Facebook fans portrait sitting.

I recently gave 5 fans of my work on facebook the chance for a free portrait shoot. These shots are from the first sitting taken down on Northam Burrows. A fantastic family with kids full of character. As ever it took a while for the children to settle but once they got used to having their photo taken there was no stopping them. It was a real fun shoot and I had way to many shots to chose from. I have posted more shots on my flickrstream.

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4/52 - The final few days.

So the beard growth is nearly over, just a few more days and I shall return to normal. Going to celebrate with a cut throat shave and haircut on Monday 1st Feb. Two shots for this weeks post but I just couldn't decide on which one. The striaght classic head shot style or the cheesy pose which better reflects my current persona. Only downside to the first shot is that my hand covers a little too much of my chin. Set up for these shots are as follows.

Shot 1 - Black b/g about 2ft behind me, speedlight 580 exII on stand with beauty sih and honey comb grid camera left around 4ft from me, shot with 40d on tripod, but fired by my VARC. 1/60 sec, f/4, 1/8th power on flash.

Shot 2 - Black b/g about 2ft behind me, speedlight 580 exII on stand with beauty sih and honey comb grid behind and slightly higher than the camera around 5ft from me, shot with 40d on tripod, but fired by my VARC. 1/60 sec, f/4, 1/4th power on flash.

Processed in Lightroom then CS4 where I think I may have over cooked the skin smoothing but as I have the complextion of an aligator it was needed.

Pleased with how it turned in the end, simple lighting set up with effective result me thinks.


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Shane and Jessie :: May 2009

I love every wedding I shoot but all for different reasons, no two are the same and that's what drives me as a wedding photographer. But if you were to hold a gun to my, no if you were to hold my camera bag over a cliff and force me to name my best ever wedding otherwise you would drop the bag, then this would have to be it.
Pretty much everything about this day was near perfect. The weather was amazing, the location was the best there is I reckon and the couple were just fantastic. Very relaxed and chilled. There were no wedding cars, everyone walked from the village to the church and back to the reception. This idea was so simpe but so cool, the walk back down was great, right the heart of the village on a busy sunny afternoon, every one pretty much stopped and watched the wedding party walk by, either clapping or cheering. The rest of the day followed the same theme, relaxed and chilled. After the meal we managed to pop down to the beach for a few sunset shots. The sky was on fire that night and I knew the shots would turn out pretty good. I wasn't prepared for what I shot. The series of shots is one of those that now sits in my portfolio permanently. That's how stoked I am with them.
Shane and Jessie, I wish you both all the very best for the future wherever it takes you. You deserve it guys and thank you for letting me be part of your day.

There are some more images on my Flickr Page follow the link below to see them.

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3/52 - Chinny chin chin.

Week 3 of the beard growth and it is starting to itch now. Plus all the grey is now showing too. Not good. Honestly thought though that the growth would be longer now than it is. But I can't wait until the 1st of feb to go have that proper wet shave to get rid of it all. A little stumble is cool, but this ain't.
Took the shot with falsh on camera bounced of wall behind, white bounce card placed on table under chin to reflect light back up and under. Camera set full manual (f/4, 1/50 iso 400) flash on manual too (1/18th power and 24mm zoom), processed in lightroom and CS4.

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Paul and Jenny :: April 2009

This was a great wedding, very relaxed and I knew I would get on well with the couple when they told me their cake was done in a snowboarding theme. How cool. Unlike some other weddings there was no stress from the couple all day, everything just flowed smoothly. The service was in St Sabinus Church in Woolacombe, then we took some time out before arriving at the reception to have a few private shots done over looking the sea around at Combesagte. To be honest with the weather that day and the relaxed fell to the wedding I think we could have all stayed their just watching the sea. When we managed to leave the headland it was onto the Woolacombe Bay Hotel.
The second to last shot above was not set up, we just happened to all be walking back from the bottom car park after a few more shots when i turned to notice the line they were walking in. Grabbed about 5 frames before they passed me.
I love Woolacombe weddings as I was brought up there and still maintain it to be one of the best places to get married in North Devon.

Snapshot of my 2009 Wedding Season.

Now my 365 project has come to an end, I have plenty of spare time on my hands. So before the 2010 wedding season kicks off early next month for me, I thought I would share with you some of my wedding images from last year.
Despite all the rain and unpredicatble weather I had it lucky I think, with just one near washout wedding, but we made the most of it.
So over the next few weeks I shall be updating my blog with 10-15 images from a few of last years weddings. I hope you enjoy them as I did shooting them and don't forget I still have a few weeends free this year if you know anyone who is getting married and looking for a wedding photographer.

2/52 - Fanny by laptop light

Well here we are for another weekly shot, this week I am shattered, been burning the candle at both end and in the middle too. It's prime wedding booking season and with enquiries and bookings coming daily it's a struggle to keep up with them all and spend quality time with two boys under two. Sorry boys I promise I will devote sometime to you soon. Honest. So the beard growth, well it's cultivating nicely. Not too itchy yet, but I'm sure that's just around the corner.

Shot set up. - 580exII laid on laptop keyboard firing straight at me, 128th power with stofen, behind my head is the 430 ez with aqua gel and home made diffuser, which will be used in in some later shots this month. All fired by cactus v4's and 40d. If I had a third strobe working then I would have used it to add some fill to the front of the laptop.

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