This was my first destination wedding located in the idyllic Duino along the Gulf of Trieste in Italy. I was flown out a couple of days before the wedding so I had a little time to take in the delights of small town Italy for the first time.  A beautiful location, food that awakened the senses and a visit to a vineyard to sample some fine wines whilst absorbing some local history was the perfect prelude to a glorious wedding.  The setting for Jackie and Mark’s intimate day was the Castello Di Duino referred to locally as the ‘Dama Bianca’ (White Lady) a beautiful castle perched on a cliff edge overlooking the Adriatic Sea (see below).

This was a challenging wedding because I struggled to get any shooting time with the bride and groom and as darkness quickly descended on Duino I literally had around five minutes alone with Jackie and Mark. Thank goodness for my trusted Brinkmann spotlight to add some much needed light which was guided by the hands of my dear friend Shani a guest at the wedding and my voluntary lighting assistant!  Most of the portraits of Jackie were taken much later in the night as things were winding down and the guests were letting loose on the dance floor!  However despite this I loved how it turned out.

It’s important for me to build relationships with my clients prior to their wedding as it makes it much easier to overcome any problems I might encounter during the day thus taking pressure of myself and more importantly the bride and groom.  It’s also important so that I don’t feel totally detached from the feeling and emotion of the day which is so important in the continual pursuit of great imagery.  Jackie and Mark are a wonderful couple and it really was like witnessing two good friends getting married.  I felt privileged to be there and thankful they chose me to shoot their most memorable day.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend, you deserve it!

P.s. The slideshow is rather long, I did intend to shorten it before I posted it here but as ever time has been scarce lately so you’ll have to make do with the full-length, full-bodied, undiluted version!

I’ve been bedridden for the past few days with the wretched man-flu (the worst kind of flu, believe me!) which has hindered my ability to do normal day-to-day tasks (not such a bad thing!) but allowed me the opportunity to catch up on some reading and amuse myself on youtube.  Anyway I thought I’d sneak in a quick post while I’m in recovery and couldn’t resist sharing with you this video from the finale of the X-Factor show I watched on Saturday.

Apart from the often hilarious auditions I’m not really a fan of the series but a few weeks ago whilst busy editing away in my office I was suddenly captivated by an amazing voice echoing through the house.  I found my way downstairs to the living room to find out the source of this diva-esque performance on television.  I recognised the song as that of Mariah Carey’s ‘Without You’ but the vocals were provided by Alexandra Burke who on saturday night was deservedly crowned winner of the 2008 X-Factor show ‘.

Alexandra originally auditioned for the X-Factor in 2005 but was sent home as one of the judges felt she was too young for the competition, fast-forward to 2008 and she was back more determined than ever and a force to be reckoned with.  Each of her performances in my opinion were in different league to the other contestants and in terms of raw talent and depth of ability she was a clear winner arriving into the final. 

And what a final!  Alexandra stunned the audience when she performed a duet with surprise guest on the show Beyonce and her final performance singing ‘Hallelujah’ (above) was the perfect climax to her amazing journey on the series.

So congratulations to Alexandra and to all the voters who made the right choice!  I hope that this is just the beginning for her and the X-Factor show a mere launch pad into superstar status, she deserves it!

I Shot this wedding in London the day before my trip to Paris in September.  I’ve known Natalie and Adrian for several years now and in that time have never known them to be anything other than inseparable.  It was a great to see such a young couple committing to each other and embarking on a lifelong journey together.  It was a beautiful day and I witnessed one of the best bestman speeches I’ve yet heard which had everyone in fits of laughter.  This was also the first wedding I had the opportunity to spend a considerable amount of time with the bride and her bridemaids in their hotel room suite prior to the ceremony and boy was I in my element! I had so many great images of Natalie I had a hard time choosing which ones to pick out!  I’d love all my brides to afford me so much time to shoot them!  I wish both Natalie and Adrian all the best!

I’ll be posting a slideshow from my first destination wedding I shot in Italy so don’t go too far!

So what took me to Milan? Well I’ve been a huge fan of Matthew Jordan Smith (MJS) for some years now ever since his first appearance on America’s Next top Model.  I had the pleasure of meeting him briefly at WPPI in Vegas this year after his excellent seminar and when he announced on his blog recently he was launching an exhibition at the Wave Gallery in Brescia, near Milan I couldn’t resist going to take a look.  It was a visual delight showcasing some of my favourite MJS imagery from his portfolio and well worth the visit.  It also had me reflecting on my own gallery appearance during the Next Level London workshop back in August and how great it made me feel seeing a piece of my work displayed.  I’m now seriously thinking about having my own exhibition someday, maybe at a gallery near you!

An hour drive and we made it to the beautful city of Milan under a blanket of evening fog.  We were fortunate to stay in the Duomo area in the centre of the city and apart from the nightmare parking, not helped by the fact we couldn’t speak or read italian, it was a great location.  We sampled the delights of Italian cuisine at the atmospheric  Al Treno Di Mezzanotte restaurant where I had my first Creme Boule! The next day we tried to cram as much as we could into what little time we had left in this city of style.  Although taking an open top tour bus around Milan in close to freezing temperatures probably wasn’t one of my best ideas, I’ve just about got feeling back in my fingers and toes!!  For a city that is a magnet for the fashion world we had the illusion that everyone was going to be super stylish and draped in high fashion designer labels in fact the reality was very different and the shopping experience ceratinly wasn’t anything to shout about.  Of course the best places to shop are the likes of Louis Vuitton, Prada, Armani stores all the places my euros would have left my pockets at an alarming rate! However the grandeur of the city, great architecture, some REAL italian pizza and the BEST hot chocolate I have ever tasted made up for the rather muted shopping experience and sealed off a this mini-adventure, Belissimo!

I know I’ve been neglecting you lately but it certainly hasn’t been by choice believe me! A lot’s been going on which has kept me away but I’ll try my very best to make it up to you all!  I’ve been computer-bound for the last few weeks and have finally managed to catch up with all the editing that I had stacked up so expect a posting frenzy over the next couple of weeks and a host of things I want to share with you. For now though I must neglect you for just a little longer as I’m off on a mini-adventure to Italy this weekend, a kind of spur of the moment thing and my last overseas visit for 2008 [violins playing].  I visited Italy for the first time time back in September to shoot the wedding of Jackie & Mark (pictured above); who would have though I’d be back there just two months later.  This time though I won’t be shooting a wedding, any portraits or attending another excellent workshop in fact what I’m doing there doesn’t even require me bringing my camera gear but it definately is photography related and definately is worth seeing, any guesses???  Anyway I will try my best to do some shutter clicking, I’ve been mouse clicking for what seems like an eternity and I need a break!

I fill you in when I get back, enjoy your weekend!