A special engagement session - part 1

Well this was a rather special engagement session for me. Yes my couples all show enthusiasm and energy, but Liz and Chris spent all day going to various sites in London, not only that but an extremely cold and snowy London. Their stamina and energy never faltered for a long day, it was no surprise to learn that they have both completed the London marathon.

I was lucky to get to London, the airports had seen much disruption due to snow and ice. So it was nice to open our photography with a few images showing some snow. Certainly the grey lighting and covering of snow lent themselves to more graphic compositions, a lot of these earlier shots were better in monochrome to make full use of the conditions.


Battersea power station is such a massive landmark, again the conditions were great to convey the nature of this building.

With a couple who know London so well it was quick and easy for us move through our list of areas to cover, looking for slightly unusual compositions and some lesser known corners of the city.

Even with the colour image below it mainly looks monochromatic, until one notices the splash of colour from the sole of the shoe.


Here's an area I wouldn't have known about, but Liz knew she wanted a picture amongst these beautiful pillars. A slight restriction was the stack of tables there, but I have to deal with things like this without delay and find compositions that work and eliminate distractions. An exposure to enable me to make a higher key picture, with a little use of flash to highlight the couple, meant I was able to realise my vision and make best use of the location.

While by St. Paul's I noticed buses in the background and thought about the shot we see here, of course just when you want a bus there isn't one, or it's going at the wrong speed and stops, or there's people in the way! But with a bit of perseverance I got the shots, thank you for your patience Liz and Chris!

This trip to London also gave me the opportunity to see a few sites that I had never visited, a walk across the Millenium Bridge and onto the Tate Gallery.

It is good to see the use that some buildings have been put to, the Tate is another old power station now used as an art gallery. But no time to admire the exhibits as I had to try and produce some art of my own. I immediately recognised the beauty of the backlighting and sheen from the concrete floor. I also wanted to show Liz and Chris as tiny figures in this vast industrial cavern, drawing attention to them by the use of a slow shutter speed, blurring other people walking by. A result well worth the effort in the end.

A little break for lunch and a chance to warm up, then we were out to play at dusk. A lot more colour in the following pictures, using the artificial lighting from the city lights and the remaining ambient light in the sky. There's always a short period when these light sources balance and give a nice colour in the sky.


One of my favourite images of the session is the next one, a fairy tale scene with the beautiful blue lights on the trees and the London Eye. I chose the order of our night shots carefully to make best use of the dusk light, this image allowed for a darker sky so could be left until later. I was troubled with keeping the rain off the lens, but in the end the droplets of water actually add to the overall feel of the picture.

Then to conclude a memorable day a quick visit to Tower Bridge. Thank you very much to Liz and Chris for this opportunity, we have some amazing pictures that will provide you with a lovely memory of your life in London.

Look out for part 2 of this engagement session in Guernsey in another post, coming soon.

A few portraits....

People might not realise but I also shoot portrait commissions. My aim is not just to create a record of people, but to ensure I portray the emotions and love present between them, whether couples, family groups or children. Using my experience and vision I can transcend the ordinary portrait and provide you with a work of art that demonstrates your bonds for each other.

So a few examples from a recent family session. It's amazing the natural moments one can capture just by watching and lying on the floor for a while, letting children just be children. It is also lovely to see the obvious bonds between parents and children, and seeing children so at ease with their grandparents.

So thank you to Detlev, Katherine, Abigail and Colin and the grandparents of course. We now have a priceless collection of beautiful moments of your wonderful family.

Samantha & Matthew

This wedding was special in that so many people had travelled from all corners of the globe to assemble in Guernsey to join Sam and Matt in their wonderful day. I was aware of a large contingent from South Africa, naturally as this is where the groom's family reside, plus people from Bermuda, New York, Australia and others from not so far away. One of the pleasures of this job is being able to meet some remarkable people, there were plenty in this event, though unfortunately I don't get a chance to stop to chat.

It is difficult to condense such a wedding into a select few images for the blog, so excuse me if you feel left out in this blog. There are plenty more images to show in due course, plus these have taken me 2 long days of effort to get to this stage.

Apart from a minor worry when the cravats couldn't be located for a few moments and a few tight shirt collars, the groom and his party were in a relaxed mood as they got ready. It was nice that everyone throughout the day was on time.

Photography is so much about the use of light and I quickly seized upon the opportunity of this scene as the bride was in her final preparations, the beautiful bridesmaids dresses contrasting with the other colours.

Now when one of my daughters saw the next image as she glanced over my shoulder this evening she exclaimed that the bride was stunning and looked like a Roman goddess.

The service was lovely and the bride really shone as she entered the church. Confetti flew in abundance on the way out.


Now one of the highlights of the day had to be the use of the old cars. The bride's parents have a stunning Austin 16/6, this was immaculately turned out. Several friends had also come in their cars, this ressembled a scene from a by gone era as they motored away through the lanes by the church.


We stopped off on the way to the reception and I was able to take full advantage of the colours of autumn and the immaculately valeted car for this portrait of the newly wed couple, even if it did mean lying in the gutter for the best viewpoint.


With so many people travelling so far it was nice to have a vantage point that enabled me to show the entire wedding party in one go, a precious record.

A bit of fun before the meal for one of the younger guests and a stroll in the gardens.



Some funny speeches followed, I love the match between the groom's brother's waistcoat and the wallpaper. These shots were especially difficult to capture as the lighting levels were low and rather challenging!

Now the first dance that followed was the most energetic routine I have seen at a wedding. Quite breathtaking, note the veil disappears at some point during the dance! The pace slowed up for a second dance with the couple's parents, this was a nice touch and it was good to photograph them all on the dance floor together.



No room to share more pictures with you here, but the party continued at a high pace throughout with lots of great action until past midnight. I was able to record some fun images throughout.
Hope you enjoyed this preview of the images.

Kate & Richard

Oh what a beautiful day we all had, yes myself included!
A great looking couple, lovely venues and lots of fun all add to another memorable day. Now the aim of my photography is to capture this all in a genuine natural way, I want my couples to relive those intense emotions they experienced on their day when they view my work and the album. This is how I measure my success.

Here are a few images of the preparations early in the day. The dress was so pretty, so perfect for the bride.


It is often difficult to get the groom's party in a lighter mood, but no problems here.


Now I can't remember the combined ages of these delightful ladies, but it was pretty close to the triple century and they enjoyed the entire day from beginning to very end!

The bride looked quite radiant.

Onto the church where it was lovely to record the intimate moments from up close.



There are so many things to capture at a wedding, I am vigilant for the grand scenes as well as the tiny details.


It was a sunny but breezy day, love those bridesmaids dresses too.

I can't show everything I want in this post, but here's a few to complete the day. I ensure my editing is thorough and meticulous, the remainder of the images will take me a long time to go through. This is one of the factors that I believe separates me from a lot of other photographers. Hope you have enjoyed this selection to keep you in anticipation of seeing the rest.