Andrew & Leighanne's wedding in Eston, Middlesbrough.

We where lucky with the weather today! After the weeks of changeable weather, today was bright glorious sunshine. But man was it cold!

Andrew and Leighanne booked us to do their wedding only a few weeks ago, only to find out that though Facebook Andrew was Gari’s cousin. Gari is one of my best mates and a fantastic singer!

So it felt strange to be doing a wedding for someone who I knew so well yet he didn’t even know I was going to be there.

This was our first wedding in South Bank and although the church looked normal from the outside when you went in the interior was stunning. Which made for some good back drops.

Andrew and Leighanne followed in a family tradition of having their wedding portrait taken outside the church in this very same spot as their parents and grand parents had previously.

Both Ruth and I wish them both the very best for the future.

Kirsty at the new Discovery Photography studio in Redcar

Kirsty emailed me through facebook asking if I would do a pregnancy shoot with her as she is due any month now!

Well due to work commitments I couldn’t do the shoot till after hours, we met at the studio just after five, which I think made her feel a little more relaxed, it isn’t easy doing a shoot like this even for a model.

She particually asked for some nice black and white low light images and after i had nearly killed her trying to chage the background and tripping over  my studio dog(wilf)  we shot for about on hour and here some of the results.

Michael & Rachael's wedding in Guisborough

Another wedding and our first in Guisborough, Michael and Rachael live just round the corner front the church and originally booked us quiet a while ago. Finally the day came when they tied the knot.

The weather been early autumn was very changeable and we had to keep ducking in and out of the church as the showers passed by! But once they had passed the light was truly amazing strong winter sunlight.

Heading out via Newton-Under- Roseberry we called to do some images with Roseberry Topping in the background, the blue skies made the shot worth getting and Rachael getting her dress dirty too!

Back at the Wainstones Hotel we took the family traditional shots and although we did these the images on this blog are 100% natural and un-posed! I’m sure Rachael and Michael have modelled before but not told us.

Rachel & James wedding day

Yet another wedding, we seem to have done really well this year so far, this one was a little different. Rachel had arranged to arrange at the church in a mini traction engine and the reception was at Danby Castle. She had also bought turquoise wellies and umbrellas just in case the weather turned nasty.

They where just begging for a shot, after covering the formal shots we broke out the wellies and umbrellas. This is something I had been waiting to take since Rachel mentioned it in when I first met her and James!

Liam & Katie wedding day

Liam & Katie seem to have booked me ages ago to cover their wedding, yet it appeared in the diary very quickly.

This was my first at Guisborough hall, and my assistant and second photographer seem to have been pulled away with other commitments so I was left one my own. I don’t mind this, but after a while working in a team its hard to adjust to cover everything yourself.

I seemed to manage and listening to the feed back from the guest everything was just perfect for them!

It was a fun wedding to cover with plenty of friendly banter between the guest and myself, which lead to a creation of the Liam fountain ( purely for this blog I may add not a pro photo for the album !)

Karen & John wedding day

I first met and Jon whilst in redcar high street, during a creative market. They approached me about capturing their special day for them and how they had brought it forward because of Karen’s mum been ill.

With everything in place the big day came. The weather wasn’t the best, it kept raining and the wind was so strong. However we weren’t going to be beaten. After Karen’s house we headed to the church, to arrive just before the bride. Karen looked stunning as she walked down the isle, only thing was I wasn’t expecting the flower girls to keep on walking and they practically walked straight up to the front of my camera!

Mid-service, while looking through my camera I took a step forward to take an image only to hit my elbow on the lectern, OOUUCCHH, it hurt. I am sure Karen laughed at this point!

Outside the church the weather had dried up but it was still blowing a gale so we decided to head back to the Starting Gate for the reception, there we would do the formal shots best we could.

This has got to be one of the tightest group shots I have had to do and I think it came out just perfect! Karen’s mum passed away a few weeks before the wedding but I am sure she will have been looking down and would be proud of the day. May I wish John and Karen all the very best for the future.

Adie & Pam Danby Castle

Danby castle is a wonderful venue when the weathers right and upon arriving there on Saturday morning the cloud seemed set in with the wind blowing too.

Adie had already arrived in a fantastic Daimler, just as Pam was arriving in a moment of almost god like command the clouds parted to leave a beautiful sunny and warm day.

This gave us some good opportunity to take some nice arty pictures and to show off our new Discovery Photography tops! Its great when the bride and groom are relaxed the images just flow from the onset.

Steve and Rachel at Wynyard Hall

A last minute wedding is always a bit of a rush to organise from our point of view, but it helps when the client, in this case Rachel and Steve are organised themselves. Rachel’s mum arranged us to cover their wedding very last minute as they weren’t going to both with a photographer. Yet with in a couple of days I had all the information I needed.

I am so glad they chose us; both Steve and Rachel are very fun loving people and this made for a very interesting and fun wedding.

The wedding was topped off by the venue, Wynyard hall. Its a magnificent building and this was our first visit.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank them both for choosing us and wish them all the very best for the future.

Sarah & Russ

Last Saturday Kirsty, Gilly and myself headed off to Grinkle Park Hotel, this was our first wedding we had covered there. So we arrived early to scope the venue and gardens, the weather was a blessing again bright lovely sunshine, 27 degrees predicted!

Great for new black shirts! We really should of thought about a winter and summer uniforms black certainly wasn’t the best colour for such a warm day!

In true British fashion we pulled though and carried on with the job in hand. Sarah and Russ had a very traditional wedding and with a good mix of traditional images and contemporary reportage style.

Now working with two photographer s our clients get a good selection to choose from, and with Gilly organising the group photos, Team discovery operates with precision and has the least impact on the bride and grooms day, after all its their day not ours.

Congratulations Sarah and Russ from the Team Discovery.

Family shoot

I have known Fiona, since I worked at Bike Scene and strangely enough our paths have crossed again.

She booked me for a family shoot on Sunday. It was nice to work with clients who simply have a laugh and relax. Fiona had quite specific idea and once we got the images then it was just the trouble of getting the fine details sorted.

Toni & Jay Whitby

On Saturday we covered Toni and Jay’s wedding. They are a lovely couple from Yorkshire who have connection to Whitby and because of this decided to get married there. Jay is in the military and you could tell, we all thought Gilly had a commanding voice… well! It was a fantastically busy Saturday in the height of spring and the weather was beautifully sunny day.

Photographing weddings in such a prominent place can be quite daunting, especially somewhere like Whitby, it got so busy that it was hard to wok out who where guests and who where tourists looking on. Luckily we all had new discovery shirts on and gave a very professional impression. I would like to wish them both the very best for the future and hope to be hearing from them soon.

7 models, 2 hair stylists, 2 clothing stylist, 1 make up artist, 1 videographer and me!

Sunday morning 9AM….. As if you would be at work at that time! We for those of you that know me well that’s quite usual for me, I think I am becoming a work addict and might need help.

There was a reason for this; I had been in discussions with Sally, who owns Kiwi Boutique in Guisborough. She wanted some images for her new online shop (www.kiwiboutique.co.uk) which is due to launch very soon.  So at the drop of a hat I had arranged seven models, two hair stylists, one make up artist and one videographer. Sometimes a team that large is very difficult to control but everyone agreed and turned up no worries and simply got on with the job – I like it when that happens. Sue

and Bernie of Be All You Can, who we share the building with where very good in letting us use another room other than the studio, as a green room, especially on their weekend off.

I have been wanting to another big shoot for a while, something I could get my teeth into. Ever since I had the tasted the stress, with the Angelic Bulldog shoot that we did

This seemed the perfect fix, so after everyone introducing themselves we kicked off and waited for the first few to be made up, have their hair done and styled. Then it was almost a continuous click for the rest of the day until we had finished the full range. Obviously a maccy d’s for lunch was in order but even that went down fast so we could continue.

This morning whilst I am writing this, it seems to be a blur exactly what went one yesterday!

Anyway I just want to say thank you to Sally and Steph of Kiwi Boutique, Carla and Sarah from Saks for the Hair, Gilly for her fantastic make up, Adam from New breed films for the videography and finally but certainly not least the models, Adele W, Kirsty, Carla, Sam, Adele C, Danielle and Shannon it was a pleasure working with all you.

Keep an eye out for the video edit of the day it’s coming soon!!!!!!!!

Good time memories.....

A few years ago I had a shop on Skinner Street, Whitby. North East Outdoor, it does surprise me of the number of people I meet and as soon as I tell them about the shop they recall it and what they bought. Strange how certain things stay with you and come back to you, Bike Scene is another example, and the number of people I have met recently that remember me from Bike Scene is daft!

We I closed the shop to safe guard the business against the recession, however it mean that running it internet only ( shameless plug discoveryphotography.co.uk) it gave me chance to follow a line of work that is fast becoming my career – photography.

I had half the shop as a photo gallery which seemed to open a few doors to kick start the path, however this is massively digressing and very boring for all you out there.

My shop was a few doors down from Bothams bakers and like most people in Whitby it seemed to be my favourite breakfast and lunchtime retreat. After a few months you kinda get to know the girls behind the counter and start to get some friendly banter, one that sticks in my mind is Carol, now having only had chat over a breakfast bun for a few years it was strange to be picking her up from Whitby to come for a model shoot with me. This came about because Michelle (one of my first models I ever worked with) is one of her close friends.  I had chatted to both of them on facebook about coming over for a shoot someday and that day was Saturday! However Michelle was starting her new job (congrats Michelle btw) so it ended up Carol and me. Gilly joined us back at the studio and after a quick cup of tea we started shooting, Carol had only ever done one shoot before for her 21^st, so to be in a studio was still a little strange for her and you tell she was nervous. However once our usual banter started between me and Gilly, she soon settled down and had some good fun. After all what’s the point of doing something if it isn’t fun?

I haven’t heard off  Carol yet so I hope she enjoyed the shoot and the liked the images, Gilly and me certainly did, I leave it far too long to do day shoots. Cant wait to work with her again, got loads more in mind to do! J

The shoot within a shoot.

Well, this blog is a little different in the sense that I am blogging about a shoot, but not about the model.

 Sometimes those images you capture while waiting for the model to be ready or those one off ones that just catch the shutter. Especially when I sometimes work with other photographers.

These images came from the Goth shoot that I did for Claries portfolio the other day, whilst working with Dave, need I say more? These images are priceless!

L'Oreal Competition

Carla asked if I would be wiling to take an image for her and friends to put into the L’Oreal competition.  They had arranged a model and had spent some time sorting the fantastic hair design they had come up with. A couple of shots later and there was the image. Printed and delivered today – turned round in record time. Good luck ladies!

Shoots and coffee

This was Anna’s second shoot,  Anna has been a friend for ages, her brother was friends with me at school. But now I am closer to her than Chris, again MSN and Facebook have a lot to answer to. Not that I’m saying I spend every second of everyday online chatting far to busy for that!

But its always nice to chat like humans you know face to face? Well I owe Anna a hell of a lot of posh coffee. So the best I could offer was for her to come round to the studio for a quick shoot and normal coffee