Northcote House wedding photography – Graham and Emma
Wednesday, August 4th, 2010
“We’d like a relaxed approach to the photography, capture the guests but let’s not stand in formal group poses for too long.” Music. To. My. Ears. It’s almost three years to the day since I last photographed a wedding at Sunningdale Park’s Northcote House. It was good to be back. Northcote’s nestled within 65 acres of pretty spectacular grounds (see below,) some of which is occupied by a school for government; the security cameras promised my every move would be captured as I parked up. I believed them and felt tempted in a show of irony to leave valuables proudly on display for once. By the by, Northcote is special. And just to prove I ask questions and digest the answers; the American front of house manager proudly informed me that it was only built back in 1930, the fruits of a fortune provided by British American Tobacco. The American owner ‘donated’ it back to the British government upon consideration that if he sold, he’d by liable to the kind of taxes that would render a grown businessman powerless to tears. And so their loss, is the wedding industry’s most definite gain. Some images from what was an exceptionally relaxed day. My brief for the day seemed rather short, three group shot combos but eight hours in total to gather my vision of a fabulous wedding.
The Olde Bell wedding photography – Garry and Natalie
Saturday, June 12th, 2010
Ah, a new venue. For me. The Olde Bell in Hurley has been actually around a fair while in all it’s various guises. When an inn takes roots from foundations first laid in the 1100s, you’d expect there to be a colourful past. Benedictine monks provided room service which comprised of song, food and a personal wench. It was the drinking hole from which a plot to overthrow the monarchy was hatched, Churchill and Eisenhower met to discuss war tactics, Elizabeth Taylor escaped the press here. Oh, and Garry and Natalie, celebrated their wedding here.
A holiday romance, my Leica on hols in Menorca
Tuesday, April 13th, 2010
Stepping aside from weddings for just one mo. As a confirmed DSLR user (this post’s for the togs) had someone suggested a year back that I would enjoy the challenges proffered by a digital camera body featuring a chip that suffers magenta colour cast, no autofocus, a viewfinder with inaccurate framelines (no through the lens technology), painfully short battery life, green ghosting and noisy high ISO above 640, I would have thrown an icy stare that could freeze the Bay of Biscay. Oh, and add to that the cost. This isn’t a cheap camera. Even purchased second hand, brand new flagship Canon and Nikon DSLR bodies are only marginally more expensive. But, boy, this historical rangefinder with updated innards feels good. There’s something very comforting about operating a camera system revered by Cartier-Bresson, Winogrand, Capa and Arbus. See, there’s a traditionalist in me that happily accepts the technical foibles of the digital Leica rangefinder. The Leica M8, not the most up to date of the brand’s digital rangefinder family, superseded by the M9 which addresses many of the reported colour issues and ISO boundaries. It’s been my choice of recreational digital camera since the turn of the year and I have to say, I’m lovin’ it! There’s a satisfying clunk, an initial unhealthy conversion rate, a retro look that leaves the boys clutching grip laden top notch SLRs sniggering with disdain for something only the historically literate would truly appreciate. It’s sadly true that Leica bodies are also the playthings of collectors that will never allow one out of it’s box. I’ll romanticise that this is like an E Type. It doesn’t belong boxed up or in a museum. It needs to be out on the open road exploring and discovering. So for the togs amongst us musing about shooting rangefinder stylee, rent one and try it for a week. I think the uncompromising behaviour of this tool will, if you’ll pardon the pun, focus your creative journey. For me, there’s an air of reinvention when this is in your kit bag. It slows you down, forces you to think composition composition composition. It stops this serial inane machine gunning that has crept into photography. It’s not for everyone granted and neither should it be. But hell, is it fun.
Wasing Park wedding photography – Malcolm and Rebecca
Sunday, March 28th, 2010I’m practicing a little providence, but I’ve seemingly been lucky with the weather of late, despite a rather overcast March. Spring has sprung and a carpet of colourful flora has started to take root, especially at Wasing Park. Some images from Malcolm and Rebecca’s Wasing celebrations.
Neale James, Breathe Pictures – preferred supplier Aldermaston Manor
Tuesday, July 14th, 2009
Nestled in grounds within a short march from the church I married Sam in, I’m ‘chuffed’ to be Aldermaston Manor’s preferred photographic supplier. So, a handful of images from the venue. Any questions about the house and grounds, fire them this direction.
Our story
Friday, July 28th, 2006You’re never too old to decide what you’d like to be when you grow up. BREATHE has been breathing now for the best part of six years and it’s been a real explorative journey. If this ride were a car, it would be an Aston DB9 on an open Autobahn at 3 in the morning with the ocassional need for 4WD traction on the off slips. I love Clarkson.
It’s a family business and I’m dead proud of that fact. It’s what fuels us to work til stupid o’ clock in the early hours post processing our shots. It’s what makes us rubbish dinner guests ‘cos there’s always one more shot to edit before we can get in a car. It’s what drives our enthusiasm to shoot a wedding on those days when the rain’s coming down in sheets and seeping through our polyester undies.
BREATHE was two; me (Neale) and my wife, Sam. We got married at 1 o’ clock, Saturday 14th October, 2006 at St Mary’s. Pete was our vicar. Steve was our best man. We had lots of laughs, lots of speeches and lots of wine. And now we’re three, enter stage right, Jack. Suffice to say at 2 years old, he can’t yet lift a Canon, but he certainly knows how to pose in front of one.
Our backgrounds? I’m a former BBC broadcaster and documentary maker from a time when Mr Angry and Our Tune were the nation’s favourite wireless features, music sounded better on vinyl squashed across the medium wave and it was fashionable to dislike Radio 2. These days I throw an icy stare at the sound gear if there’s even the slightest crackle or skip and I’m a big fan of Wossy. Oh how times change.
Sam’s a marketing graduate, a creative (but not a lovey) and has worked with the kind of trademarks brand guardians sharpen their protective scimitars for on a daily basis. She’s pushed BOGOF scampi supermarket meals on the same day as creating the first ever infomercials for a sale in the world’s local bank. I’ve never heard her suggest we think outside any boxes, thank heavens.
Our newgrounds? When life on Planet Corporate started running out of pleasant oxygen a couple of years after the turn of a new millenium, I lifted a Nikon and started indiscriminately firing off frames. Then it happened. Suddenly we were both in a new romance. With each other and with pictures, it’s no more complex than that.
And so here we are now in 2009. I spend most weekends listening to couples say “I do” and work with Sam to make even more people aware of our existence. We have a studio and a wedding showroom. There are suddenly hundreds of thousands of image files on various backups spread across Berkshire. I’ve witnessed more nuptials than ever I had dreamt I would the day I donned a pair of headphones in the late 80s. We’re business people, but more importantly, we’re creative again. We’re both Canon fans, Mac converts and realise the beauty of heavy glass in a 1.2 lens.
I thank our former boss for unleashing our real potential that day in 2005 when he offered the ultimatum; “Your job, or the photography. What’s it to be?”
That evening as I sat with Sam in a local Indian restaurant we both agreed, pretty much in unison…
“You know, it’s funny, but now I feel I can BREATHE again.”