26th March Glasgow

Was in Glasgow today shooting with James Watt College make up artistry students who had to do an 18th Century Ball as a project. The venue was Sloans bar.

Wick v Buckie 22nd March

Wick Academy 2- Buckie Thistle 5

Tracy Devine hair demo 17th March

Tracy Devine, Scottish Hairdresser of the Year was at Thurso College doing a demo for students and local salons today. I got a few minutes at the end to grab some headshots of the 6 models she used. Would have liked a bit more time in better conditions, but quite happy with these.

Durness 14th March

Took a drive up the North-West coast today to do some landscapes, and a few fashion shots of Natalie. It was a great day, very dark and moody sky, ideal for dramatic images.

Had dinner in the Smoo Cave Hotel and it was very nice - highly recommended!!

Wedding Fayre - Portland Arms 9th March

Fairly good wedding fayre today, met up with lots of this years clients and prospective ones for next year. The photographer-who-wants-to-be-John-Baikie was there, selling cheap replicas as ever, but I think most people who appreciate photography can tell the difference between genuine and fake.

Black Meringue Magazine

Just picked up the new edition of Black Meringue, the alternative bridal magazine and I have several pictures in the fashion pages from my shoot with Joyce Paton corsets in Queensferry, Edinburgh. Models were Natalie Oag and Daiquiri Dusk, make up by Tracy Kane.

Hector Polson and his bikes

Sunday 2nd March, had an assignment to photograph Hector with some of his vintage motorcycles this morning for Motors North. I did a few safe shots for them, then got them all inside for some playtime shots for me!! Well pleased with the way they turned out.

Caithness v Strathmore rugby 1st March

Was covering rugby today, in baltic conditions. Caithness won 31-12.

Back to Reality!

Well, it was back to normal today, covering a badminton tournament after the most amazing week in Spain. Big thank you to Martin Grahame-Dunn and his wife Elaine for their hospitality. Huge thanks to MGD for all the work he put into the week. I am back excited and looking forward to some big changes in my approach to work in the coming months. Thanks also to Julia and Milad who were great company for the week, and I feel we got on very well together as a team and will continue to be just that in the future. 3 very different styles but similar ambitions. And finally a big thank you to our hard working model for the week Natalie who was her usual sparkling self in front of the camera, producing every look and style you could imagine in a few days.

Spain 14-21st February

I am currently on a training course at Illuminatus Now, the International Academy run by Martin Grahame-Dunn. I will be posting more about this when I return. There are three photographers on the course, Julia Boggio, Milad Hussain and myself. It's been a great week so far!

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.