Julie and Craig's Keavil House wedding

If you are visiting my blog for the first time can I quickly point out that if you click on any of the photo spreads it will open up a larger gallery style viewer where you can scroll through and see all the pictures at a much better size. This is not only a busy time for weddings right now but also for future brides and grooms searching for their wedding photographer and I’m a great believer in the adage that a photographers work should speak for itself.

Before telling you a little about Julie and Craig’s wedding at Keavil House Hotel let me quickly bring you up to date with some of my latest news. As mentioned above we are now in the heart of the wedding season which is great as I love weddings and I can’t get enough of them! I’ve also had several Engagement shoots as well with couples whose weddings I’ll be photographing later in the summer. I’ve taken three of the couples up Calton Hill within the last few days which is a superb location for engagement shoots including shots with Edinburgh Castle and the famous Edinburgh skyline as a dramatic backdrop. I’ll try and blog one them for next week so you can see what I mean.

I’ve also been squeezing in a few commercial shoots for the likes of OK Magazine, Shieldhill Castle, Oxenfoord Castle and Malmaison Hotel. Again I will no doubt blog some of these in the near future. My Make-up artist has been on the road promoting my Million Dollar Make-over photo experience package that I told you about a few weeks ago, so we are off to a good start with that. I am also about to pioneer a brand new, exciting idea in the weddings arena which I am really looking forward to, but more details about that in due course.

Okay now for Julie and Craig’s wedding. As you may know, for many decades wedding photographers in Edinburgh have had a morbid fear of crossing over into the Kingdom of Fife to photograph weddings. This all stems back to the early days of photography when of course the only way to cross from Edinburgh to Fife was via a small ferry that operated from South Queensferry long before the arrival of the Forth Bridge. Due to the infamous Firth of Forth mist, known as Haar, photographers found that by the time they had reached the opposite shore their equipment was so damp and wet it would not perform adequately and in many cases it would not work at all! Thus a strong dislike of crossing over to Fife grew amongst the early photographers which subsequently developed into superstition that has continued down to this day. Personally I have always loved the prospect of working in Fife as one of my first ever magazine shoots was over in the East Neuk of Fife and it proved such a hit that it lead to several more successful and profitable commissions. So when Julie and Craig booked me for their wedding in Fife’s Keavil House Hotel I was delighted!

I have of course photographed weddings at many beautiful venues throughout Fife but this was my first time at Keavil House. I was looking forward to it very much as it is always exciting when working at a new venue for the first time. A few weeks previously I had come through for my pre-wedding recce and earmarked many locations in their lovely gardens that I would use for group shots and the bride and groom session. However as it rained on the day itself we didn’t get opportunity to use any of these so I had to utilise my back up plan.

When I arrived about an hour before the ceremony it was a very light drizzle. Craig and his bestman didn’t mind popping outside for a quick couple of shots and then I took them both together with Craig’s usher into the main suite for a couple pre-wedding photographs before heading back along to the entrance for the arrival of mother and bridesmaids and then bride and father.

The three bridesmaids and Julie’s mum arrived soon thereafter and I had opportunity to photograph them outside the suite as the rain was currently holding off. By the time Julie arrived things had changed and it was chucking it down! I ran out to grab a photograph of the wedding car as it rolled serenely up to the hotel entrance and I also paused Julie and her father in the back for a second for a photo, too. Brolleys were at the ready to get Julie into the suite without getting too wet and when ready I did a more formal style photograph of her with her father just before we headed in and down the aisle.

The ceremony as usual seemed to fly by with plenty of humour and personal story in the Humanist service. Lots of natural photographs of all the key moments as usual and likewise with the signing of the register. As the photographer I’m usually granted permission to set up a couple of posed shots of the register signing which is nice to do as the couple get all the photographs from the day on their DVD so it’s good to have a great variety. Once I had taken the shots I wanted I ran around to the rear and grabbed the shot you see in spread five of all the guests getting their group/register photograph. I really like this image as it is such a happy moment for the couple and guests alike and captures the atmosphere of the event perfectly.

The family group photographs we did inside as it was still raining and following these we did likewise with the bride and groom shots. As I’ve mentioned on previous blogs I always use my portable studio lights for wet days so even if confined indoors for the entire day we still get superb, striking photographs from our bride and groom session.

The speeches were before the wedding breakfast which we of course photographed as usual and then following the meal I just worked unobtrusively around the periphery of things looking for photographs that captured the mood, fun and excitement that is an integral part of the wedding reception. We then concluded the photography coverage with the cutting of the cake ceremony and then first dance. All in all another fantastic wedding and a happy Edinburgh wedding photographer who manages to return home successfully from Fife ;)

Prize Engagement shoot at Melville Castle

During the month of May Edinburgh Brides Wedding Guide ran a competition for a free Engagement Photo Shoot with Philip Hawkins Photography. It proved to be very popular attracting thousands of entries (err, well, hundreds anyway! lol) and at the end of the month the winner was drawn from the hat and it was won by Pauline Fairweather and her fiance Paul. Melville Castle hotel had very kindly offered to host the shoot and so on the 10th June I arrived in good time to be handed the keys to the castle from the caretaker. As you probably are aware from previous blogs Melville Castle is now back open as an exclusive venue for weddings and events so if you are currently planning a wedding or other important occasion or event and looking for a stunning venue give them a call and they will be happy to show you round and discuss your requirements. Having photographed more weddings at Melville Castle than any other Edinburgh wedding photographer I am of course familiar with all the nooks and crannies and best locations for photographs. The weather on this Sunday afternoon was not the best in the world so I did most of the photography inside the castle. The Ante room adjacent to the large Ballroom has always been a favourite of mine so I started in there positioning Pauline and Paul in the huge ornate window. This is a lovely position as it allows me to first of all take a wide angle shot showing off the whole window with its gorgeous golden drapes (that’s posh for curtains! lol) and then to move in for some close ups. I was using mobile studio lights which I adore as they are so versatile and allow for great creativity. I approach Engagement shoots in a very similar way to a bride and groom session on the wedding day. I don’t go in for over posing but instead like to produce natural, relaxed photographs where the couple look comfortable, natural and stylish. The use of lighting, as with any kind of photography, is key. I like to make the most of the ambient light but also to balance it with the studio lighting as well. When you get this combination right it really can produce very striking images. Take a look at a couple of examples (don't forget you can click any image to open up a larger gallery style viewer for seeing the photo spreads better)... In the two full length shots (shown in spreads two and four) taken at the top of the staircase there is a huge window on the left hand side giving sufficient natural light for some very nice portraits. But see how the addition of a studio light on to the opposite side transforms the shot and gives it more impact. Firstly, it helps balance the light falling onto the faces but also see how I’ve managed to throw a shadow of the pillar onto the back wall behind the couple to give a dramatic backdrop to the image. Try and imagine the shot without the shadow of the pillar and you can see how whilst it would still look quite pleasant it has no where near the same impact. If you look at the head and shoulders photograph in spread three which is taken from exactly the same position, you can see how the lighting has been manipulated once again to give the shot some bite. There is still natural light coming in from the left hand window but the studio lighting has been moved in closer and at approximately 45% degrees to Paul and Pauline. With this set up the lighting can be used to sculpt the faces which has the affect of enhancing the texture, slimming and adding in some shine hence ensuring the couple look flattering, attractive and fashionable. You can see the same effect in the last photograph which is the one Pauline and Paul have selected from their shoot to go into their wedding signature mount. On all Engagement shoots I do a variety of poses, styles and photographs and the couple then choose their favourite which I have printed and mounted into the extra wide wedding mount which goes on display on the wedding day and all the guests can sign and leave messages around the edge. They can of course choose to purchase any of the other photographs as prints, canvases or even have the entire collection made up into an Engagement Book album. Pauline and Paul’s Engagement shoot lasted around 40 minutes, which is fairly typical, and we had a thoroughly enjoyable time ending up with just under thirty different photographs. As I am already booked for a wedding on their date I will not be able to photograph their wedding but it was a pleasure to do their Edinburgh Brides Wedding Guide Prize shoot and I wish them all the very best on their wedding plans. I am sure they will have a fantastic day! If you are a couple looking for a wedding photographer in Edinburgh or anywhere in Scotland and are interested in an Engagement Shoot please get in touch. If you are a couple looking for a wedding photographer but not interested in an Engagement shoot then please get in touch too! lol

Amy and Andy's Highland wedding

What a busy time it is just now! Apologies for no blog post last week but I have had photo shoots and assignments booked for everyday and most evenings, too, so blogging is running late. It’s great to be so busy doing what you love! As promised the photos this week follow on from last weeks blog and are from Amy and Andy’s unique and very special wedding. As usual you can click on any of the photo spreads which will open all the images up into a gallery style viewer for seeing the pictures better. As a wedding photographer in Edinburgh I’m ideally placed for travelling all over Scotland and even down into England if the price is right ;) So it was a delight to drive up into the Highlands to photograph Amy and Andy’s wedding, especially as I was the only one to be invited! Andy and Amy are from Cheshire and decided to have a very unique and romantic wedding with just the two of them. So they booked the Torridon Hotel in a far flung corner of the north west Highlands and didn’t tell a single person! Well, apart from me and a couple of the hotel staff, lol. As mentioned last week Amy did her research for a wedding photographer online. This is a very good way to separate the wheat from the chaff if you know what to look for and how to discern high quality photography. Most photographers will have a portfolio of wedding images on their website, and if they don’t well that tells you something about them right from the get-go. Comparing the photographs of the different photographers helps you to see which of three general categories they fall into - poor, reasonable and then the very best who are the regular award winners. Close scrutiny is vitally important if you are going to do this as you will find that by and large well over half will fall into the poor category. That is not my own opinion by the way, I’m sure you’ve read the press reports in the last few weeks of the disappointed newly weds in the process of suing their wedding photographers and also you may have read the account of a leading photography magazine who’s editor went incognito in to some of the countries largest and most popular weddings fairs and reported how he wouldn't have booked any of the photographers there - scary stuff! On looking through my wedding gallery Amy fell in love with my photography and following a phone call booked me straight away. I am happy to report she’s even more in love with my photography after seeing her own wedding photographs! One of the questions with a wedding where there will only be the bride and groom is where will they get two witnesses from? A couple of weddings like this that I’ve photographed in the past I’ve been called upon myself to do the honours, but today the Torridon Hotel provided two staff members of their staff. I started with the some photos up in the suite as Amy had her hair and make-up finished off and then we were down for the ceremony at 1pm. The local registrar had come up from Shieldag not too far from the famous Eilean Donan castle and conducted a lovely ceremony which was nice and relaxed yet dignified, too. There were a few laughs included and also some happy tears. After the ceremony the three of us simply went for a walk around the hotels gardens and grounds. I wanted a mix of shots not only capturing the occasion and romance but also the magnificent Highland setting. The weather was absolutely glorious as you can see! We finished off back at the hotel with a first wedding dance in the Torridon Library. Amazingly despite being a beautiful sunny Saturday we didn’t see another sole and had the entire hotel to ourselves.