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.