aCoolDryPlace Photography

Emma and Dave got married at the beginning of June at St Micheal’s and All Angels, Hughenden valley. Their wedding was pretty special to me as their wedding also took place at the church where I got married, and the reception venue was the same too. Emma and Dave are also lovely people and it was great to be a part of their day regardless of venue.

Hughenden church is on the more restrictive end of the scale when it comes to photos, but they do allow the photographer a little time with the bride and groom while the congregation wait outside., and means the bride and groom can leave the church to a warm welcome. We did a few formal photos outside of the church, but Emma and Dave rather wisely limited the number their guests would have to endure.

After the service it was a short drive to Notley Tythe Barn, near Long Crendon. The old barn is a lovely venue. After the formal photos are over, I try to be reasonably discrete for the rest of the day. Emma and Dave milled around with their guests while canapés were served, and I tried my best not to play with the croquet set that had been brought along to amuse the guests.

At the line up I endeavour to get shots of everyone, but that leaves me editing a whole bunch of fairly uninspiring shots that all look the same (with a variation is people). Not the most beautiful photography, but I hope that the bride and groom like it. Then to dinner. And speeches. Notley Tythe Barn left me with little flexibility for positioning myself for the speeches, but I managed to get some nice shots. Particularly, my sister-in-law with her head in her hands as the father-of-the-bride recalled her and the bride running away from school when they were 7.

I don’t drag the bride and groom away from their guests after for a more private photo shoot, unless they have  specifically requested I do so. I don’t want to make their wedding day about my photography, it’s about their wedding and them spending time with their guests. However, at Emma and Dave’s wedding one of their friends was keen do so for some of his photos, so I took the opportunity to join him. Shortly after that was the cake cutting and first dance, and then home time for me.

Did I mention the horses? No, I thought not. Well, Notley is also a bit of a farm, and and outdoor activity centre. They have horses. In my experience women generally like horses. Regularly guests would wander off and find some of the horses to talk to. Even the bride and groom went to say hello.

While I was privileged enough to do Paul and Serena’s engagement photos, they weren’t really up for flying me out to Thailand to do their wedding photos. However, after returning from honeymoon they had a wedding party for all of their friends and relations. So I was doing the photography for that. The event took place at Bignell Park Hotel near Bicester.

The lack of a wedding made for a slightly unusual start to the day. Normally I would do preparation shots with the Bride, followed by a few shots with the Groom and ushers at the church as guests arrive. Then, once the service is over, there are normally a few formal photos followed by a drive to the reception venue. Everyone arrives at the reception at about the same time and all are talking about the lovely service. In this case, everyone arrived at the reception venue in dribs and drabs, and nobody seemed particularly sure of what to talk about or what to do.

Once most people arrived there were some formal group photos, and then it was into the meal. Paul is an old college friend of mine (and Serena went to the same college, but I didn’t really know her), so I was seated with other college friends for the meal, endeavouring to balance being a guest with being a paid professional. Then came the speeches. I think I’ll have to do a separate post on wedding speeches, as I’ve heard quite few now. At the start of the event I did remind the bestman of a classic phrase of Paul’s at college, but he had the discretion not to mention it in his speech.

Before the end of the meal the event had transitioned into feeling like a regular wedding reception. Strangers now had something wedding related in common to talk about. Generally guests were feeling well fed and ‘watered’, and it all became a little more relaxed for the dancing. So just like a wedding, but without the wedding bit!

I’ve been a bit slack at updating my blog recently – there’s been quite a bit going on in my life. The next few posts are (probably) going to be like buses – none for ages and then three at once.

Looking at the photo above, you can probably figure out from the snow that I did Clare and Paul’s engagement shoot back in February. We went to Wroxton Abbey, near Banbury, Oxfordshire, which is now an overseas campus for some US university/college, but the grounds are open to the public. That is where Clare and Paul got engaged originally, so it seemed an appropriate place to do the photo shoot. The purpose of the engagement photo shoot, other than creating beautiful pictures, is so that couples can assess whether they get on with me as a photographer prior to booking their wedding photography. Worth doing if you are thinking of booking your wedding photography in the near future. I offer this service at very low cost, and you get a refund on the shoot cost if you subsequently book your wedding with me.

Although Clare and Paul loved the photos and booked me for their wedding photography, they have no postponed/cancelled their wedding due to costs/recession etc But looking on the bright side, it now means I get to spend my wedding anniversary with my wife, so that will keep her happy.

The Oxford Brookes Nurses‘ Graduation Ball 2010 was at the Oxford Thames Four Pillars hotel, in Sandford-on-Thames, near Oxford. The hotel itself is very attractive, and is in a beautiful location on the river.

The ball was much like the Oxilp ball at the Randolph, in that unlike college balls, its more of a sit down meal followed by a disco. At the Oxilp ball there was a large bar area which had space for us to set up in, and after talking to the ball organiser, Sarah, it seemed that this ball would be the same. Foolishly I didn’t visit the venue. The bar area off the main event room had space for us, but there was the bar, a door to the kitchen, a door outside which was a fire exit, and a passage way through to another event room. Unfortunately that meant there was nowhere for the studio to be set up.

After a quick chat to Sarah, and to the hotel staff, it was decided that a few of the tables for the sit down meal would be rearranged, and the studio could be set up in the main room. We didn’t leave it all to the hotel staff, but pitched in to help. Although that pushed us for time a little, we were all set up with time to spare.

Prior to the meal it had been arranged that we would do a group photo for all of the nurses who would be graduating (hopefully – they weren’t getting there results till the Monday after the ball). A little more negotiation with the hotel, and we decided to do this photo in the hotel reception, which was a lovely large room. After a little more furniture rearrangement, all was set up.

We had a bit of a break after that, as there was the sit down meal for all the attendees of the ball. Once that finished, we got down to studio photography for the rest of the evening. Most of the nurses had been reasonably well “watered” during the meal, so the photos were quite entertaining.

The Jam Factory were contacted by a TV production company (KMFilms) making a program for Channel 4, and in turn they contacted us, wanting to feature the exhibition and some of the artists in their show. We ( a few of the exhibition artists and myself ) were told that the show was going to be “a bit like the One Show” and there would be an arts feature.

The presenter had bright white fluffy hair, a luminous patterned shirt, and pink trousers. During the interviews, he didn’t withhold from making things up. And appeared to have breakdowns which required pills. His name was “Brian Bedonde”.

Alas, what was pitched to us as a serious art slot in a major program was in fact a pilot for a video version of Fonejacker. Needless to say none of those invovled in the exhbition were prepared to sign releases, and we have explicitly withdrawn any consent for the footage of us to be featured. Feeling slightly miffed to have wasted the time.