Wedding photography for a perfectly simple wedding at Islington Town Hall and Almeida restaurant in Islington

"As my mother used to say - the more pretentious the wedding, the less likely the marriage to survive."

Oliver James - author and clinical psychologist

If Oliver James' mother is to be believed, A and D will be together forever.  As a female London wedding photographer, I have seen a few weddings and this one seemed so simple it almost brought tears to my eyes.  D seemed so happy and calm, it seemed like the marriage was the most natural thing in the world.

I met A and D before the wedding for a pre-wedding shoot, where we walked around and found a beautiful garden in Angel, North London to take the wedding photographs.  We tried a variety of couples poses on a sunny Sunday so that we could whiz through the them on the wedding day.  We walked to the Islington town hall and took some photographs by the grand entrance and next door on a grass lawn of a mansion building. 

On their wedding day, I met D at her flat in Angel, where she presented me with a glass of non-alcoholic champagne (which I would definitely recommend to anyone that doesn't drink) and introduced me to her parents.  We took a few family photographs outside the flat before I left to go to the town hall and photograph the groom and his family.

The total wedding party consisted of eight people, and it felt so lovely and intimate that I felt like one of the guests rather than the photographer!

As always, a sample of pictures are above and the rest of them are here.

Children's party photography in the Soho House Hotel

 

"The best way to make children good is to make them happy"

Oscar Wilde

I was recently asked to photograph a childrens' birthday party at the Soho House Hotel in Chiswick.  I arrived at the beautiful venue only to be taken downstairs to a lovely room for a party, but a photographer's nightmare.  There was next to no light and 30 dashing, jumping, excitable children that were not going to slow down for anything.  I grabbed my flash and decided to shoot a slow shutter speed with my SB800 speedlight flash turned down by one stop and reflected off the ceiling and the walls.  So above is a selection of the results.  The full selection can be found here.

The party itself was so much fun, and at one point when entertainers from Sharky and George asked if anyone wanted a sweet, I found my own hand in the air desperate for a tiny bit of sugary goodness.  Unfortunately, I couldn't compete with all of those seven year olds!

As a children's photographer, my mantra has always been to shoot a lot.  Children move around very quickly and don't often give you time to think.  I had also been asked my client for some slightly more creative shots that she could think about using in her living room.  With that in mind I decided to shoot some on really slow shutter speeds to show the children moving around and to try to create the atmosphere in the party photographs.

Balham Street Festival Photographs

"Don't buy the house, buy the neighbourhood" 

Russian Proverb

I don't think the Balham festival is known yet on the international festival circuit, but it certainly exceeded my expectations and gave Balham that 'villagey' feel that people often say describes it.  All the usual faces were there, including Gemma from White Iris Flowers, Dani from Corte Dei Signori, Ron from Robbies Photographic, and hundreds of others that had come to see the various entertainers. 

As I wasn't there as an official event photographer, I was able to potter around and take a few pictures of the comings and goings of the various people.  It was so lovely to have such a neighbourly feel to Balham and to see people mingling, meeting new people, laughing, giggling and sharing such a lovely day.

I had only recently been on the street photography course with Digital Photography magazine, so I was trying to put my new skills into practice to photograph the various people and expressions.  You can see the full selection of pictures here.

Family portrait photography at the "Lavender Fields"

In true man there is a child concealed - who wants to play! 

Friedrich Nietzche

 Having photographed the Corte Dei Signori at work (see previous blog here), Dani asked me to have a picnic with his family in the Lavender fields and then to take some family photographs.  Janet, Dani's wife has a great love of lavender fields and you can certainly see why.  The fields are incredibly beautiful, with endless rows of thick, bushy lavender.  I was expecting the smell to be slightly overpowering, but it was so gentle it provided for the perfect setting.  

As a London family photographer, I have worked in a variety of different places, but it isn't often that I see such a beautiful location so close to the center of town.  We had a picnic lunch of cheese and bread fresh from Italy that week.  

After lunch, I photographed the family in a variety of poses using a reportage photography style as well as a slightly more formal and posed style.  You can see the full range of shots here.  As a family portrait photographer, I find the best shots come from taking a step back and just allowing the family to play together.  My favourite shots are the more relaxed and natural ones where it seems that they are sharing a hilarious moment.

Bess & Jack's pre-wedding photoshoot at Christchurch in Wimbledon

"The most wasted of days is one without laughter" (E E Cummings)

I met Bess in a pub in Clapham to discuss her wedding day and to run through the timings, planing and ideas that she had generally and what she was looking for from me as a wedding photographer.  A couple of glasses of wine later and a lot of laughter we were marginally closer to forming a wedding plan.  (We had also hatched lots of other plans such as starting a POD to make sociable guerrilla bags, making cycle clothing and designing logos!!)

I first met Bess' fiance, Jack, at Christchurch in Wimbledon when he and Bess had come for their pre-wedding shoot (or engagement shoot as they are more commonly known).  Jack and Bess areare instantly likeable and the kind of people that make you feel completely at ease.  It felt like I had spent more time laughing than taking photographs.  I just love my job as a portrait and wedding photographer! 

Engagement photographs are a great idea for camera shy people or when timings are tight on the day as there is time to run through different couple's poses in a relaxed environment.  It also meant that Bess and Jack can see what works for them and how they want their wedding pictures to look on the day without taking them away from their guests for too long.  The engagement pictures can also be used on the wedding day as decorations, for example as the cover of the guest book or a framed photograph for all the guests to sign.

A pre-wedding shoot at the church is also a great opportunity to meet the vicar to check any church rules and how the service is to run so we can plan the church photographs.

The full selection of poses, from the more traditional styles to some funky ones involving gargoyles (!!) is here. 

I'm not the center of the universe!!?!

"To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom." 

Bertrand Russell

The thought of photographing strangers on the street has always terrified me.  I have looked at professional travel photography with awe, thinking that I'll never have the confidence to photograph people that I don't know.  Steve McCurry's 'Afghan Girl' is always the portrait that springs to mind when I think of such photographs and how far I am from being that kind of photographer.

So when I saw a tweet from Digital Photographer magazine asking if anyone wanted a street photography tutorial, I jumped at the chance.  As I was waiting for Carlo (my tutor from The Round Peg) and Claire from DP magazine to turn up, the realisation of becoming a London Street Photographer for the afternoon dawned on me and I thought about doing a runner!!

When Carlo and Claire arrived, they were so nice I couldn't think about leaving (also they had wedged me in, so I would have had to leap frog one of them!). We spent the first half an hour discussing some of the theoretical side, such as the legal position and image rights.  In short (and having trained as a lawyer, this does not come easily to me) it seems (another lawyer favourite: never commit to anything) photographing people on the street is permitted as long as it is not for an excluded reason, such as for commercial photography purposes or it amounts to harassment.  There is a great article on Siromo Photo's website here that summarises the law.  Although from a bit of research it seems that the UK courts are taking a slightly more relaxed stance to the European Courts, and so we may see a shift in the UK towards furthering an individual's right to privacy.

Carlo gave me loads of other great tips (which you'll have to go on his course to discover!), but the main ones were really to smile and not to think that everyone is looking at me.  He pointed out that I am not the center of the universe (errr what!?!) and that most people hadn't even noticed me taking their portrait.

There was one situation where the people being photographed got a little angry (see the picture of the nice man putting his finger up at me!) but generally people were more amused than anything.  The people that noticed that I was photographing them, smiled or gave me quizzical looks; some thought they were in my way, so quickly moved.  I had a great time as a street photographer.  It is easy to capture relaxed and interesting photographs in London as there is such variety in people, places and attitudes.  

I got to put my training into action at the Balham Street Festival.... more to come on that in the future blogs....

Joss and Ed's wedding photographs

What can I say?  This was such a magical day and so lovely of Joss to ask me to photograph her wedding in Guildford, Surrey.  Joss spent the day telling her guests that we used to play post offices when we were little.  I'm terribly embarrassed that she remembers, because I was pretty strict about my post office and not letting anything get out of order.

I hadn't seen Joss for about 20 years (when we last played post offices!) and she had changed a little.  Aside from being taller (!), she was the most beautiful bride and so easy to photograph.  Joss and Ed got married in Guildford Registry Office which is a lovely little venue, with great light falling in through the window onto the bride and groom to help make the wedding album look even better.  

The day began with a couple of hiccups: the hairdresser missed her train, so off I dashed in the car to grab her, and bride's brother getting locked in the car and an emergency rescue mission being launched (i.e. his mum dashing back to unlock said car and whisk him back to the waiting registrar and bridal party).  But other than that, the day went smoothly.

The wedding breakfast was held at Gate Street Barn wedding venue in Bramley.  The Barn is tucked in the Surrey hills to give a very intimate feel, but with enough space to take lovely relaxed wedding photographs.  Fortunately, I grew up in the area so was able to be a Guildford Wedding Photographer for the day without getting totally lost on the lanes that aren't even on the map!!!

So as usual, I've posted a selection of the Guildford wedding photographs above, but the full album is here.