Goodbye 2009, hello 2010!!!

I cannot believe how fast 2009 has gone, the year started quiet due to the recession with everyone feeling the pinch. Despite a slow start bookings soon came in and the year went from strength to strength, making 2009 an exceptional year. The year also saw a new web design and the growth in weddings abroad led to the new site going “.com” receiving very good feedback from across the world. It was a pleasure for the website to be acknowledged by a national magazine who featured it in a two page feature article.

I never anticipated such a demand for my work from around the world. As I write this I am just about to board a plane back to Heathrow from Hong Kong the final leg of on my Round the World trip. The trip began on in December and I was fortunate enough to photograph a wedding in Australia during this trip. 2010 will be seeing more weddings in Italy for Romantic Italian Weddings and further weddings in Australia and New Zealand in 2011.

Finally, I would like to thank all my clients to date, I have enjoyed working with you all in 2009! I thought I would share my final memory of 2009 in this video of the Sydney Harbour New Year fireworks – enjoy!!

Happy New Year

Sydney Landscape

There is something quite special about the Sydney skyline, it has always captured an appeal for me. I took some time out whilst I was there to photograph some stock photos for my Travel section of the website. I like the steel structure of the harbour bridge and wanted to include this as part of the image. The image works well in colour but also has a mysterious feel to it in mono-chrome. These photos are available for sale as signed limited edition framed prints, for further information give us a call.

Ambler Family- Australia Portrait

I found myself back on the beach again with my flip flops (I really could get used to this!!) for a family portrait on the beach. Lisa, Neil and their daughters Lauryn and triplets, Ashlyn, Holly and Sophie moved out Australia a couple of years ago. It is amazing to see the different characteristics and personalities between the triplets and I wanted to capture that in the photographs.

Here are a few images from the time on the beach, there were so many others to choose from!!

Amy & Ben Pinfield- Australia Wedding

Yesterday I found myself photographing a wedding in 36 degrees, on a beach and wearing a pair of flip flops. That is not a usual formula for a UK wedding photographer but it is one that I can certainly get used to!!!!

Amy and Ben got married in the UK originally and I photographed them at Wood Hall near Wetherby on a rainy winters day. They flew me out for their Australian part of the wedding blessing which was held on the beach in Adelaide.

It was really great to spend time with Amy, Ben and their family and friends again. We had a great day and made some fantastic photos, it was hard to pick just five for the blog, but here goes.......

45 knots of wind and 20 knots under sail!!!!

I had one of the most exhilarating sailing experiences whilst I was in Auckland New Zealand. I went sailing with Chris on a 68 foot Americas Cup racing yacht that nothing more than a skateboard on water with an enormous sail!!!!

Normally when I am sailing up in Scotland I cruise along at about 7-8 knots of speed in a very relaxed manner. On this boat after getting the sails up we were doing 11 knots without trying, after hitting about 20 knots the wind picked up. With the boat seriously leaning over and the deck (which is normally horizontal) now just off vertical we decided we were pushing it a bit too much and made back to the harbour for a deserved beer!!

Beautiful New Zealand

Well Los Angeles was a cool place, full of actors, stars and wanna be stars!! I mixed with the rich and famous in the LA Hills and peered over the wall of the Playboy Mansion to see if Kendra or Holly were at home!!!!

Then onto New Zealand to meet with Chris who showed us where he now calls home! It is such an amazing place with beaches at Piha and a restaurant to die for at Cable Bay. It is one of those places where you go and never want to return home. I will be back to New Zealand for a wedding in 2011, congratulations to Chris and Gerri on getting engaged!!

Round the world in 38 days!!!!

The next few weeks will have some interesting blog updates as I fly to Australia to photograph a wedding over there. On route I will be stopping for a few days in Los Angeles and New Zealand. Whilst in New Zealand I am meeting Chris, a very good friend of mine and my business guru, for more business brain storming over a few glasses of wine. He has also booked us onto a 68 foot racing yacht for an adrenalin day out on the water!!

Then onto Australia to photograph a wedding and a few portraits. I hope to get a few of those images up on the site soon after I have taken them. After that I will be heading across to Sydney for New Year and to get some landscape images of the beautiful Sydney Harbour Bridge. The final leg of the trip takes me into Indonesia where I will be shooting some commercial images at a new five star resort and spa in Bali.

Keep checking online and where I have wifi, I will keep updated. Whilst I am away the team will run the office and I will be monitoring emails and still be in touch!

Urban Portrait

It is at this time of year when you can get out and try new styles and ideas for the forthcoming year. Recently I found myself down in Bristol doing just that with a group of friends, we were testing a new piece of kit that enabled us to push the boundaries that bit more!

The day was a good mix of taking photographs, lunch and a cool Peroni to finish the day off!!

I will be back down to Bristol in the new year to do another shoot with the BBC presenter Alex Lovell, so keep an eye out for that one.

Congratulations to Matthew and Liz!

Matthew and Liz are the latest couple to book us for their wedding photography at the beautiful Villa San Crispolto in Italy. As the only UK based recommended photographer for Marco at Romantic Italian Weddings we are really pleased to add Matthew and Liz to the long list of bookings for 2010. We look forward to working with them on their big day!

Janine and Adam Brickell- Wedding

I had a great day with Janine and Adam recently at their wedding. The church service was held at St Edwards Church in Clifford then onto Newby Hall for the reception. We were so lucky with the weather that during the service went from heavy rain to bright sunshine!!

Janine looked amazing in a beautiful Caroline Castigliano wedding dress, Adam looked very proud as she walked down the aisle. They make a great couple and I look forward to meeting up with them soon to design their wedding album.