Even though we both have personal pages, we don’t go on there touting for business since it’s really a place that people go for a bit of down time or “me” time. Almost every photographer uses social networking to attract new clients but we can’t see ourselves doing that right now, even though some colleagues are saying it’s the smart thing to do.

As a wise old saying goes, when you see all your competitors going in the same direction, run like a crazy man the opposite way. That is partly why we hardly advertise at all now and also why we stopped attending the wedding fairs/shows years ago. Although I’d never say never, you won’t find us bragging or tagging on Facebook just yet

In the coming months, we will also be renovating our home to accomodate a funky new office and reception area which is a project we are really looking forward to. The images on the website galleries have been updated and we have freshened things up a little on the site, so if you haven’t yet visited have a look around to get more of a feel for our work.

Spring is coming and a busy Summer up ahead - don’t you just love this time of year!

The first thing I look for before taking any photograph is good light. Because of the low Winter sun, you can get really dramatic warm light during Winter. You also get strong directional light which makes for great shots. When the daylight is gone, I use warm additional lighting which helps to pull out that special atmosphere. I have posted a selection of Winter shots in the show below. This is best viewed full screen (the multi-arrow icon on the far right of the controls):

Apart from Christmas/New Year weddings, we will be taking some down time until 4th January, so please note that there may be delays in responding to any emails and vmails between now and then.

A special thanks to all the couples we worked with this year and to our 2010 and 2011 couples who have booked ahead. Despite all the bad news in the economy, it’s great to see so many of you are not letting things get in the way of your plans.

Be safe.

http://www.archive.worldpressphoto.org/

Things have moved up a gear this year and Michelle has really helped to rein in the admin and behind the scenes side of things. If truth be told she has always helped out but this new division of duties has really helped me to put more focus back in to the photography.

I must admit I’m a bit of a control freak (!!) and find it hard to let go of certain things but at least now, I can spend more time on developing new ideas and approaches, put more time in to the technical and creative side of things and push on with producing the best quality output.

Speaking of which, I must get on and post some of the latest work!

Photojournalists have been doing it for years but they have given more emphasis to sound and stills than video. Sound especially is used very effectively to get their message across and to help flesh out the story (see www.mediastorm.com or www.edkashi.com for some of the best of this). I’ve been dabbling with sound myself recently on some personal projects. I’ve had very little time for those over the Summer due to weddings, so I decided to do some recording on a wedding instead. I’m not yet convinced that this is a product for the weddings market but the feedback has been very strong, so maybe at some stage down the line I will consider offering something along these lines.

Meg and Matt were my willing guinea pigs for this experiment. It was a very special ceremony with a great couple, so turn on your speakers to hear the results. Feedback welcome!

Here is a little show with some of my own favourites from the past few months: