent amount of snow fell she wanted to have a photo shoot in her Prom dress, well when the snow came, she kept her word!  As the Snow fell here in Poole briefly, Tash and I headed out into the cold, needless to say she was colder than me.  Whilst other people looked on somewhat in shock, we got the pictures taken.  Its fair to say my fingers were numb at the end of it, so much so we sat in the car to warm up and get feeling back before I attempted to drive!

Autumn Shoot

I made the most of the decent weather last weekend to get out and do a couple of photo shoots whilst the Autumn colours were still around, here is my delightful Niece having fun and being my model for the afternoon, she was great!

Jak second location shoot

We were out yesterday for the second location shoot with Jak. He had some specific shots he wanted me to capture, and I had some ideas I wanted to try. Thankfully the weather held off for us, although it did get dark rather quick towards the end. Watch and enjoy!

Course update

As I reached the end of my Apprentice period with PhotoTraining4U, I attended a couple of courses run by Mark Cleghorn. I have only just got round to processing the files as I was away on holiday!

First up was the Wedding Photographers Wanted, which was a 2 day event run by Mark but he was assisted by other professional photographers, Gary and Sue Photography and Kenny Martin. The purpose of the 2 days was to allow the professionals to pass on their secrets to the business of Weddings, along with some great shooting tips and tricks to shoot and sell more, with the second day being practical shooting in and around the City of Cardiff with the masters. Here is a sneek peak at what I shot during the second day -

The second course was a follow up to the Wedding Photographers Wanted course and designed to give ideas on how to shoot Bride and Groom out on Location, hence the name Location Location. It was for photographers to develop their creative ideas and how to shoot quickly when getting out of the car when travelling perhaps between the ceremony and reception or looking at it as a follow up photo shoot in a cherish the dress style shoot, where more time would be available. It also included details of Album design and a bit of promotion/marketing. Again it was in and around locations in Cardiff and was great fun. Here are some of my shots from the 2 days.

Monica photo shoot

Yesterday I took a trip to Barry Island to do a photo shoot with my fellow PhotoTraining4U apprentice Ozzy as part of our continued training to deliver images for the next critique. Ozzy has been working with Monica to provide her a portfolio whilst developing his own photographic skills. We had a great day, although a long one for me with a round trip to Barry Island. Thankfully the weather held out for us and we did make it to my favourite location round that area, Fontygary!

Tia Location photo shoot

Last weekend I photographed Tia out on location at Knowlton Church. This is a great location with a lot of character to use. The plan was to do a Gothic look and a Ball Gown style set up. Tia brought an Army look, instead of the Gothic style, which worked well and at the end mixed the 2 outfits together, wearing the big Army boots with the Ball Gown. It was a nice afternoon and despite the place being filled with visitors, we got the shoot done!

Jem

I was back up to Cardiff at the beginning of the month for the next instalment as one of the PhotoTraining4U apprentices. We went out for another Wow shoot, this time with our lovely model Jem. Despite not knowing about myself and Ozzy being the apprentices and what that entailed, she was brilliant and very patient during the times Mark was explaining to us what he was after. It was another great session, where once again we learnt a lot from Mark. The location was down at Fontygary Bay, which is just a stunning place to photograph at, hopefully you will see this reflected in my images!

Location Shoot with Chris

Had a great afternoon yesterday working with Chris, doing a location shoot down at Poole Quay, Chris was great to work with and we got some awesome images! As you can see it was a mixture of natural light and off camera flash, to give a variety of styles to the session. I needed to get more male pictures in my portfolio, to show the length and breadth of my photography skills, thankfully this shoot helped that cause of nicely! The sun came out for a while and we managed to make the best of it, I just couldn't afford the boats in the background!

Ollie

I was up in Cardiff last week for the next session of training for the PhotoTraining4U Apprentice, out there in the cold with Mark's team and Ollie the model for the day, he was brilliant. As always, a very informative day, Mark is a great instructor and mentor to Ozzy and I. Training has changed format now, with the Apprentices becoming the assistants to Mark, whilst he makes a video for the PhotoTraining4U collection. It is amazing to watch him work and see how he looks at a location for the potential images. After he has shot his video and we have observed the process and assisted, it's our turn to get some images. Some of mine are below, but it has to be said that my wingman, "Ozzy", got the best image of the day, even Mark said that it was better than the ones he got!