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!

This was a very emotional wedding because for Delecia it was goodbye to loved ones and the familiar surroundings of the UK.  She would be heading to Canada with Dwayne directly from their honeymoon in Zanzibar and South Africa to open a new and exciting chapter in their lives and explore the wonders of married life together.  It’s a brave step but one we sometimes must take if we are to have the life we truly want and afford the possibilites of a brighter future.   I know she’ll be welcolmed by everyone and settle in in no time at all.  It was a beautiful wedding and I wish them both all the best!

It’s been a challenging last few weeks for me.  I’ve been buried in a mountain of paperwork since returning from Spain which has kept me away from the love in my life [photography] so forgive me if I’ve seemed distant as my ability to respond to emails, facebook and other lines of communication have been difficult.  I’m finally getting back into my normal rhythm and currently catching up on all the editing I should have finished already!  But I aim to please so I thought I’d kick things off with a selection of my favourite headshots from a shoot my friend Donna organised just a few days before I left for Korea back in july.  Donna provided all the models which included herself and along with her cousin Samantha did all the make-up too!  Me, well I just turned up and set about trying to capture all the beauty on display, easy job really!  Fiona who’s featured in the majority of images here brought so much energy to the shoot it was infectious.  It’s a shame she couldn’t make it to London for the Next Level workshop to model for us but expect to see her again here soon!

I’m Back! Since I last posted I’ve shot a wedding in Italy, spent a five days travelling around Andulucia in Spain shooting some truly spectacular Moorish architecture and spent a further five days in Seville (Spain) completing the final leg of my 2008 Next Level world tour!  It’s been a ride and also rather gruelling on the body but I’m not complaining because for the most part I’ve enjoyed every single minute of it! Having returned home I spent the first couple of days recovering and tryng to get back in the swing of things and now I’m trying to respond to a mountain of emails, get through what seems like an endless amount of editing and tackle everything else that’s been at a standstill since I left.  I’m so tempted to work on my images from Spain but I’m having to discipline myself as I have a list of clients waiting to see images from their big day.  So please bear with me while I attempt to catch up with everything and I’d like to say a HUGE thank you to my wonderful clients who have been so very patient! 

I was truly blessed to spend the afternoon with Alston and his lovely fiancee (now wife!) Marlene a few months ago to shoot their engagement session, they’ve already seen a previous version of this slideshow but I needed to finish off a few images before I could post it here.  Enjoy the rest of your week and have a great weekend! I have lots in store for you!

I’m alive! Forgive me for not posting in a while!  Things have been incredibly busy over the last few weeks and they’re about to get even busier!  I spent last week in Paris attending the Next Level Paris workshop and also assisting Scott Robert on a wedding in the beautiful French countryside.  In a few days I’m off to Italy to shoot a destination wedding and then straight on to Spain after for two weeks! Phew!!

My first Next Level workshop in Paris last year was a life changing experience which catapulted me into the wonderful yet challenging world of professional photography.  It’s was also a time when I decided to commit myself to an aggressive programme of learning in pursuit of excellence.  In fact it was the subject of my very first post here on my journal so if you’d like to see where it all began *click here*.  I feel I’ve come a long way in a year but at the same time know that there is still a long journey ahead of me.  It’s certainly been a ride thus far!

Returning to Paris then was like visiting my place of birth (in terms of photography of course!), instantly familiar and filled with so many great memories!  Next Level workshops always attracts great people and this one was no exception.  When we weren’t chasing models all over Paris with our cameras we had an awesome time hanging out discussing life and fortune tellers! (don’t ask!).  A huge thanks to Nina, Vanessa, and Janna who travelled all the way from the UK to model for us and to all those workshop attendees who doubled as our unofficial models.

Here’s a few of my favourite images from the Paris workshop and a slideshow I put together rather hastely.  Enjoy!

Slideshow!

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London was always going to be special, after visiting so many other wonderful places this year and felt so welcomed by everyone it was my turn, on familiar territory, to play host and tour guide for what turned out to be a unforgettable experience. 

We were only eight students strong but filled with enthusiasm and the love of photography I think this workshop produced the highest quality imagery I’ve yet seen.  Everyone felt confident enough taking a model to shoot with on their own and create something uniquely individual.  It’s a testament to Scott’s captivating and inspiring teaching methods.  London was for me a milestone because for the first time I felt like everything I have learnt this year by attending these workshops (lighting, posing, composition, technical know-how and everything else!) for the first time worked in harmony allowing me to be not just more creative but more productive too.  It’s a great feeling.

As ever there were so many highlights most obviously the gallery show on the final day (see previous post!) but who would have imagined staying up until 4am editing our images would be up there! Hanging out, sharing stories, memories and weird humour whilst under pressure to finish our images was indeed magical and just shows the great community of photographers that I am privileged to be part.  Other highlights?  Three visits  to the same Balti House to sample the delights of indian cuisine and to satisfy Arielle’s huge craving for it!  Being allowed the use of the most expensive prop ever in the shape of a £100,000 Lamborghini, in black! Oh! And Scott’s hilarious incident on the London Underground when he decided to get trapped between the train’s sliding doors and in the process delay the entire Northern Line! Priceless.

A huge thanks to Liz, Ama, Kelly, Vanessa and Fliss who all gave up there precious time to model for us.  They were fantastic but also great fun to hang out with.  Christina who ignited the idea of a Scott Robert workshop in London and Dave, without him so much would not have been possible.

So what’s next? Well tomorrow kicks of a two month photography frenzy with three weddings in as many weeks followed by visits to Paris, Italy & Spain in september!  I get tired (and hungry if I’m being honest) just thinking about it.  But I won’t complain because simply put, I can’t wait!

Take care.

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