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 :)

Lisa & Jody | Portraits | Take 2 !

For our second session, we decided to bring Jody to my house ... she is a sucker for animals and with my 2 cats and puppy, we felt she would perhaps settle in to the shoot a little easier. Jody was looking beautiful in her summer top and funky jeans, but alas, the camera was still the enemy. We played games and even managed to have some fun with our piano, but there were some tears and so we decided that we'd have to call it a day before the stress levels got too high ... such a shame as Jody and mum, Lisa, are both beautiful subject.

However, we managed to get some lovely shots from the session and here are a few favourites ...

Playing and learning ...

Is that a smile I see?

After a few tears ...

Why not book your little one in for a session ... call me or contact me via email soon :)

Lisa & Jody | Portraits

I spent a lovely lunchtime with Lisa and her 3-year-old daughter Jody today. Lisa wanted some portraits of Jody to hang in her new home, but we knew it was going to be hit and miss as to whether we would get any as Jody is a little bit shy in front of the camera. We started off playing with some jumbo lego (I found this much more fun than I should at my age LOL) before getting the camera out ... alas, to no avail ! We did manage to get some shots, but we're going to give it a try another day ... for now, some from the shoot :)

I was allowed to shoot teddy, but not Jody ...

A peekaboo opportunity ...

Colouring-in with Mummy ...

Isn't she beautiful?

And finally, anyone who knows me, knows I am a sucker for tattoos ...

Thanks for having me, guys, look forward to seeing you this week for more fun !

Canon 5D, 50 1.2 @ f2

Siobhan & Marc | Wedding | Sevenoaks & Tunbridge Wells

I had the pleasure of joining Siobhan, Marc and their family & friends in Kent last weekend for their wedding in the glorious southern English sunshine ! What a day ... everyone was enjoying the early summer (which has apparently now disappeared LOL) and this made for very smiley photos and lots of fun in the sun !

Here are a few faves, as always ... comments welcome !

The beautiful dress ...

Details ...

Gorgeous bride ...

Marc, and his guys ...

The cutest ever flower girl ...

Indulge me ... it's an art shot !

This totally sums these guys up ...

I tell you, these veils are a lot of hard work !!

Cuteness ...

And finally ... funkiest wedding guest ... EVER !

Ann & Alan | PWS | Hampton Court Park, London

I had the pleasure of travelling down to London to meet with Ann & Alan for their pre wedding shoot. They are getting married in Devon in July in a super cool venue, complete with pink marquee !

We headed off from their home in fashionable Teddington, drove through a very busy Bushy Park (kids off school, nuff said !) and managed to finally find a parking spot near Hampton Court. The sun was out in all it's glory and, having not been to this part of London before, I had a lot of fun looking out some cool places to shoot.

A few faves ...

The busy Thames

Ann

Alan

See you in a few weeks, guys :)