We managed to rattle through the group shots pretty much straight after the ceremony as I had one eye on the weather and wanted to use the beautiful surroundings while it was still dry.  We photographed the newlyweds by the lake at the Coniston Hotel, all very chilled and relaxed.  The daffodils were still out which I always try and include in a few shots and we just wandered here and there grabbing a few photographs.  As with the week before the wind and the veil had a few disagreements but nothing serious! We managed to get back to the guests at the reception just before the heavens opened!

The speeches were all good and the line up before gave us a chance to get lots of shots of the guests congratulating the bride and groom.  After the cake cutting everyone got on the dance floor and partied the night away.  We got some lovely photos of all the girls after the meal, in a change to tradition they picked up the groom!  We had to take the photos quickly as I’m not sure how long they would hold him but it was all great fun!  It was a really lovely wedding and we were thrilled to have taken the photographs.  As always shots are up here and on my Facebook page with the discs to go out soon.  Thanks for looking everyone!

I knew I would be out taking photographs most of the day and there would be a large amount of water (river Thames) and sky in a lot of the shots.  As I am a big fan of long exposure the Lee big Stopper filter was an essential bit of kit.  I was also using a circular polariser to pop the clouds a little and a 2 stop grad as I wanted the sky to be quite saturated for the conversion to black and white.  So this was pretty much my filter set up for the day.  I had a cable release as most of the day was shot on bulb mode with exposures between 1-3 minutes aperture was typically f/16 and ISO was between 50-200.  A lot of the tweaks to exposure were just done by checking out the histogram and the LCD to see how a shot was looking.  I also had my camera to shoot in B&W as it helped visualising the final shot, I was still in RAW so all colour information was kept.

These are the photographs I took.  The millennium bridge at St Paul’s Cathedral was pretty busy but the long exposure got rid of most of the tourists.  I was more interested in capturing the fierce looking sky.  I had been quite lucky with the weather as it started clear and I knew it would start clouding over as the day went on which was perfect for the long exposure black and white photographs I was planning on taking.

I managed to get down to river level for the photograph of tower bridge as the tide was out but I still wanted to incorporate the sky and the water.  Think the level of cloud cover was just about right for this one.  The shot of the top of the shard was a little more abstract, again I was wanting to do more architectural photography but struggle a little with that genre.  I need to walk around looking at the sky more!  Finally the photograph of Battersea power station was one of the first shots of the day.  I love this building (although many hate it) I knew the blue sky would go a rich black in the black and white conversion and I quite liked the contrast of the white towers.  Ideally I would have gone over the river and done something with the cranes but I was unsure how much time I would have.  As it started raining right at the end of the St Pauls photos I think I timed things just right.  London is fantastic for this type of photography and a long as you are ok setting a tripod up in front of thousands of tourists and it stays dry, you can get some great images.  Thanks for looking everyone.

Catherine looked fantastic, bit of an English rose thing going on with pretty flowers in her hair and a great looking dress.  Everyone was very relaxed and there to enjoy the day.  Once the ceremony was done all the guests walked down to Denton hall, after what was the longest confetti tunnel we’ve ever witnessed!  We buzzed through the formal groups quite quickly and headed into the field at the front, which was full of little lambs!  We had a bit of a stroll down to the lake and after a few negations between the bride’s veil and the wind we started getting a few wedding photos of the couple with Denton Hall as the backdrop.  Both the bride and groom were great to photograph, very down to earth.  It was then on to the meal and the speeches.  Catering was done by the good folk at the Box Tree in Ilkley, which is always a bit special and the speeches rounded off a great meal.

The couple had a photo booth set up for some funny shots of the guests and we set up the lights for the first dance as the band were setting up.  The live band were great, always good to hear some beatles/Britpop type stuff.  Then all was left to do was cut the cake and boogie on down, which is just what happened.  The floor filled up pretty quick and we got some good shots of everyone just letting their hair down which is always good to see.  It was a lovely wedding and we were thrilled to photograph it.  Once again congratulations from Carol and myself, I’ll put some images up here and on my Facebook page and have the DVDs out soon!

The speeches were all great, it’s always nice to hear a bit of background on the bride and groom.  Then after the meal it was on to the first dance, with the kids doing the warm up act to gangnam style, most entertaining.  All in all it was a lovely day and we were glad to play our part, another one of those weddings where we feel more like guests than photographers!  Congratulations once again to Tracey and Neil, I’ve sent the DVDs out so they should have them soon.  I’ll put a few shots up here and on my Facebook page.  Thanks for looking folks!

Full Names?
Elizabeth Hughes (now Marshall) and Edward Marshall

Wedding Date, Location and number of guests?
Sandburn Hall, Flaxton, York; 82 ceremony & breakfast; 108 evening reception

How did you meet or How long have you been together?
We met via mutual friends just over 4 years ago

Wedding Dress – Designer, Style, where you got it?
Ella; Strapless, sweetheart satin gown; Sposa, Brinklow

Bridal party attire – groomsmen and bridesmaids?
Groomsmen x 7 – Charcoal grey tails & cream waistcoat (Moss); Bridesmaids x 3 – Champagne long strapless dresses (high street)

Accessories – Jewellery, shoes, flowers?
Tiara & necklace, diamante/pearl (Debenhams); Ivory lace peep-toe sandals (Flo by Perfect Vintage); Cream, white and peach roses, fresias & orchids (Lawnswood Floral Designs, Leeds)

About the wedding day (as much or little detail as you like)?
It went perfectly! We had a 6.30am start for a 12pm ceremony and the wedding and celebrations were all at the same venue which was very easy. The evening reception started at 7pm and we partied until midnight!

Any theme or colour scheme?
The wedding was over the Easter weekend so we wanted everything to be very light, vibrant and spring-like. The bridesmaids dresses were champagne, the boys waistcoats and cravats were cream and gold and we had light and green flowers and chair covers. It all worked perfectly.

Any particularly special moments or highlights?
The sun was shining so our drinks reception could we outside which was lovely. The band were incredible and really made the evening do!

Favourite photograph of the day?
After the wedding breakfast, Ed and me by the lake on the golf course – the colours are incredible! (attached)

Anything you would do differently?
No!

Any surprises on the day?
Ed had made me an album with pictures of our whole relationship, holidays etc which my chief bridesmaid gave to me the morning of the wedding. It was lovely to look through and made us all cry! Haha. It was very touching

Can you give any advice to couples on their day?
1) Make sure you give yourselves plenty of time for planning your wedding – it all comes round very quickly!
2) Speeches before the wedding breakfast! Everyone is so much more at ease.
3) Get a band for the evening do!
4) Make sure you take time during the day to look around and soak it all in – it goes very quickly!

And finally, any suppliers you would recommend?
All of them! Venue – Sandburn Hall, York; Photography – Pete Barnes Photography; Hair & make-up – Anna Stevenson Hair & Make-up Artist; Florist – Lawnswood Floral Designs, Leeds; Wedding dress – Sposa, Brinklow; Band – Cerone; Cars – Reece Cars.

Liz and Ed were a lovely couple, really down to earth and relaxed and just happy to have so many friends and family surround them on their wedding day.  I had two assistants with me at this wedding which was quite unusual for us but worked out well, it’s always good to have another pair of eyes when photographing a wedding!  Aside from a fainting usher at the start of the ceremony things went very smoothly and everyone was enjoying the day.  The bride and groom had set up a ping pong table which was good to photograph people playing on, especially the inevitable bride vs groom showdown, which I’m not certain but pretty sure the bride will have won!  We got the group shots done pretty quickly, it was nice to do these outside for the first time this season!  We did some couple shots which Liz and Ed soon got into but I had a view to do a few more after the wedding breakfast as I had a good feeling about the weather.  The meal went well and all the speeches were good, we did some more informal photos amongst the guests then got outside for some photos as the sun was setting.  The light at this time was fantastic, really low and warm and lighting everything up wonderfully.  I think the photos kind of take themselves when the conditions go like that.  Quick special thanks to Sam, my 2nd assistant for the day, he got the first kiss shot at the ceremony from the back of the room, all there with his lemon drops that lad.

We then headed back in for the rest of the evening do which included the cake cutting and the first dance, the live band were great and the dance floor soon filled up.  All in all it was a great day and a fantastic wedding to photograph.  As always I’ll put a few shots up now and have the DVDs out to the couple soon.

I’ll put my photography teacher hat on now and just go over what I did to get some of these images.  The image above was for a company that analyses asbestos samples.  The problem is a lot of the places these guys work can be a bit dull and dingy and not very exciting to look at, not great when you want some images for your website.  So we have to get the flashes off the camera and make them light various aspects of the scene.  In this scene above, the guy was in this long plastic tunnel checking and taking samples from cracks in the ground.  The low shooting angle works well as you can see what he is up to but what makes the scene pop is the lighting coming from the end of the tunnel.  It wasn’t some industrial process or golden sunlight from the outside.  I had positioned a flash gun (canon 600EX-RT, these things are great) on a tripod about 15 feet back.  The flash was zoomed to about 50mm and way unmodified hard light, the only thing I had done was put a strip of CTO gel to give it that warm appearance.

The subject was lit with another 600EX-RT which had a lumiquest big bounce attached to it, this just softens the light a little as it was quite close quarters in there I couldn’t put up umbrellas or soft boxes. No colour mods on this one.  The camera was on full manual at 1/100, ISO800, 28mm at f/2.8 I was triggering the flashes with a ST-E3-RT (sounds like R2D2′s little brother) I believe the flashes were both on about 1/32 power (manual) and the front light was a couple of foot from the guys mask to camera right.  Did a couple of frames like this and swaped the gel for a CTB to give a colder bluer tone.

This next one was just done at the lab where they analyse the samples.  Nothing overly technical about the shot, flash was on an umbrella to camera right to give some soft light to the subject.  I loved the modern, clinical reflective desks so wanted to incorporate the reflective element, again a low shooting angle was essential (as were some polish and dusters to give it a quick once over!).  The flash was just on ETTL and set to over expose by 1 stop to keep things nice and bright.  Camera was on ISO1600 (!? not ideal but needed some ambient light) 1/80 35mm f/2.8.  I had to extend the frame a little in photoshop to make it able to work as a tin banner image, again very useful for websites.

The next one was in a void above a ceiling, checking pipes and stuff, pretty dark as you can imagine.  I wanted to show we were in this void so needed to light the surroundings as well as the chap in the mask, to make it a bit more challenging we were both on step ladders!  The guy was lit again using a flashgun and the big bounce and a CTO gel to camera right.  The blue tint was behind the subject and out of frame to camera left, again just a single unmodified light with a CTB.  I’m a big fan of using complimentary colours and the orange/blue combo always works well.  The back light does a great job at lighting some of the cabling as well as a little rim light to the subject.  Camera was set to ISO1000 40mm 1/100 f/2.8, again flashes on ETTL.

This last images was taken from the bowels of a building, I was a bit nervous everyone but me had masks but was assured it was all safe (!) Again, not much to use in terms of light so I had the hard blue one hidden off to camera right and behind the subject and the big bounce just in front of the inspectors face (you can just see the edge of it at the top of the frame.  The camera was set to ISO1000 64mm, 1/100 at f/4 I stoped down the aperture to darken the ambient light as I still wanted it to look like we were in a bit of a dark tunnel, which we were!  Again the 600EX-RT’s were both on ETTL and doing their thing.

It was a great day of shooting at some really interesting locations, certainly different from the wedding venues I am used to but it’s great to get out of your comfort zone a little and do something different!  Thanks for looking everyone, got to get the batteries charged now for tomorrows wedding!

Anyway everyone managed to turn up from the staff and the registrars to the guests and of course the lovely couple.  We were there for a full day of wedding photography so very relaxed in terms of timings.  We managed to get the bride and groom out for a few photos after the ceremony and then again after the wedding breakfast.  Jennie and Paul were more than willing to wade around in the snow for those beautiful white wedding photos.  The couple looked absolutely stunning and if they were cold it didn’t come across in the photos!  Everyone was very calm and relaxed throughout the day and all the guests were all very friendly which is always nice.  Again the bride and groom were an absolute joy and a privilege to photograph – thankfully Jennie brought along some boots, not sure how we would have managed without them with that amount of snow!

As always I am putting a few shots up here and on my wedding photography facebook page.  I’ll have the images out to the happy couple soon.  Congratulations once again from Carol and I and all the best for the future!

A quick mini post this morning as I have been a bit quiet on the bloging front and going to ease myself back into it.  We were at Holdsworth House in Halifax, West Yorkshire at the weekend and the weather was a little extreme to say the least, you don’t expect to be wading through over a foot of snow in spring!  However it made for some really great wedding photos and I was thrilled that the newly-weds were up for going out in it.  I will do a thorough blog post when I have processed the photos and will give a more in depth gallery but for now I’ll just put up these three photos that I processed straight away.