For any photographer it’s always to good to spend time every now and again playing around with your camera when the pressure’s off, trying out new ideas and playing with new equipment, the only problem for me is finding to someone to do this with (especially when all my friends are in work in ‘proper’ jobs!) so for a wedding photographer, why not ask another wedding photographer!

So yesterday, I met up with my good friends (and excellent photographers) Katy Lunsford and Adam Johnson in Walkden Gardens in Sale to do just that. It just so happened though that Katy was looking to have some portrait photographs taken anyway – perfect timing!

So, on the other side of the lens this time, here’s Katy!

Last night I went up to the Lake District for two portrait photography shoots.  I hadn’t met either Michelle, Andy and their two boys (the first shoot), or Cheryl and her two daughters (the second shoot) before so it was literally case a meeting them, saying hello, then snapping away!

Both portrait shoots were great fun and I am very pleased with the photographs we got.  For the first shoot I met Michelle and Andy at a really beautiful spot just on the edge of Bassenthwaite Lake.  Michelle brought along her two boys as well so it turned in to more of a family shoot

After Michelle’s shoot, I headed west to Whitehaven Harbour to meet Cheryl and her two daughters.  Again, it was a really fun shoot and the light was lovely as the sun was just starting to set.

I love the Lake District (it’s where Michelle and I got married), it’s just a photographer’s dream.  The only frustrating thing is when I was driving around I saw a few amazing, dramatic landscapes (especially around Keswick) but couldn’t stop fast enough to be able to take photographs All of the landscape photographs which I did take were taken on my Canon G10 compact camera.

Michelle & Cheryl – it was a pleasure to meet you and your families last night – I hope you like the photographs!

A couple of weeks before Christmas, I had the pleasure of photographing the family of my good friend Tom Harrington of Silk Wedding Videos – and what a fun day it was!

I am only just blogging these photographs as they were first featured exclusively on the brilliant English Wedding blog in January (very exciting!)

As you can see, snow was everywhere and it was absolutely freezing, but Tom’s family, including his amazing little dog Hugo (awww!), braved the cold and we went to a location in Cheshire recommended by Tom – and a great choice it was too.  As it was so cold, all the photographs below were taken within about 20 minutes, but that was long enough for us to get some really nice family portrait photographs, which I hope Tom’s family will look back on for a long time to come.

Tom and his beautiful fiancée Lora had got engaged a few weeks before the shoot (congratulations to you both again! ), so the timing of the shoot was all the more special – at the end I took a few photographs of Tom & Lora together, like a mini engagement shoot!

After the photographs, Tom’s mother very kindly made us all an amazing Spanish dinner – mmmmm!  It made venturing out in to the cold more than worth it!

Please also take a moment to have a look at Tom’s website at www.silkweddingvideos.co.uk – he is an amazingly talented wedding videographer (the only wedding videographer I recommend) and I am really looking forward to working with him on some fantastic weddings this year!

Here a few of my favourite photographs from this very snowy family portrait shoot in Cheshire:

Last week I met up with Kim and James, a fantastic couple who booked me recently to photograph their wedding at the Belle Epoque in Knutsford later this year, for a pre-wedding engagement shoot in Cheshire.

Pre-wedding shoots are an opportunity for the bride and groom to get used to being photographed, and it is also nice from my point of view as I get to know the bride and groom better, which is always nice – and the shoots are fun  For Kim and James’ shoot we went to Dunham Massey in Cheshire, a beautiful huge woodland estate. We only spent around 40 minutes or so taking photographs but it was enough time for us to get some nice shots and get to know each other better.

To Kim & James – it was lovely to meet up again and I am really pleased you are so happy with your photographs.  I am really looking forward to your wedding later this year – good luck with the rest of your wedding planning!

Here are a few of my favourite photographs from this Cheshire engagement shoot:

Earlier this week, myself and a handful of fantastic Manchester wedding photographers worked on a portrait wedding shoot together – two superb Lancashire wedding venues, three models and nine wedding dresses …what more could a wedding photographer ask for?!

I really enjoyed the shoot, not only because I got to take photographs at two fantastic wedding venues with some of the North West’s leading wedding suppliers, but also because it gave me the perfect opportunity to try out a few different photography styles and experiment a little more than I would be able to do at a real wedding!

The shoot was organised by Manchester wedding photographer Jonny Draper and what a great job Jonny did of putting together such a superb day.  We shot at two Lancashire wedding venues, starting off in the morning at the ultra cool Twelve Restaurant in Thornton Cleveleys before moving on to the magnificent Great Hall at Mains in Lancashire.

Our fantastic models Amy, Olivia and Emily each wore three wedding dresses throughout the portrait shoot, all of which were provided by the fantastic White Closet Bridal Boutique in Didsbury, Manchester and had their make up expertly supplied by Jonny’s lovely wife, Emma.  All of the wedding dresses were absolutely stunning and show just what a great selection The White Closet offers to brides.

The whole shoot was captured on video for us by the brilliant Tom Harrington of Silk Wedding Videos.  Tom is one of the North West’s best wedding videographers (and the only videographer I recommend to my bride and grooms) so it was great to have him with us.  I have attached a link to Tom’s video at the bottom of this post so please take a few minutes to watch us ‘behind the scenes’ at the shoot!

All the flowers used throughout the day were provided by the brilliant Flower Design, Lancashire’s leading wedding florist.  I had the pleasure of working with Jane and Jason of Flower Design at a recent wedding at Lytham Hall so it was great to see them again and get to know them a little better.  As you will see in the photographs, Flower Design’s flowers are beautiful.

A final mention goes to Amy, who is not only a fantastic model, but also makes the most beautiful jewellery.  Please take a moment to take a look at Amy’s collection on her website: www.cocoandme.co.uk

A big thank you again to Jonny for organising such a fantastic day!!

Here is a small selection of my favourite photographs from the shoot, I hope you like them

I can’t wait to take my first wedding photographs at The Great Hall of Mains – as you can see, it is a fantastic wedding venue!

Bridal Photoshoot at Twelve Restaurant and The Great Hall at Mains. from silk wedding videos on Vimeo.

Regular visitors to my wedding photography blog (which I hope you all are..! ) may remember that a few weeks ago I shot my first Love the Dress photoshoot (which some photographs refer to as ‘Trash the Dress‘ or ‘Rock the Frock‘) on Saddleworth Moor near Manchester, with my beautiful wife Michelle.  You can view the photographs from the shoot by clicking here.

Shortly after I posted those photographs I was contacted by Nikki, the owner of the fantastic Yorkshire based wedding planning company, I Do Designer Weddings, who really liked Michelle’s Love the Dress wedding photographs and was interested in having some similar photographs done herself!  I was of course more than happy to oblige so last week I met Nikki at the beautiful Bretton Country Park in Yorkshire where we spent an hour taking photographs whilst the sun was setting.

As a Manchester wedding photographer I do not often take photographs in Yorkshire, so it was really nice to go to a location which I hadn’t been to before and really get creative!

Nikki was fantastic to work with and looked stunning in her wedding dress

If you are interested in having a similar Love the Dress photography shoot done yourself then please do not hesitate to contact me!  Obviously this type of shoot isn’t just for brides who got married recently, a post wedding photography shoot like this can be a great excuse to put your wedding dress back on relive your memories regardless of when you got married – Nikki herself got married 10 years ago and I think she really enjoyed wearing her wedding dress again

Nikki – thank you again for asking me to take your photographs, it was really great to meet you and I am really pleased you like your photographs and enjoyed the shoot!  Thanks also for suggesting Bretton Country Park, it’s definitely a location I will look to use again when I am next in Yorkshire.  Looking forward to seeing you again next month in Manchester!

Here are a selection of my favourite photographs from our shoot:

‘Love the Dress‘ photography shoots (or ‘Trash the Dress‘ as some photographers refer to them) is a really cool concept that has become increasingly popular over the past couple of years.

The idea of the shoot is that, after her wedding day, a bride has an on-location photoshoot wearing her wedding dress again, but whereas on her actual wedding day she would have been very protective about the dress (understandably!), on the Love the Dress shoot, she would not be as worried about the dress (that’s the theory anyway!). As a result the locations and shots can be a little more daring – what’s a bit of mud on a dress that you’re never going to wear again…?! The other advantage, especially for the wedding photographer, is that there isn’t the same time constraints as a wedding day so a little more time can be spent on the shoot.

Well, last night I did my first Love the Dress shoot …with my own wife, Michelle!

I have seen some Trash the Dress shoots where the bride has walked in to the sea or even had her dress on fire… now amazing as it can look, I don’t think the fire thing is really for me(!) so we did the shoot at sunset on Saddleworth Moor, just outside Manchester. It was a bit chilly (and muddy!) up on the hills but Michelle braved the elements and I am really pleased with the shots we got

As a Manchester wedding photographer, I am keen to start doing more Love the Dress shoots, so if you are interested, please do contact me! Once I have done some more of these shoots I will add a Love the Dress shoot as an additional extra in my wedding photography packages.

Here are a few of my favourite photographs from the shoot:

Last week I met up with Christine and Dave, whose wedding I will be photographing next month, for a pre-wedding engagement photoshoot in Cheshire.

Christine and Dave get married in Chester before having their wedding reception at Inglewood Manor in Cheshire.  I haven’t photographed a wedding at Inglewood Manor before so I’m extra excited about Christine and Dave’s wedding!

Christine chose the beautiful Dunham Massey National Trust Estate for the engagement photoshoot – an excellent location for portrait photographs.  Dunham Massey, which is a few miles south of Manchester in Cheshire, is home to lots of deer so I tried my best to include them in the photographs, although this was certainly easier said than done!

Can’t wait for the wedding now..!

One of the things I have been proudest of since starting my wedding photography business is that I have remained friends with many of the bride and grooms I have worked with long after their wedding day.  I was therefore delighted to hear last year from Rebecca and Peter, a couple whose wedding I covered in July 2007, that they were expecting a baby!

I got to meet Rebecca and Peter’s beautiful baby daughter, Martha, recently when Rebecca asked me to take some photographs of Martha for her.  Martha is such a cute little girl and wasn’t phased by the camera at all!  I always prefer to do baby and toddler portraits at the child’s home as that way they are more comfortable, especially with all their toys surrounding them!

Rebecca and Peter had also invited their family round for the photoshoot so we also took some lovely family portraits as well – of course Martha was always the star of the show!

Rebecca and Peter – congratulations to you both again! Martha is a beautiful little girl, I hope she enjoys looking back at these photographs in years to come!

Here are a few of my favourite photographs:

Rebecca and Peter, the proud parents :

A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of photographing Rachel, Simran, Judith and Jordan of The Leos Quartet – one of Manchester’s finest string quartets, and what an amazing day it was!

I first saw The Leos Quartet playing at a wedding last year at Manchester Town Hall and they were absolutely amazing, which isn’t surprising bearing in mind that the quartet was formed at the prestigious Royal Northern College of Music! Since that wedding I have kept in touch with them and recommended them to bride and grooms whenever I can.  Have a look at the video at the end of this post to hear how good they are!

The photographs from this shoot are going to be used on The Leos Quartet’s website and we wanted them to show off Rachel, Simran, Judith and Jordan’s fun personalities whilst also illustrating the fact that the quartet are based in Manchester.  We split the photoshoot in to two, starting off taking photographs in Manchester city centre before moving on to Salford Quays.  We were very lucky that we chose to do the shoot on what must have been one of the warmest days of the year!

As well as myself taking photographs, the shoot was also filmed by the amazingly talented Tom Harrington of Silk Wedding Videos.  Tom is primarily a wedding videographer (and easily the best wedding videographer that I know) but very kindly offered to film this shoot for us.  Tom’s video will also appear on the The Leos Quartet‘s website alongside the photographs so watch this space!

For more information regarding The Leos Quartet or Silk Wedding Videos, please take a look at their websites

The Leos Quartet – www.theleosquartet.co.uk

Silk Wedding Videos – Silk Wedding Videos

The following photographs were all taken around Salford Quays, located a couple of miles from Manchester city centre.  Definitely one of my favourite portrait locations!

The photograph below is my favourite from the day

Finally, a couple of very quick photographs of Tom Harrington of Silk Wedding Videos who worked tirelessly throughout the shoot.  I can’t wait to see the finally video, knowing the quality of Tom’s work it will be fantastic!