Archive for July, 2008
Rachel, Alistair and Mark
Posted by Paul in For Website, Lifestyle on July 30th, 2008
A warm, summer’s evening, utterly gorgeous light and absolutely brilliant clients. A perfect session.
This job came about in the nicest ways possible – a previous client referral. The majority of our work has always been won in this manner but I still find it gratifying that customers love our work enough to recommend us to friends and family. Now that is a proper compliment!
On this particular sunny evening, I opted for a change and we headed to the northern end of Haddenham – somewhere I haven’t really photographed quite so much. I’m really pleased we did as it gave us some completely new locations to work in and some really beautiful light. I think these images are lovely – really simple and it’s all about the expressions which says as much about how easy the guys were to work with as it does about the camera work!
I think some of these images would look fantastic as part of a multi-image frame or as images in an album as they’re really striking. One or two look set for our permanent portfolio!
If the summer continues to roll on like this we’re going to have a ball this season with tons of gorgeous images. Fantastic!
Let us know what you think.
Cheers
P.
A little taste of Italy – and it opens on Friday!
Posted by Paul in Commercial, For Website on July 28th, 2008
Sometimes a job comes along that is a match made in heaven. This is one of thoooose jobs.
Having spent years commuting in and out of London and drinking copious quantities of the fabulous Italian coffee that Simon & Cathrine serve up in Haddenham Station – seriously, I don’t think I would have survived the commuting if it wasn’t for them delivering divine caffeine at 6 in the morning – it is with some anticipation that we prepare for the opening of the “Little Italy Espresso Bar” at the end of the High Street. Fantastic!
The Espresso Bar is going to look exactly as you might expect from Simon and Cathrine i.e. utterly stunning. The old forge has been transformed by Steve (who you’ve no doubt seen working in their for the past months) Tony (all the paintwork) and not forgetting Baker (the ever-present paint-speckled terrier) into what has got to be one of the nicest places for coffee and a baguette that I’ve yet set foot into. The attention to detail is impressive to put it mildly (Steve gets pretty frustrated if things don’t line up exactly!) but it still has that wonderful easy-going atmosphere that completely reflects Simon and Cathrine.
And with wireless t’interweb, newspapers, a decked area outside to catch some rays, the best coffee this side of Milan (ignoring the two shops they also run at Bicester and Haddenham stations of course) and the most hospitable service imaginable, what more could you ask for? Oh, and it’s also only a hundred yards from my back door so things just couldn’t be better!
I have been lucky enough over the past few months to have been sorting out the photography with them for their new venture and it’s finally due to open this FRIDAY morning! So I thought I’d show, with their permission I might add, some of the images we’ve captured both for and of the venue to give just a little taste of what is to come.
We’ll see you in the bar on Friday!
Cheers
Paul “Large White Americano” Wilkinson 
Those halcyon days of summer…
Posted by Paul in For Website, Lifestyle on July 28th, 2008
It’s hot. And I love it.
Saturday seemed to be rippling with heat by the time I arrived to do this shoot – and that was at 10 in the morning! Ah, bliss.
I enjoyed this family session enormously (and not because of the weather – though it always helps) but because everyone just seemed really happy and chilled throughout. Even the dog (a very bouncy Brittany Spaniel – of which I can’t say I’ve ever met another to benchmark against) appeared to have not yet lost the bounce from his bungee. Far from it!
Kathryn, Luke, William and Harry are the most easy-going and hospitable family you could wish to meet – particularly when you think I bowled up at 10 o’clock on a Saturday morning when a good chunk of the nation had barely stirred.
We drank coffee (ah, the first coffee on a summer’s morning – now why does that always taste so divine?), we took photos, more coffee, more photos… You get the drift. And just look at the results. Lovely! William, aged 5, in particular seems destined for a life in front of a camera of some sort or another. He could pretty much switch it on to order – in fact, the challenge was occasionally trying to turn it back off again!
William also has the distinction (and one I have to admit I was immensely touched by) of having enjoyed himself sufficiently to warrant him drawing – and presenting me with – a “thank you” picture. How good is that? A big chunk of this job is keeping people happy and relaxed in front of the camera, and it clearly works!
What a fantastic way to spend a Saturday morning.
PS. I have included William’s picture as the last item on the blog as I think it’s very cool.
Wedding Showreel
Posted by Paul in For Website, General, Weddings on July 22nd, 2008
I haven’t quite worked out where we’re going to put this on the website yet – I need to move a few things around.
However, I’m really excited about having finished the first cut of this year’s showreel and so wanted to get it visible while we work out some slight redesigns on the site to incorporate it properly.
I’d really appreciate any feedback on this as it’s the first time we’ve run a proper online slideshow so let us know what you think.
Enjoy!
Cheers
P.
Helen & Keith’s Wedding
Posted by Paul in For Website, Weddings on July 19th, 2008
Awesome. Just awesome.
Helen and Keith’s wedding was fantastic – a fabulous family’n'friends affair – all of whom made us feel unbelievably welcome.
The wedding was over at Cobham Church in leafy Surrey (what is it with Surrey and its ability to sustain trees?) and for the reception Helen and Keith had transformed their already stunning, velvety back lawn with a gorgeous pair of marquees. Both Helen and Keith have an eye for detail, and this clearly showed in the way everything had been done. There are a few stately homes that could take note!
And the rain pretty much held off. Given the forecast we’d been watching all week this was lucky in the extreme. To be fair, though, Helen and Keith had left nothing to chance and had erected a second marquee to keep everyone dry, just in case.
We had been kindly introduced to them by one of the best makeup-artists we’ve had the pleasure of working with – Angela Kille – who we worked with eighteen months ago in Winchester. Her work is gorgeous (er, not that anyone here needed it of course! ) and she is very funny to work with! It also just happens that she is Helen’s sister-in-law.
I love working at a wedding where we can laugh all day and this was definitely one of those weddings. Everyone was having a brilliant time which makes it an absolute ball for us too.
The only minor issue-et on the day (apart from the ever-present risk of a little weather) was that the vicar must have previously had an awful experience with another photographer or two (sigh, why do we give ourselves such a bad name) and was quite clear in his directive that I wasn’t to move around the church during the service at all: pretty much wherever I ended up after Helen and Keith had arrived at the front, that’s where I was to stay put.
Now, please don’t get me wrong on this, I work really hard not to be noticed during such a romantic and, of course, religious event as it’s just not the way I like to work. However. When it came to Keith’s sister did one of the readings, I was stuck at a an awkward angle and couldn’t get a perfect shot of her. Well not much of her. Hands? Yes. Fascinator? Yes (who thinks up these names?!!) Large, gold, eagle lectern? yes! Face? urm. Not ideal.
Still, this did give us an opportunity later on to recreate the shot. I do have to admit, this wasn’t quite what I’d intended when I asked to get a picture of Sue: all I had wanted was to ensure we had a really lovely shot of her to make the album, but we somehow ended up recreating a small, but wildly energetic congregation in the garden – consisting, I believe, of Sue’s brothers and family – with Sue pretending, in a slightly more extravagant manner than the first time I might add, to once more deliver her piece. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so much at a wedding.
I love my job!
Cheers
P.
Dom’s 21st
Posted by Paul in Events, For Website, Lifestyle on July 15th, 2008
I do like a good party, even if I’m there mainly to grab a some photos of the “life and soul” within rather than as a guest!
We have photographed the Butler family quite a lot over the past few years, and it is always an absolute pleasure to work with them. I know I bang on about how nice our clients are (that, and the state of the weather of course) but I genuinely do have what must be the nicest set of clients around! And they invite us to parties
Anyway, this particular event was Dom’s 21st (Happy Birthday!!) and I was there just to capture a little of the spirit of the celebrations – and believe me, it did appear to be a proper party!
As we had a prior booking on the day, I couldn’t get there until the very end of the evening and so it was, with no small degree of trepidation I might add, that I found myself arriving right into the midst of things – a party that had been in full swing for the previous 4 hours!
Luckily this is the Butler household and their ability to hold a party and fill it to the brim with a heady mix of unbelievably friendly people is second to none – at least in my experience. So, when I arrived, everyone was clearly having a magnificent evening and made me exceedingly welcome. Which is always a good start!
Although one or two guests did look suspiciously to have enjoyed their evening just a little more enthusiastically than others (they were particularly difficult to keep locked in the viewfinder due to their somewhat unpredictable swaying and may well have gone on to rue their uncurbed enthusiasm the following morning), we have some images that hopefully squeeze into a picture just what an amazing time everyone was having!
Here are just a few of those images – please forgive me if any look like I was trying to hold a camera steady on a bouncing dance-floor but that’s exactly what was going on. And it was brilliant!
Let us know what you think.
Cheers
P.
Water, water everywhere…
Posted by Paul in For Website, Lifestyle on July 13th, 2008
Sometimes you just need to ride out your luck!
We had this session with Chris, Simon, Zed, Daisy, Felicity (Flick – this nicknames is definitely cooler than most!) and Sue booked in for a couple of weeks and, at the time we made the booking, we were enjoying what looked like the perfect summer to come. Then last week happened. All I can say is that Monday was wet.
Except for the couple of hours in which we grabbed these shots.
We did have the studio set up and ready but, as you’ll have figured from reading the blog, I will always work outside in natural light if I can. Or, more importantly, if our clients are happy. I am acutely aware that I don’t think anything of working in the pouring rain – however, it’s not the nicest way to get cool images of people. So we grabbed the first hour or so in the studio while the weather seemed intent on flooding the village and then, completely unexpectedly, the sun suddenly emerged! I can’t say it was exactly warm (and there was standing water everywhere) but after the deluge we had been having, it seemed positively tropical!
I think we have a really lovely set of images that I’m excited about showing everyone. Some really nice gentle black and whites from the studio and a load of really cool “lifestyle” type images that are probably what we’re best known for (has anyone actually ever sat down and worked out what that description means? Who’s lifestyle does it refer to? Beats me – but still, they are gorgeous images to own and have has a framed image or one of our albums!
Also, we’ve just put a new image and slideshow viewer onto the blog. It’s a bit different to having loads of images scattered around – I had a sudden urge to tidy things up a little. It’s a flash component so it should pretty much work for everyone. If you have any troubles just let us know. We’d also love to hear any feedback about it or the album viewer that we loaded earlier last week.
Let us know
Thanks! P.
One for the community spirits
Posted by Paul in Events, For Website on July 11th, 2008
One of my favourite events of the year (and not for the reasons you might expect – although I do admit I don’t object to an occassional pint!) is the Haddenham Real Ale Festival.
Our home town of Haddenham is an almost perfect location to live (I believe we have the distinction of being voted one of the most desirable places to live in the UK); it is unbelievably picturesque and, more importantly, has a fantastic community spirit. And its brilliant when everyone comes together for one of the numerous village events – of which, I think this is by far the most enjoyable!
This year the sun shone and the place was packed. Awesome. Even with over 60 barrels of ale and numerous ciders/perries/pimms, it was still running out around when we left around 6pm. This has become somewhat of a tradition (if not a challenge!) with the festival – even though the number of barrels has increased dramatically over the years, so has the size of the crowd!
This year we sponsored one of the ales – “Snapshot” which I have to say was a really lovely beer. We sponsored it for the name of course, so the fact that it was an award-winning beer was somewhat of a surprise bonus.
So another great year for the beer festival (they pump all the profits back into village projects which is awesome) and another great community event.
Here’s looking forward to the winter festival!
Emma & Dan’s album
Posted by Paul in For Website, Weddings on July 10th, 2008
We shot this wedding a year ago this week (Happy Anniversary!!) – and it occurred to me that it would be a beautiful album to put up on the blog.
Their wedding was absolutely amazing to photograph – the venue was Hampton Court House near Kingston (a stunning stately home that is now a private school) and the weather somewhat unexpectedly shone. Given that back here in Haddenham it threw it down with rain all day, you can understand how surprised we were!
We also photographed them both – as we always do with our wedding couples – in a more relaxed pre-wedding session. I love these sessions (you can see others on the blog) as they give us a chance to work together in advance of the day itself. We get a load of beautiful images of the couple in a natural setting and (possibly just as importantly) we have a laugh and a welcome chance to make sure we’re all comfortable.
The ultimate outcome is that we have a set of images that are really lovely – very much a direct reflection of Emma & Dan, their family and their friends.
I thought I’d show the finished album design. You should see these custom-made albums first-hand:- the beautiful leather covers, the stunning printing and the sheer construction quality of these make them the best available anywhere in the world (do you get the feeling we’re very proud of them?!)
In the meantime, however, have a flick through this online version (just click on the page corners to turn each page) and let us know what you think.
Henry Floyd Ball
Posted by Paul in Events, For Website on July 3rd, 2008
I wouldn’t describe myself as an event photographer. The idea of instant selection and printing 
smacks too much of Alton Towers for me (though don’t get me wrong here, I’m as partial to an instant photograph of me looking green and screaming my head off with my kids as much the next person) and this is really not what we’re about.
I’m very proud of the quality of imagery and product that we produce and consequently have shied away from the instantaneous sale that seems so prevailant at balls and events.
What I really like is to take time over each image to create something that is unique and will last a lifetime. OK, so possibly a little self-indulgent but you get my drift. This quality is something we’re continually working on to ensure we always deliver the best that we are able. When you see one of our prints you should a) instantly know it’s one of ours and b) be absolutely confident that you’ve bought something to be proud of for a very long time to come.
But here’s the thing.
We are, like all photography outfits, frequently asked to photograph at events and balls. If, and 
only if, it’s for a cause I really believe in or it’s related to a client who has been a friend of our business, we might just agree to it. Provided, of course, we can still create the same level of service as we would, say, at a wedding. Something that we can be proud of.
The Sir Henry Floyd School Prom is one of those events. Both Coral and Rory (you don’t have to look far down our blog to find pictures of them – they’re both friends to the business and, through that, to us personally) attended this school. Originally as a favour last year to Coral, we photographed their 2007 prom and, subsequently, we’ve done the same this year for Rory. This time at The Oxfordshire Golf Club – a favourite venue for us. And, just like last year, this year has been an absolutely ball – if you’ll forgive the pun.
We still didn’t provide instant photos though.
Instead, I shot throughout the evening using a huge white backdrop and a handful of lights – 
and I just captured images as if I were in our studio – but with the added benefit of a full soundsystem pounding away and 150 people seemingly trying to get in front of the camera all at once! By the way, if anyone would like to post the name of the DJ I’ll happily put them up ’cause he was awesome (as he was last year at the same gig).
The images are then provided for sale exactly as they would have been from, say, one of our weddings or portrait sessions. That way, when an image is ordered, we can provide exactly the same high level of quality that I would for any other session – admittedly this doesn’t provide that instant gratification of being able to take home a cheap print on the night (usually battered and covered in champagne mind you) but it does mean you get a beautiful mounted print that you can enjoy for a lot of years to come.
Which is exactly the way it should be!
Here are just a few of my favourite images from the night. Let us know what you think.
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