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I am very pleased that I was recently contacted by The Wedding Community Blog and asked if I would contribute a picture for their picture of the day feature.The Wedding Community Blog is a great resourse for couples planning their wedding, so it was a real honour to be invited to contribute. The picture they chose to feature was taken at Kat and Greig’s wedding last year. Here is the picture….To view the picture and take a look at the website, go to http://theweddingcommunityblog.wordpress.com/2011/02/22/picture-of-the-day-aspect-photography/

Followers of this blog will remember that i did a bridal photoshoot for the Cambridge Explorer Magazine last year at Anstey Hall in Cambridge. I really enjoyed doing that, so i was delighted to be asked to do another one for the magazine, this time at Westminster College in Cambridge.The photoshoot took place on Sunday morning and continued throughout the day. It was only when i finally got into my car to drive home that i realised that i hadn’t sat down in eight hours! I even ate lunch standing up! But that’s how exciting these photoshoots are, so when good photographs start happening, I loose track of time and just keep going!The principal model for this shoot was Francesca Dutton, a film actress who kindly took time from filming at Ealing Studios to come over to Cambridge and model for me. (She is currently starring in a film about a photographer, so keep an eye out for that). Many thanks Francesca – I hope you like the pictures as much as I do! Francesca is very experienced at working with the camera and it clearly shows in the images, but I also like to give opportunities to models with less experience, as this helps me to practice getting the best out of them. Emily and Natasha no doubt enjoyed wearing the beautiful wedding dresses as they modelled for me after Francesca had to head back to London. They both did a great job and I am confident i got some potential winning pictures from them both. I shall be entering a selection in the SWPP monthly competitions for sure. Many thanks to everyone involved in the shoot.I hope you enjoy looking at this selection of images. Below is a mixture of shots for the magazine and those I have done for myself and the models own portfolios. For the photographers amongst you, the camera was a Nikon D700 and post production in Lightroom, Photoshop and NIK software. For the brides amongst you, all the images are taken on location using the same equipment I use when covering a wedding!I am always pleased to receive comments on the pictures, so please feel free to add them using the link at the bottom of the page………….

I have recently been interviewed by Cambridge Explorer Magazine which will feature in the next edition along with the photos from the forthcoming bridal photoshoot at Westminster College in Cambridge. I am really pleased to have been recognised by such a well established local magazine. I have now done several photoshoots for the magazine and that will hopefully continue as they are great fun to do. Here is the interview……..What first attracted you to photography and what photographers influenced you?I became interested in photography as a teenager through an interest in aviation. I used to visit my local airport and take pictures with a kodak 126 camera, but i wanted to be able photograph the aircraft as they flew past. I therefore needed a camera with a telephoto lens, so when i left school and got a job as an office assistant, i saved all my wages until i could afford a Zenith E, which was a Russian built 35mm SLR camera. When i joined the RAF in 1978, i began to view aircraft from a professional standpoint and so photography naturally took over as my hobby. I was stationed in Pembrokeshire which was an ideal place to learn and develop my love of landscape photography.As for photographers that have influenced me, i would have to say Don McCullin for his gritty real life photojournalism and portraits. More recently though i was tempted back into wedding photography by the work of Scottish photographer Gordon McGowan. What was your first camera, and what is your preferred camera now?As i mentioned, my first SLR camera was the Zenith E, but this was quickly replaced when my parents bought me an Olympus OM1 for my 21st birthday. It had to be the Olympus because that was the camera Don McCullin was using at the time. Nowadays i use Nikon cameras which i love for their robust construction and quality of image. The D700 is an awesome camera, especially in low light conditions. What made you want to pursue wedding photography?I first got into wedding photography in the early 1980s when i was still in the RAF. I used to finish my shift work at 1pm and dash into town to work at a local studio. I did that for a couple of years without any pay. I learned a lot and eventually had a go at doing a few weddings on my own. This was in the days of film, so you never saw the results until the prints came back from the lab. Looking back, i can’t believe that i used to send the films away in the post!I later moved away from wedding photography as i found it uninspiring. In those days, wedding photography was limited to about 100 pictures and consisted of mainly formal family group shots. It was only a few years ago that i came across the wedding photography of Gordon McGowan that i was inspired to get back into doing it. Digital photography has completely rewritten the rules of wedding photography and today it is an exciting and creative medium. You won the SWPP Landscape Photographer of the Year Award in 2009, why did you decide to specialise in wedding photography in particular?I wouldnt say that i do. Wedding photography combines many other forms of photography into one day. We typically attend a wedding for about ten hours and only stop photographing when the guests sit down to eat. Throughout the day i will use portraiture, photojournalism and landscape photography techniques using daylight, flash and video light to get a variety of images. How do you feel that you put the creative aspect into wedding photography?I do a lot of planning and usually visit the venues weeks before the wedding. On the day of the wedding, I am constantly running against the clock and don’t have time to look around and decide what to do, so i have it all planned beforehand. I try to be as creative and accurate as possible in-camera when i take the shot and will often use off camera flash or video light to add drama. The rest is down to post production on the computer. Nowadays, a photographer needs to know Photoshop as well as he knows his camera gear. What do you think makes a good wedding album?A lot of couples are trying to save money these days by not ordering an album and just having the images on CD, which I think is a real shame as there is nothing quite like seeing the pictures in print and in a good quality album. In our albums, we try to tell the story of the entire day by mixing in portraits, details, formals and fun shots. We tend to set up scenarios to add to the fun and have even had the groomsmen chasing the bride. We are booked to do an RAF Officers wedding this year and i am looking forward to setting that up with drawn swords! It’ll be like a cavalry charge! Do you think that having a husband and wife duo gives you an edge for wedding photography and how do you think it affects the process?To my mind, wedding photography is a two person task. In order to be creative, i need an assistant who knows what they are doing and Diane often throws in some great ideas. Two pairs of eyes are much better when you are working at warp speed and she sometimes sees things that i may miss. Having a female element also helps, especially in the bridal portraits. Do you prefer using natural light or flash?I don’t prefer either and will often combine light sources. This is especially good when combining video light with natural light as the video light is much warmer. This means that if i set the camera white balance to tungsten, the daylight will appear blue. I’m getting technical, but trust me, it’s cool. How do you feel that wedding photos are different from portrait or fashion photographs?That’s just it. They’re not. We are running around on a wedding day producing portraits and fashion shots on the go. We have to use the backgrounds, furniture, architecture or whatever is available and produce a portrait or a fashion-like shot in an instant. This takes constant practice and i will often do it in my mind when i enter a room i haven’t been in before. I might sit in a restaurant and look around thinking how i would use the location to get a good portrait. What kind of effects do you use post production?That’s classified information. Do you have any advise for amateur photographers who would be interested in setting up their own studios?There is a belief these days that anyone with a half decent camera can become a wedding photographer. Even the photography magazines encourage it and hence the marketplace is saturated with wedding photographers. The truth is that if you want to stand out, it takes a lot of investment in both time and money. I must have spent thousands of hours in studying, research and practice. And it’s an ongoing thing as i regularly attend workshops and seminars as well as scouring the internet for inspiration. I would therefore advise any wannabes not to go into it lightly and to have an obsessive nature!