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.
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.
Where are they now? Annabel and Mike
Tuesday, July 21st, 2009It’s fair to say that most of us are so preoccupied being busier than busy in this hectic go go non stop You Tube Google World we frequent personally and professionally, that we forget to take stock and remember sometimes where we’ve been and what we’ve achieved. Well, I’m going to try and redress that with the following blog feature. It won’t be long before I’ll be batting at the 200 not out wicket, a double century of weddings; experience that began tentatively covering my best man’s brother’s wedding as a favour, to a career that has taken me across continents. I’ve been trained and mentored by some of the industry’s finest and found new important friendships with fellow pros that share the following professional impulse; a desire to document a day so uniquely special to each client and do it whatever the weather, whatever the day and even when England are playing a World Cup match that’s actually on a channel we don’t have to pay for. We’ve been tremendously lucky at Breathe in that we established a social portraiture and wedding photography business in Newbury earlier this decade that has not only provided us with an income to feed hungry family mouths, but introduced us to some fabulous couples and families. It’s their stories that enthuse upon me that weekends were not made for drinking beer and watching X Factor, and so I begin a series of blog entries about the couples I have witnessed saying ‘I do’ through a selection of lenses. 3rd February 2007, Annabel and Mike were wed in Windsor with a wedding reception at Great Fosters near Egham; a grade one listed building that is remarkable for a list of reasons that would make this blog unreadably long. In Annabel’s words: “Mike and I are doing great, still living in Windsor. We’ve been back to Great Fosters for our last two wedding anniversaries, which was really lovely. We always pay homage to Jane Austen’s curtains. (A reference to the fact that needing to darken a scene whilst photographing the couple round the hotel, I whipped these historic items closed risking the demise of one of the World’s most historic curtains.) Mike went out to South Africa in June on a boys tour to watch the Lions. He ended up doing the highest bungee jump in the World off Bloukrans Bridge (about 216 m) – crazy fool. All 18 stones of Yorkshire goodness dangled on a piece of elastic! Other than that, we’re still at the same house but have been giving it and the garden a bit of a makeover. No baby Annabel and Mikes… yet.”
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.
Prime lens shooting at weddings
Monday, July 20th, 2009I’m pleased as punch with my decision a little while back to shoot much of my wedding photography material through big fat pieces of glass minus a zoom. A fast prime lens has become a bit of a signature look of late for Breathe Pictures and it genuinely excites me to see how far I can push low available light photography. In fact the pictures below were taken at yesterday’s wedding (congratulations Jon and Sam) on a day and night where I probably only attached a zoom for ten minutes. I’m moved to mention one phone call I received this week from a prospective wedding photography client who said and I quote; “I’m just phoning around to see how cheap I can get a photographer, because you all do the same thing.” Now it’s all too easy to get a little protective about our own industry and I must admit my first response nearly ran along the lines of; “Are you actually looking at the pictures on the website, or just the price section?” However, I steadied myself, reigned back premature indignance and started to try and explain the meaning of shooting through fast lenses and what a difference it makes to photographic technique. I did get an early feeling that I may as well be teaching someone how to boil an egg in fluent Martian but I persisted, and we settled for the loose understanding of the fact it makes everything look fuzzier in the background and sharp in the foreground. “And F1.2 makes things look fuzzier than the end of a thumpingly good New Year’s Eve do,” I explained. Yes, we will be doing her wedding, thank you Belle! Course some people will ask; “Why don’t you just do it all in Photoshop?” I like to think that it’s because photography is still a creative experience, it’s a here and now thing. Use the kit that enables you to feel the emotion that’s playing out in front of you. Oh, and depending upon the lens, you get a mighty fine lens bokeh. Here we go again… anyone for a Martian omelette?
Wasing Park wedding photography
Sunday, July 19th, 2009Just a quick blog to announce that Giovanni and Sabrina’s wedding website has gone live through our client area. Fabulous wedding at Wasing Park and what a party! Incidentally, and this is one for grooms with upcoming stag parties abroad, working as air crew on short haul Sabrina has seen her fair share of stags destined for places like Prague. One poor chap recently boarded dressed as Sesame Street’s Big Bird character (how on earth did he get through Customs???) Once they were at cruising altitude, his mates gleefully announced that he may well be enroute for a weekend’s beer fest, but his suitcase was stored safely back in Blighty. The only thing he had to wear all weekend, was one big feathery yellow costume. Nice one!
Breathe Pictures photograph featured in The Times
Saturday, July 18th, 2009Nice surprise to hear from a client getting wed next week to say one of our prewed pictures has appeared in The Times Marriages and Engagements section. It’s page 91; a slightly cross processed image taken from Neil and Hannah’s prewed shoot about a month back. Newspaper print process is not always kind to this kind of colour treatment, so I thought I’d pop it online in all it’s originally intended glory, plus a couple of extras beneath. I’m off to Sir Charles Napier, a new venue today (for me anyway) in Chinnor; car’s packed, batteries are charged, the primes are, well, primed. (Photography quip-ish.)
Rivervale Barn wedding photography in Yateley
Thursday, July 16th, 2009Solid day today spent at Rivervale Barn in Yateley shooting test and stock images for this stunning new wedding venue set on the banks of the Blackwater, approximately one hour from the smoke. It’s one of the most incredible barn projects I have ever seen but don’t just take my word for it, take a peak at the images below. (65,000 reclaimed tiles by the way, now THAT takes some laying.) Owned by John and Moyra Illsley, they’ll also be your hosts for the showround if you visit. I think meeting the owners creates a special relationship when planning a wedding, without doubt. By the way, if you’re wondering who the mystery bride is, it’s Nat, our new recruit at Breathe Pictures! She recently joined the company to fulfil a retouching and photographic assisting role. Dressing you up as a bride for some test shots at Rivervale Barn may have seemed a strange initiation Nat, but I think you rose to that challenge well! (Flowers courtesy Cherubs of Reading and bridal wear from Jennies, as featured on recommended links.)
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.
A funny thing happened on the way to the first dance…
Saturday, May 9th, 2009A first today, well in wedding photography terms for me. It was the second of two ‘in a row-ers’ at Wasing Estate as I photographed Matt and Adrianna’s wedding. I’m not a shrinking violet when it comes to addressing guests on the big day. I’d like to think, although you’d have to ask the guests to see if they’d corroborate, that I’m politely and respectfully assertive. A lot of people, and certainly photographers, seem to me vocally shy, even awkward when it comes to gathering guests to construct group portraits. I can’t help thinking that many a fabulous photographer chooses to label him or herself a photojournalist, because the idea of having to organise strangers is such a long distance drive out of their comfort zone, that it’s easier to purchase a 300mm lens and shoot guests from afar. And so today it came to the cutting of the cake. It’s not unusual that I take on the task of gathering eager friends and relatives around the sugar zone for the ‘knife snap.’ But on this occasion I had the benefit of a microphone. Ahhh, I thought, the legendary Shure SM58 microphone… always one to warm up a voice if held just at the right pitch from yer’ lips. Rattle your yaffle correctly with a little depth, and they’ll hear you in Norway. So, I said my piece, gathered guests, collected the shots and moved on. Come the first dance, the DJ planted his microphone in my hands and supported by the groom, persuaded me to introduce the first dance. “You don’t seem to be shy, you’ve got a half decent voice, so would you mind?” Mind? Mind? Me? Of course not. A little trip down memory lane from my broadcasting roots of yesteryear. Hopefully, if you read enough of these posts, you will have worked out I don’t use it to talk of a million and one awards and accolades. But maybe, just maybe, I can claim an accolade, a USP perhaps, my peers would find hard to match. Having worked enough stages and reasonably large arenas in my brief affair as a broadcaster with Radio 1 in the early 90s, (clang name drop) I can now make myself available to photograph a wedding and MC the day’s events, as long as you order a Shure SM58 (the sound geeks will register my excitement and understand.) Anyway, before this all becomes really quite self absorbed, some favourite clicks from the initial download featuring the main event of today; Matt and Adrianna. Have a great honeymooon ‘guys.’
Wasing Park wedding photography
Saturday, May 9th, 2009It’s a Wasing weekend this week as I find myself there on two consecutive days. Jay and Katy’s 70 friends and family members witnessed their nuptials yesterday. I love a good tactile wedding, loads of hugs, tub thumpy kind of hearty ‘I love ya mate’ rugby scrum down embraces. This one had plenty!
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
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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