2010. Where did that go? With the rock bottom recession, gloomy economic forecasts etc., I’m glad to see that so many couples braved the worst of it and had so many great weddings this year, so a very big thank you to everyone that we worked with. I hope that your investment will provide happy memories for many years to come.

I’m also delighted to see that demand is picking up nicely once again. It’s good to see that Irish couples are looking beyond all the miserable news and thinking about their future, so thanks also to those that have booked for 2011 and 2012.

For anyone trying to contact us over the next few weeks, we will be unavailable from 23rd December to 27th December and will be accessing emails and vmails on a limited basis from then until 4th January. For those getting married over Christmas, don’t worry, we haven’t forgotten you!

Here is a selection of my favourites from the year. Use the multi-directional arrow on the bottom right to view full screen:

The pent-house at Aghadoe Heights Hotel is probably one of the best hotel suites in Ireland, never mind Kerry. However, the most inspiring part is outside the door - that view is amazing! Our bride below has fond memories of visiting her roots in Kerry, so I wanted to capture a shot that put her in the landscape. Positioned perfectly inside the window for her make up, the reflection of the Killarney lakes and mountains on the outside of the glass completed the look I wanted. Despite the fact that the angles can be very tricky to get right, I love working with reflections because they can result in story-telling images that are a little out of the ordinary. Some of my other favourites are in the slideshow below. Use the muti-directional arrow on the right to view full screen.

I really like the image below which is my favourite from the past couple of months. We had come to the end of our session and were heading back to the drinks reception. It rained heavily all day and since I normally get out from under the shelter to get the shots, I was pretty soaked. I let the others walk on and took a breather to dry off my gear when I noticed the shot below open up in front of me. I grabbed my camera, guessed the exposure and waited a few seconds for the couple to walk in to the right position.

I like the way that the lines in the image lead to the couple and the framing of them in the gap in the canopy puts them in a dominant position in the frame. The light coming through the trees leads your eye along the path and gives additional information about the location.

Some of my other favourites from the past couple of months are in the little show below. Click on the multi-directional arrow on the bottom right to view full screen:

The Ring Of Kerry on two wheels…

The image just below is my favourite from the last couple of months. There is nothing exceptional about it, it’s just a nice spontaneous moment snapped when the couple were goofing around between the bridal party shots. It’s real and it’s fun and that’s why I like it. It’s typical of what I love to shoot and the couples that book me want to see images like this more and more.

Here are the rest of my favourites, click on the multi-directional arrow at the bottom right to view full screen.

I’ve just finished editing a wedding that brought home the significance of photography to me once again and the lasting impression it can have.

For this particular wedding, we decided to use the same location where the brides mother had her wedding photographs taken. We also re-created a shot of the brides parents on the same spot where they stood for one of their own wedding photographs 40 years earlier (or as close to the spot as we could guess!). I also managed to get some shots of the bride getting ready that morning with a large print from that same image in the background which tied things in nicely from a storytelling point of view.

Sadly, the brides mother has passed away in the intervening 40 years but the images remain as powerful as ever and hopefully one day, her daughters wedding photographs will also serve as a reminder to the next generation of how beautiful she herself looked on her wedding day. Few things last as long as your photographs as they truly are an investment in your family heritage.