The Memories Thru a Lens Blog

In one of my last posts I explained how I add my photoshop magic to my wedding photography and portrait photography and this post will explain a bit more about my style of photography.

Anyone who is looking for a photographer to capture their wedding day of the wonderful memories of their child growing up will often be asked if they know what style of photographer they are looking for; indeed I will often be asked what style of photographer I consider myself to be so that the potential client can weave their way through the field of potential photographers out their and pick the one that best suits what they are looking to achieve in their photographs.

When asked what my style of wedding or portrait photography is I would say I am bespoke and artistic, but why would I say this.

Firstly lets address bespoke; the dictionary definition of this is “made to order” which I feel couldn’t describe my service better, to me each and every client be it for wedding photography or portrait photography is different and deserves to be treated as such.  So I don’t head off to a wedding shoot or portrait shoot with a list full of poses that I use each and every time, instead I judge on the day and the person and adapt how I take photographs to that, so therefore each and every shoot is made to order.

So that brings me to artistic; now the dictionary definition of this is “having a creative skill” do I have creative skill in my photography?  Well that would be a question for my clients but what I do know is that I certainly put my own creative mark on all the images I take.  First its the actual shot being taken, how I do this is something I find very hard to describe I simply look around, look at my subject then look through my lens and out the shot comes.  Luckily for me its the most natural thing in the world to capture a photograph, a skill which I certainly cherish.  Next I edit the photo adding my photoshop magic, I guess this is where my creativity really comes into its own to make the shot a work of art that when my clients see it will love it and be proud to hang in on their walls.

To follow are  some images that I really feel are artistic…. enjoy!

Its been a busy few weeks with me, weddings and portrait shoots not to mention editing the images and of course designing the albums. I will post some images of the weddings and portrait shoots as soon as the clients have had a good look at them. in the mean time here is one little photograph of a gorgeous little boy looking like he has just been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

Anyone who has children will know as soon as you point a camera at them, or say smile you get an awkward toothy grin that the child believes is a beautiful smile but for the view of the picture not so much which is why I never tell a child to smile in their portrait photo, I let them do their toothy grin for a few shots to get it out the way, but then the real shoot can begin which is all about laughter and fun. It always helps to have a parent or parents beside me to get the natural expressions which is how we got this lovely like expression on this little ones face.

One thing that I feel distinguishes me from other wedding photographers is among other things what I do with the images after the wedding day. I do a lot of post production work in photoshop because I feel this gives me even more scope to be creative and artistic which is what my photography is all about.

Now in this day and age I mention photoshopping a photograph and people believe I will be giving the images the same treatment as the glossy magazine do, now this is of course an option but is not what I mean by adding some photoshop magic to my wedding or portrait images. No what I do is play with the many effects photoshop has to offer to give said photographs some artistic touches, some may not be that far from the original image and some may be but all will look good once I have worked my magic.

So for example the images below where taken at Calum and Hannahs wedding, the first is the original image straight out of the camera and it is a lovely photograph, Calum and Hannah look great and the emotion has been captured, the second uses exactly the same photograph but enhances some of the elements of the shot and gives it more artistic depth.

And that is what I mean by photoshop magic!

Its not often my friends ask me to take some photo’s of them, but when they do I really enjoy it. I love what I do and being able to do it for those close to me is great.

Its quite a strange feeling when something comes naturally to you, for me taking photographs, weddings and portraits in particular just comes naturally to me, I somehow just know what angle to take the photo from to get the shot Im after, what’s strange about it though is that not everyone can do it and before you realise you have a talent you believe that everyone can just get the photos right, just as you do. Now I’m not saying my friends are bad photographers on the contrary they often take some great pictures but I also know when I take some for them they love the photographs as they don’t feel they could have taken the same shot.

The only trouble is, unfortunately, my friends photos often take a back seat to my work so they normally have to wait a little while to see them, which is what happened when I took some portrait photos of one of my very best friends Jill. Mainly its because I always add a a bit of post processing magic to my photographs and it takes time to get them ready for viewing, I wont say how long it took me to get these portrait photographs ready for Jill as you will all think Im a terrible friend!

Im sure Jill thought they where worth the wait though….

The new year has definitely been and gone, I can’t believe its already February. With the new year I have been designing a new website which will showcase more wedding images and portrait images, as well and having more information on the site. It takes a long time for me to create my new websites as picking the images I will use for my galleries is no mean feat; firstly I have my photographer head on and go through many many photographs to check which ones are the best technically, then my next head goes on and I pick which ones are best creatively, but then I have to have a third head on which is the hardest one of all…… which images are best to potential clients!

Then to add into the mix is different feelings on different days, when I have carried out a photographic shoot be it weddings or portraits I always tell my clients to take their time looking at the images, as to pick which ones the like the best can sometimes change in your mind from day to day, exactly the same has done to be done when I pick the images for my portfolios, so this is why when I decided on the theme for my new website it is over two months later before I have finally created the galleries.

Its will soon be live so watch this space, but in the meantime here is a sneak peek at the image i have chosen for my home page, Im hopeful it will entice you in to look at the rest of my work.. hope you like it!

I think every bride who plans their wedding around Christmas time, won’t say it but is secretly wishing for snow, a white wedding defiantly rates up there alongside a white Christmas.  So when Kara woke to find 4 inches of snow outside her window on her wedding day Im sure she was over the moon, well that was once the wedding photographer (me), hair and make up girls (her sisters) had arrived and she knew her guests where battling through to make her big and very special wedding day.

So just last week I attended a photography trade show so I could decide on my new album supplier…. more about that later. One thing that did concern me was the amount of companies there claiming that they could make you a wedding photographer in a weekend for a fee.  Now this intrigued me having studied the craft of photography and then spent even more time getting enough experience to actually be a wedding photographer; so I pitched up posing as a novice and asked a few questions, the thing that stuck me most was not one of said companies cared whether or not you could take a photo, just that you had the desire to make some money on the weekend.

OK so I think its safe to say that we have all had enough of the snow.  Whilst it makes a fantastic backdrop for wedding photographs and portrait photographs worrying that your guests won’t make it to your wedding is not a head ache any bride needs.

I love snow, really I do that is of course when I have the luxury of not having to drive in it.  It blankets the world and manages to give it a serene look and sound about it, much as I do love a laze on the beach, given the choice I would rather be hacking up the white stuff on the slopes.

So to wake to the beautiful blanket of snow this morning in Newbury was fantastic, of course snow will always make a fantastic back drop to wedding photographs or portrait photographs if anyone wants to venture out.  I was lucky enough to cover Ian & Karas wedding in December when the last big snow fall came over at Missenden Abbey, so we captured some fantastic wedding photographs in the snow there, which I will post up soon as soon as the bride and groom have had first peek.

In the meantime as it is my daughters first winter and first experience of snow we simply had to wrap up this morning and get out there to show her the beauty of the world bathed in snow, not to mention grab some portrait photos of her to add to the other 5500 images I have managed to take of her in 6 months, Im sure all photographers who are parents do the same thing!

Happy New Year!  I hope its a prosperous one for everyone.