• A winter wedding blanketed in snow

      0 comments
      29th Jan 10
      Lesley Pattinson

    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.


    It was an early start for me so I could make sure I made it with time to spare and as it turned out I was one of the first to arrive, closely followed by Kara’s to sisters or hair and beauty!

    Luckily I believe nearly all the guests made it without any need for a local radio plea for 4×4’s, it seemed to me it didn’t even occur to people not to make it; it was Kara and Ian’s wedding and snow wasn’t stopping their guests, either that or the promise of a vodka luge after the speeches.

    Ian and Kara are a fantastic couple and grinned and laughed through the entire day, the wedding venue was a picturesque location of Missenden Abbey in Buckinghamshire and blanketed in snow made it Christmas card perfect (once you had negotiated the drive in!)

    Here are my favorite images from their snowy winter wedding day.
      weddings

  • Learn wedding photography in a weekend, I think not!

      4 comments
      21st Jan 10
      Lesley Pattinson

    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.


    Needless to say this concerned me, I know as brides and grooms its hard to choose a photographer and you are putting your faith in the photographer you pick to capture your day and create images that blow away any your guests could have taken.
    Sadly the term reportage photographer seems to have lead the way for people to think they can document a wedding without any skill or imagination to create a fantastic wedding image.  Lets not forget the reportage is a term used by press photographers who are going to the front line or similar to document an event and get it into the eye of the world.

    Now you could argue that you “document” a wedding and this is true but you also need imagination and creativity to contrive a shot that is full of emotion and show cases the beautiful day that is your wedding.

    I think for some people that if your not photographically minded you do not know a good photograph from a bad one until you see an outstanding one, so with that in mind I would like to show you what an outstanding wedding photograph can look like, and so hopefully help you spot the said photographer who qualifies in a weekend and then shoots randomly throughout the day classing it as reportage.

    I have a couple of photographers to show who are world class and I start with Janis Ratnieks an international award winning photographer based in London, UK, who is an inspiration in the world of wedding photography in my opinion, I leave it for you to decide for yourself but have no doubt you will agree.
    Thank you Janis for letting me use your work to help me get my point across, if you would like to see more of his work his website is www.janisratnieks.com its certainly well worth a visit.

    Believe me when I say this type of creativity and skill can not be learned in a weekend.  This is what wedding photography is all about, beautiful, stunning and intimate images.
    All the images below are copyright Janis Ratnieks, all rights reserved.
      weddings

  • Photography in the snow

      2 comments
      11th Jan 10
      Lesley Pattinson

    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.


    It’s no fun with a 6 month old baby either, the weather has just been so cold and pushing a buggy around on slushy icy pavements is something you only do once too!

    That said you can still take some amazing photographs in this weather, on some days the light has been fantastic and from a distance and good depth of field the snow can still look prestige and untouched.  Now I don’t profess to be a landscape photographer I believe landscape photography is an art in itself and takes a lot of skill and practice to get anywhere near Ansel Adam’s standard, but I did get out there a take a few shots which are below; please do comment and let me know what you think.
      Personal Photography

  • Wedding and portrait photographs in the snow

      6 comments
      6th Jan 10
      Lesley Pattinson

    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!
      Baby photography

  • Wedding ceremony at The Vineyard, Stockcross, Berkshire

      1 comment
      4th Jan 10
      Lesley Pattinson

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


    January quietens down a little after a very busy December filled with portrait shoots and weddings, one such wedding was at the beginning of December.

    Andrew and Kerry got married at the beautiful location of The Vineyard, Stockcross it was a 4pm ceremony so The Vineyard came into its own as it has such lovely light about the place that the wedding photographs can be gorgeous.

    The wedding ceremony and reception where both held there; so with not to much traveling between venues meant lots of time for photographs.  It was a very lovely and intimate day, congratulations Andrew and Kerry I hope you have a fantastic life together.

    Here are a few of my favorite images from the day:
      weddings