Wednesday 29 October 2014

Charlotte House

Louise and Stuart's intimate wedding was at the beautiful Charlotte's House hotel at the Lawns in Lincoln. It is regarded as one of the finest hotels in the historic city of Lincoln, and it was an absolute joy to photograph there.  

wedding table detail at the beautiful Charlotte House in Lincoln
Beautiful, light and airy rooms 

wedding table detail
The bride, Louise, designed most of the table accessories

walking up the isle
A great moment as the bridesmaid and page boy walk up the isle

exchanging of the rings
Exchanging of the rings.  Photo - Julian Clune

just married reactions
A happy moment, and great reactions 

closeup detail of the wedding cake
Lovely cake detail

cutting the wedding cake
Cutting the cake

wedding rings on a floral surround
The two rings

I do. Wedding shoe detail
I do.  Photo - Julian Clune

Glorious wedding bouquet, featuring colouful roses
Glorious bouquet

The beautiful bride at Lincoln Cathedral
The beautiful bride

Monday 20 October 2014

Nikki and Wayne

Nikki and Wayne were married on the outskirts of Hull, and had the magnificent Humber bridge as a fantastic backdrop for their reception.. They were married at the beautiful St James church, Sutton-on-Hull, and the weather for once, was playing ball.

Getting ready
Getting ready

Final details
Final details

perfume
Perfume for the bride

wedding bouquet
Wedding bouquet

wedding car
The wedding car arrives at the church

wedding ceremony
Wedding ceremony at St James' Church

just married
Just married

the newly married couple
The newly married couple

the lovely bride
The lovely bride in front of the Humber Bridge

bride portrait
The bride's portrait

young girl
Portrait of a young girl

bride on a swing
The lovely bride on a swing

cutting the cake
cutting the cake

Thursday 16 October 2014

12 months of film review

I said I would write a final piece regarding my twelve months of film project, and so here it is.

It's been a hugely enjoyably year, reacquainting myself with some old SLRs, and discovering many others. There have been a few surprises along the way, but I can genuinely say that I have enjoyed every single minute of the project, and have rediscovered a love for film photography, something I never expected would happen. Whilst I predominantly use digital cameras in my day to day photography work, I find that I tend to grab a film SLR from the shelf and pop it into my bag for fun days out. They've also started to creep into my work bag, and I can see that before long, I will be using one whilst shooting a wedding. Scary stuff!

I love the clean look of digital images, but there is something about the look of a photograph captured on film that keeps me wanting to use the format. Just as audiophiles will tell you, quite rightly, that vinyl sounds better than a CD, ( I still have my record players and a small selection of vinyl ) so film has a certain look and feel, that digital just can't replicate. Some people say film is better than digital or digital is better than film, but I reckon that both are great formats in their own right, and both deserve a place in your camera bag. So, if you've read all of my twelve months of film entries, you will know that I have tried twelve different film SLRs over the course of the past year, some familiar, some most definitely not. But now that the project is over, out of the twelve, which one is most likely to accompany me on wedding shoots, as well as fun days out?

Firstly, to be clear. There wasn't a bad camera amongst them. They all worked well, after human error was taken out of the equation. Some were slower to use, (the older cameras in particular) and a bit of a faff, but that was their design, and nothing more.

The first camera of the twelve was the Praktica BX20, the one I was most familiar with. I love this camera, it just gets on with it. I would be tempted to use this camera at weddings as it doesn't feel as though it would let me down, but although I'm not going to rate the cameras 1-12, this doesn't quite make the top spot, possibly because it wasn't quite tactile enough, being made of a hard plastic and of quite angular design. The Fujica STX-1 was a cracking find, lovely condition and beautifully made, but its 1/700th fastest shutter speed, whilst completely usable, would be reason enough to put me off using the camera every day. The Miranda Sensorex II was an absolute beast, vying for heaviest camera with the Russian built Zenit TTL, but both the Zenit and the Miranda were just a bit too slow in operation for me to consider using them on a daily basis. The Miranda is a camera I'm really glad I purchased, as I've heard they are very desirable amongst the Japanese collectors, especially when they have working light meters, which mine has. The Asahi Pentax SP500 was also a beast of a camera, with a very solid construction, but its maximum shutter speed of 1/500 sec, would again put me off using it on a daily basis. (although there is a work around, so I believe, for this camera, to increase the maximum shutter speed to 1/1000 sec). The Pentax P30n and Olympus OM10 were also very good cameras to use, and I would recommend either very highly. The OM10 in particular, is pretty common on sites like ebay, so it would be relatively easy to purchase one in good condition like mine. But although I would rate either of them highly, I felt others within the project would suit my needs better within a working environment. The Pentax ME Super was another solidly built camera, and it has a useful 1/2000 top shutter speed, and a lovely bright viewfinder. But it just didn't quite sway it for me, using it on a daily basis. Then we come to the Nikon EM and Miranda MS-3. The EM was a great success for Nikon, and I can see why. It's lovely and small, well made but light, and it just gets on with it. The Miranda MS-3 was a complete surprise. I didn't expect much from it, basically being a Curry's special, but boy, did it deliver. I really enjoyed using it and I feel it produced some of my favourite shots of the whole project. But I'm not sure it would stand up to the daily abuse it might get on a wedding shoot, nor do I think would the Nikon EM. That leaves two cameras. The Canon AV-1 and Olympus OM-2n. The Canon was a great surprise to me. Not because I expected it to be poor. I knew it would perform. (there's a reason why Canon are pretty much the largest SLR manufacturer in the World) It was more a case of just how much of a joy it was to shoot with. The more I used it, the more I  wanted to keep taking images, and it never missed a trick. It's plastic, just like the Nikon EM, but feels good in the hand, and was a cinch to use. I very nearly decided that this would be the camera to accompany me on a wedding shoot, but then along came my final camera of the project. Camera twelve, the beautiful Olympus OM-2n. Where to start with this one. Firstly, what a beautiful object. Olympus had decided that when they were producing the original OM-1, it had to be small, about the body size of a Leica M series camera. It's by far the smallest of my twelve SLRs, and it's also exquisitely made. I love the exposure compensation dial on the top plate, the sound of the shutter upon release, and it's such a tactile piece of equipment. So the OM2-n just sneaks into top spot, and it's already loaded up with film for my next wedding shoot on the 25th October. Lets hope that I can show off a few of the images in a future blog post.

Some of my favourite images from the past 'Twelve Months of Film Project', in no particular order.

Asahi Pentax SP500
Asahi Pentax SP500

Canon AV-1
Canon AV-1

Fujica STX-1
Fujica STX-1

Fujica STX-1
Fujica STX-1

Miranda MS-3
Miranda MS-3

Miranda MS-3
Miranda MS-3

Miranda Sensorex II
Miranda Sensorex II

Nikon EM
Nikon EM

Olympus OM10
Olympus OM10

Olympus OM2-n
Olympus OM2-n

Pentax ME super
Pentax ME super

Pentax P30n
Pentax P30n

Praktica BX20
Praktica BX20

Zenit TTL
Zenit TTL








        

Wednesday 8 October 2014

Gemma and Andrew

September has been a hectic month, photography wise. Fully booked with weddings, and a fine art photographic exhibition set up and in place at the beautiful Westacre Theatre in Norfolk. I have a couple of weeks before my next wedding shoot, so thought I would showcase a few images from previous weddings I have photographed. They should tie in nicely with the update to mine and Emma's wedding website, which you can find here.  http://candgweddingphotography.co.uk/

First up is the wedding of Gemma and Andrew, who were married in Lincoln. It was a lovely warm day, a relaxed, calm vibe, and family and guests were all really getting into the spirit of things. Myself and Julian had a lovely half an hour with the bride and groom before the evening reception, to wander around the wonderful grounds of Washingborough golf course, where we were able to take both candid and formal images of the couple. A couple of my favourites are below. First, a lovely portrait of Gemma, the sun streaking through her veil, as she glances towards the camera, and secondly, a beautiful candid photograph of the couple walking back to the party as the sun begins to set, shaping beautiful shadows and casting lovely highlights to Gemma's dress.

The lovely bride, Gemma. Photographed with a Nikon D3s
The lovely bride, Gemma

The lovely bride and groom. Photographed with a Nikon D3s
The lovely bride and groom
   

Friday 3 October 2014

An amazing September

Wow. What fantastic weather we've had this month. It's as though summer just doesn't want to end, and that can only be a good thing, surely.

I've been busy with wedding shoots the last few weeks, so haven't focused on landscapes anywhere near as much as I would have liked. I have a few weeks off from weddings now, my next one is towards the end of October, so I hope to get out and about with my camera and tripod in the coming days, to capture a few scenic images. The leaves on the trees are just starting to turn their beautiful golden colours, and the fog lies heavy in the woods during the early morning, as the sun attempts to burst through. It's always an exciting time of year to be a photographer.

I've captured what I think may well be my last summery seascape of the year. It's another popular view of Wells-Next-The-Sea, one that always brings a smile to my face. I was hand holding my Fuji X-T1 as I hadn't planned on taking any images that afternoon, so travelled light. No tripod or filters and no cable release. I somehow feel as though i'm cheating a bit when I shoot landscapes in this way, as I usually set up the Nikon D4 on a tripod, filters in place, cable release attached... and wait. But I think that is one of the reasons why I love the Fuji so much. It's small and light, yet incredibly capable. The image below isn't anything outstanding admittedly, but the very fact that I was able to carry it in a small camera bag, without really noticing it, when I would have left the big Nikon behind, tells me how truly valuable this little camera is. While the image won't necessarily be printed and framed, simply by taking the camera and capturing the scene, (something I wouldn't have done with a heavy rucksack and big DSLR) I now have an image that will bring back many happy memories of what was a beautiful and amazing September.   

Indian summer, captured with a Fuji X-T1
Indian summer

Wednesday 1 October 2014