Model Shoot [Blogged by Iain]

We had a great shoot with a couple of volunteer models yesterday. This was an opportunity to practice without pressure. We were able to play around with different camera and lens settings. These were all shot in the back garden and the woods immediately behind the house. Louise normally handles most of the environmental portraiture, so this gave me a chance to pratice my posing and directing, giving Louise the chance to be my assistant. I would like to thank the girls for their patience and willingness to try anything we threw at them.

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...

Hallmark Travel Event in West Sussex

We spent Saturday at the Hallmark Travel Extravaganza in East Grinstead. It was held at East Court in East Grinstead and we know the location well as we photographed a wedding there in September. It was an extremely busy day for us as the event started at 10.00 and finsihed at 5.00 p.m. Throughout the day there were presentations by the various tour operators as well as activities going on in the hall, including local Indian restaurant Nizam. In some ways it was similar to a wedding fair where there are busy periods and then really quiet times. However, overall I thought the response was pretty good for a very cold January day. The Mayor opened the event and we took some photos, but as these may appear in the local press I won't put them up here yet. I thought Charmaine from Hallmark Travel had organised this event really well and everything seemed very smooth and professional. Sadly, we were not in a position to book a holiday ourselves but if you are thinking about your plans for 2009/2010 I would highly recommend getting in touch with Hallmark Travel. Hallmark Travel chose the British Heart Foundation as their charity for the event and made a donation to them for each person who registered for the event.

Here are some of our favourites from the day... all comments welcome. If you were one of the tour operators at the event, the event gallery will be online soon and Charmaine will be in touch to let you know the details.

Family Photo Shoot

On Wednesday evening we went round to do a family photo shoot for Nadine at her parents home. They have a photograph of the children on the wall that was taken when they were all very small and she thought it was probably about time it was updated. Everyone was quite nervous to begin with but after a little while they really got into it and it was great fun - for us at least! I love doing photo shoots at someone's house, rather than a studio, because they are just so much more relaxed and natural.

These are some of my favourites from the day. We will be editing out some of the backgrounds before they go up on our online gallery, but I wanted to post these here before we go off to Scotland for our Christmas break.

BNI Christmas Party

We attended the BNI Christmas party last weekend and took along the camera (of course). It was really nice to attend this event because as self-employed business people we would probably not have had a Christmas do otherwise. It was a really nice dinner held at Sweetwoods Golf Course. Some of the other members went along earlier in the day and also played a round of golf, but we passed on that as neither of us play golf. It was a great opportunity to get to know some of the people we see on a weekly basis on a more personal level and big thanks to Nadine for all her efforts in sorting it out.

A very cute 2 year old

This week we went down to Brighton to do a portrait session with a very cute 2 year old (and her Mum & Dad). It seems that most of the babies & toddlers I have shot recently have all had a runny nose - and this one was no exception. I also found out that asking her to lie down was not a good idea because she thought she was going to bed. I will remember that for our next session! However, inbetween wiping her nose and a few tears we managing to get some great images. I've also included a few of her Mum & Dad as they were a big part of the day.

Arsinah & Michael's Engagement

On the same day that I was doing the family photo shoot Iain went to Brighton to cover an Engagement shoot for Arsinah & Michael. I met them both earlier in the month and went down to Brighton to look round locations with them. They are a really fun couple and this clearly comes through in these images. I so love the colour of her dress and I'm sure you'll agree that she looked stunning. All comments welcomed.

Jo & Nick have fun in the rain

Back in July we were booked by a really lovely couple to cover their "surprise" wedding in September. We went out for an e-session on a very wet & rainy Sunday in August. They had asked what plan B was if it rained and to be honest we didn't really have one so off we went and had a great shoot in the rain. They were great fun and really made the most of the day. And right at the end of the day a little bit of sun shone through the clouds and we managed to get picture no. 3 which is their favourite.