Bedford Wedding: Tiffany & Lee

Ceremony: Bedford Register Office
Reception: The Shakespeare Hotel, Bedford

Unusual one for me, this! I was at my step-brother, Lee's wedding as a guest and not a Photographer! I agonised over whether or not to take a camera and decided that if I didn't, I'd feel like I'd had an arm amputated.
I found it really difficult to keep out of the way and let someone else get on and do the photos! As it was, the official togs had only been booked for a couple of hours, so I'm glad I had my camera to take a few shots of the speeches & first dance etc.
It was a miserable day, weather-wise but that didn't stop everyone having a great time!

Congratulations to Lee & Tiff and good luck in your new house - see you again soon!

My newly-acquired niece, Florianne

The Ol' Dear!

Rain? What rain?

Mum & Colin

Vicky & Flo-Fo!

OK, stop posing, mother!

What is it about little brothers? They seem to have a knack for being annoying!

I think Freya agrees!

Best man, Holland.



King's Croft Wedding: Siobhan & Ian

Ceremony: St Joseph's RC Church, Castleford
Reception: The King's Croft, Pontefract, West Yorkshire

Well, here we go again! The first wedding of the year and I was as nervous as I had been at my very first one. I needn't have worried. Despite feeling decidely rusty, I soon got back into the swing of things, mainly thanks to Ian and the lads who were a great laugh, although I did struggle with the Northern Irish accents a wee bit, so I did!

A word of advice for anyone wanting to get married in a Roman Catholic church - You won't find anywhere better than St Joseph's in Castleford. To be honest, it's a fairly anonymous building from outside but it's beautiful inside with loads of amazing stained glass windows and the priest is really nice. No restrictions whatsoever on photos (C of E vicars take note) and he was determined that Siobhan & Ian should have the perfect day (even though he made it clear that he'd have preferred it to have been a different day so he could have watched the Man Utd - Man City match on TV!).

Ian and Sioban are both Army Air Corps helicopter technicians and Ian looked the business in his No 1 dress uniform. Siobhan oped for a white dress (and a huge winter cloak, which turned out to be a very good idea)!

Unfortunately, the grass at King's Croft was too muddy to allow us to use some of the features for photos so we had to improvise a bit. It all worked out in the end and we ended up with some belting shots.

The day was rounded off in perfect style with a hog-roast.You can't beat a pig sarnie and a piece of crackling the shape (and size) of West Yorkshire, or as a wise man said on the night: "It's time for swine!"

Congratulations to a wonderful couple and thanks for a most enjoyable day!

Below: Easily one of my favourite ever Groom's prep shots (and I've taken a few in my time!).

 Great expressions and positioning and my decision to move the flash off the camera onto a

side bracket has paid off with some really nice lighting.

Even the footy match on the television adds to the atmosphere!

Below: This was a lovely spontaneous moment in the bar just before we set off for the church.

Of course, if I'd posed it, I'd have placed the groom in the middle with the lads around him

but I didn't want to interrupt and spoil the moment.

Photographic Restoration: Rugby League Team, 1955

Restoring a damaged old photograph can be a very demanding and time-consuming job but photographs hold many treasured memories and it is well worth the effort to bring them back to life. Quite often they are creased, torn and discoloured, like the one below which I've been asked to restore, and more often than not there are significant pieces missing. I thought it would be interesting to show you what the image was like before I started work on it and I'll post the result when I finish it, which will probably be sometime in 2024, judging by the state of the original!

Click on the image if you'd like a closer look.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE FINISHED PHOTO

In true Blue Peter style, here's one I prepared earlier. This 'before' & 'after' pictures of a Bradford mill owner and his family taken on 12th July 1878 which I restored for one of their descendants a couple of years ago.

Landscape Photography: Winter Landscapes, The River Calder, Dewsbury - Part 3. 19th January 2011

Another 20 minute lunchtime stroll along the River Calder. The swans were there again and the pale winter sun had a similar beautifying effect to the snow a few weeks ago. It would be interesting to make this a regular thing and try to find something different and interesting to photograph each time on this short stretch of the river.



Landscape Photography: Winter Landscapes, The River Calder, Dewsbury - Part 2. 14th January 2011

I was at a loose end at lunchtime today, so I thought I'd pop back to have a look at the River Calder in Dewsbury now the snow has gone (see my previous visit last month - CLICK HERE).
What a difference! As predicted, there was rubbish and filth absolutely everywhere and the whole place was grey and dreary.
And then I spotted the two swans and I couldn't help thinking that wherever you are you can find something beautiful and uplifting. Quite why they'd chosen to be there, I've no idea!
Remember, you can enlarge the images by clicking on them.

Landscape Photography: Winter Landscapes, Ogden Reservoir, Halifax. 8th January 2011

New Year's Resolutions:
1. Get more exercise (ie. get out and walk a lot more this year).
2. Do more Landscape Photography.

Result:
A nice short walk around Ogden Reservoir, near Halifax. Nothing too taxing, just a gentle stroll. It was still pretty icy underfoot and the reservoir itself was surprisingly still frozen over. Judging by the size of some of the rocks people had thrown onto it, I would imagine the ice was still fairly thick.
The low sun and contrasty (is that a word?) light made it ideal for a bit of black & white!

Don't forget, you can enlarge the images by clicking on them if you want a closer look!

Panoramic Photography: Halifax By Night. 2nd January 2011

It's been ages since I went out and did some proper landscape photography so I decided to go out early on Sunday morning to catch the dawn rising over the valleys around Halifax and Bradford. As it happened, it was a bit too cloudy and therefore not a very interesting light. However, I did take a few shots of Halifax town centre from the hill up into Southowram while it was still dark. It's very theraputic going out at the crack of dawn (or before) when there is no-one about to photograph the local landscape. I should make it my New Year's resolution to do it more often!
Click on the image to enlarge