Convention

Well, it's over for another year! What a week.

Don't know where to start - firstly I want to thank the SWPP for asking me along as a speaker. It was a huge honour for me as I have not been on the scene for long. Also thank you to the 100+ people who came to see me, and to the 100+ who never got in because it was full, I apologise, but you'll have to get me back again another time and get me a bigger venue!!

Being asked to judge the print competition was an honour as well, and an experience I really enjoyed. Like speaking, judging was a first for me, and I feel I did well. I also enjoyed being part of the Mentor Me program and hope the people who came to see me learnt something and went away with some inspiration.

I was also there as a delegate and saw some great speakers once again. Especially impressed with Anthony Cava (stick your head out John - private joke!!) and as ever Mitche Graf, but all the ones I saw were great. Special well done to Tom Gibson, who like myself was a first-timer, but impressed everyone big time!

On to the awards - firstly well done to Martina Cross, from Thurso, who won some well deserved awards and tired me out going up and down to the stage to collect them! Well deserved, as her landscape work is absolutely amazing. Well done also to the other winners, and especially Stuart Bebb, who won overall UK Photographer Of The Year. A lovely guy, who deserves this accolade.

I entered 9 prints in the 20x16 competition and know at least 8 of them got merit awards, so that was great.

Anyway, here are a few images from the shoot on Saturday. I didn't get the complete image I would on a wedding day, mainly due to the volume of people around me, but it will give people an idea what I was trying to achieve. Huge thank you to my model Natalie who was amazing. She was working officially for the SWPP and worked with a lot of top photographers, and I know they were all hugely impressed with her.

And a few from other people.....Thanks to Walt and UrbanBridesmaidPhotography for these!

SWPP Convention

Well, tomorrow I am away to London for a week for the SWPP Convention at the Hammersmith Novotel. Very proud to be a speaker at this years event, but very nervous also! I'll try to keep this updated while I am away. I am speaking at 12-2pm on Saturday, and will be featuring on the advantages and difficulties of running a wedding photography business in Caithness, as well as discussing how I integrate fashion and wedding photography. I'll be doing a live shoot with a model in the hotel as part of my Masterclass. I have a stunning wedding dress especially for the occasion! Well, it's not for me, it's for the model actually!

Corset shoot in Edinburgh 10th January

Had a shoot in South Queensferry for local corset designer Joyce Paton today. It was for Joyce's website and for a fashion feature in Black Meringue magazine. Models for the day were Natalie Oag and Daiquiri Dusk. Hair and make up was by Tracy Kane.

It was a fun day, despite a very stressful start - long story!!

Thanks to all involved for hard work and effort on the day. I was certainly not at my best after a very stressful week, but we did a great job between us!

Gdansk Wedding

Just back last week after shooting a wedding in Poland. I'll be posting all the details and some images on here soon when I get it edited. It was certainly an 'interesting' week, not without incident! But that's par for the course when I go anywhere!

Temperatures varied from -10 to -15 degrees when I was there, and the cameras were really struggling with the extreme temperatures.

Thanks to Dominika and Slawek for their hospitality. It was difficult being in a foreign country, not speaking the language and not knowing anyone,but they were absolutely brilliant.

22nd December Last Wedding of 2007!

Wedding number 42 for the year, and the last of 2007. Not a long rest though as the 1st one of 2008 is only 2 weeks away!

Clare O'Brien and Andy Crawford from Bardnaclavan Place, Janetstown, were married in the Mill Theatre, Thurso. Both are involved in Thurso Players, hence the unusual choice of venue. It was a great place for a wedding, and it was a real fun day. It was freezing but in the few minutes we were outside we managed to get sunshine,rain, snow, a rainbow, a full moon and a sunset :-)

Natalie

Did some more work with Natalie - very pleased with these!

11th December Ackergill Tower

Wedding today at Ackergill Tower. Liz Kennedy and Bill Ainscough. Again a very good day for the time of year, although very cold!

8th December Coul House, Contin

Todays wedding was a new venue for me - Coul House Hotel, in Contin, near Dingwall. Jane Thomas and Ian MacFarlane, both from Misterton, South Yorkshire were married here, on a lovely frosty day. I LOVED Jane's dress - and I guess I better mention the Vivienne Westwood shoes.... :-)

A great day, and very pleased with the images we got!

1st December Dornoch Cathedral

Wedding today in Dornoch Cathedral, an amazing venue. Alison Calder and Vas Constanti, both from London, although Alison is originally from Balintore. Reception was at Bunchrew House Hotel, Inverness.

Poland 20th-25th November

Just back after a few days over in Poland. Had a great time. I stayed in Gdynia, which is a great city, and visited Gdansk, which is also great and steeped in history. I am keen to go back over and spend more time actually seeing more of the country. Met some very nice people as well, who made me feel quite at home. I enjoyed the food as well, especially the soup - Zurek - I hope I got that right?? It's just amazing! Oh and the beer - Tyskie in particular - is great also!!

A few pictures from the trip.

8th November

Time to head back to Scotland, it has been a great week, had a great time, and met some amazing people. We made lots of great friends over there and I am already planning a trip back in springtime for a shoot. Thanks to all the Maltese photographers for a fantastic welcome and thanks to the UK and Ireland people who were great fun. Big thanks to Gordon Cowell, oops Gordon McGowan for all his help and encouragement during the week. Roll on X factor in January Gordon haha ;-)

7th November

Today was the last full day in Malta, so I hired a car and went out to shoot at a few places. First stop was Popeye Village - where they filmed the 1980 Robin Williams film/musical. As David Facey said, the film was shite but it's a great place!

After that I went to Selmun Palace and shot in a few locations around that area.