Oldie but goodie.

Trawling through some of my older photos looking to refresh the gallery on my main website (got loads of new material to put on there this year) I found this shot tucked away in a folder - it was from a relatively small wedding a few years back - the great thing about it was the Bride & Groom and all their friends were really into the whole `Mod` scene circa late 1950s/early 1960s, and the wedding was fashioned to resemble how a wedding (they assumed) would of been during those times. They dressed in incredibly authentic clothes, they all had Lambretta or Vespa scooters (the Mods transportation of choice) and the reception was held in a very old style village hall in deepest darkest Essex, even the DJ used old style record players using genuine 1960s vinyl.. A great experience - in the shot here you can see how fantastic they all looked - I even went to the effort of researching how black & white photos looked at the time and emulated it so the photos had a real vintage look and feel to them.. Super cool people.

Busy busy busy!

So the wedding season is in full swing and I am now shooting weddings every Saturday up until the Wedding show at Birmingham NEC in October (then busy for the next month after that), coupled in with the remaining pre-wedding venue visits I have yet to sort out, organising the exhibition stuff, designing our new 2010 brouchure (more on that soon), going through the photos from each wedding and designing the albums, thank you cards and making sure everything gets sent out to the right people I am certainly going to be putting in some long days and nights over the next few months. Luckily I have my family & friends behind me 100% and my ever suffering other half Angela (who some of you would of met if you booked us at the wedding shows) who rarely sees me these days as I am always in front of this damn computer or out shooting weddings or even meeting new/potential clients. Still, everything so far this year has gone swimmingly and the bookings are up for next year, and even a few in 2011! incredible!

So, onwards and upwards! The shot below is from the week

end, Anna (Swedish) & Craig (British) who both live in Germany, so it was a real melting

pot of cultures & nationalities AND the first weekend in ages it hasn't poured down. MAGIC!

The wedding was at Coombe Abbey near Coventry.

Prime or Zoom?

Hola y bienvenido a todos!

OK, just a quick update today - I am currently going through my most recent wedding (Josephine & Bobby, Tamworth Castle) and I have realised that I am now using my prime lenses far more often that my zooms. Whoa! I hear you cry (the non-geeky non-photo type amongst you that is), whats the difference between the two? Well a zoom lens is possibly the most popular type amongst most photographers, it has a variable focal length, basically THAT means that you can zoom in and out, its more pratical and can act as many lenses in one. Now a Prime Lens on the other hand only has one focal length, basically if you want to get closer or further from your subject then you have to zoom in with your feet. But surely thats inconvinient?! (thats you asking again, my hard rocking amigos), Ummm, a little bit but I feel the benefits of a prime lens are a huge benefit in comparison, the image quality is far superior - crisper, sharper images with plenty of contrast and colour saturation, they also weigh less (in most cases) - AND they are also generally faster than zoom lenses in the similar focal lengths, and faster means they let in more light allowing me to shoot in dimly lit areas (like churches for example).

I also feel they force me to be more discplined as a photographer, which can only be a good thing I guess. I guess one problem is I do have to carry around a number of them for most situations, but thats why I have an assistant!

Until next time. Adios y verle pronto!

Meet the Eyecandy team!

I am going to take a few minutes out here just to introduce you to `mi amigos` who help make Eyecandy the smoothly sailing ship that it is. If you are having Eyecandy shoot your wedding then in all likelyhood you will get to meet one of these two fine photographers.

First up is the enigmatic John.

John has been with Eyecandy pretty much since the beginning - I met him when he assisted me when I worked for another photographer a few years back and instantly admired his workrate and his rather impressive equipment (!). John is also a keen photographer in his spare time and also speaks Cantonese. The photos he produces at weddings are always of a consistantly high standard and he is not a `m

achine gunner`, meaning he doesn`t fire off 20 shots in quick succession hoping that at least one will look good - which makes my life so much easier when it comes to the post-processing stage of a wedding project. John is currently well on his way to his LBIPP accreditation

and hopefully we will be putting him forward for it within the next 12 months.

Next is Kevin.

Kevin is a Licenciate of the British Institute of Professional Photography. He also has his own portraiture and wedding photography business but likes to work with me so he can see how the real professionals work. All joking aside though Kevin is fantastic at portraiture both on location and the work he does in his studio. He has a

amazing understanding of lighting methods and working locations into his photos. He also recently became a Daddy! I met Kevin through a photography competition website we both frequent and was impressed at the wedding work he was showing off so contacted him and asked if he would like to assist me from time to time at some of my weddings. Its nice to have someone on board who also has their own photography business as it allows us to bounce ideas off one another and also refer prospective clients to each other if we are already busy.

I'll also just use this opportunity to thank them for their incredibly hard work and comradeship! Muchos Gracias mi amigos!

And in stark contrast...

..to the rotten weather for Charl & Robs wedding, the following day was absolutely glorious and so we headed east across the Tamar bridge into Devon to meet another couple who are getting married later this year for their pre-wedding photoshoot. This involved a trip down to the beach to grab some shots - it was marvellous weather, so much so I donned my specially embroidered Eyecandy speedos to frolic in the surf with Kevin (assistant) and grab some lovely shots of Helen & Alex - I just wish the weather had been like this the previous day. Now whilst my camera is pretty much sealed against the elements (water, sand etc) I actually ended up with quite a thick coating of salt on the front element of my lenses resulting in a rather pleasing soft focus effect - however its probably not very good for the glass so had to make sure they were properly cleaned when I got home. Therather uneventful journey home took us around four and a half hours - not bad considering my satnav took us on a magical mystery tour of the Devonshire countryside.

Attached a few shots from the beach.

Helen & Alex - July 2009

Rain rain go away...

Yeuck! What grotty weather for the wedding in Cornwall for Charlene & Rob - it rained non-stop all day - horrendous weather from nine in the morning until the time we left at eleven at night. I guess that is the one thing no amount of planning can change - we are literally at the mercy of the elements and it doesn`t matter at what time of year one plans to get married, there is always a chance that the heavens will open and it will tip down. However as always we rose to the challenge and shot pretty much the entire day indoors - not always the best option but you do have two options available to you.

1. Shoot using the available natural light - this always looks better (in my everso humble

opinion) as it gives a shot depth and texture, the only downside is that one has to crank up the sensitivity of the cameras sensor (also known as ISO or for you people who have used film, ASA - similar to using a fast film in days of yore) one of the side effects of this is that it can introduce a lot of `noise` to the image at the higher sensitivites which whilst the average viewer would never notice, us pixel peepers who view the images at 100% on wide gamut super resolution monitors will always shake our heads in dismay. This can be cleaned up to a certain degree in photoshop afterwards but can somtimes give plasticy skin textures if not controlled correctly.

2. Use flash - not my favourite option is natural light is available - and when I do use it I would generally try to bounce the light off the ceiling or a wall, which is OK as long as the walls/ceilings are relatively close and quite reflective (white walls are great, dark walls are not). I

guess we could use direct flash but that can make shots rather snapshotty. There are other techniques available such as shutter dragging, but I wont bore you with the details here.

We did get a few quirky umbrella shots though!

Oh well, I guess thats what my customers pay me good money for... Until next time.

Adiós a todos!

Charlene & Rob - July 2009

Off to Cornwall we go!

A wedding in Cornwall this weekend so my assistant Kevin & I hop in the old jalopy and head west. Weather report for the weekend is rather poor but we will scout out the venue and find some wet weather areas `just in case`. After two hundred and twenty (or so) miles of motorway down to Exeter we decided to take the scenic route through the moors for some photos and lunch. After stopping off at `The Warren House Inn` in the middle of Dartmoor we found a herd (or sometimes known as a mob, band or harem) of feral Dartmoor Ponies. Unbelievably we managed to get very close to them and get some great shots - one of my favourite is displayed here. Unfortunately we didn't have as much time as we would of liked so had to cut our expedition short and headed across the moors to the Saltash Travelodge... Nice. ( I did get time to grab a shot of the ST as it sat majestically on the moors though!)

A few shots from the weekend.

Had a great shoot this weekend - the wedding was at Salomons in Kent - again we had beautiful weather, beautiful bride and a beautiful venue - all the ingredients for some great photographs. It also gave me a chance to try out my new 50mm f1.4 lens - I love shooting with primes and between that and my 85mm f1.8 I rarely break out the zoom lenses these days except for the ceremony and wide angles. For those reading who are not aware what a `prime lens` is, it is basically a fixed focal length lens, so you cannot zoom in and out (unless you move backwards an forwards) the benefits of these lens are generally faster (able to shoot in lower light) incredibly sharp and contrasty images and you have to think on your feet a bit more when it comes to image composition - and you thought all we had to do was press the button all day. Just a couple of shots from the day.

Rosie & Rob - Kent - July 2009

Bride in the bluebells.

Just thought I would share this image with you, I really love this shot from a wedding back in May - the bluebells looked fantastic and we was really lucky with the weather - everything just came together perfectly.

Serena & Konrad - May 09 - Hertfordshire

My other passion..

...besides wedding photography is nature photography - some of you are probably already aware that I have an extensive portfolio of natural history photographs and this is something I have REALLY missed over the past seven or eight months whilst working tirelessly on building my business. I can`t wait until Autumn when I can get up at 04:30 and head off to Richmond Park or Epping Forest in temperatures barely over the freezing mark.

However as luck would have it I have actually got a wedding in Richmond Park this Autumn which is going to be absolutely amazing, and the couple (Shoma & Simon) are looking to have a pre-wedding

or post-wedding shoot in the early morning when the park is at its most magical. I am hoping the mist and the weather will be favourable so I can pull off some more shots like these. Fingers crossed!

One of the best things about this job....

....is the fact I get to travel to and see some amazing, and in some cases quite unique, wedding Venues. Possibly the quirkiest of these so far this year would be back in March when I shot a wedding for Victoria & Kan aboard Isambard Kingdom Brunels SS Great Britain in Bristol. (see pic)

I also have weddings in Cornwall, Devon, Birmingham, Tamworth, Coventry, Kent, Stratford-upon-Avon, Berkshire, Herts and even Essex. I will certainly be putting a few miles on the "ST" this year. I ALMOST got to go up in a helicopter at one of my weddings in Cornwall but due to rather horrible weather it was not to be. Still, all being well there may be a hotair balloon trip in August, lets hope Mother Nature is a bit kinder this time.

Still, each of the venues has its own unique character, something I try to capture in the photographs - I mean, aside from the Bride & Groom, the venue is one of the major protagonists of the day! It certainly deserves a place in your album.

Dear diary...

So here we are, the first entry in my new blog. After toying with the idea for a while and continuously reading in my SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) guide that the best way to get my page ranking up in the search engines is to keep my content fresh - and they suggest the best way is with a blog, journal or as us old fashioned girls like to call them - a diary. I doubt I will get many subscribers but hey! who knows, maybe some of my friends, family & clients will pop in from time to time to make sure I am still creating fabbo wedding images and having loads of fun at the same time. Or maybe just my Mum, to make sure I am eating OK and not `overdoing things`.

I will certainly be posting images from the weddings I shoot and also some of my natural history photographs - new material and old - and maybe a few tidbits about upcoming projects on the horizon.

I will keep it all as informal as I (professionally) can and will be more than happy to answer any technical questions regarding any of the photographs and techniques I used to achieve them, both in-camera techniques and also how I work my photoshop mojo!

Anyway, I think thats enough to get me started - if you read this be sure to leave a comment letting me know how you found the diary and if you think its a good idea.

Adios amigos! (more about my attempts at learning Espanol over the next few months)

Mark