Wasing Park wedding photography
Monday, January 18th, 2010Jamie, Beth, inspired idea to feature your late Grandparents within photo frames as the table names and decorations for your Wasing Park wedding.
Photographically, there is a documentary moment at most weddings when a father’s eyes will meet those of his daughter’s for the first time as she stands before him in her wedding gown. The intensity differs from father to father of course and even those dads with the most obdurate courage find this to be one moment more than any other during the day, where a myriad of emotions flatten any wall of masculine parental steely resolve they thought they possessed. It’s fabulous. Professional platitudes abound on the web, so I’ll cautiously express a somewhat overused term; privilege. As a documentary maker, albeit in stills, that’s what makes this job so important, he says, hearing the opening bars of ‘Land of Hope and Glory’ fading up behind this blog entry. Listen, I can swill beer, crack beer nuts and talk sport with the best of ‘em at any bar in this land where spit and sawdust define the landlord’s choice of decor. But I’ll also experience and hopefully always will, a lump in the throat when I witness the sincere pride liberated by a father with momentary tunnel vision, who can see no further than his ‘little girl’ on the morning of her wedding. Phew, that’s said. Okay, big hearty Haka lads and let’s get back to talking rugby.
Orchardleigh wedding photography
Thursday, July 30th, 2009“After our gorgeous day at Orchardleigh, we had the most amazing honeymoon in two different destinations. Steve surprised me with a four night stay at the Chedi Hotel in Oman, I was thoroughly spoilt and waited upon. We then flew back home to collect Brooke and headed out to Orlando for ten days with Micky Mouse and Tinkerbell. A completely different honeymoon but such fun. We’re already looking forward to going back. The new year brought lots more changes; I fell pregnant! Whoopee, time to eat cakes and get fat again. October 1st saw the arrival of our lovely baby girl, Sienna Maria, weighing 5lb 12 oz. She’s adorable, the image of her dad and big sister. How unfair is that?! We moved into a new house in December and with hard work, lots of labouring and no social life, we’re nearly there with all the improvements. You never know, next year we may be able to sit back, relax and enjoy it all. Look forward to seeing you soon at Breathe, we’ve won a photo voucher! 
”
Where are they now? Sian, Matthew (and Jack!)
Tuesday, July 28th, 2009About a year after our own wedding, we covered Sian and Matthew’s day, also at Silchester House near Reading. I’ve really enjoyed catching up with the lives of those couples we photographed on their own wedding day. I’ve been sending out mails gradually and have a stack of stories to tell. So to continue the ‘Where are they now’ feature, in their own words (well, Sian’s…) “Since 6th Oct 07, what’s happened? We went on our six week honeymoon to Oz; fantastic. We’re living in the same house with an extension on the way. The most exciting development has been the birth of our baby boy Jack Christopher Hart, born 9th May this year weighing in at 8lbs 13. He’s now ten weeks old and a gorgeous boy, who likes to smile and talk. (Sian it gets even more amazing. Our 15 month old has just brought me a frozen pea that Mummy dropped on the floor. To him, it’s the most amazing thing in the World. His delight at sharing this tiny object with me just makes my heart dance!) We’re loving being parents; the best thing we have ever done. Coincidence that your little boy is also called Jack, it’s such a cool name. (I agree Sian!) Our wedding pictures are our pride and joy – the photos were so lovely and really helped us to capture our memories. I can’t believe it was nearly two years ago – time flies!! We both turned thirty this year and we are having a fancy dress party dressed as rock and pop stars. The band Target will be there, they played at our wedding. Very excited about reliving that part of the wedding again.” Matt, where’s the invite? Have a great time, your wedding was a brilliant party from start to finish. Loved the old bus too. Made for some bus-tastic photos. Didn’t want to use the fab word again… my English teacher would roll his eyes and that weird tobacco he kept, and then smoke it in a Shakespearean tragedy. He was strange like that.
Dan and Elinor’s Notley Abbey wedding, the prewed shoot
Monday, July 27th, 2009Just laying down some of the prewed shoot edits for forthcoming weddings this summer. Dan and Elinor are to get wed at a church near to Notley Abbey later on in August and here are some of my favourite shots from our prewed shoot at the Breathe studio. Dan, Elinor, can’t wait to be working with you on the big day!
These ‘props’ are used at the farm (Breathe’s home studio location) to keep grain in place. Thanks (Farmer Nigel) for leaving them in the yard. Don’t suppose you could leave them for a couple months more?
Breathe Pictures launch new web design
Tuesday, July 21st, 2009For those zooming straight through to the blog from Breathe’s splash page, take a click to our main website from Breathe links. It’s a brand new design! It’s been updated with new galleries to promote wedding photography in Newbury our hometown and has many new and unseen images. For those who have prompted, there will indeed be a whole new section on portraiture coming soon, but with the nuptials season in full swing, right now pretty much all of our attentions at HQ are devoted to that cause. It’s a busy August with the best part of half of it being spent at celebrations across the south of England. Personally I’ll be clocking up some miles too shooting weddings on the coast; Dorset being one of my personal highlights as that’s where I spent many of my childhood holidays. So take a moment to visit the new site, let me know what you think of it in the comments section here, I’m a big boy and happy to take some constructive crit.
Wasing Park wedding photography
Sunday, June 14th, 2009For fear of becoming a BBC repeat, I may have mooted this before; keeping up the blog is sometimes like keeping the diary you were bought for Christmas aged 9. (For some reason mine was always a Disney one featuring Mickey and friends. It continued that way well into my teens.) You diligently filled it in for ooh, a good seven days following New Year’s Eve, then it became a series of ‘Got up, had lunch, went to bed’ comments for week two and by week three, it transgressed to a doodle pad at best. However I have a blog guardian it seems in Robbie, who wed Sarah yesterday at Wasing Park. So, Robbie, your enthusiasm for updating noted, some images from yesterday. I look forward to seeing you when you return from your honeymoon in July.
The Black Barn wedding photography
Monday, June 8th, 2009Their private viewing gallery now online, here’s just a few scene setters from Chris and Caroline’s wedding in Berkshire.
Robert and Sarah
Tuesday, May 12th, 2009Just a quickie before hitting the hay as they say across the pond… have completed Robert and Sarah’s pre-wedding shoot. Great shoot on the farm. I like working in the studio particularly since laying the real wooden floor, but it’s equally as good to get out into the yard. The industrial edge can look fabulous in contrast to what we’ll eventually achieve on the wedding day itself.
Great Fosters wedding photography
Sunday, May 3rd, 2009It was an early ’set off’ yesterday for Adam and Julie’s wedding. Usually I’m car bound during Wossy’s Radio 2 gig, but if the radio splurts a dash of Brian Matthews when I turn the engine over, then I’m probably dodging traffic on the M25. Destination Ewell, arrived 10.30, service midday (sent to the balcony, up in the Gods at the church, if you’ll pardon the usage) – why is it everyone in the House of God is welcome bar the photographer? Anyway, back to a favourite venue of mine, the Tudor splendor that is Great Fosters near Egham for the reception. A couple of years ago at the very same venue I’d been doing an arty lit shot with the bride on a stairwell. I whipped closed a couple of curtains, only to find these were original designs by Jane Austin hung in 1798 by the great lady herself. I get selective vision when I’m photographing weddings, so large ‘don’t walk on the grass’, ‘don’t photograph in here’, or more pertinently titled signs like ‘don’t touch these curtains ever ever ever’ don’t tend to fog my vision when trying to grab a shot. Still no harm done, honest guvnor. A couple of favourite images from yesterday then…
Smile for the man?
Sunday, May 3rd, 2009I reckon, standby – HUGE generalisation about to emit via this ‘ere blog… I reckon, that the main reason people have a fear of being photographed, is not that their soul will be stolen and sold to the cheapest bidder via Ebay, but they feel a pressure to bring on an unnatural smile. Such is the memory of school photographs where the history tutor (why was it always the history guy) would stand in the school photographer’s doorway and threaten you with six of the best if you failed to show your parents via a smile how wonderful your schooling days were, that many an adult now likens a trip to Doctor Camera with a one hour subjection to root canal surgery. It is true that I may as a photographer ask a sitter to smile, or at least crack a faint smiley type expression thingie to show enthusiasm for the session. But usually that’ll be during a family shoot, where you know your work won’t be displayed if you return a Victorian presentation of earnest intensity. Often though I won’t ask for that, opting to create some kind of diversion, usually by conversation, where the subjects engage more naturally. I shot two pre-wedding shoots today with couples I’ll see over the next couple of months – and I like to think, both shoots will yield some cracking images. Each session started with the usual mantra; “I hate having my picture taken.” By the end of it though, I hope that both couples felt we’d done nothing more hellish than simply walk through the countryside adjacent to my studio, popping a couple of shots here and there, and talking about their wonderful honeymoon locations. I asked one of my couples; “Now, how many times in the last twenty minutes have I told you to smile?” Just as an aside, some parents who bring their children for a family shoot will feel the shoot hasn’t yielded any gold if they don’t remember a particularly smiley visit. I’m delighted when I receive a mail or phone call to say how surprised and delighted they are with the results. A little wry smile appears on my face, naturally that is.
Silchester House wedding photography
Saturday, May 2nd, 2009Just in the final stages of presenting an album design to Chris and Natalie from a wedding shot a couple of months ago at Silchester House, Berkshire. Thought I’d take a moment to share some of my favourite black and whites from the day. It was a privilege being there for you both!
Silchester House wedding photography
Friday, April 11th, 2008[photopress:alexemmie1.jpg,full,alignleft]When we’re asked what our favourite photographic venue for weddings is at Breathe, I’ll [Neale James] personally respond with; “They’re all elegant and absorbing photographically for their own respective reasons and features.” Now I realise that must sound like I’ve perched myself atop a very comfortable fence and is one strong step towards a career in estate agency, but I really do mean it. That’s what makes my job of photographic wedding coverage so incredibly compelling. Last year in ‘07, I photographed weddings at a varied collection of venues, from stately homes that are the playgrounds of the rich and famous, to good honest ‘no frills but plenty of character’ public houses. However… (you could sense a ‘but’ about to be popped into the column) Silchester House remains an exceptionally precious wedding venue, due to the simple fact that I enjoyed my own wedding reception there. I often comment to couples in football terms, that it feels like we’re ‘playing at home’ the moment we pull into the driveway. It’s a light and welcoming house, with sizeable grounds for photography. Here are some shots from Alex and Emmie’s recent Silchester wedding.
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