At the weekend we went to Bristol Balloon Festival to see the balloons flying and spend some time in Bristol (a city I am not that familier with). What a lovely city, the old harbour area has been turned into a tourist centre with shops and restaurants and the most amazing water feature which children are allowed to paddle in (’ealf & safety not gone mad here thankfully). There is an enormous mirrored ball by the water feature and lots of different and interesting statues dotted about. During the afternoon some young men came to the mirrored ball and showed us their trick cycling in the pavement area around the ball. Very clever they were too, here is one of the chaps showing us how to ride on the side of the rear wheel.

I went to the Brighton Gay Pride Parade on Saturday and had a fantastic time, what a great atmosphere there was, so much like a carnival and I got some great photographs here are a couple for now. There was a fun fair and a couple of stages with bands performing live music all free.

As some of you may have heard the album manufacturer Spicer Hallfield has liqudated. Most of my albums were supplied by them so I have had to look for a new supplier. I am very pleased to announce that I have chosen the Italian handmade albums supplied by Mario Acerboni. Beautiful albums that come in 4 sizes and 4 colours. All these albums have a one inch border around the pages and take real photographs as either montage prints or with overlays. Sizes are (approximate inches) 10×10, 8×8,  A4  and 7×5 colours are iced diamond (silver grey), perl (cream), black and burgundy, the iced diamond colour is only available in the larger sizes. I shall also continue with the madison albums which do not have a border and come in black or white covers with a window on the front for a small photograph and 3 sizes, 12×12, 10×10 and 8×8 inches (approx). For the top end packages I shall be using the Australian Seldex albums, these have printed perspex covers or brushed aluminuim covers and are large albums (approx 11×14 inches ) with real photographs with overlays on them. Coming soon I shall put photographs of each album on my website so that you know what all the terms mean and what the albums look like.

What a super unusual venue! Milestones Museum in Basingstoke is open for wedding receptions and events. You can wander amung the exhibits to your hearts content. They even open the 1940’s pub so that you have access to beer and spirits during the evening festivities, unfortunately the prices aren’t 1940’s! There are some great places to have photographs taken, like this one outside the green grocers.

Tylney Hall is a great venue for weddings as it has so much land with so many different features which makes for varied photographs (you don’t have to have the same background all the time). There are 2 stone pergolas with stone steps leading down to them whcih can make for some very different images, see the one below:

Panning is a technique used to give the idea of movment and to capture a fast moving object. It works best when the object to be photographed moves across in front of you from left to right or right to left. You focus on the object and follow it movement and at the appropriate point press the shutter to capture the object as sharp as you can whilst at the same time keeping the background blurred to give the idea of movement. It is very important that you follow the motion even after pressing the shutter button as with all sports the follow through is important. Getting the speed right is the hard part particularly with fast moving objects like sports cars. (also if you have Image Stabalisation on the lend with 2 types remember to turn off the horizontal stabilisation).

Below is a picture where the speed was just right the carriage driver is just sharp and the background is completely blurred.

correct panning

Below is a photograph with the speed too fast so nothing is sharp.

photograph too blurred

Below is a photograph where the panning motion was too slow (probably due to too fast a shutter speed) so the image is too sharp.

The above photographs were all taken at Farliegh House near Basingstoke during the carriage driving trials, the driver is Karen Bassett who was warming up before the cones part of the competition.

I have some packages that you can use as a guideline but I can amend and adjust them all to suit your requirements.  All packages include the time spent with you on your wedding day, a means of proofing and production of the final album. Proofing is done via a password protected website so that friends and family can see the photographs at the same time as you. You choose which photographs go in your wedding album and in which order and position in the montage albums. Or if you wish you can give me a list of the images required in the album and I create it for you. So do call me in order to discuss your specific requirements.

Traditional:

A post bound album (like the sort your mother probably has) with 20 prints (8×6 inches), one photograph per page, overlays (these cover the edges of the print and finish off the page nicely), photography at the ceremony and the reception.

£549.00

Traditional Hand made:

A post bound album with a beautiful leather cover,  with 36 prints (8×6 inches), one photograph per page, overlays (these cover the edges of the print and finish off the page nicely), photography at the ceremony and the reception.

£799.00

Canterbury:

A book bound album with a beautiful leather cover,  with 50 prints (10×8 inches), one photograph per page except 2 pages which can have up to 4 photographs on them, overlays (these cover the edges of the print and finish off the page nicely), photography at the brides home, ceremony and the reception.

£1020.00

Roma:

A book bound album with a beautiful soft suade effect cover,  with 24 pages (A4 size (approximately 8×12)) montage, up to 70 images per album, no overlays but there is a one inch border around each page, photography at the brides home, ceremony and the reception.

£1059.00

Madison:

A book bound album with a beautiful white cover with a magnetic clasp and 3×3 inch photograph on the front,  with 20 pages (10×10 inches) montage, no overlays and no border a square format, a completely free format in terms of image layout, up to 60 images per album, photography at the brides home, ceremony and the reception.

£1029.00

Aurora:

A book bound album with a beautiful soft suade effect cover with space for 2 initials on the front,  with 30 pages (approximately 14.5×12 inches) montage, overlays, up to 100 images per album, photography at the brides home, ceremony and the reception. Includes 2 free blank mini books (take 24 6×4 inch prints stick to the pages no overlays or borders).

£1499.00

CD only:

Coverage from the bride getting ready (about 2 hours before the service) to the point you sit down to eat with a mixture of formal and informal photographs all provided as a high resolution jpeg file on a CD/DVD.

£850.00

If you require something a little different then please do contact me to discuss your options.

Every Picture Tells a Story so Let me Tell Yours

The Old Mill at eversley is a beautiful venue with some beautifully kept gardens to wander in. The Old Mill itself has been lovingly restored with many original features being retained and the sound of running water is quite sleep inducing. The food is excellent and the venue can handle large or small wedding parties.

The pond in front of the main entrance

Great day on Sunday lots of brides through the door and a couple deffinitley seemed interested in me as their wedding photographer so lets hope the phone rings in the next couple of days.

The Hilton is a lovely modern hotel, some can be a bit cold and soleless, but the Hilton at Newbury is lovely, a nice chandalier as you come in the main door and lots of wood panelling give a warm cossy feeling. THe main room used for weddings is light and airy so good for indoor photogrpahy as well.

outside the Newbury Hilton Hotel