New Years Eve
Woodlands Hotel Gildersome Leeds
The last Wedding of the Year for us was on New Years Eve at The Woodlands Hotel at Gildersome. The Woodlands is a great Hotel to have your wedding at because its got just about everything you need. Its very contemporary in its styling and the grounds are great to work in, with lots of different places to “shoot” pictures. It was a very cold day so we “shoot” the main groups pictures inside and took the Bridal Party outside and they got into the spirit and had a great time.
We did our usual slideshow presentation round 8.00pm then we went off home although we did return at 11.30 to capture the guests welcoming in the new decade and I am glad we did because we got some great party pictures. Some of the revellers might have had one drink too many but spirits were high and everyone enjoyed the whole Day.
Saturday 2nd January
Our First Wedding of the New Year and I was helping my good friend Andrea Barrett on her wedding, well I had to really as she helped me on my weddings on Boxing Day and the 28th of Dec.
The weather was ok, nothing outstanding but I was happy with the pictures that I took in the sunset and so were the Bride and Groom!
Daley Thompson handing out awards at Oulton Hall Leeds
Later it started to snow which to be honest came to late to work with, but it looked pretty. Yvonne another photographer that we work with on a regular basis came to relive me as I had to shoot across to Oulton Hall to photograph Daley Thompson. For those who are not old enough to remember, Daley won a Gold medal in the 1980 and 1984 Olympic games in the decathlon setting a world record in the process.
He was the true professional and was willing to have his picture taken with a variety of guests. During the award ceremony one of the winners proposed to his girlfriend over the mike and luckily he got the answer he wanted, so I made sure they got one of our business cards
After the awards were given out he was on the dance floor giving it his all and the ladies certainly seemed to be interested in dancing with him.
The Band that played that night were fantastic and certainly deserve a mention. They were called the “The Bogus Brothers” and they had a ball entertaining the crowd. If you are having a wedding or a corporate event then I can recommend them one hundred per cent.
So now the festivities are over and the new year holds some exciting times for us. Firstly we are down at the SWPP Convention in London for a week running a masterclass for photographers then a break in America then weddings galore before we head off to Toronto for a five day masterclass with one of the worlds top wedding photographers in June. Jerry Ghionis is a photographer that Andrea and myself, admire enormously and we are really looking forward to the whole learning process. The beauty about my profession is that, everything changes, nothing ever stays the same. Styles of photography change like fashions. Until recently Bride and Grooms wanted “as it happens” pictures with no group pictures and little fuss, now people seem to have seen the value in “stylish” photographs along with a few group pictures and the “reportage” photographs too. This is great for me as this style of wedding photography is exactly what we shoot. I hate boring “stand there” pictures. When I see these pictures on “photographers” websites, it drives me mad. I also was to make the pictures look exciting and fun, yes we shoot the groups but these are kept to the minimum and we always rattle through these as quick as possible. My aim is to supply the B&G with a fantastic album to treasure which they can proudly show their friends and if there friends like the album they are going to ask the question “Wow who was the photographer”?
Thank you all our Brides and Grooms for Choosing us to photograph their wedding in 2009. We have loads of brilliant pictures that we have taken and we intend to enter them in competition in Las Vegas and the UK in the not so distant future and if we win we will be sending the Bride and Groom and complimentary picture as a way of a thank you.
no comments