Archive for May, 2010
Had a great time last week shooting these crazy pair in beautiful sunshine around Manchester. I shot in some new locations and visited some old ones I favour. Below are some of my favourites from the shoot.
It was Dave’s first shoot and he was great but I am shooting Becca next week on 1-1 which should be great.
One of my personal favourites and in a telephone box!
During my first studio shoto I also had the pleasure of shooting MUA/Model Samantha Gardner. Her attention to detail was immaculate and she was real fun to shoot. Samantha must be busy as it has taken her 2 weeks to get back to me with her choices of images she would like from this shoot. 
Big thanks again to Gareth Hickey for setting everything up (models, lighting etc.) and having me along.
Here is just a sneak peak and I am aware it looks a little like a manikin but when I started processing this image I just felt that was the right way to go with it.
Gareth Hickey kindly invited me down to his studio to shoot Olivia and Sam Gardner (MUA and model). I am very used to shooting on location so photographing within a studio environment was quite a departure for me. I didn’t think I was going to enjoy it very much due to the rather sterile backdrop but I couldn’t have been more wrong, loved it!
Below are some of my personl favs
When Natasha invited me to be a second photographer at Thornton Manor last year I jumped at the chance to work at such a fabulous venue. Thornton Manor oozes quality throughout and provides photo opportunities in abundance, I felt like a kid in a candy store and was truely honoured to help cover Lucy and Scott’s wedding.
Let me just say being a second photographer does come with it’s own pressure because for me it adds another client to please, not only do you have the couple I also have an accomplished photographer! Naturally not being the primary photographer does take some of the attention away and allows me to capture moments in a documentary style. There is a slightly different mindset but the ultimate goal still remains, to produce images of quality that capture the emotion, love, fun and laughter.
Here are just some of my favourites from the day and thank you again Natahsa, Lucy and Scott for having me along.
Just great expressions captured as dad and brother see Lucy for the first time in her wedding dress!
Breathe!
I just love the isolation in this shot despite the ceremony being in full swing.
Thornton Manor wedding photographer, Thornton Manor weddings, wedding photographer Wirral, Wirral wedding photography
Monday was very busy for me having a location shoot in the morning and a few studio shoots in the evening. I didn’t get back home till 11pm but enjoyed every minute working with talented models Olivia, Samantha (MUA as well) and Gareth Hickey (photographer) over at his studio. Thanks for having me along I loved it!
I will post some images here from that evenings shoot when I get some time but below are some of my favourites from shooting Lisa in and around the city of Manchester.
This is one of my favs from the whole shoot.
Shortly after this shot we were moved along by security which was a real shame 
Claire an Paul got married in a cosy Baptist Chapel then onto Inglewood Manor for the wedding breakfast and the rest of the day’s festivities. Inglewood manor is full of character, texture and just has tremendous potential for any wedding photography. I look forward to returning there in 2011 having just booked Terri and Gareth’s wedding last week
The weather was perfect all day and below are just a handful of shots I like (I have big hands!)
Naturally the dress is important to capture as are the smaller details which make up the story of your day. You have invested alot of time and money into such things so it’s important I capture it.
Even when I am shooting it’s important to keep an eye out for other opporuntites and I noticed this little boy peering round the corner.
Claire was a Man Utd fan so she requested a red gel. Another one of my signature shots during the first dance.
inglewood manor wedding photographer, inglewood weddings, inglewood photographer
There were a few locations I’d chosen before arriving in Liverpool but the whole shoot was very much about looking for opportunities. On many occasions we were on route to a location only for me to keep get darting down streets looking for potential backgrounds of interest. When shooting on location I do try to keep some locations aside in case the heavens open, but then I wouldn’t have achieved all the lovely shadows in the bridge that leads to John Lewis (see examples below).
Once I set the flash or two up it’s very much about trying to maximise the location for angles and different posing before moving on. Just the slightest movement or expression change can make a massive difference to the final shot, so it’s very much about letting the model just model but also me telling her just to make some small adjustments.
Below are some of my favourites from the shoot .
One of my favs from the day and very much about chatting to the model and just her to create weird shapes and just going for it! These shutters were great as they had tiny holes which allowed some detail from the car park behind to come through.
I love all the angles and lines in this shot and had to keep waiting for the bridge to clear to get the shot.
Just love this shot with the shadows and the wall just dissapearing into the distance.
I have been very fortunate to work with some really great models (male and female) over the last couple of years and Sha certainly is one of them. Right off the bat she produced pose after pose with such elegance beauty and presence, now finally I am able to post more than a few shots from the shoot with the help of this blog. I am very proud of the final resuls and whilst chatting to Sha I found out she was a dancer so decided to incorporate that into the shoot with great success.
Some people ask about processing and 95% of it is done within Lightroom. With this post I have provided an insight into a before and after just to give you a little taster, scroll further down to view.
BEFORE
Here is a great example of before and after just to give you some idea what is involved to create the final image.
AFTER
I love shooting on location because you never quite sure what the weather is going to do. I have worked in all sorts of weather conditions and relish the challenge of shooting in bad weather and using the elements to add something special to the shot. Location shoots also provide plenty of texture, character and sometimes props such as parked cars as seen in image 2.
This was a great shoot last year with Sean and we achieved a great mix of shots using both natural light and off camera flash in and around Manchester.
With my old blog it only permitted one image per post but here I like to offer you more shots from the day’s shoot, hope you like them.
Thank you Sean.
Gallery update – You may have noticed I have made the images a little bigger rather than clicking through which I think is better?
The sun finally came out and I told Sean to run over to the log and stand on it before the sun went behind the clouds again. The result is a great capture and one of my personal favourites.
Unusual processing with the last two images but I love the final result.
