Brit and Chris got married at St Aloysius church in Oxford. This church has one of the most beautiful interiors in Oxford, and a Priest who was reasonably relaxed about photography during the service. The ceremony was followed by a reception at Somerville college. While the college isn’t completely unattractive, they did have a few achitectural disasters there in the 60′s which crept into the background of a few of the candid photos. The wedding breakfast itself was in the college hall, while the disco afterwards was in a marquee within the college groups.

The interior of St Aloysius

The day went very smoothly, and on time. Brit had everything planned amazingly well and is one of the most relax, yet organised, brides whose wedding I’ve had the privilege of photographing. At this wedding I also had the privilege of accompanying the mother-of-the-bride in the Rolls-Royce from where the Brit was getting ready (The Randolph Hotel, Oxford) to the church, not something the photographer would normally expect. The speeches were very entertaining, particularly the beginnings of a Manga comic about the groom that the best-man had commissioned. The remainder of the comic was going to be completed based on tales collated from the guests. A very novel and fun wedding gift.

I’m working on a community art project at the moment called the Oxford Photographic Grid. The aim is to photograph Oxford in a systematic way rather than focusing only on the tourist attractions. The basic idea is that a grid is overlaid on a map of Oxford, and then a single photo is taken at each node location on that grid. If you’re interested in finding out about this project, please visit the project website.

We are currently looking for Oxford-based photographers (both amateur and professional) to take part. If that’s you, please sign up on the project website.

Thanks to Matt Durber for creating the banner & logos for this project.

The theme for Wolfson Ball was the Titanic, as I discussed previously in my post about possible poses. Nobody requested either, despite the ball committee thoughtfully providing a couple of plastic replica “Coeur de la mer”s. As is typical with most Oxford college balls, the theme is only loosely associated with the event and very few guests dress in any way even remotely associated with the theme. The chap above has to take the prize for the best themed outfit I saw on the night.  If he comments on this post in the next week I’ll send him a free 6×4 of his choice from the ball photos as a prize. Hmmm now I have to think of some ingenious way to confirm his identity….

Group photos at college balls tend to make me mildly stressed. Some of the attendees may have had one or two drinks and find standing up tricky. More so, when there is a group of them. Things tend to get broken. At the 2007 ball, a backdrop got ripped and a light smashed (although the light had nothing to do with the guests ). As always we tried to limit groups to 6 or less people, and we were pretty tight for space this time around too, so more than 6 was near impossible anyway. As always people tried to push the limits. When a group of about 15 turned up, I tried a new approach to dealing with the situation. I asked if any of them had £100 as a deposit against potential damage, hoping they would all sheepishly go away. One chap merrily piped up that he did and handed my five £20′s from his wallet. He didn’t seem short of cash after that either. I relaxed knowing that if they broke something I’d at least have £100 towards it. They paid more attention to what my assistant said when arranging them. It worked really well. If the chap with £100 in his wallet comments on this post in the next week and gives me the £100, I’ll send him a free 6×4 of his choice from the ball photos as a prize. I don’t think I need to worry about confirming his identity!

I have a grey vinyl background, which I frequently use for studio shots. The great thing about grey, is that it can be a white background if you put enough light on it, or in the absence of light you can use it as a black background. The downside of that is that you really have to control the light on the background well. So, to make my life a little easier I decided to purchase both white and black backgrounds. In buying two I was parting with a fair amount of cash, but thought that it would be nice to pay less. A few email later and I’d saved a 1/6th of the cost. It pays to ask.

So, if you want a discount on your print order, try asking me (nicely – say please!). I’m generally happy to give you a better price if you are placing a large order.