9th November - Ullapool

Travelled up to Ullapool on Wednesday night to meet Alexis Halliday and Filipe Santos, who both stay on Jersey, but were getting married in Ullapool. The wedding was at St Martins Catholic Church in Ullapool with the reception being held at the Arch Inn in the village. As the wedding took quite a time, we didn't get long outside for the couple shots. We went to Leckmelm Gardens where the autumn colours were lovely - I just wish we'd had an extra 15 minutes or so. I also had a Blair Witch encounter :-o which I will explain in detail if you ask me but it was....scary.....!!!!! Alexis and Filipe will know what I am talking about...!

8th November - Another Success Story!

Today I found out that my Associateship panel I sent to the SWPP was successful, so I am over the moon! I am now John Baikie ASWPP!!! And only 6 months after I achieved Licentiate level so this is a really big one for me. I concentrated on the wedding side of things, despite that being the hardest discipline to get it in, but that's what I like doing best and it has given me incentive to create unique images at every wedding I attend. I had to submit 20 images at 16x12 size and I am just stunned that I have done this already! I have attached a few of the successful images but will be displaying them all at some point soon. I also found out today that I had scooped another 3 monthly print awards with the SWPP, in wedding, bridal portrait and landscape sections (the 3rd of my Lochinver shots shown on 19th October below.....). So, quite a week!

4th November

Todays wedding was another local one in Thurso's West Church. Jill MacRae, who is manageress in the towns Royal Hotel was getting married to Calum McAlpine. Jill got ready at the Royal, before being driven by Dunnett's Limo to church. It stayed dry but was very cold, so a trip to Thurso Castle was kept to a minimum, but we managed to get some great shots. I was saddened to see the bad weather of a week or two back has brought down all the ivy from the tower. This is a real shame as it was one of the nicest features of the building, and it looks bare without it. Goodness knows how many years it had been there for! Anyway, then it was on to Lybster to the Portland Arms for the reception.

28th October Eileen & Michael

Today was the wedding of Eileen McAdie and Michael Loynd. They were married at St Joachims Church in Wick, with reception in Mackays Hotel. Eileen got ready at her mum and dads house in Newton Avenue before arriving at church in a White Rolls Royce from Caithness Prestige Cars. The couple made a very brief visit to Ackergill Tower for a few pictures before leaving for the reception. Flowers were by Amandas Flower Shop in Wick.

21st October

Today was the wedding of Lesley Ross and Andrew Fraser, from Lossiemouth. They were married at Croick Church, with the reception at nearby Carbisdale Castle. It was a fairly decent day when I arrived at Carbisdale, but by the time of the wedding it was absolutely bucketing down, so no outdoor photography possible!!

19th October Lochinver

I was away up in Lochinver, shooting images for the Inver Lodge Hotel's new website. What an amazing place, hidden away in such a remote spot. I was surprised at the scale of the place, it's a lot bigger than I imagined. If you fancy a weekend away to relax and treat yourselves, I strongly recommend this place. It's so peaceful, picturesque and the food is AMAZING!!!!

I shot some moody images in a spare hour in the afternoon, just before a heavy downpour. Must go back in the spring or summer to see the scenery in better light.

14th October

Today was the wedding of Elizabeth Walker and Donald Mackay, who live in Perth now, but were formerly in Thurso. Elizabeth got ready at her parents home, in Forss Road, Thurso before heading to the West Church for the wedding courtesy of Dunnetts cars. Meanwhile, Donald was making a more spectacular arrival, in Dan and Dolina Macleod's massive truck. It is available for special occasions - call Dan on 01847 851717 - and certainly gets you noticed!

The couple then headed out to Thurso Castle for some photographs, before heading to the Portland Arms in Lybster for their reception. Whisky were providing the evenings entertainment.

12th October

Megan Owens and Jeff O' Brien came all the way from California to get married at Urquhart Castle. They were staying at Kerrow House, Cannich and when I arrived there it was raining. However it cleared up and the sun was shining when we got to the venue. We spent some time shooting pictures around the castle before heading back to the reception at Dunain Park Hotel, Inverness.

Toy Camera

A couple of months ago I bought a Holga medium format camera after reading about them. Just for a bit of fun really. They are very, very cheap chinese made cameras, which look and feel like toys. In fact, to be honest, people expect them to squirt water at them when I hold it up. I went for an expensive up-market model with built in flash at £30, but the basic one is available for £20. You really have to go back to basics, and know your metering etc. NOTHING is automatic on it, you have to do it all in your head. Anyway, I just got my first roll of film back from it. I knew I had screwed up when I was unloading the film and had lost some shots, but what was on there was pretty good really. Here are four of the six images which survived. I am going to be playing about with this some more and will post some more pics when I have them.

7th October

Today's wedding was in Oban, so I drove to Fort William overnight, and travelled to Oban in the morning. The wedding today was of Linsay McBain and Carl Baverstock, who both live in Bedfordshire, but the bride is from Taynuilt, just outside Oban. Linsay got ready at her parents home in Taynuilt, before being driven to the Esplande Church by a vintage car. A day of constant rain put a stop to any plans of picturesque scenes for the photography. We were confined to doing shots in the church and the hotel again, which was fine as both were very nice. Reception venue was the Caledonian Hotel, Oban.

6th October 2006

Today was the wedding of Melanie Harper and David Greig, who both live at Pennyland Drive, Thurso. Melanie got ready out at her parents home in John O' Groats, before leaving for Thurso. She arrived in a car by Dunnett's, eventually making it to St Peter's and St Andrew's church after a lengthy delay due to the wonderful bit of planning by some people laying new gas pipes. They decided that Friday afternoon would be a clever time to close the main bridge into Thurso, causing delays of up to an hour. They kindly decided not to make any public announcements, so the 2.30pm wedding took place at 3.15. They were married by Rev. Bill Wallace, before heading to the Weigh Inn for the recpetion. No outside photographs were possible as it was pouring rain, but we got some nice stuff in the church and hotel. Again video was by Video Viewpoint

30th September

Wedding of Sonya Sutherland and Donald Henderson, both of Main St Lybster. Donald owns Caithness Prestige Cars, so has done loads of weddings with me. Sonya got ready at home with her 3 bridesmaids, before heading to the Portland Arms Hotel for the wedding. The sun was shining - too brightly at times - so it was down to Lybster harbour for some nice shots before heading back to the hotel for the reception. Video was by Colin of Video Viewpoint.

23rd September

As this was my only weekend between May and November that I had no wedding, I decided to have a relaxing change from the usual saturday, by er... doing some fashion style shots of a bride!! Ami and myself were keen to get some more shots of her dress, which was a stunning creation by Sharon Bower of Couture studio

We went up to Dunbeath Strath and shot some stuff, which was certainly a bit different from the norm and lots of fun. Great flowers by Amanda's Flower Shop in Wick added to the occasion.

Saturday 16th September

Katrina Macleod, of Brown Place Wick and Andrew Manson of Pentland Place Castletown, were married at Bighouse Lodge, Melvich. Katrina got ready at the Bighouse, with bridesmaids including her sister Keri, who kept us all entertained! Andrew and his two best men Gary and Kevin then arrived looking very cool in their highland dress. The ceremony was carried out by Elaine Gray, and then we headed off to the beach for some pictures. The wind got up though and we had to head back to the shelter of the walled gardens pretty quickly. The day was beautiful, but probably too bright for my liking. The meal was at Bighouse, with everyone heading back to the Weigh Inn later on for the reception.

Friday 15th September

Jackie Stubbings and John Henderson, both of Ardwyn, Mid Keiss, were married at the stunning Olrig House by Rev. Oliver Vellacott. The couple have just built a new house, and only moved into it 2 days before the wedding, so had a real big task getting it ready in time. Jackie got ready at the new house with mum and two bridesmaids Lynn and Hannah. They arrived at Olrig House with Caithness Prestige cars. After a lovely service in the house, we went out into the stunning surroundings for the photography. It's one of the best spots in Caithness that I have photographed a wedding at, and had to watch the time as I it would have been easy to get carried away! We then travelled back to Wick for the reception at Mackays Hotel.

9th September 2006

Tracey Heppel of Finlayson Place, Thrumster and Graeme Miller, of Skitten, Wick were married at Thrumster Church by Rev Bill Wallace. Tracey was a little late back from getting hair and make up done.....! However she managed to get to the church almost on time! She arrived with Caithness Prestige Car Hire's white Rolls Royce. After the service we went to Lybster House for some photographs before heading to the Portland Arms for the reception.

Saturday 2nd September

Lindsay Bain and Mark Fraser, from Inverness, were married at Keiss Church on Saturday, in glorious sunshine. Lindsay got ready at her parents house, Auchingale in Keiss, before walking to church, led by two pipers, the Harvey brothers. After the wedding, we went to Lindsay's gran's house in Watten for some pictures before heading to the Weigh Inn for the reception, after I persuaded them to make a quick stop at a couple of unusual locations!

Friday 1st Sept

Nicola Falconer & Scott Farquhar, of St Clair Avenue, Scrabster were married at St Peter's and St Andrew's church in Thurso. Nicola got ready at her parents home in Halkirk, where the sunshine was almost too bright, a rare complaint for Caithness! The weather didn't last though and some torrential rain after the couple entered the church threatened to spoil the day. They were married by Murray Campbell from the Scrabster Mission. The rain passed over for long enough for us to get to the beach at Scrabster for some pictures before heading up to the Weigh Inn for their reception. Video was provided by Video Viewpoint.

Saturday 26th August

Saturday 26th was the wedding of Gillian Gunn and David Flett, at Forss House Hotel. The weather held good despite a few rainclouds coming close and umbrellas on standby! They were married in the hotel grounds by Rev Warner, before taking off for some pictures at the river and the surrounding area. Reception was held at the Weigh Inn. Video was provided by Colin at Video Viewpoint

Captiv8 blog

Welcome to my blog. I will try to keep this updated as regularly as possible with news of what I am up to.