Is this where things change?

Lvone and Mendisi...

          When I first arrived at the house I couldn't tell who was the bride I approached the mother of the bride and told her congratulations, she replied with 'thank you, Lvone is upstairs getting ready you can go see her'. To my surprise, that was in fact, the bride.

Where can I start with this wedding, well, that's quite obvious, the bride. The lovely Lvone, bossy yet polite, my favourite type of bride she knew what she wanted and what time she was doing it. Now, the reason I became a photographer is because they are one of few people that women listen to without hesitation. The bride and I gelled instantly I arrived at her mother house the morning of her wedding. She was excited, nervous, on edge, happy, thrilled and agitated. The morning of your wedding you will feel more emotions than you ever knew you had. 

       Lvone had the most polite and beautiful family and bridal crew, they were all helpful and everyone pulled together to make the day run smoothly. They were all up and ready on time, before the bride as I like them to be. the bride didn't let anyone but the father saw the dress before she put it on so it was a surprise to the whole bridal crew, flower girl, and mother of the bride. We set up a shot to capture the expression of them when they first see the bride is all her glory. 

      The whole day was beautifully planned, they bride and groom decided to get married in the same place her mother and father got married just over 20 years ago. The attention to detail was really impressive they ever got the wedding rings from the 'Forever' range the same as the bride's parents. It was an emotional first half of the day and there were a lot of memories from the bride parent giving away their daughter the same place they also got married. It didn't stop a few happy tears being shed on both sides of the family.

      We had great fun shooting all the guest and bridal party, everyone knew everyone and got on very well with each other. The families were very welcoming to each other and it was like one big family. The Reception was small and intimate which was a first for me because usually I'd have 300-400 people to contend with but there were not more than 150 people at this one, I had plenty of time to get the shots I wanted to get and move on, my brain was in full creative gear. The speeches were a true reflection of just how well the families got on and even gave the mother of the bride a nickname. The location of the reception was perfect it had multiple locations I could use with the couple in order to get them the best shot together having a private moment alone to take in what was actually happening. 

    It was immensely clear the love that they had for each other and they really appreciate what I did and what they were going to get out of it at the end of the day. I Love this type of couple I couldn't ask for anything more from a client and am sure that we will become lifelong friends. I honestly wish them the very best and a happy and healthy life together. 

The Challenges of the day

    Now, when things are this perfect it doesn't mean I didn't have challenges. I'll give a few examples of things that went wrong but I made the best out of my situation. 

     At the house, I was taking shot inside and outside and changing my setting back and forward certain a challenge as I would forget to change things back, and I overexposed some of the outside shots which I correct the best of my ability and the cameras capability. Their shots aren't technically correct but I'm sure the bride will appreciate the moments I caught. 

I forgot to do the ring shot at the groom's hotel and I didn't know if I would have had time at throughout the day, but I had a 10-minute window at the reception where I asked Lvone and Mendisi for the ring to quickly get the shots at the venue. They turned out great as you will see in the slide show I will put up very soon so stay tuned for the update.

the only other thing that went wrong was I dropped my flash with my wireless triggers and then they didn't seem to work. To overcome that I had to move on calmly and think on my feet.  I had to use the slave mode on the camera with my flash and use my on-camera flash to trigger the off camera flash the result were outstanding still. I captured the love and intimacy between the couple with a beautiful sunset sky in the background.

  This is a new direction for me. This was the wedding that I realised that all my hard work was starting to pay off. This was what spark that warm fuzzy feeling you get when you accomplish something.  

Continuous lights have a place in Photography...

Recently I was looking at new lighting techniques and only really use my rotolight for stationary subjects, aka rings and shoes and jewellery to give it that extra sparkle. Recently  learnt that in dimly lit halls my rotolight was perfect to balance ambient with the couple to make them stand out from the background but also let in the beauty of the hall. 

I was worried about getting motion blur but given that the rotolight in the most very dark situation is very bright I could have a fast enough shutter speed to capture every moment. the other benefits can control the power output and the white balance to really show off the background colours but get correct colour on my subject. 

 Another benefit is that it is quick and easy to get the lighting just how you want it in second without the need to take a photo to get the shadows where you want them you can automatically see where they are. 

 In conclusion, continuous couldnt replace flash not in the near future at least anyway, but it has a place and for me and the way i shoot its here to stay

Prince & Princess' Wedding highlights

Well, this day was just pure magic and bliss, the day ran smoothly the bride was ready on time and everything was going perfectly. The couple wasn't the youngest but they could compete with any wedding couple out there getting married. The Day started in the hotel room where the bride was ready before the bridesmaids, the maid of honor deserved to get paid the amount of effort she did and all with a smile on her face on such a joyful occasion. 

 The groom was at the church from 12 and the bride came naturally late to the church. I got to the church and he looked so nervous now from being so confident in the preparation. he was restless. the bride walked down the aisle and they got married together. 

When I got the reception I knew it was a great hall but I had no idea with Prince and Princess' vision it honestly looked astonishing and I couldn't even believe my luck that I got to photograph in such a venue. Such a venue does have some challenges, for example, showing the blue ambience without it casting over the subject and making them blue, which was a challenge I took head on and with a little thought and experimental colour balancing, i got solved the problem and got to a point where i was happy with the balance.

Even though the day went so smoothly there was still challenges I faced, for example, locations for the bride and groom in the hotel room for, the room they used were lovely and quite spacious but they wasn't photogenic room, i had to minimise the amount of hotel room I showed and use what I was given with creative effect. Also, the church went on longer than scheduled to, so I literally had 10 minutes to take the bridal train photos. 

i recently covered a 50th birthday, and wow...

I recently covered the 50th birthday, and wow, this was a special one. The celebrant was a hero is some of her guest's eyes. she had three master degrees, she is a mother, a wife and a friend to everyone. she was one of the kindest, most helpful person I've met. I didn't know her that well but every time a guest spoke about her I knew they was not lying. it was an emotional birthday at times and I'm proud to say I covered this event. people came from all corners of the earth to be for her birthday because of something that she had done for them in the past or present, and no doubt the future. she came all the way from america to celebrate her birthday because most of her friends and family were over here which shows her thoughtfulness. It was a joyful event and i personally had alot of fun photographing this event.  

Saal-digital photobooks... are they good enough?

I was on Facebook and I saw an ad for saal-digital photo book and the chance to get a photo book, so because I'm always looking to improve for my customers especially the final product I couldn't miss this opportunity. 

I went onto their site and starting browsing through the selection to see what I could get and what would be the best choice. I decided to go for the smaller photo book for like a coffee table size kind of thing. It wasn't long before the album had arrived at my house and I couldn't wait for to open it up and have a look. I wasn't expecting much if I'm honest but I can happily say I was pleasantly surprised. I would like to also note that I also ordered a few leather cover samples at the same time.

So to begin my first impression of the photobook, it felt very nice, I could tell it was a high-quality leather they used to cover the book it feels terrific. I got the sapphire black leather for my cover and it's beautiful. There were multiple options to print on the spine of the book. It really does feel durable and excellently made. I printed my company name on the front of the book and I wanted in the bottom right of the book and in the free software they let you download it didn't say that the leather would wrap around and it has look the longer letters such as the 'g' 'p' and 'y' and they have come off the front of the book. 

Now, opening the book it just gets better, the images are perfectly printed on the pages with clean and sharp edges to the images, the pictures are all crisp and punchy too just how I edited them. the actually printing quality is amazing, the whites are whites and the blacks are black. I can't fault the printing what so ever you won't be disappointed I promise you. 

I believe the paper I chose was 300gsm paper, its is also what makes the book feel like a high-end product without the high-end cost. it almost is as thick as card and gives it that customers the impressive no expense were spared on the album. 

I would highly recommend this company to anyone needing prints or albums they are a very good company and I will be using their service in the future. my overall score for the album I receive would be 9/10.