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!!