David's 50th Birthday Party

We were invited to David's 50th birthday party on Saturday night. It was a Masqurade Party and I was so impressed by the effort some people had made. There really were some amazing masks there and some of the images are below. Unfortunately we were not able to stay for too long as we had the Wedding Fair the next day. The party was held in London and we also had to make sure we were on the last train home to our home in Sussex. The atomsphere at the party was brilliant, the food was delicious (thanks to Barry) and it was great to be able to celebrate this special birthday with David. Well done Jason for bringing it all together...

Wedding Fair at The Felbridge Hotel and Spa, East Grinstead

We exhibited at a Wedding Fair at The Felbridge Hotel and Spa in East Grinstead at the weekend. We were there last year in March and it was extremely quiet so we weren't sure what to expect this year. On the morning of the Fair the sun was shining and that it always a good sign as it brings people out. It was definitely worthwhile being there and the hotel had made a lot more effort to bring people in, including a fashion show by a local bridal shop. We had some good enquiries which we will be following up on. These are some of the images from the day, including a selection of other exhibitors:

Pure View Photography stand

Tables set up for a wedding

Flowerbug Designs (Florists) stand

Wedding Gowns by Utopia Brides

Balloons and decorations by Balloonability

Rose's Beauty Room stand (bridal make up artist)

If you are getting married and would like to find out more about us please get in touch with Louise on 07595 044252 or email me at pureviewphoto.com. You can also visit our website to see more examples of our weddings: http://www.pureviewphoto.com/.

Felbridge Hotel Masked Ball, East Grinstead

We were the official photographers at a Masked Ball at the Felbridge Hotel & Spa on Saturday 28th February. This was a great event and very well attended. We took some "posed" photos in the reception area where everyone was having cocktails. Iain was shooting with the 5D MKII tethered and it worked really well. We had an event printer with us and were able to print on site. These are some of the images from the posed shots.

After the photographs had been taken evenone moved into the room where dinner was being served. During this period we processed the images in Lightroom and were therefore ready to start taking orders once dinner was finished.

This was also an opportunity to try out the 5D MKII and see what it is capable of. This is a shot that was taken by Iain at ISO 6400 f2.8 without flash. It is far from being perfect but I think it conveys the atmosphere of the room very well. The shot taken after this one was taken with the 5D using flash and gives a totally different result.

After dinner I walked around the room and took some shots at the tables. We didn't sell these on the night but they will be available to view on our online gallery from Monday onwards.

There were two different groups providing music for the evening. The first was from ‘Asteria’, an Electric Quartet who have just returned from their European Tour with ‘Take That’ and they were following by the live sounds of ‘The Blue Groove’. I thought they were both excellent and I am sure they were appreciated by the guests who attended the event.

Throughout the evening we were taking orders for prints and we delivered them towards the end of the evening. We left the event at around 1.00 a.m. and the dancing was still going strong. I think that Nigel Humphriss who promoted the event did a fantastic job and we hope to be able to work with him again in the future.

Wedding evening [blogged by Iain]

Louise mentioned last week that we would be attending a wedding evening hosted by Spires Hairdressing in East Grinstead. We went along on Monday evening and had the opportunity to meet with a few prospective brides and other suppliers in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere. Karen, the owner of the Salon, was demonstrating various styles on some of the prospective brides, while the rest of us were located around the salon and adjoining office space to talk about the services we could offer. Of course, we couldn't resist the opportunity to take some shots while we were there and I have posted a couple of these below.















The next bit is for those interested in the technology... the rest of you can stop reading now.

All images were shot on the Canon 5D Mk II with 24-70mm f2.8L IS USM. The first three shots were lit by flash - 580EX II with a Gary Fong Litesphere. The remaining images were shot at ISO 3200 under existing halogen & fluorescent lights.

The Black and White conversions were done in Lightroom 2.2 using Mikey G's B&W presets, which emulate a number of different Black and White film styles. The exterior shot emulates Ilford Delta 100, the interior shot emulates Ilford SFX 200 and the head shots emulate Ilford FP4 125 and Ilford Delta 400 Pro respectively. These are great presets and definitely worth having a play around with if you use Lightroom.

Engagement Shoot with Alistair & Venetia

Yesterday we did an engagement photo shoot with a gorgeous couple. They are getting married in South Africa in September so we won't be doing the wedding but it was such fun getting a chance to spend some time with them yesterday and we managed to get some great images from the day. Al is my cousin's son and I know she will be really keen to see some pictures from the day so I wanted to get them up on the Blog as soon as possible. They were telling us about some of their plans for the wedding in September and I know it is going to be a very special day for them. Here are some of my favourites from the day... all comments welcome.

Wedding Evening - Spires Hairdressing

I just wanted to let you know about a Wedding Event we will be attending on 23rd February at Spires Hairdressing in East Grinstead. One of our clients, who is a hairdresser, is putting on an evening for brides and some local suppliers will be there as well. Karen will be doing some examples of bridal hair and the suppliers will be on hand to discuss some of the other arrangements brides will need to think about. If you live in the area it is definitely worth visiting. Below are some more details supplied by Karen:

Getting Married?

Just let your mind wander for a moment………

Your hair has that wow factor!
Your flowers could grace a Royal wedding!
Your photographs capturing just the right smile!
Your guests children have a crèche for that peace of mind!
Your balloons have that look of ..what a reception!
and….
Your perfect honeymoon….the icing on the cake!

Come and see our ideas for your magical day in action over a glass of wine with complimentary admission at….
Spires Hairdressing Salon, 1 Church Lane, East Grinstead
On Monday 23rd February from 6.00pm – 9.00pm
(nearest free parking – Chequer Mead)

We have a collection of people including:

Blossoms(Florist)
Spires Hairdressing
Got it covered (Live band)
Balloonability (balloons for every occasion)
Pure View Photography (Photographers)
South East childcare (nanny service)
Siobhan Woods (beautician)
Louise Nye (for personalised honeymoons)

Family Photo Shoot

You may have seen my earlier post about Chloe's 18th Birthday Party. After the party we were asked to do a family photo shoot with all members of one branch of the family. As many of the people involved in the photo shoot are not available during the day it was scheduled to take place in the evening. This is always more challenging because you don't have natural light to work with, but we took along some of our professional lighting equipment. The family were such fun to work with and really got into the spirit of the shoot. We are still processing most of the images but just wanted to put a few up here in the meantime. All comments welcome...

If you are interested in having a family photo shoot, please get in touch with me by email or phone:

Email: louise@pureviewphoto.com
Phone: 07595 044252

Sweet Sixteen?

At the weekend our daughter, Faith, celebrated her 16th birthday. She had a party and we were asked (not really negotiable!) to stay out of the house for 3 hours. So we went out for a meal and left Max (who is almost 18) with the job of letting us know if we had to come back for any reason. We had a lovely relaxing evening but I must confess I did call Max a couple of times just to make sure everything was okay.

When we arrived back everything was as normal as a 16th birthday party could be. It looks like it was a good party and by around midnight most of the guests had gone, leaving just a few of Faith's friends who were staying for a sleepover. This is a picture I took before we went out and Faith is the one in the middle.

Competition [blogged by Iain]

The SWPP (Society of Wedding and Portrait Photographers) run a monthly competition across several different categories, awarding Gold, Silver and Bronze for the winning images. I have only entered twice and was really pleased to get a Silver in the Contemporary Wedding category in the January competition. This is the image which received that award:



This particular image was shot on Brighton beach on a chilly Friday afternoon, hence the lack of other people in the shot as well as the lovely blue sky.

The image was treated in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom to adjust the balance of exposure across the image and to create the panoramic crop. Other than that, it's almost exactly as I captured it.

Caroline & her horse

On Saturday morning I was up bright and early (for a Saturday morning!) to go and take some photographs of a friend of mine with her horse. This is a personal project for me and it was really great to get out and do something that is a bit different. It is a long time since I have been around horses and I think they are so beautiful and really quite majestic. It wasn't quite as cold as I had been hoping for and the skies were a bit grey but I think we still managed to get some good shots.

I have also been playing around with In Design and have put together a montage of some of the images just to see how it looks. If I was printing it I would only have one black thin line around the outside. The rest is really our branding for the web. I'm not sure how well you will be able to see this, so I have also included some individual images. An added bonus was that I got to see Alfie who is Caroline's incredibly cute baby.

Caroline stables her horse at Ray Lodge Farm and they also run a B&B. We took some photographs for their new website while we were there and we will do a blog about this in the near future. I met Sheila who runs the farm/B&B and she is really lovely. So if you need a B&B in the Lingfield area please bear her in mind. All comments are welcome...