Candle in the Wind

Sadly I did not get to photograph this wedding

      As I seem to spend most of my waking hours concerning myself with weddings it is hardly surprising if my mind turns quite frequently to iconic brides.
     There is no doubt that Prince William's bride Kate Middleton is a lovely girl, a very pretty girl and a very sane, sensible seeming, girl. She was a beautiful bride, who it easy to believe will make a wonderful wife and mother to William and his children for many years to come.
     But when it comes to icons, I don't think she can hold a candle to the fragile, dangerous and extremely vulnerable glamour of Princess Di.
    And coming across two photographs I shot of her when I was working as newspaper photographer in London in the early eighties you can see some of the reasons why.
     I was lucky enough in those days to photograph many members of the royal family, the Queen, Princess Anne, the Queen mother and Prince Charles as well as Princess Di.
    The only one who held any truck with the pack of photographers, that always surrounded the royal family, was Prince Charles, who I remember at a Sports Festival in Battersea Park seizing a bicycle made for two, leaping upon it and cycling away from us shouting "I bet you can't catch me on this".
      Indeed we couldn't but it made us laugh as we tried vainly to run after him.
      In those days he was nicknamed 'action man' amongst the press corps.
      But the one thing the whole family had in common was a 'Touch me not aura' that was like a transparent fence. I don't remember anyone ever trying to touch any of them.
    However Princess Di was the exact opposite wherever she went she had the famous 'common touch',  an emotional contact with everyone she came in contact with. This often led to members of the general public reaching out for her.

At a birthday party in an old people's home in Wandsworth

   She stood closer to them and shared their experiences as if she were a member of their own family rather than a royal.

Look how close to this barrier Princess Diana is standing

Causing people, complete strangers to reach out and in this case pull her towards them before planting a noisy smacker on her cheek.

For more beautiful and iconic brides visit my website

Laughter is.......

 Craig y Nos Parc after their wedding ceremony Anghared and Matin relaxing

       Having spent an entire week on my computer, closeted with the two romantic souls who married last week on Valentine’s day, I discovered that the gentle portraits I shot between the ceremony venue in Abercraf and the reception venue  at the Brecon Castle Hotel were not necessarily my favourite photographs of the day.

     I’m surprised at how often this happens and I imagine that possibly the couples themselves experience a similiar progression.  First checking out the images where they both look gorgeous and then maybe? preferring the laughter and shared special moments.

When it comes to carrying off his bride, no caveman could do it better.

 Beautiful Angharad pleased to discover her new husband has survived his efforts.

     The only problem with the computer is, it can't tell me what on earth Martin can have said to her
while the choir was singing to produce this burst of laughter.

I'm sure this has nothing to do with the words the choir are singing.

For more laughing couples visit my website

Home and Away

21 January 2012

A bride looking beautiful in the Welsh snow

      It is January in the UK, and a cold and frosty January at that, and even the happiest of photographers, in the beautiful green countryside of South Wales, (currently under a  blanket of snow) have to be forgiven if their dreams are full of sunnier climes.

Destination wedding? As reality bites in South Wales?

      At this time of year, when planning your wedding, perhaps one of the first questions to ask yourself, is it to be at home or away?

     For many it’s a no-brainer, Mum and Dad (of either the bride and groom, or both) are not keen on flying and a destination wedding in the glorious heat of Antigua in November, January or March, is therefore out of the question. After all flying half way around the world to hold your wedding without your family would be a sad affair.

Romantic Galleon Bay, less fun without your family?

      But nowadays many of the flower children of the sixties and the jet setters of the seventies are quite old enough to have grown-up children of their own, and as they were the first generation to flee the chilly summers of the British Isles in their hundreds of thousands for the summer holidays of their youth, to many of them, the Mediterranean Costas are a second home and they are happier to hop on a plane to Europe than they are to take a bus or a train to Blackpool or St Ives. 

      The advantages of a Caribbean Island wedding are obvious, not only, the year round glorious sunshine, silver beaches and turquoise seas but also practical matters like the language spoken being predominantly English.

       The only disadvantage is the cost. There is no real way around the cost of flights to the Bahamas if you are committed to having more than a hundred guests at your wedding.

Destination Spain, Nerja on the Costa del Sol.

      Bringing things closer to home, it is probably worth investigating whether holding your ceremony in Spain or France would in fact cost you that much more than a similar venue in England and whether you can persuade your friends to combine your wedding with a holiday in the sun.

For more beautiful venues and happy bridal couples visit my website

Photojournalism and wedding photography

January 8th 2013

      Christmas is great but I am always glad when it's over and we've turned the corner to the first of the new year's weddings. 

    I really look forward to all the  excited brides, their nervous grooms, the lovely places and the photographic challenges the wedding season brings. 

     This year 2013, it won't be a long wait, my cameras come out on Saint Valentine's day.

A wedding in Seville where after the ceremony groups are always posed on the 

steps of the alter. Will the Vicar let me do that in Abercrave if St Valentines day 
turns out to be a washout?

    I am all for the natural and spontaneous. I’m not happy if someone else is taking a photograph and everyone has to stand in formation for ages… but I do my bit – I aim to smile or laugh in a natural fashion. After all I really know what the photographer wants and why he/she wants it despite the fact that I don’t see myself as a formal photographer and a series of formal poses is not how I would want to shoot a wedding, I do understand that  some formal poses are essential to the wedding album, if only to show (the grandchildren) who was there.

     However, the opposite of a traditional wedding photographer is not necessarily a wedding photojournalist. Often enough these days I get emails from brides who like my work, saying they don’t want posed pictures they want a photo-journalistic approach – I think this has become a style that is being used in wedding circles around the globe. Wedding photojournalism is an amazing movement, it began as a backlash to the staid, traditional posed wedding photography of the past. Before the backlash, a photographer would appear with his studio lights and his assistants, and he would prepare for the posed portrait photographs that would make up your wedding album. During any “action” he might stop the bride every few moments to issue instructions, “Stop there, tilt your head, a little more to the right, lift your chin dearie” he might say (yes he was almost always a man) “I just need to light a halo effect around your hair”, and every part of the day included him directing the bride and stopping the flow of her day for posed shots.

      Sadly the day was more about his portraits than the coming together of family and friends to join with the bride and groom in celebrating their love.

    With the advent of digital cameras, wedding photography has changed considerably and wedding photojournalism is all about capturing the reality of the day, getting the truth of the story on film without staging events. In short, keeping it real.

       “Most wedding photojournalists … focus on finding moments during a wedding that happen naturally, rather than setting up portraits.”

Wikipedia, says “The phrase wedding photojournalist has been in vogue for at least ten years and has now become almost synonymous with normal wedding photography.”

      This has got to be a good thing for the bride and groom when they come to look at their album full of spontaneous memories of the day.

      However although the bride and groom's desires are obviously the most important to the photographer nobody wants the day's memories later spoiled by a parent disappointed at the lack  of photographs of her and the family or the formal shots that she may wish to treasure on her mantelpiece.

A rather forced smile on the face of beautiful bride Luisa.

To see more formal and informal brides and grooms on my website:    
  The slightly fixed grin on this bride's very pretty face was followed by a demand for a more natural looking shot and she and the girls swiftly arranged a new group.

This one definitely did not make it to the album

              As I spent my first 25 years in photography working for newspapers, I really know what photojournalism is.

       Capturing reality yes, but a little formality or judicious placement doesn’t come amiss. I got my first job on a newspaper because an editor sent me to photograph a girl who had just won a place at a police academy. Before I left my house I borrowed a toy helmet from my children’s toy box, I had no trouble persuading the young lady to wear it, and the ensuing photograph so delighted the editor, that I shot instantly to the top of his list of freelances.

       Since then I have heard of several photographers arriving at scenes of fire damage or bomb disaster with a wounded, teddy bear conveniently secreted about their person!

       Every so often a bride (or groom) will say I can’t bear all those shots with everybody staring into camera. Of course I can see her point but when they take charge the results can be quite strange.

Hayley and Wayne cutting their cake at Margam Park Orangery

A bride who didn't like pictures of everyone gazing into camera  but forgot (or didn't know) how strange conflicting eyelines can look.

Check out more eyelines on my website

Wonderful Welsh Wedding Venues

   October 4th 2012

        The idea for this blog was to dig out some of the loveliest places to get married in this great country of Wales. However once you start searching your archives for pictures it is so easy to get sidetracked. Maybe this time I’ll stick to my brief!

The Brecon Beacons softened by distance

Last weekend I visited Brecon’s Castle Hotel where I shall be covering a wedding early next year. It’s a most delightful spot with views over the Brecon Beacons making them look pretty and tame, which they definitely, are not. Every time I set off to visit a picturesque castle within their remit the mist comes down and the road simply disappears in front of me!
      Being a natural wuss and not keen to join the sheep grazing goodness knows how many hundreds of feet below me, I always find myself scrambling petrified through a perilous three point turn, above an invisible precipice and creeping back home.

Brecon Castle attached to the Castle Hotel

         Hopefully the February weather will be more clement than the deluge that was this past August (not difficult) and the couple's driver won't lose me on the mountain road from the church to the hotel (or should that be hell)! 

         Once we get there this floodlit ruin and its comfortable adjacent lodgings should provide a welcoming retreat from the wild welsh countryside and a romantic backdrop for a most attractive couple's photographs.

Margam Park still my favourite Welsh wedding venue

Not everybody can hold their wedding ceremony in a Castle or stately home with ruins. Some because  religion or budget will not allow it, but even if the ceremony takes place elsewhere, in Wales you are never far from a dramatic castle, and often, time allows after the ceremony, for the couple to visit a place that is special to their relationship.

Coity Castle near Bridgend is a very special place to newly wed Ali and Darren Wyatt

For beautiful bride Christina 'La Torre Redonda' in Nerja is as romantic inside as out

   The wedding ceremony solemnised in the stunning catholic church in Nerja on the Costa del Sol, lovely Christina also appreciates the informal romance of the Round Tower in her reception venue.

For more Castle venues and happy couples see my website 

     The next place on my visiting agenda must be St Donat's Castle near Cowbridge back home in Wales, which looks to have it all, drama on the exterior, scenic views including beaches, a romantic interior and a wonderful banqueting hall. All that's missing seems to be a clanking knight in armour ? Surely that can be arranged?

Coity Castle and the Costa del Sol

Bridal couple leaving Coity castle after their wedding in historic South Wales

         Arriving at Coity Castle in dramatic South Wales or stepping from your hire car, in Nerja on the stunning Costa del Sol in Spain be sure you will rise up to meet your expectant public as if you were a flower opening in the sunshine.

Beautiful bride Christina arriving in Nerja on the Costa del Sol