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!

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.

I’ve got a picture up in an exhibition in Oxford, starting in a few days time. The “press release” details are:

Made In Oxford

Photographic Exhibition by the Oxford Flickr Group
3rd – 31st October 2009 – free entry
(Opening night for press/exhibitors only 2nd October)
The Jam Factory, Holly Bush Row, Oxford, OX1 1HU (near main railway station)

The exhibition is the brainchild of a group of 30 local photographers who live, work and study in the Oxford area, most of whom had only met online before we decided to arrange this exhibition.

We’re here before term starts and we’re here when the tourists have jetted back to their own cities. And whilst it’s an outstandingly beautiful city to live in, it can get awfully boring photographing the Dreaming Spires again and again. So what we’ve set out to do is try and show you our Oxford instead. Every exhibitor has attached a little explanation to their photograph – what it is, why they took it. All the photos are geo-tagged and marked on the exhibition map so you can find out where we took them if you feel like exploring the city yourself.

Garrett Coakley, one of the organizers, said “It’s been an exciting challenge setting up an exhibition when most of the exhibitors have only ever communicated online – it just goes to show that when you have a internet-based community of like-minded individuals you can translate that into a real-world event. We’re looking forward to organising more events like this in the future.”

If you’re visiting Oxford and fancy taking away a slightly more interesting souvenir than the usual set of cheesy postcards and an Oxford University T-shirt then take a card, visit the website link , and purchase yourself a gorgeous shiny new book with all the exhibition photographs in. You can also purchase prints and books at the venue.

Pretty fun stuff. Do go and take a look if you get a chance (like if you happen to be in Oxford for a dedication service…)

I’m generally making the prints I sell at exhibitions as limited editions, but at the moment, that’s pretty much the only way I will sell them. So in the next few weeks (ok, that will probably mean months) I’ll add a new section to my website to make them more widely available – while still being very exclusive.

A few weeks back set up my portable studio at St Aldates Church, Oxford, for their toddler group. There are a range of kids there (including my own) from babies to just pre-school. Some were in the mood for photos, and others were not. There wasn’t much time with each child as there was limited time, and a lot of eager parents.  Consequently I wasn’t able to perserve with the kids not in the mood for photography.

The little chap above amused me, as I’m more used to photographing kids in DJs who are barely able to stand in the context of student balls. A few other children/parents made the effort to dress up for the shoot, while others preferred the more casual look. Hopefully I’ll be able to post a few more photos once I’ve got permission from the parents.

I guess I should thank my young assistant, Joanna, for helping out by; Running into the shot to hug whoever was being photographed, leaving breadcrumbs all over the backdrop, and sitting on her Daddy while he tried to photograph people. Perhaps one day I’ll get her to help…

I’ve got a feeling my blog posts are getting a bit like buses. I think that is because even if I have something to write about, finding time can be tough, and the blog is low on the priority list. But posting get bumped up the list a little when I have a back log like now.

A few weeks back, I did an engagement photoshoot for Paul and Serena. Paul is and old friend from undergraduate days, who like me still lives in Oxford. While they don’t want me to shoot their actual wedding…. in Thailand… I’ll be doing the photography for their wedding party back in the UK.  As part of my wedding package I offer a free engagement shoot when the wedding photography is booked.  I do this to give potential wedding couples a chance to decide whether they like my style and personality. Although Paul knows me already, he and Serena were happy to take me up on “free”.

The mutually convient time for the shoot ended up being in the middle of the afternoon on a very sunny day. That might seem like a good thing, but for portrait photos it isn’t. Despite seeking shade in Shotover woods it was still necessary to use flash to fill the shadows in their “panda eyes”. Serena also struggled with keeping her eyes open for photos, rather than squinting. Hopefully they enjoyed the shoot anyway.

A couple of weeks ago (it takes me some time to get around to blogging) I did a photoshoot for my sister’s NCT group in Bradford-on-Avon, and some of there connections. There were a mix of ages there, from 9 weeks up to a couple of years old. There’s not too much to say about the shoot really, other than it was great fun, and a nice opportunity to play with my neice. But here are a few observations about baby and toddler photography, which although not coming directly from this shoot, were evident during it:

Babies who are six to nine months old are generally the easiest to photograph: they can sit up unaided, but hopefully are too young to crawl/run off; and there attention can usually be held by a few simple toys keeping them happy. If they aren’t hungry or tired, they will usually be reasonably happy and smile/giggle a lot. A really wonderful age. If your child is this age, contact me now to book a shoot!

Really tiny babies can be a challenge becuase they are so very dependent, and usually find it hard to connect to anyone else other than their mother, particularly when the stranger has a black box attached to their face. That is why you’ll see a lot of baby photos focused on cute little features such as the hands and feet.

Joanna decides that the shoot is over and it's time Daddy puts the lens cap back on

Toddlers become challenging again as they know their own mind, and choose not to co-operate if they don’t want to be photographed. By two most kids have also learnt how to acheive a very fake looking camera smile. But that only makes successful photoshoots with toddlers all the more rewarding. My top tips for toddler photography are:

1. Get them involved. Ask them to press the shutter button a few times. It make it more exciting when they feel they can take turns being the photographer. (Or bring a toy camera for them to use)
2. Allow them just to play in the studio (getting mum & dad involved to0), and just take photos of the kids doing what they do best. Don’t expect them to pose.
3. Have ridiculous hair like me, they’ll assume you are a clown and smile! Well, it gets children looking at me in a slightly puzzled way anyway.

The photos in this post are of my children, as I didn’t ask permission of any of the parents there to post their photos publicly. The gallery of the photoshoot in the client-area is password protected for the same reason.

St Hilda’s College ball was on Saturday 8th May. Photos from the ball can be seen in our client area. This Oxford college was the last single sex college, and started accepting men for the first time this year. Although that makes little difference to the ball night, since men attend as guests anyway.

This ball must have been the first that we have attended where we were not pushed for space in one way or another. The room had high ceilings and decent amount of floor space. Unfortunately for the us, we were at the far end of the college from the majority of the ball venues, and less people ventured that far away from the beer tent. I know of at least one person that was unable to find us during the ball. We weren’t completely out of it, as we were right next to outdoor cinema which was screening “Romeo and Juliet” repeatedly.  I guess it gets the couples feeling romantic before their photos are taken.

As a benefit of our location within the college, while setting up for the ball we were treated to a lovely sunset behind Magdelen College tower.

For this ball shoot aCoolDryPlace Photography was assisted by Kate of Paperleaf Studio, maker of handmade stationery

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On Saturday I attended the The Oxford Union 1950′s Ball (Hilary, in the title, refers to Oxford University’s name for the term between Christmas and Easter). The Oxford Union is Oxford University’s world famous debating society, which is regularly attended by famous politicians, both as students prior to their careers in politics, and working politicians at the height of their careers. None of the latter were at the ball as far as I was aware, and if any of the students there have serious political ambition then I imagine they will have avoided my studio if too inebriated (but I’ll hang on to the photos just in case the Daily Mail should ever need them ).

The photography for this ball was requested last minute, well more precisely on the Monday before.  Unfortunately this meant that Julian, my usual assistant, was unable to be there. Some good friends, Matt & Jo, bravely agreed to give me a hand. Jo got stuck in helping with the photography, and Matt acted bouncer for a lot of the evening – leading him to believe that he needs to be balder and fatter.

I’m amazed that so many students openly tell me that they intend to try to rip off the photos rather than pay for them, or ask me to use their camera to take the photos. I guess many (mistakenly) think that I’m being paid as part of their ball ticket cost. I don’t know whether I should be more surprised, or less, when this occurs with a bunch of wannabe politicians.

If you are looking for photos (to buy!), please visit the client area.