Brides Magazine - Featured Image

I'm here, honest I am ... just a busy wee bee :)

I recently shot a wedding in Kent (Siobhan & Marc) and got chatting to one of the guests who mentioned she was friends with the florist. The flowers were absolutely beautiful and, as with other suppliers, I mentioned that I could send a shot or 2 through to her for her portfolio.

Gaynor from Enfleur contacted me soon after to say how much she loved the photos and if she could use one in an advert she was placing in Brides magazine ... of course I said yes !

Here is the ad as it is appearing in this month's issue (I love what her husband has done with the ad - very talented)... enjoy !

On the blogging front, I am sooooo behind, with 2 weddings to blog, a couple of portrait sessions and an engagement session ... I promise to catch up, but after my wedding this weekend in Devon with Ann & Alan :)

Faye & Adam | Wedding | Botanical Gardens, Birmingham

You may remember Faye & Adam from their recent pre-wedding shoot in Sutton Park, Birmingham (linkie) ... we just couldn't believe it was suddenly here ! The wedding day, that is !

I started the day, as always, at Faye's family home, set in a beautiful part of the world, Sutton Coldfield, just metres away from the family church where the ceremony was to take place.
The weather had threatened for rain, but as usual the forecast was dead wrong and we ended up with perfect photography conditions all day - yayyy !
After the ceremony, we headed to the absolutely beautiful Botanical Gardens for a fun-filled reception with family and friends.

So, without further ado ... a few faves from the day :)

Just check out the detailing in that dress ...

Stunning ...

Not looking too shabby either :)

The arrival ...

Beautiful church and ceremony ...

Mr & Mrs ...

What can I say, it had to be done !

An intimate moment ...

The girls ...

The boys ...

My helper for the day ... Faye's brother :)

The whole bunch with some fish eye fun and balancing on a rock !

I hope you have a FAB honeymoon, guys, and I'm looking forward to seeing you soon !

Thanks for having me ... Gill :)

Inspiration from Industry Leader ... on Sale !

As with any other industry or career, us photographers like to keep up to date with new techniques and fresh ideas. We do this in many ways, including attending workshops, reading high end glossy magazines ... and on ...

I am extremely fortunate to be associated with one of our industry's leaders, Jerry Ghionis, a Melbourne based master photographer who has been named one of the top 10 photographers in the world, more than once ! His awards list literally reads like a novel and to top it off he is actually one of the nicest people I have ever met. I am also delighted to be able to call him, and his gorgeous wife Georgina, friends.

So, where am I going with this, you might ask ... well, this one is really for the photographers who follow my blog (although I am sure my clients are happy to read about my desire to keep on top of my game :)) ... Jerry is not only a great photographer, he is a wonderful teacher, willing to share his vast knowledge with anyone willing to learn. His website The Ice Society is a font of knowledge (head over to see some of the free samples, or why not take the plunge and become a member !) and his training products, videos and book, Gorgeous, are filled with every day inspiration for weddings, portraits and fashion photography.

For the first time EVER, and for a limited time only (til the end of July) there is a whopping sale on all of his products ... seriously, there are some fab savings to be had. I absolutely LOVE his picpockets and regularly flick through them prior to a shoot, just to get some ideas and refresh my mind before heading off with my camera. I can often be found on a Friday night sipping a glass of red and watching one of his DVDs ... entertaining, enlightening and inspirational.

I don't often blog stuff like this, but I figured I'd get the word out to all of you while this wonderful opportunity is open.

If you have any questions, shoot me an email or leave a comment below this post :)

(Image courtesy of Jerry Ghionis / The Ice Society)

Gill

PS: I've been asked to make the link to Jerry's site a little clearer ... so here you go !

http://www.theicesociety.com/

Cool New Client Feature

I am absolutely chuffed to bits to be able to announce a cool new feature on my website, as well as a little bonus for my clients !

I host my online images through theimagefile, a great online product which allows me to show clients their images and for friends and family to purchase them. I contacted them about a week ago and asked if it would be possible to have a feature whereby guests or clients could leave an email address and be contacted as and when a gallery of photos became available ... it's now live !

So, here's what you need to do ... click on my Client Area section and enter the password of the event in question ... if there are no images there, you will be asked to leave your email address and voila ! As soon as the photos are online, you will receive an email and away you go ... simple !

As an added bonus, for the first 2 weeks that the gallery is online there will be a discount on all products, so you'd best get in quick !!

I hope you find this new functionality useful and I look forward to hearing from you :)

Harry | Impromptu Portraits

Michelle & Ben, my wedding couple who are getting married in a couple of weeks at Rowton Castle, came to see me for their final pre-meet, along with Harry, their little boy. They are actually getting married on his first birthday, so it will be a double celebration !!

I wanted to make sure he was cool with me before the big day, as big cameras can be a very daunting for little people ... so I whipped out the daddy (the 1D IIN) with the 85 1.2 lens on, so I could get a couple of shots from farther back, he could get used to the shutter sound and all would be well with the world :) It worked ! He was fearless LOL ... I captured this little shot of him as he sat with mummy (you can see her hand and engagement ring right beside him) and I just love the eye contact in it. Isn't he a total cutie? What you can't see (because I wanted this to be in BW) is his cracking shock of red hair ... I'll make sure and post some from the wedding in colour.

Looking forward to seeing you all soon guys :)