Jonathan Bean Photography

WELCOME!

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny) — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 13:30:00 +0000

Hello! Thank you for visiting my blog. Unfortunately, this blog is now inactive, and all activity related to Jonathan Bean Photography now takes place on the Beanphoto website. Please click the picture to visit...

Blog moving!

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny) — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 18:14:00 +0000

After many years on Blogger, my blog has now taken up residence inside my new website at www.beanphoto.co.uk. Posts at this address have now ceased. If you would like to keep up to date with me at my new blog, please subscribe to the blog feed (http://www.beanphoto.co.uk/feed/) using your preferred RSS reader.

Susan & Paul's Scorton Fair Wedding {Lancashire Wedding Photography}

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny) — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 09:21:00 +0000

July was a busy month for weddings, but strangely it's all a bit quiet for August so a chance for me to finally catch up on some editing and blogging. I'm kicking off with Susan & Paul's wedding which began for me with a return to St. Peter's Church at Scorton, Lancashire, after having been there only a few weeks earlier for Jayne & Rob's wedding. It's such a great Lancashire village church wedding venue, with a fabulous church set in beautiful grounds. Paul and his son's were enjoying greeting the guests when I arrived and I was straight to work in reportage-style capturing candids of the goings-on.
Susan arrived looking stunning, along with her lovely bridesmaid and two gorgeous flower girls in floral summer dresses.

After the ceremony and snaps in the grounds we all headed over to the marquee set up in a nearby field, which with tractors, steam engines, sunshine galore and some great music from Solid Silver had the lovely air of a village country fair, perfect for partying into the night...

IIf you have the password, you can see the full gallery here: http://beanphoto.instaproofs.com/enterEvent.php?id=646071

Arcimboldo's Delicatessen, Harrogate {Lancashire Commercial Photography)

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny) — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 17:52:00 +0000

For a while now, I've been in conversation with my brother-in-law Martyn about taking some photos for his Harrogate Delicatessen "Arcimboldo's". Great name! and I must say it was hard to resist the temptation to make at least one portrait of Martyn in the Arcimboldo style, but no, what the client says goes! Well, a couple of week's back we finally found a free weekend and set about the job of snapping the place.

Arcimboldo's has been a feature on Harrogate's Kings Road for some years, but was very recently taken over by Martyn and he is now in the process of re-branding and making the store over in his own fashion.
And it's a beautiful store too, full of fantastic home-cooked delights, taste-bud bursting treats, melt-in-the-mouth delights, superb ingredients and the most gorgeous fine, fresh cheeses and cold meats!

I'm also delighted to have introduced Martyn, when he was looking for a fine coffee supplier, to Lancaster's finest of coffee emporiums "Atkinsons". So now Yorkshire and Lancaster alike can meet over artisan coffee and fine cake!

Here's some of the pics, and now I can't wait to see what the designer does with them for the soon-to-be re-launched Arcimboldo's website.

And if you don't know who Arcimboldo was, well here's a little taster of his artwork!

Discovering wonderful things pt2

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny) — Sun, 15 Jul 2012 15:11:00 +0000

Time again for some of the recently rediscovered pictures from the Bean family archive, scanned from the original negatives left to me by my dad in their thousands, oh for more time to go through them all!

Big Brother Ade enjoying his 5th birthday...

with some pals...

Mum...

Mum, me, Ade and aunty Lucy!

Jen & Dom's Vintage Wedding pt.2 {Lancashire wedding Photographer}

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny) — Sat, 14 Jul 2012 18:32:00 +0000

Time for part 2 of Jen & Dom's vintage treat of a wedding that took place in Arnside, Cumbria, just a few short weeks back. There's been no getting away from the rain in the UK this summer, and sadly Jen & Dom's day had it in spades, the worst of it coming just as they exited the church, but there was no dampening the spirits of this crowd. Look closely and you'll still see the beaming smiles! Such a fun day!

Jen & Dom's vintage va va voom wedding! {Lancashire wedding Photographer}

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny) — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 16:54:00 +0000

In a break from my usual format, I'm blogging Jen and Dom's wedding in different stages.

It was a wedding I'd been looking forward to a very long time for a number of reasons. First off, I loved that Jen and Dom are both photography lovers, and that they were having a very vintage themed wedding at Jen's local family church, not far from where Mrs Beanphoto and I had our own wedding reception in the beautiful Arnside and Silverdale "Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty". The wedding date was our own anniversary too (not actually our wedding anniversary - we celebrated a different anniversary for 25 years before getting married, and some habits just stick!). It was also an occasion when Mrs Beanphoto and myself would both be working the same wedding. As one half of Itsy Bitsy Vintage, she provides the most beautiful vintage china hire and styling service - all highly recommended - check it out!!

The day began somewhat overcast, but still charming, at the very lovely No.43 boutique B&B on Arnside seafront.

Jen, her daughter and girlfriends were having a fine old time getting ready, doing hair and make up and listening to music played on Jen's phone in the beautiful open and light rooms of No.43...

More to come soon in part 2: The Ceremony.

Hanging Basket

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny) — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 15:24:00 +0000

A couple of weeks back I was asked to take some photos for Lancaster Florist's The Hanging Basket of Brock Street Lancaster. John and his team needed new pictures for a website makeover.

If you are looking for new photos to give your website a facelift, please get in touch.

"Take some nice pictures and have some fun!"

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny) — Sat, 30 Jun 2012 11:13:00 +0000

I often like to ask couples when they book me to photograph their Lancashire wedding, to summarise what their expectations of me as a photographer are. I think my favourite response so far has come from Lis who responded quick as a flash with "take some nice pictures and have some fun! "How was I not gonna love shooting their day! And when she went on to describe how the day would be held in the oldest church in Lancashire (arguably) with the bride arriving in a vintage double decker bus, greeted by a Scots Piper, groomsmen in kilts, a reception at Overton Village Hall, with fabulous Lancaster-based magician Sam Fitton, a mobile real ale van from Lancaster Brewery, and fish and chips delivered from Lis's neighbours van and served direct to the tables, topped off with a vintage ice cream van (courtesy of my good pal Kate at Sunset Ices), I knew I was in for a good time. Even the constant drizzle of rain on the day failed to dampen the fun. I love this couple!

well I certainly had some fun, now it's over to Lis and Gareth now to decide if I took "some nice pictures"?

You can see Lis & Gareth's full wedding gallery here... (password required)

Jayne & Rob's colourful Alice in Wonderland wedding {Lancashire Wedding Photography}

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny) — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 18:41:00 +0000

"Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop."

Following on from Jayne & Rob's Sneak peek, I have some more lovely pictures to share with you from their amazing Alice in Wonderland themed wedding celebrations.

The couple married at the beginning of June on a drizzly wet day in Scorton, Lancashire at their local church, having met some years ago at a bus stop (I love that!).

When Jayne first told me she was having an Alice in Wonderland themed wedding, in a village church and reception at Chipping Village Hall wearing bright red heels, I just knew I was going to love it - and I did!

"The adventures first… explanations take such a dreadful time."

"Read the directions and directly you will be directed in the right direction."

"Curiouser and curiouser!"

"Sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."

"You are old, Father William, the young man said,
And your hair has become very white;
And yet you incessantly stand on your head --
Do you think, at your age, it is right?"

"No wonder you're late. Why, this watch is exactly two days slow."

"Will you walk a little faster?' said a whiting to a snail,
'There's a porpoise close behind us and he's treading on my tail."

"And she tried to fancy what the flame of a candle is like after the candle is blown out, for she could not remember ever having seen such a thing."

"What is the use of a book, without pictures or conversations?"

"This is a serious question, my dear, and you should not go on licking your paw like that -- as if Dinah hadn't washed you this morning!

"If you don't know where you are going, any road will take you there."

"But it's no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then."

"If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!"

"It's a poor sort of memory that only works backward."

"If everybody minded their own business, the world would go around a great deal faster than it does."

"A loaf of bread, the Walrus said,
Is what we chiefly need:
Pepper and vinegar besides
Are very good indeed --
Now if you're ready, Oysters, dear,
We can begin to feed! "

"Twinkle, twinkle, little bat! How I wonder what you're at."

"Off with her head!"

"Well, I never heard it before, but it sounds uncommon nonsense."

"Take care of the sense, and the sounds will take care of themselves."

"It would be so nice if something made sense for a change."

"Tut, tut, child! Everything's got a moral, if only you can find it."

Credits:

Church: St. Peter's Church, Scorton
Reception Venue: Chipping Village Hall, Lancashire
Bride's Dress: Dan Kerr, Preston
Wine: Some Young Punks
Photography: Jonathan Bean
Quotes: Lewis Carroll

To see the full gallery and order prints, please go to: Jayne & Rob's Wedding Gallery

A Mad Hatter's sneak peek {Lancashire Wedding Photography}

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny) — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 11:15:00 +0000

Jayne & Rob's Mad Hatter's tea party themed wedding at St. Peters Church, Scorton on Sunday was such a delight! A gorgeous couple, top hats, balloons, a fabulous figure hugging dress, amazing red shoes and Rob's brilliant red polka dot shirt. There's more great treats in store but for now, here's some early sneak peek favourites from the editing room...

A pretty Afternoon Tea Wedding {Tammy & George}

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny) — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 10:47:00 +0000

A couple of weeks ago, I was in Morecambe for Tammy & George's pretty afternoon tea party wedding. It was a little different from my usual bookings however because my clients for the day weren't actually the bride and groom for once. Tammy & George had booked my lovely wife's business Itsy Bitsy Vintage to provide the vintage china, bunting and styling for their vintage themed afternoon tea party wedding and I was booked to pop over and get some shots of the room and table settings before the wedding party arrived.

Itsy Bitsy Vintage established themselves in 2011, two friends, Carol (Mrs Beanphoto to regular readers) and Carole with a mutual love of vintage china, textiles, colour and pattern, they joined forces and now provide the prettiest, original, vintage china, silverware, flower vases, bonny bunting and other vintage accessories for hire for weddings, parties and other special occasions. Their service is exquisite and perfect for anyone considering a vintage style wedding, but is particularly delightful for those planning village hall, back garden, teepee and other DIY budget weddings. And speaking personally I absolutely love a DIY wedding, chock full of personality and individuality.

I can heartily recommend following the Itsy Bitsy Vintage blog or joining their facebook page to keep abreast of their gorgeous and inspiring work. Utterly charming you will be sure to delight your guests with their uniqueness and style.

And to show you what I mean, here's some of the shots from Tammy & George's wedding at The Trimpell Club in Morecambe...

And of course, how could I leave out the happy couple!

Welcome to the World, Baby Girl!

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny) — Sun, 13 May 2012 15:23:00 +0000

Last weekend I had the enormous pleasure of being asked to photograph my first christening ceremony. Back in 2011 I shot Zoe and Craig's lovely vintage wedding, and they were blessed recently with a daughter. they called to ask if I would like to shoot the christening and then, not having made the selection for their wedding album yet, if we could add a section at the back for the new arrival. Great idea! So there I was last Sunday in Horwich at my first christening. Willow Mae was beautiful, and a delight! Anyway, here's a few pics of the ceremony and party with friends and family...

Oh, and if you are having a christening in Lancashire and would like to have it photographed, get in touch!

The ceremony took place at St. Mary's, Horwich with party afterwards at the Horwich golf Club.
To see the full gallery and order prints, click here (password required).

Amanda & Neil's Divine DIY Wedding

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny) — Sun, 06 May 2012 08:47:00 +0000

I knew from the moment I spoke to Amanda on the phone several months ago, that I was going to LOVE this wedding! A small, intimate family wedding in the same lancaster Registry office, that I married in several years back, a walk around Lancaster, Polaroids on the invites, a home-made bouquet made of blue crepe paper, homemade buttoniere (with mini creme egg!), shoes chosen by the groom and with jewels added by the bride, what was not to love about it? And it didn't disappoint ...

My day started at Lancaster's Travelodge, where Amanda and Neil were preparing in adjoining rooms, and Amanda in hers was getting ready with her mother and Maid of Honour.

From the hotel, it was a short 2 minute walk to the Registry Office, where Neil, his Best Man and friends were welcoming the guests...

I loved that Amanda walked across from the Travelodge at peak traffic time,

... and it was soo sweet to see the pair meet up just before the service for a quiet moment, and then walk in together...

After the service we had a few formal and informal group shots and some lovely confetti moments...

... after which the guests went off on a walk taking in the sights of Lancaster, while Neil, Amanda and myself took a different short walk through town followed by a drive up to Williamson Park and the Ashton Memorial for a short spell of couple shots. I always love these times, it's like a little oasis of peace for the bride and groom in a day when the glare is otherwise full on them, and as such I like to step back a little too and record from a distance...

The reception was being held back in town at the very lovely Bar 1725, so a quick drive back and we met up with the guests again, and before the meal, some great speeches. I love these two! All the best, and thanks again for asking me to photograph your day!

For friends and family, you can find the full gallery here (but you'll need to get the password from Amanda or Neil!)

Discovering Wonderful Things

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny) — Thu, 03 May 2012 07:36:00 +0000

Recently, it was my birthday, and I bought myself a new toy...

Isn't it pretty?

It's called a film scanner. It's not the best film scanner in the world, nor the cheapest, but it does what it's supposed to do, and really rather well.

Why did I want one? Because I have boxes and boxes full of stuff like this....

and even more boxes of other stuff like this ...

I've been taking photographs since I was about 12, and before that my dad was a photographer too. Back then we both shot everything on film, we sent the film off to places like "Boots the Chemist" to be developed and several weeks later (imagine that - we had to wait weeks!) we got the films back again with the prints in wallets like this...

They were very cleverly designed to keep your prints in one side and your negatives safe in the other, like this ...

Sending your films away to be printed was very exciting, you had weeks of imagining how, when you got your pictures back, they would look like this...

or like this ...

When they did come back, they usually looked like this ...

But that was a wonderful thing, it was good to make mistakes, I learnt from making them, and sometimes those mistakes worked better than my original idea! I have my dad to thank for my love of photography, and because of him we have many, many wonderful family pictures like this ...

(that's me on the end, dressed as a camera, an outfit made by my dad, and my big brother on the other end, dressed as a Christmas present - we obviously had a lot of empty boxes lying around that year!)

Some years before my dad passed away, he give me several boxes of these wonderful things, wallets of old black and white film negatives and slides, 35mm, 120mm and more, which have lain in the cellar, waiting to be explored. Many, because dad enjoyed doing his own developing and processing, and because he often printed just one shot from a roll of 12 or 36, we have never even seen.

Until now... and that's why I wanted this wonderful thing...

And here's one from the first batch of scanning yesterday...

(me, aged about 3, in my neighbours house in Cardiff)

Paul & Helen {Lancashire Wedding Photography}

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny) — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 07:15:00 +0000

A few weeks back I sneak peeked a few shots from Paul & Helen's lovely March wedding at the Gibbon Bridge Hotel, and it's unfortunately taken me a little longer than I'd planned (life just has a habit of getting in the way sometimes!) to bring you the full report, but "ta da!" here it is! My first wedding of 2012 and I could not have asked for a better way to get back in the groove. A lovely venue, wonderful couple, and a great group of family and friends. When it comes together like this, my job gets so much easier! Anyway, enough, bring on the pictures...
{family and friends can find and order prints from the full gallery}

The Great Escape

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny) — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 07:19:00 +0000

Last week the lovely Mrs Beanphoto whisked me off to Llandudno in North Wales for a week of sunshine and relaxation and to celebrate my milestone birthday in the aptly named "Escape Cottage". It was fab! fab! fab! and (if you ignore the fact that I stupidly burnt a hole in the Cath Kidston tea towel - replacement on it's way Gaenor!), we seem to have broken our holiday jinx. Yay!! Anyone who knows us will know that our holidays don't usually go off without major disaster, including in recent years, car dying, camping with half a tent missing and dashes to hospital!

Here's some pics of the gorgeous and highly recommended Escape Cottage.

All pics taken on my Samsung Galaxy Ace phone, using Vignette for Andoid.

Pic(k) of the Week {Lancashire Wedding Photography}

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny) — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 10:34:00 +0000

For me, this lovely shot of bride to be Helen, from my recent wedding at The Gibbon Bridge Hotel in the Ribble Valley shows exactly why it can be so nice to include even a short spell of time having a photographer for your 'getting ready' time!
The shot was taken barely 25 minutes before the actual ceremony and captures Helen in a quiet candid moment of calm and concentration, before heading off into the rush of putting the dress on and adding final touches.

Pentax K5, Sigma 18-50 mm f2.8 lens, 1/50th at f2.8 iso 500.

A few more Headshots {Lancaster portrait photography}

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny) — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 21:22:00 +0000

A few more shots from Hanneke's headshots shoot last week...

Actors Headshots {Lancashire Portrait Photography}

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny) — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 10:08:00 +0000

On Monday I spent a lovely hour updating agency headshots for local actress Hanneke Blower.
Here's a glimpse.

Headshot sessions start at £75 for an hour, including your choice of 3 10"x8" b&w prints or hi-res files on disc.

Meet the bridesmaids {sneak peek}

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny) — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 20:11:00 +0000

On Saturday I was at The Gibbon Bridge Hotel near Clitheroe in the Ribble Valley for Paul & Helen's wedding. It was a lovely day, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Here's a little sneak peek of the bridesmaids and their rather lovely individualised bouquets.

1940's vintage tea party

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny) — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 21:30:00 +0000

If you saw yesterday's sneak peek, you'll already know a little about what I got up to on Saturday!

I sense that sneak peek has left a certain Emmaline and her family and friends somewhat eager to see the rest of the photos from her amazing 40th birthday party. Taking 40 as a theme, Emmaline went for a vintage afternoon tea party at Carnforth Railway Station (home of the 1945 British Classic film "Brief Encounter"). All of the guests dressed up in fabulous 40's gear, and my lovely lady wife and her Itsy Bitsy Vintage business cohort styled the party room into a vintage delight, complete with bunting, 3-tier cake stands, the prettiest authentic china, linen and silverware.

I was initially invited along by the Itsy Bitsy Vintage girls to snap their lovelies, but offered to do a few snaps for Emmaline whilst there, I mean crikey! It's not often you get a chance to shoot such absolutely spiffing people in a great setting like this, and I must say I enjoyed myself really rather a lot!

VIEW THE FULL SET AND PURCHASE PRINTS HERE

VIEW THE FULL SET AND PURCHASE PRINTS HERE

A note about the suppliers:

Venue: Carnforth Railway Station Visitor Centre
Catering: The Refreshment Room, Carnforth Station
Vintage china hire and room styling: Itsy Bitsy Vintage
Cupcakes: Madam Chocolat

Carnforth Station Vintage Party {sneak peek}

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny) — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 08:21:00 +0000

I couldn't resist this little sneak peek from Emmeline's 40th birthday party at Carnforth Railway Station yesterday. More soon...

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Livi Michael at Lancaster Castle

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny) — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 09:33:00 +0000

Todays post is a bit of a companion piece to my previous one of Blake Morrison. Again, this was a Litfest commission and a part of the same wider project that Blake Morrison is involved in. All will become clear later this spring. For now, suffice to say this is author Livi Michael, for Litfest, photographed last Friday at Lancaster Castle.

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Blake Morrison at Lancaster Castle

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny) — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 15:39:00 +0000

On Friday I had the pleasure of shooting some portraits of the writer Blake Morrison for Lancaster Litfest for an upcoming project. What a lovely chap he is! Here's a few from the session.

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