A beautiful Shropshire wedding ….

Hello everyone, as my regulars know, I have been otherwise occupied with the realities of photographing the wedding of a lovely couple ….

I am merely a very enthusiastic amateur who is never without a camera of sorts & I am always capturing life through a lens of sorts.

I admit to being flattered at being asked to photograph the wedding, fully recognising the responsibility so I was very relieved when my 'a wondering star' daughter offered to join me as 'two cameras'.  She has attended far more weddings than I every will so her experience & talent were invaluable, as is her engaging personality.

 

 

I had done the preparatory visit so I knew the venue & church set up & the challenges we faced.

I admit that my photography style leans heavily towards photo journalism - capturing moments as they happen. I am a fan of Joe Buissink's style as he captures moments without being formal, also Jolyon Melville who is a friend of a friend & a Birmingham photographer steve gerrard who has a lovely style.

The morning dawned bright & beautiful for us: perfect wedding weather for a stunning couple. Their make up transformations were in full swing when we arrived ....

 

 

We started with the lovely gowns, shoes & flowers

 

 

 

We then moved onto the church & before meeting up with the groom & his entourage at the church. The lads obliged by doing some fun shots for us then it was full on in to the day with the arrival of the bride & her gorgeous girls.

 

 

 

We respected the Priests request of not moving around too much or being intrusive so that the spiritual aspect / solemnity was maintained in the church while still capturing the moments from the side lines.

 

 

Then the day gained momentum of its own as we moved through the day doing some formal photos at the church with the groups before they walked down the hill to the venue with the Ludlow Castle as a backdrop. 

 

Capturing all the grandchildren with their grandmother - one of those photos that really only gets done at weddings when all are gathered

 

 

 4 generations of ladies which is the stuff memories are made of

 

 

We hoped we had captured the day & its many stages …. 

 

 

The speeches were challenging from a photographers viewpoint as there was not a clear view at all with the tables set in front but we worked with what we had to capture very heartfelt speeches from the Bride's father & the Groom before their lovely children delivered a speech too. 

 
We managed to capture some more photos outside as 'magic hour' set in with its soft light which is so lovely.

 

 

 

 

All in all, a beautiful, relaxed day with a fabulous couple & some really good friends.  Me on the left with my good friend Liane who did all the wedding make-up

 

 

I absolutely love these natural photos of the children just 'being in the moment' ...

 

 

 

and of the Bride's brother enjoying the speeches unaware that I was doing a photo - photo journalism at its best!

 

 

It was a relief that all out photography planning went according to plan - no camera malfunctions or problems. 

We used: Canon 1D with EF50mm f/1.2l lens / EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS lens 

                Canon 5D mk11 with EF 24-105mm f/4l lens 

                Canon 40D backup with EF135mm f/2l prime lens 

                Canon speedlite 580EX11 flash

 

 

 

I hope you have enjoyed the photos with me …. 

Have a fab weekend & thanks for stopping by, 

Dee ~♥~

Preparing for special wedding photos

Hi all, sorry about my absence & neglect of my blog but I have been busy preparing for a wedding that is approaching very quickly now.

My regular readers will remember the first wedding I photographed with my daughter & the post of photographing-beautiful-wedding

A Wondering Star had done all the Bride meeting & briefs before we went out early morning to do all the pre-wedding final plans .

My good friend, The Tipsy Tart's daughter asked me more than a year ago to photograph her wedding this year & so the time is finally approaching quickly.

I am merely an enthusiastic photographer who is seldom without a camera of sorts - some of my work has been used commercially in print  & many more have asked to use my photos for various websites, blogs & projects via my flickr photos . I always appreciate being asked as copyright demands, rather than stumbling across them on the web & having to ask for credit to be given where it is due …

I digress … so this past week, the fabulous make-up artist Liane - trained by many of the leading cosmetic houses like Benefit, YSL, Estee Lauder etc - is doing the make- up so we set off for the beautiful Ludlow to do the planning visit.

Tea & scones, then time to walk the venue & church ...

back for lunch of home made Thai chicken soup ....

 

 

then the make up session ….

I had great fun photographing the lovely Bella while her Mum was being made up - I know she will be a perfect model on the wedding day ....

The wedding will be in the fabulous old Shropshire town of Ludlow - the castle dominating the skyline & the town will be buzzing with a May Day festival but all of our attention will be on the lovely couple, their gorgeous children, family & friends.

A wonderful time to look forward to - very exciting to be working with such a beautiful, natural bride who has chosen us girlies to help on her big day

I look forward to sharing some photos soon ….

Enjoy your Easter weekend, thanks for stopping by
Dee ~♥~

Photographing a beautiful wedding ... #2

I joined my wonderingstar daughter to photograph a wonderingweddings last week & shared it  photographing-a-beautiful-wedding-behind-the-scenes in this blog post.

It was interesting & intense but the couple were the nicest ones you could meet & it was a pleasure recording it for them.

I will now share a few of the photos so you can see why that early morning visit was so important to make sure the spot was going to work for them.

They had chosen Ironbridge as their place of choice for photos - immensely popular with local couples because it is a place we all love.

This shows our chosen spots & the photos later ...

That avenue of trees

The gate

Ironbridge with photos in the popular vintage edit

I am pleased that we took the time to visit the venue early morning to make sure that we had the best places confirmed which fitted into their likes ...

We were also well prepared with our cameras - some with fixed (prime) others with zoom lenses:

Canon 5D with 135mm
Canon 1D with 28-300 L Series IS USM
Canon 40D with 24-105

I have taken photos for years & have had over 350 000 flickr deirdr hits which is good because many flickr photos are (according to statistics) never viewed by anyone except the person who has posted it.

From my Flickr account, I have had numerous requests to use my photos for various things from Wikipaedia Falasha of Ethiopia to requests from Getty for several licenced images for use commercially like this one of  Lilleshall Abbey, Shropshire  and most recently from St. Mary's church in Staffordshire to use my images of the church & it's angels for cards for church funds St. Mary's Stafford . I also took photos for the Bridport Hat Festival .bridporthatfest 2012-deirdre-snook

Photography is a passion & I am always really pleased when my photos are enjoyed by others too.

I hope you have enjoyed my first venture into wedding photography with me. Please leave a comment & a link so I can return the visit.

Dee ~♥~

Photographing a beautiful wedding ... behind the scenes

My a wondering star daughter has for some time also done some wedding photography besides her fulltime job as a graduate engineer.

She has a keen understanding of the technicalities of her camera & she has very much influenced her sister's StacySparkle style.

Wondering Star knows I have been asked to photograph a friend's daughters wedding in just over a years time, so she invited me to be her 'second camera' at a wedding in the Shire on Friday .

She always has two cameras with her in case one doesn't behave & has two different lenses on them to cover all shots.

She had already met with the Bride so agreed what was wanted in terms of photos, venue, atmosphere etc.

Friday's sunrise was spectacular but some dark clouds loomed on the horizon on a very chilly, 6C morning.

Daughter & I set off early morning for Ironbridge to do the preparatory visit before the wedding. The Bride had said she always wanted an Autumn wedding with those colours & atmosphere so we looked at some spots that were not too muddy but with traditional (uncluttered by people or signs) features.

A beautiful avenue of trees

Hmmm lovely bench but too muddy after all the rain ...

A thick carpet of leaves - don't want wet, mouldy ones ...

Much better ....

The couple also wanted photos taken at Ironbridge - our local landmark so it was important to combine all the photos!

Some wedding bits in a local Ironbridge shop

Then to look at conditions at the actual Ironbridge from both sides.

 An interesting gate with lots of leaves & dry underfoot ...

 I love the greenness of the canopy of leaves ...

Sorted - time to get photographing at the Bride's home

I love table settings so this is some of our photos I collaged ...

 and with a popular vintage feel ...

It was an intense time - the couple were absolutely fantastic; it all went so smoothly & she looked stunningly happy ...

Some of the other photos are on this post - photographing-beautiful-wedding-2  It was a massive relief for me to get back & know I have been an able 'second camera'. I would not want to do wedding photography full time but it was an honor to just be there in the background recording it all,  I feel more confident now about accepting the challenge on my own for a friend ....

What are your experiences of wedding photography / photographs?

Thanks for stopping by, always love to return the visit so leave your details
Dee ~♥~