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Sports Team, Yard Act, Snapped Ankles and Wet Leg
We’re both massive fans of live music and especially if the band don’t mind you sneaking in a camera! This year we’ve seen quite a few zeitgeist-y bands, some in quite small venues, which is always exciting, sweaty and atmospheric. The following gallery is a random selection from the bands mentioned above - gigs are always nightmarish to photograph…the light is terrible, everyone is moving and people are always in the way, but that’s all part of the fun!
Instant Large Format Flower Studies
It’s that quiet time of year just after Christmas when not much is going on and the light is only around for short parts of the day. So it seemed like a good time to break out the Intrepid Large Format camera and spend some quality time with a bunch of flowers.
As you can see from the following photos , the setup was very simple with just my trusty black velvet offcut draped over a clothes horse and table in front of a bright window. The Intrepid sat on my old and very solid Manfrotto tripod and I used a blanket to cover my head (as my velvet offcut was in use for the background!). And yes, you do need to hide under a cloth to focus the image on the rear ground glass of the camera - the picture is faint and barely visble in sunlight. The third image shows the view you get on the back of the camera - it’s inverted and upside down - you can imagine how hard that makes it to compose your image.
The following three images are some of the Instax Wide instant film images I took with the Intrepid and the LomoGraflok instant back. I hope that you can see that the pictures have a slightly dreamy quality and although the instant film can’t catch anywhere near the sharpness you can get from the camera with transparent film, the pictures have something about them that makes the process worthwhile. Also, they’re a unique ‘thing’ you can hold and look at within a few minutes of taking the picture, which is something special in the days of digital!
The final three images are digital photos taken in the same session, which I’ve processed in Lightroom. Whether these are ‘better’ or just differnet is really up to the viewer!
The Batch Country House Pre-Wedding Shoot
Meeting up with our wedding couples for a ‘pre wedding shoot’ is not only a fab way to get to know each other before the big day but also we always have a bit of a laugh! We met up with Emily, Jake and their adorable puppy Molly at their chosen wedding venue The Batch Country House near Weston Super Mare. We had a lovely time exploring the gardens (Molly certainly explored it at least ten times over!) and discussing ideas for their wedding photographs. They were a totally awesome couple and we cannot wait to photograph their wedding this year. Molly will obviously play her part on the day…maybe with less energy than she did at the pre wedding shoot…but who knows! But what I do know is that it’s certainly going to be a lot of fun!
James at the Cardiff Motorpoint Arena 2021
As should be obvious from some of the posts in this blog, we love live music and particularly love the opportunity to photograph it.
The band James have been one of my favorite bands since I can’t even remember, but I do know that I fell back in love with their music following the release of their “Hey Ma” album after they reformed in 2007…since that time I firmly believe they have just got better with each release, so it was a given that when they announced they were touring, we bought a pair of tickets. We actually went the extra mile and bought VIP tickets, which allowed us to see them rehearsing 3 songs before the main gig, with a tiny number of others.
They’re very giving to their audience, and so we were treated to 3 songs, the chance to get up close, ask questions and early entry to the main gig so we could be right at the front. I’d highly recommend this if you get the option with a band you love.
New York, New York, Engaged!
Happy New Year to one and all! A bit late to the party but here we all are well and truly flying into 2022!
New york, new york
Woz and I were a little busy towards the end of last year especially as we went a bit crazy and flew to New York for a week or so just prior to Christmas (definitely crazy!). With both of us being double vaxxed, then getting COVID plus getting the booster, we felt very safe to head across the Atlantic and have a little holibob. Our first ‘proper’ getaway since getting together 5 years ago!
This was our little adventure and oh my did we cram in as much as we possibly could…so much so every night it was a painful experience just to take our shoes off our throbbing feet! So many steps! Sooo many steps! But worth every step even though we were both grimacing with pain. Side note: Must get fitter for 2022…
One of our many highlights of our week in NYC was having the amazing opportunity to watch David Byrne’s American Utopia on that Broadway. Having watched the show on Amazon Prime last year we knew had to see it for ourselves - it was so mesmerising that we managed to see it twice at St James’s Theatre or should I say Theater!? If you haven’t seen it, check it out on Prime…it is truly brilliant.
New York City gave us such amazing opportunities to capture some street photography which is a love that we very much share.
Engaged!
Whilst out of breath, dressed in the biggest padded coat ever and feeling giddy from the astonishing views from the Empire State Building - Woz went down on one knee (oh yes he did!) and asked me to marry him and of course I said ‘Yes please!’ I honestly thought Woz was having a bit of a wobble as he’s not the most enthusiastic person when it comes to heights so it was such an amazing surprise when he asked me. So we’re officially engaged and cannot wait to make wedding plans of our own! Whoop!
Anyway! That’s our news! Wishing everyone a healthy and safe 2022! Very much looking forward to photographing all our weddings this year and meeting all our gorgeous couples!
love Em & Woz
Family Shoot with Bianca, Rob and Amelia
Back In July, on the hottest day of this year, we had the most wonderful time photographing Bianca and Rob’s wedding day at Upton Barn and Gardens in Devon. Three months later Woz and I met up with them for a catch up and family shoot at Wellington Monument. The sun shone down for us on a beautiful autumnal day…tree climbing, leaves throwing….there were smiles all round especially from Ella their beautiful Labradoodle! She really knows how to pose!
The Allergies at The Garage in London
Wow! Wow! Wow! Who knew by taking a few random snaps at a gig in Bristol would lead us to travel up to London the same week and take some pics for the amazing group ‘The Allergies’!
If you haven’t heard these guys then you must…as quoted by Craig Charles himself ‘The Allergies are neck deep in the world of scratchy samples -This is truly funk and soul for the 21st century’.
So anyway, how did we get here you may ask, well…The Allergies basically liked my photos from a previous gig (hashtaging really does help!) and next minute we were hopping on the train London bound heading towards The Garage. Both Woz and I absolutely love music in a huge way (it helps the soul, right?), and other than our wedding photography business going fairly quiet over the series of lockdowns, we have really missed live music at gigs and festivals. Unfortunately we contracted Covid over the summer (even though we are both double jabbed) which meant we couldn’t attend the Beautiful Days festival which we had been gearing up for. But hey, some things are slowly getting back to some normality now and so we jumped back deep into going to gigs.
The Allergies are a duo of skilled turntablists from Bristol who formed back in 2012 and along their way they have incorporated the mighty sounds of rapper Andy Cooper, soul sensation Marietta Smith and saxophonist extraordinaire Mr Woodnote. Together they make an incredible team and their performances are nothing but sublime.
Maternity Shoot with Nikita & Terry
Before becoming a professional photographer I used to work in a very busy maternity ward where I was surrounded by bumps, new mums and babies…I guess this could be someone’s idea of hell but I absolutely loved it. Having met so many new mums and mums to be over the years, and of course being a mum myself, when Nikita approached and asked us if we would like do a maternity shoot with her we obviously jumped at the chance. Pregnancy is such a special time, it goes so quickly and before you know it you’re holding your bundle of joy and the months of being pregnant seem to be a distant memory.
We arranged to meet Nikita and Terry on a glorious sunny Sunday afternoon in a local woodland, which gave us the perfect opportunity to frame Nikita in the foliage, and the nearby orchard gave some lovely leading lines and vanishing perspectives to pose the couple. Originally Nikita had said she would quite like to pose in water, but the river turned out to be down quite a steep bank and was covered in duck weed! Nobody was that keen to abseil down so we decided it probably was for the best to give this a miss THIS TIME (in case it accelerated the appearance of their baby)!
As Woz has already shown in our previous blog, we took along the Intrepid large format camera and the new Instant Back, which helped get everyone in the mood for photos - it’s fun to set up this type of camera in public, and we got quite a few walkers stopping by to see what was going on.
These two were incredible sports despite Nikita being about to pop and obviously refusing to abseil into the river! Nikita bought along her mum’s beautiful red velvet cloak which was worn by her mum at her wedding - it was such a special and fun day spent with these two lovely peeps.
Their gorgeous baby boy was born only a week or so later so thank goodness we managed to get the shoot done in time! Massive congratulations guys!
Instant Large Format Photography
What seems a very long time ago, I spotted a curious little thing that Lomo were offering that would fit on the back of our Intrepid Large Format Camera: a Polaroid style back for instant film!
I thought it might be fun to be able to get instant results from photoshoots, so joined the kickstarter and waited.
Then the pandemic hit, so I waited some more!
Finally, just recently we received a package containing a nondescript black plastic box, shown here attached to the camera:
The process of taking a photo is even more of a faff than the film process we’ve documented previously on this blog! Once you have the camera set up and focussed, you place the back on the camera and then take the photo.
You then have to remove the back (I think this is an Intrepid thing - if you leave it on the back, the clip you can see in the picture scratches the photo as it ejects) and press the button to eject the photo:
We tried this out on a recent maternity shoot and it’s great fun and helped get us all in to the right mood for the digital shots. It’s really lovely to all gather round and watch the picture appear as if by magic.
The pictures you get from this system can be very charming, but they are nowhere near the quality you can get from film in this camera or from our Fuji digital kit, but they are a unique instant memento and have a very different look to them. We’ll definitely be using it lots in the future.
Stunning wedding at Mount Pleasant Ecological Park
It’s not every day we get invited to photograph a wedding where we also have to pack a tent, sleeping bags and a toothbrush! But oh did we embrace the opportunity! We headed down to sunny Cornwall on a Friday night, set up the pop up tent (all 15 seconds of it!) and set out to explore the beautiful landscape of the Mount Pleasant Eco Park. The eco park is situated at the top of a steep valley with stunning views all the way out to sea and across to a disused tin mine. A perfect place for a wedding!
Sarah & Josh got in contact with us way prior to the COVID mayhem so their wedding was well overdue. After a number of changes to dates and venues, finally their special day came and oh boy, what a day/night it was too.
These two looked absolutely gorgeous, Sarah with her beautiful champagne bridal dress and Josh with his stunning gold velvet jacket, these two were the rock n roll wedding couple of 2021! The sun shone down as guests flocked from all over to join in with their celebrations well late into the night…and the party was still in full swing when we headed off back to our tent in the early hours. Such lightweights!
We truly felt like we were part of their troop. Thank you so much to Sarah & Josh, their family and friends who really made us feel welcome. We had so much fun and loved every minute of it. Can we do it again please?
Beautiful Church Wedding with Reception at The Pig
I was so fortunate to photograph Emma & Tim’s gorgeous wedding last month. These two lovelies met on a train eight years ago after watching England play at Twickenham, exchanged numbers and with some persuading Emma finally gave in to Tim’s persistent messaging! Since they’ve got together they have travelled all over the world together (jealous much!), and a few years ago Tim went down on one knee at the top of Table Mountain in South Africa popping the question to Emma…sooo romantic…and sooo exhausting! Thankfully Tim managed to keep hold of the ring despite dropping it five times on the way up! With having to cancel four wedding dates, due to…yes you guessed it…Covid and numerous lockdowns, they finally got to say ‘I do’ at Chew Stoke church in front of twenty of their nearest and dearest. Their adorable spaniel, Marley, also made a joyous appearance to enjoy the celebrations with them. I think he got a bit overly excited but we won’t go into that! The happy couple whizzed off in a stunning red Morgan to The Pig near Bath where the celebrations continued with a bit of croquet and welly wanging. Thankfully nobody was hurt in the process! The whole day was full of love and laughter, and I’m chuffed to pieces for them both! xx
Upton Barn & Walled Garden Wedding
Upton Barn & Walled Garden is situated in rolling green Devonshire countryside with stunning unbroken views over the Blackdown Hills past the pond and fountain.
The site features a lovingly restored 17th century cider barn, stables and a secret walled garden, all with a crisp modern feel juxtaposed with charming original features.
Bianca and Rob rescheduled their wedding following several lockdown imposed moves and boy what a lovely day it turned out to be. The sun broke out, and lockdown restrictions were lifted!
…Although the Upton House team and yours truly kept our masks on when indoors!
The day broke with glorious sunshine and HEAT. Em and I set off to our separate starting positions - Em headed off to Bianca for the prep while I went to the venue to get shots of the boys getting ready. The venue was also being prepared by Rustic Love. The amazing cake was made by Daisy May,
Em had a lovely time at the bridal prep with the bride, mum of the bride, three bridesmaids and four flower girls all getting ready! It was certainly a busy house to photograph and the atmosphere was charged with excitement for the day ahead. Bianca’s beautiful make-up was by Laura Le Page.
At the venue, the guys all arrived looking very cool like they’d just walked into a Tarantino movie, all shades and cool outfits in blistering sun.
The sun continued throughout the day, but the venue has a lovely inside/outside feel and everyone moved in and out to cool down.
Upton Barn’s staff were lovely, discrete but always there when you needed them and the day went incredibly smoothly. Here is a small selection of the pictures from the day, which were presented to the couple in three complete sets, one colour, one mono and one with vintage processing.
London Street Photography - Edging Towards Normality
So the vaccines are having the desired effect and slowly, oh so slowly, the world is tentatively moving back to the new normal.
We decided it was time to get out there and see how it’s doing and headed to That London to do some street photography…and it was a little weird.
Life has resolutely returned to the streets, but inside, in galleries and shops, things are still very sparse and quiet. It gives a different mood to the place, with life being lived on the street rather than hidden away. We liked it a lot.
Here’s a selection from both our sets, mainly taken around Soho, Shoreditch and The South Bank.
Street Photography
Street photography has become mainstream in the last 5 years, although the pandemic has naturally limited this practice recently. Wikipedia references Mary Warner Marien’s 100 ideas that changed photography when defining street photography as:
“photography conducted for art or enquiry that features unmediated chance encounters and random incidents within public places.”
It’s not by chance that this definition could broadly be applied to our style of wedding photography, and indeed Em and I have been working on street photography projects for many years. We’ve also attended lectures and collected books from some of the greats of the genre, but that’s another post for another day!
Here’s a small sample of some of our images from some time ago (all pre-lockdown, when masks were a curiosity and crowds of people unremarkable).
Gotton Farm Evolves
Exciting times at Gotton Farm! Since the closing of the milking parlour and the relocation of the herd, Gotton Farm is in full swing with it's amazing transformation and happily we’ve been asked to track its progress. In the last six months, between an organic garden and a paddock, Katie & Ted have nestled a gorgeous hand crafted shepherd’s hut, supplied by South Coast Shepherd’s Huts, at the foot of the Quantock hills in Somerset.
‘The Croft’ is an ideal staycation for couples who are perhaps looking for a mini-moon or just a much needed break from it all (yes please!). Hestercombe House & Gardens is just a stones throw away and there are so many picturesque walks to take. Since it launched on air bnb a few months back, the shepherd’s hut has been extremely popular with only a few spare dates available during this summer…but with its wood burner it would be a cosy get away at any time of year!
Sitting in a hot tub with a glass of bubbly in hand overlooking the stunning Blackdown hills…what’s not to like?!
For Gotton Farm
I first got news that Gotton Farm was to be sold in the summer of 2018. I was devastated and extremely worried for the future of my family
Gotton has been with us for a hundred years and my cousin Ted is the last of the three generations to live and work there. I've grown up with him and spent many a summer day on the farm and the long nights by the fire. The fear of change was overwhelming for us all.
It was later that I learned that there was a way to keep the farm in the family, but to do this meant selling the entire herd and changing the structure of the farm buildings.
I decided I wanted to capture the life of the farm and the enormous changes it was undergoing I later discovered that the history of the farm has never been recorded so this will be the only document of Gotton as a working farm.
The final months of the herd were witness to mv uncle Mike suffering from significant illness, a trusted farm hand suddenly losing his life, deaths in the herd and failed TB tests. All the while, Ted and his father remained upbeat, showing smiles that hid the tension and anxiety they were facing every day.
The following is my initial set from an ongoing project. The photos are a mixture of digital and medium format film, which was taken on my Bronica.
Our kit
I’m a big fan of the Shotkit website as I’m a bit of a photo nerd and love to see what kit other people are using. Em and I were chatting about this, and thought it would be fun to set up a shot of our own wedding kit. This is a picture of most of the kit we take to weddings. We each have two Fuji X-H1s, but there’s probably a few more cameras floating around in our car because we really like to be prepared for any eventuality! My Ricoh GRII goes with me everywhere, so that’s definitely in a pocket somewhere!
Photographing a wedding with a large format camera
If you’ve seen our previous posts on large format photography, you’ll know that it’s quite a challenge to capture even a few photos on film during the hectic chaos of a wedding day!
Aaron and Aggie were keen to give it a try, so during a quiet time (few and far between during any wedding) we managed to set up the camera and get them to pose. The ground was soaking and we didn’t want to get Aggie’s beautiful dress muddy, but we needed the light for the camera so our only option was to pose them in the doorway to the house.
Aggie’s dad was fascinated with the camera
This limited our options a bit, but this was really a trial run and Aaron and Aggie had agreed knowing that there was a good chance we’d not get great results with the film camera. They loved the example large format pictures we’d shown them.
We took several shots and then all moved to the side of the house to take some group shots - hard enough with digital, but all the more so with an unwieldy large format camera. Especially when you factor in that the image you see on the screen is not only reversed side to side, but is also upside down!
We did confirm our suspicions though - people are fascinated with the camera and gathered around comfortably, so that’s a massive bonus!
We fired off the sheets we had prepared in film holders and then put them in the bag to process later, not really knowing that we had.
It’s always with a mixture of excitement and fear when you process important film images, and although we’d promised nothing, we felt quite a responsibility loading these into the development tank.
Success!
We actually got a few good shots, and Aggie and Aaron were very pleased with the results. If we have time and willing participants, we will definitely be repeating this experience.
Lockdown Wedding! Aggie and Aaron
It’s been a very hard year for everyone, and people who have been planning weddings have been hit particularly hard by the new regulations along with the constant changes being introduced at short notice.
So we were very pleased to hear from Aggie and Arron, who were planning to have an intimate lockdown wedding and loved our photojournalistic style of photography. When we learned that their wedding was taking place at the quirky and magnificent 13th Century manor Maunsel House, we were even more excited. The venue is set in a 2000 acre estate in Somerset and its unique features reflect the tastes and interests of its owner, Sir Benjamin Slade Bt.
The day was very emotional one as Aaron and Aggie have been together for over 20 years and had had to put the day off several times due to the ongoing pandemic. Eventually they decided to invite a much smaller congregation and use Zoom to include other relatives both near and far. The small number of guests were privileged to get to see Aggie looking absolutely radiant and beaming from ear to ear.
While the venue has bags of character, one thing that some rooms lack is light! In the more intimate spaces, where suits of armour and weapons hang on the walls along with a well worn stuffed bear, the lighting is almost non-existant! Thankfully our Fuji cameras were up to the job and we were able to capture emotions and events where it would have been impossible a few years ago.
Scanning Large Format Negatives
A new scan of one of our earlier shoots
A big part of creating analogue images is producing a final usable result.
When working with large format, this is further complicated because the equipment for mechanically enlarging the negatives is harder to find, more expensive, and harder to accommodate.
We’ve been looking into doing contact prints, which would give us a physical copy made entirely using the old methods, but this would be limited to prints of 4x5 inch size.
So, we also need to scan the negatives so that we can print them digitally. Our first attempts at this process involved using a flat-bed scanner and then reversing them in software to produce a positive image.
We thought the results were passable, but blamed our analogue process for the quality of the results:
Initial attempts at scanning were less than perfect!
Although this method captured the essence of the old process, it really doesn’t reflect the quality that is possible from a large format camera.
So…we kept looking.
Our scanner can scan 35mm negatives as well as medium format, but there’s no option for large format…but photoshop can stitch images together, so we thought we’d try that.
The mask is just a big piece of black card, roughly cut to shape
And it works!
I had to make a mask to put on the glass of the scanner, and we have to move the negative twice for each scan then feed the two images into photoshop.
The results are night and day between the two methods (the new scans are shown after the old ones):
