Angie & Sham's Winter Wedding

Angie had made her preference for a winter wedding known to Sham some time ago. Her other main request was that they also had a Routemaster bus. Angie's wishes were both realised. On Friday 17th December 2010, Angie Ashley and Sham Rekhaye exchanged their vows and publicly expressed their love for one another at the Weybridge Register Office. It was out 390th wedding and this was the loveliest register office in our almost 30 year history of wedding photography. A much larger set of these images is available on the TPS Website

From the register office where we took loads of group and family image shots (again more detail at the TPS site) we then progressed back to the Warren Lodge Hotel where more surprises were in store for us. The main surprise for me was how the hotel only had 3 stars. I concede that I didn't take a room, so my overview of the premises is based on that of an observer who photographed the venue and staff and watched the interaction throughout the day, but what I saw, the food I ate, the arrangements and meticulous attention to detail for getting orders and instructions correct made it 5 stars in my somewhat less than humble opinion. Nothing appeared to be too much trouble and the grounds were beautiful. The hotel also (like me) has an interesting rock and roll history too.

The rear of the Weybridge Register Office. With less than a week until the Winter solstice, the group shots had to be taken here and with some concerns about mobility and inclusion, I was very pleased that our compromise on location allowed everyone to be included. A truly lovely bunch of people there to share in a lovely day.

Angie gets her Routemaster.

Morocco

The 12th October was my wife Sian's 50th birthday and earlier this year it was planned for us both to travel with 4 other friends to Morocco and climb up to the top peak of the Atlas Mountains Mt Toubkal. I had travelled to Tangiers during my time in the submarine service 30 years ago, but this was my first trip to the Marrakech region.

Our first stay was at the Kasbah du Toubkal. A breathtaking locale with great food and hospitality. The downside of this was the obvious inaccessibility for anyone with impaired mobility, but that's certainly not an issue that is exclusive to North Africa. My wheelchair-using friends can't get off the tube at Willesden to see me at home because of a flight of stairs that are just as inaccessible as the final footpath to the Kasbah. The short ascent to the accommodation was via foot over a steep rocky path. Our luggage was transported from our taxi in the village via mules for the last 500 metres of the journey.

Kasbah du Toubkal

The venue runs, like TPS, as a workers cooperative and a 5% levy is applied to the food and accommodation bill to support the local village. The site is decorated with stunning images taken by Alan Keohane whose work appeared on the walls at almost everywhere we went in Morocco. Both the Kasbah and Alan's photographic work are linked to another project that funds education for all in the country. By the time we'd left the area, our group were already planning their own fund raising events to support the education initiatives there.

At 4AM on the intended day of our final 900 metre ascent to the summit of Mt Toubkal, we encountered 85 MPH winds and snow. As the primary reason for climbing this was to take some panoramic images from the Toubkal summit (at 4165 metres, it's Morocco's highest peak) we decided that staying in our bunks at the refuge would be a better option.

In retrospect, this was a very good idea and later that day we walked back to the Kasbah. My blood glucose meter which had been in a bag, within a bag, within a bag was soaking (that horizontal rain gets everywhere) and gave me error messages instead of recording my blood glucose levels. One of the real problems with diabetes in cold climates is that if someone suffers a low blood sugar (hypoglycaemia) one of the additional difficulties encountered is that in order to save depleted energy/glucose, the body automatically slows things down when hypoglycaemic. The really dangerous legacy of this is that you involuntarily stop shivering. Hypoglycaemia can therefore be quickly followed by hypothermia. In lieu of a working meter and despite having really quite good warning signs of low glucose I decided to top up with sugary snacks on the way down as a prophylactic measure. My resultant glucose level on return to the Kasbah and a dry working meter was 25.6 mmols/L (this is far too high - normal range is 4- 8 in people without diabetes). This was particularly annoying as I had remained in homoeostasis (normal levels) throughout the previous day's strenuous ascent. Still - worse things happen at sea.

On the two day trip up and back down the mountain we passed a number of small isolated shacks and refuges where people from the village would trek to each day in order to make sufficient money from passing climbers to support their families. Improvisation and business acumen seemed to prevail everywhere here. Below is a home made refrigerator for cooling soft drinks - the water supply hose is pressurised from a stream above.

We left the Kasbah du Toukbal on Sian's actual birthday and returned to Marrakech where we stayed at the best "hotel" I'd ever encountered. The Dar Zemora is more of a small palace than a hotel and if they ever introduce a category of 6 star, based on the attention to detail and customer service, then Dar Zamora will qualify in my somewhat less than humble opinion. Their web site just doesn't do the place justice and it was luxurious, friendly and relaxing. The venue has been reviewed by so many high profile travel publications from UK national broadsheet travel supplements via Tatler to Conde Nast.

We spent a couple of days walking through Marrakech city centre, a sharp contrast to the decadence of our accommodation about 3Km away. Any traveller who's been to Morocco will know of the street hassling and abject poverty. Tourism is the mainstay of income for most people there, so hopefully our small contributions made a bit of difference.

Adeloa and Aniru

On Friday 1st October 2010 - Nigeria's 50th anniversary of independence day, Adeola Ramsay and Aniru Shyllon tied the knot at St Mary Magdalene in Enfield Middlesex. Reverend Gordon Giles runs a tight ship up there in Windmill Hill but his service was so very relevant to the future lives of this lovely couple.

What I've been careful to do for the blog is use images only taken inside - which most of them were. At the times most of these images were taken the wind speed was 18 MPH and from 11:00 until midnight we had a pretty solid downpour of rain. Of course a soggy day wasn't going to stop the wedding or diminish any of the love that Adeloa and Aniru have for one another, but it was a shame that the grounds of the church and hotel were out of bounds due to horizontal rain.

Church entrances, arches, doorways, coves and green bridges almost always provide a bit of shelter with great light for images even in the rain, just like this one above of the bridesmaids.

My two lovely accomplices Sarah and Nedine (below) were given the opportunity to shoot from the bell tower and the view (above) was what they had to look at. It's a tough old job being a photographer you know. Actually taking the images is usually the best bit because it's fun and what we like doing best.

What clients rarely see is the hours of work that follows ...backing up images, clearing out the shots that don't work (flash didn't fire/granddad walked into shot as it was taken etc) then arranging them in some form of viewable package, be it proof book, slide show or disc of images, then the blog, website, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, press releases, follow ups to the 20 emails given to you by the guests, the design, editing, clearing up of albums, thank you cards, recharging batteries, replacing and reformatting memory cards, sending back up discs to a remote locale. "Archives are lost via three main methods - Fire, Flood and Theft" (source Tony Benn's diaries, albeit he was quoting someone else when he wrote this). So the images are safe and have been dispatched for the perusal of the bride and groom and the next day it all starts again. I wouldn't have it any other way, but I could do with a months worth of lessons on how to do things better on the computer (like throw the thing out of the window sometimes).

Anyway - because of the late running of the day and more relevant, the weather - we set up theBowens kit in a lovely huge space in the Royal Chase Hotel. The staff at the hotel were fantastic and it was a breath of fresh air to work alongside friendly people who had clearly been really well trained. Decent customer attention always gets a recommendation from me. 5* venue and the grub was great too.

The idea of the mini studio was for couples and groups of up to five to have a picture taken using proper studio lighting and backdrops. We rarely do this at weddings as the grounds of the venue normally allows for use of props with natural light. Adeola was ready to party now the speeches and other formalities were out of the way, but she let us grab this one before she went off dancing. A much greater selection as always is on our web site, but you'll need a password from Adeloa or Aniru to be able to see them. They're at TPS Photos Adeola & Aniru.

HDR Software - a recommendation.

I'm usually the first to shout "foul" when things go wrong so believe it's only fair to give credit where due on the occasions things go right. It's only usually when things go wrong you see just how good or bad any company is. I really get infuriated when I'm on a pay to complain number on hold listening to recorded music that would be banned from a prison to prevent rioting inmates. Or the on line alternative AKA sifting through a labyrinth of useless absolutely useless FAQ's whilst desperately looking for the email direct button. I'm quite capable of writing up an explanation that qualifies my query, what I need and even how I can pay for it, but that of course involves employing people to read my enquiry.

Enough bitching, but I'm sure I can't be alone in being a responsible person who pays for licensed software and registers everything to ensure that the inherent customer service/technical support is there should anything go wrong and then can't get anywhere near even basic "support". No wonder forums are so successful.

So I upgraded to a 64 bit PC a while back and also wanted to reinstall one of my two licensed copies of Photomatix Pro 3 which I bought in a bundle a short while ago. When I visited the Photomatix site I noticed that there was an upgrade available, but there was a problem sorting out the transfer to the new PC because my codes didn't match. A quick email answered very quickly by Andreas sorted out my problem (which was actually my fault).

It has renewed my faith in customer services and places Photomatix' software even higher up my list of people/companies I'm happy to do business with.

So for the non photographers, what does this HDR thing do? Well the previous link to their site gives a much better description and some great images of what it does, but I thought I'd post a few examples of stuff that Tom Ivory has done for the coop in recent weeks.

This work was all done with the now replaced V3. Free upgrade cometh today to V4.

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In order to get the darkest corners of the church illuminated, we would have needed to crank up the exposure so high that (as in the above image) the light coming in through the main window would have burnt out the whole area surrounding it. All these images were taken at Sarah & Richard's wedding earlier this month and subject of a previous blog entry.

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To expose the main church window correctly however would have put the rest of the church in darkness. Photomatix Pro used a selection of images (usually at least 3) that cover the range of exposure levels from darkest to lightest and in lay terms merges them. The result can sometimes look awful as skin tones might make Gran look like she's made of leather etc, so it doesn't always work but tone mapping software is integral to the Photomatix arsenal and included within the software pack, helping to create much more realistic tones and colours.

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The image above is the result from this work.
Tom also used HDR for this salvage shot after we'd run out of light and they wanted an outdoor group shot. We used 3 Canon off camera flashes triggered with the ST-E2.

Natalie & Arber

On Saturday 25th September Natalie and Arber married at the Ponsbourne Park Hotel. The venue is a great one stop wedding shop with impressive grounds creating so may great photo opportunities. The joy of this sort of venue is that if we experience horizontal rain and need to use studio lighting, sheltered doorways and umbrellas, we only have to empty the car once. If it's a two or three venue event, then it all has to be unpacked and packed up again (in between sweeping up the confetti from the church steps and getting to the reception to shoot them getting out of the car).

Having everything under one roof where there is ample parking and facilities is a real joy. Sadly it's being knocked down in 2011 and a state of the art training centre is to replace the grand old buildings apparently.

These images were taken by me with Martin Malocco riding in the second seat. Martin covered Rod & Teresa's wedding with me just over a year ago and I'm also to shoot his daughter Maria's wedding to Kevin in September next year with the legendary Marta Demartini from HM Digiart.

Natalie's bridesmaids were predominantly women she'd gone to school with. The sororal networking in the years that have passed since their full time education was evident throughout the day and featured in Natalie's father's speech which reduced several people to tears as well as fits of laughter as he jumped from moving to mirth. After 388 weddings I've heard quite a few speeches but Natalie's dad Brian offered an outstanding performance that people were still enthusing about 5 hours later as I left.

During our consultation earlier this year at their home in Hornsey, North London, the two of them expressed the desire to have a traditional mounted album. It was the first time I've been asked to do this since our transition from film to digital cameras, but within 6 weeks we'd had another two bookings with the bride and grooms also requesting mounted albums. From talking to some of my peers at the Society of Wedding and Portrait Photographers It would appear that this trend towards "proper" printed photos in mounted albums is enjoying a resurgence across the UK.

As with most weddings, dancing featured towards the end of the day and an impromptu training session took place on the dance floor between dining courses.

We have always prided ourselves in adding something special for our clients and their guests if we can help. Over the years this has ranged from use of a set of jump leads to start the vintage Daimler that had broken down to sewing up a torn seam on the grooms trousers. On this occasion a couple of the guests had run out of things they needed that the hotel couldn't provide, so after a 7 mile drive and lots of "sorry mate not here" we managed to get what they needed. All part of the service - or as they say at Tesco's who own the property "Every little helps".

A full set of images are available on our TPS web site.

Sarah & Richard

On Saturday 18th September after a decade together, Richard and Sarah tied the knot at Hanwell Methodist Church.

Given away by her father Keith, Sarah looked stunning and drew a gasp from Richard as she entered the church. There were a number of readings, some fun, others more serious and the best choir I've ever encountered in almost 30 years of wedding photography.

The reception was held at the Trailfinders Sports Club, refurbished after a major fire destroyed their old premises.

I worked on this shoot with Tom Ivory, an established member of the TPS cooperative whose artistic eye always has great value in our post production. His Photoshop skills are legendary and although we always try to get things right in camera, he's been known to carry out some very tasteful cosmetic surgery from time to time. None were needed on this occasion however.

We'd like to wish Sarah and Richard a long, fruitful, happy and loving marriage that they deserve.

As always there are a full set of images at the TPS Website.

Keri and Danny's Wedding 7th August 2010

Saturday 7th (that's yesterday everyone - less than 24 hours after the event - I'm finally getting quicker at this blogging milarky) saw the wedding of Keri and Danny in St Joseph's Church Harrow Weald. The day started (unsurprisingly) with breakfast. Here's Keri at her mum and dad's place in Stanmore, NW London.

I've worked a few times before with TPS cooperative member Nedine O'Brien of Fera Photography and it's always been an absolute joy to do so, but yesterday was our first wedding together. My 385th wedding but and far from Nedine's first attempt, but just the first one we'd done together. Here she is pictured with her yellow BWM limousine. Apparently it has a name!

Next blog issue will be on our return from Zeeburg and the 5 yearly Sail Amsterdam shoot. watch this space folks....

Pride 2010

The long overdue heatwave and bright sunny day blighted most of my attempts to get decent marketable London Pride shots without an assistant. I usually post a whole selection of my Pride images on our web site, but not this year given the poor quality/low volume - partly because of the restrictions on my movements, part exhaustion from carrying too much kit and mainly because (unusually) I was working for a client organisation whose permission I didn't have to freely post the images I did take whilst in their employment.

Peter Tatchell got on stage and helped celebrate the 40 years of achievements since the Gay Liberation Front first came to the fore. He also wrote a piece for Saturday's Guardian about the progress that had been made in his lifetime.

The event seemed to go well and most people were in great spirit, but I have to say I preferred the event when it finished in a park. Trafalgar Square (no pun intended on the use of Square here folks) unlike a big park, lacks huge open spaces for people to rest on the grass and take in the entertainment.

Anyone with even fairly mild claustrophobia I reckon would have been deterred from attending the post march event as it was just too congested. Disability access also appears to have been overlooked yet again. Westminster Council doesn't recognise blue badges and that's just the start. Whilst not everyone's disabilities are visible, I can't ever remember a time when there were fewer wheelchair users than I saw yesterday. I wasn't sure if it was a protest, or just that people with impaired mobility were prevented from getting in, in significant numbers.

Disability access and provisions have been the subject of a number of complaints in past Pride events. Last year a 28 page damning report was written on the failing of organisers to facilitate even the basic requirements of their licensing conditions with regard to heath & safety as it applies to people with disabilities. One of the senior appointed organising personnel repeatedly failed to respond to communications from key players within the disability movement.

The organiser's legal requirements under the Disability Discrimination Act and (despite Pride receiving funds from the public purse) the Public Sector Duty to Promote Disability all appear to have been largely overlooked.

I'm waiting to hear from the people I trust within the disability movement to see if this year was again fraught with problems caused by malaise, mismanagement, lethargy, contempt, a lack of funding or some other reason why it couldn't be made fully inclusive. It's a real shame if such an important event can't be properly joined up and accessible for people who already live with enough barriers because of their sexual orientation without adding disablism to the pot. Despite the lovely warming welcoming hug from a steward as I arrived at the side of the stage, I didn't dare venture anywhere near it with the aforementioned over packed bag of camera gear and restricted space.

If anyone on the organising team reads this - Can we have it in an accessible park for 2011 please?

In these times where everyone (well mainly politicians and dodgy employers to be precise) keep talking about "Modernisation" when they actually mean "Cuts" it strikes me that real modernisation would be a move away from people receiving "Empire" medals. (eg BEM, MBE, OBE, KBE etc). The word Empire is steeped in racism and is really so out of date that it should be scrapped in favour of some sort of award for British excellence - an idea I first heard from Benjamin Zephaniah in 2003.

I'm also puzzled that we live in the United Kingdom when we haven't had a King in over 50 years. Surely it's now the United Queendom? I never got to find out if this person agreed or not as I was moved on by the stewards. I must get a press pass next year.

Queens Park Community School

Last night - 30th June 2010 the upper sixth form (well that's what we used to call it) at Queens Park Community School held their end of school party and awards celebration. Here are just some of them.

Amy Permaul is in the centre of the above image with her sister Ella next to her. You may recognise them from the January 2009 snow shoot in Roundwood Park. Inevitably my work crosses paths with my social life and it's so lovely to have a photographic archive of friends, colleagues and neighbours to look back on in years to come. Below is Ella again with her Dad Mark - another good friend whom I've known for over 20 years.

And finally this image is a real joy for me. I've known Beth since she was in primary school with my daughter who's a few years younger, but despite her loveliness she has remained one of the most cameraphobic people I've encountered.

With our commitment to displaying "nothing without consent" I knew that getting pictures of Beth that she approved would obviously require a very special set of circumstances or someone worth getting photographed with. This is Mizan. Obviously worth it methinks.

It was a lovely night of celebration and the school Jazz band played too. A full set of images are on our web site at QPCS gig and all profits go to the Queens Park Community School PTFA Registered charity - number 110069

Natasha & Ryan

On Saturday 12th June 2010 we shot Ryan and Natasha's wedding day. I shot with Tom Ivory that day and it coincided with the world cup game between England and the USA. Thankfully both Natasha and Ryan and footie mad so coverage of the game was an integral part of the evening's schedule.

The best man speeches created a number of great opportunities to capture the audience reaction to his dry wit and perfect timing. Throughout the beautiful sunny day we felt more like guests than people on contract to cover the big day. A really lovely bunch of family and friends made this a fantastic and fun day for all.

Tash and Ryan went off to Mexico for their honeymoon. Their album is going to be spectacular methinks.

Tash poses by the family West Wam picture prior to leaving for the church with dad.

Lucy King Baptism

On 16th May 2010 Lucy's baptism took place in Willesden with the usual entourage of proud family and friends. Lucy is the daughter of Mike and Joanna King, two of the loveliest parents on the planet.

Michelle & Eric

The up to the minute blogger that I am clearly not, leaves me all too often with events and images that don't make it to the TPS blog because they are ancient history by the time I get to write them up. on 6th April Michelle and Eric tied the knot in Enfield.

This first shot was taken by my work experience student Amy Permaul, a rising star and tremendous help on the day.