Isha & Hiten Day Four

On to the wedding itself today, and what a day. I started at 7am and eventually finished shooting dancing pictures close to 12.30am on Sunday! Very exhausting day but much fun. Lots of great colour and spectacle around. We started with getting ready shots at One Devonshire Gardens, a beautiful hotel in the West End, before heading into the city centre for some shots (and a parking ticket grrrr) before heading to the wedding venue - the amazing Oran Mor.

These are just a snippet of the many images taken on the day.

Getting ready.....

Ceremony....

Playtime!......

First Dance....

Isha & Hiten Day Three

Friday's events were at the lovely One Up venue in Royal Exchange Square. It began with the Grah Shanti ceremony.

Then in the evening it was time for the Sangeet party. Much music and dancing. Man did this group know how to celebrate. The place was bouncing all night! Awesome atmosphere!

Oh and 5D mk2 was unbelievable for these low light shots!

Isha & Hiten Day Two

Day two was about various religious ceremonies at Hiten's home.They started out with the Ganesh Ceremony, which if my internet research has worked, is about celebrating a beginning. Ganesh is a Hindu god with a man's body and the head of an elephant.

There were other ceremonies going on around the house as well, which I tried to capture.

This was followed by the the Pithi ceremony. This is a cleansing ceremony, where a paste is wiped on the bride and groom's skin. This is supposed to be good for the skin, and some folk had more fun than others when it came to getting it on Hiten and Isha's faces!

The rest of the day/evening was a Mehndi party, where all the ladies had turns at having theirs done. No idea how the artist managed to make such a great job on so many folk, as I would never have patience to sit there for so long :)

Isha & Hiten Gandhi Day One

Last week I was lucky enough to be able to shoot my first ever Indian wedding, which was a real experience. I found it all very interesting and colourful, although at many times I had no idea what was going on - I need to consult with Google now to figure out about all the ceremonial bits and pieces and what they signify. I never worked so hard in my life, and I am dreading the editing part as there are almost 5000 images to sort through!. My average wedding is between 600 and 800 images so this was intense. It was over 4 different days and there was so much going on I just shot everything. Some of the ceremonies were great to photograph with so much colour and energy. I've just selected a few random images from each part of the 4 days, just to give a taste of what was going on, so this is day one. Apologies in advance for any errors with spelling or whatever as I am new to this :)

Isha's Mehndi or Henna night.

This was great to watch actually, a very talented artist indeed, and I couldn't believe how quickly and accurately she applied the henna. It must have been so tricky for Isha as she couldn't use her hands at all, so well done Karen for feeding her and dealing with itchy noses etc ;)

Finlay Harris

Today I shot some headshots and promo pics for actor Finlay Harris who is staying in the area just now. It was fun doing something a bit different especially after a gruelling schedule last week in Glasgow - more blogging to come on that once I get caught up- and I really enjoyed doing these.

County Sevens

Spent today with Ally and his under 9 team at the Caithness BFA county sevens in Thurso. They did really well, with 4 wins and a draw in their group, and only lost out on a place in the final after a sudden death play-off. A few of him in action - unfortunately he has inherited my height gene :)


Need to work on the goal celebrations.........

Highland Amateur Cup

Enjoying a quiet weekend off for a change, so was shooting at the Highland Cup game between Castletown and Golspie Stafford. The home side won 1-0, probably slightly against the run of play, but it was a great game, packed with incident and controversy, with a few strange decisions from the man in the middle. Well done to Castletown who progress to the quarter finals. It was a good day for Caithness with 3 teams through to the last 8 ( Castletown, John O Groats and Wick Groats) and one (Halkirk) in a replay next weekend.

Cheryl & Andy 13th June

Okay, I'm going back a day now to Saturday. I was very pleased to be photographing the wedding of Cheryl Swanson and Andy Dowie at Blair Castle in Perthshire. Cheryl is from Inverness although they've moved away since we first met. Andy is a footballer with Dunfermline Athletic (and used to be with Rangers, so he was in my good books right away haha). It was a fantastic day. The weather was pretty good all day, although there was heavy rain and thunderstorms later on - after we'd finished shooting I'm glad to say!

I had a great time. It was a really nice wedding, and everyone was in great form. I must admit I was totally exhausted after it though!

The first two were in the Dunkeld Hilton Hotel - about half an hour after I was planning on leaving for the castle...and I'm so glad I waited and turned the room upside down :)

The guys looking cool beforehand....

This lot were trouble......... :-)

Thanks to Cheryl, Andy, and their families for letting me be part of such a great day.

Isha & Hiten pre wedding shoot in Glasgow

I'm doing these in the wrong order as I needed to edit these first so starting with Sunday, and Saturday will follow!

I spent a few hours on Sunday with Isha and Hiten, who get married on 27th June. We did a pre wedding shoot in a few locations in Glasgow, and went through all the plans for the wedding. It's going to be so cool. I'm shooting 3 days of events and can't wait! We bumped into Boyzone at one stage and I am very proud to say...I never recognised them :)

In the meantime, a few from Sunday's shoot....

Away again..

Getting ready for travels again - away to Perth tonight, Cheryl & Andy's wedding at Blair Castle tomorrow, then through to Glasgow on Sunday for Isha and Hiten's pre wedding shoot. Should be an awesome weekend!!

6th June Kim & Russell

After flying into Edinburgh on Friday afternoon exhausted after Spain, I then drove up to Aberdeen, as I had a wedding at Drumtochty Castle on Saturday. Kim Nicholl and Russell Gallagher had their wedding there. It's a fantastic location, and was my first time there.

They had a humanist ceremony and it was a fantastic emotional occasion, and yes, I did cry again! We had some great fun shooting around the castle and at the church nearby. Thanks both for a lovely day.

Wedding Workout in Spain

31st May saw me fly out to Malaga in Spain, and then head up into the mountains at Tolox to help teach on the Wedding Workout 2009 course. The course is run by Martin Grahame Dunn, and saw delegates arrive from the UK, Ireland, Denmark and Australia (I think I covered everyone there!). As well as Martin, there were 3 other trainers. Juli Cialone from New York, Michael Gron from Denmark, and myself from little Caithness in the North of Scotland :)

It was a very intense week, with loads of training being covered from pre wedding bridal boudoir, right through to trash the dress. The delegates were an inspiration to me. I was amazed at the slideshow they produced at the end of the Thursday night. They learnt so much in a short time, that I went away totally inspired by them.


The course was held at the beautiful Cerro De Hijar Hotel. It was so hot up there! I went out running and cycled down the mountain into the village and back up one day, and it nearly killed me!


There will be loads of pictures to follow from this adventure but in the meantime - just a bit of fun on the last day. When I get bored I am a bit of a worry :) - spotted a shovel and got Andrew Gransden to shoot this image - thanks Andrew!


I'd like to thank Martin for allowing me the opportunity to help teach on this course and to all the delegates, trainers and models for an awesome but exhausting week!

23rd May Kim & Euan

Today I was lucky enough to be part of Kim and Euan's wedding at Dunain Park Hotel, Inverness. It was a bit overcast but we were very lucky that the rain stayed off until after photography was finished and everyone was in the marquee! It was torrential at that stage! It was a lovely location for the wedding, great spots indoors and outdoors for photography. I had a great day and thanks to both for a great time.

Office Move

Finally getting settled into my new office. I left the last one at Naver with plans to work from home, but quickly realised that there wasn't going to be enough space! So a quick turnaround and now I'm out at T3UK at janetstown in an office there. It's taking shape now and I feel the change has been good and has me more enthusiastic again. A change is as good as a rest and all that...

Trash The Dress Shoot, Portmahomack

Today after an early start and visit to the gym, I went down to Portmahomack for a long awaited post wedding shoot with Donna Mackay. We've been trying to arrange this for ages, since she got married back in August. Well finally we managed to do it, and it was a load of fun. We went to a few different spots to shoot and ended up with Donna in what looked like very cold sea!

Thanks to Donna for a great shoot!! I'm just back so I've only done a quick edit on a few of them for now. Enjoy :)

Facebook Fan Page

I'm just putting together a fan page on Facebook. I plan to post regular updates on there of what I'm doing and will be putting pictures on from all weddings and events I cover. If you want to become a fan and get updates, and see your wedding pictures on there go here and become a fan!!

Office Move

Apologies for any inconvenience over the last few weeks as I have been moving offices and things have been rather chaotic. I'm almost there, and by the weekend things should be reasonably settled again. More info soon!

Stephanie & Brian, Paphos, Cyprus

Well what a great trip away to escape the Scottish weather. It was a great week in Cyprus, lovely weather lovely people and a fantastic wedding. Stephanie Walsh and Bryan Wickham from Ireland were married at Zucchini, Peyia near Paphos. What a stunning location with views for many miles around. It was a hot day, but luckily there was a bit of a haze and a breeze to prevent my Scottish white/pale blue skin getting burnt :)
It was a superb wedding, and I really enjoyed my day. The Irish folk were, as ever, fantastic fun and I felt more like a guest than a photographer. Thanks folks!! I lasted until midnight but was unable to join in the partying in the Irish bar after that as I was exhausted.
I'm trying something a bit different this time, with a wee movie slideshow of some images from the day, just as a trial really. Would appreciate some feedback!

Angela & Chris

Bit behind the times, but first wedding of 2009 was at Bunchrew House, near Inverness. It was the wedding of Angela Jones and Chris Spence from North Kessock. It was a beautiful sunny day, maybe too sunny, but with a deceptively cold breeze in the shade! A great day to kickstart this years weddings :)

Castle of Mey 10k Race

Sunday saw a wonderful turn out for the first ever Castle of Mey 10k run in Caithness. I have to admit I really wished I was taking part as the atmosphere was amazing at it, and the beautiful weather helped!! Next year!

Prints are available to buy from the race by going here---> 10k PICS

A few images from the day. Well done to everyone who took part!

Updates

Had my butt kicked for never updating this, so going to make an effort to bring it up to date and use it more often from now on!!

Cyprus

Just arrived in Cyprus! Stephanie & Brians wedding is tomorrow, so looking forward to it!

One Year Project - The Book

After spending a year shooting Natalie for my project, we have now got the book available for sale. It has a huge range of images from the 12 months, along with information on camera and lighting equipment used on each shoot.
It can be ordered by telephone 08000 699169 or online through this link---BOOK

Big thanks to International Model Natalie for her help in producing this and hopefully everybody will enjoy it.
I'm about to start work on a new book, which will have a totally different theme. Watch this space!

NNCMC festival 09

The Northern Nashville Country Music Club had their annual music festival in Halkirk, Caithness during Easter weekend. I was there Saturday and Sunday night covering it and here is a selection of images from it.