Catching up: Family fun in the Studio

With apologies to blog readers, I'm still in catch up mode. Today I'm going to take you through a few family portraits taken recently in our North London Studio.

It's always great to get a family who are ready to be creative, have fun and really enjoy a photoshoot and so it was when Solomon, his wife and daughter joined me a few weeks back for a happy hour with me a few weeks ago.


I love this image - no distractions but captures the love and sense of fun that only a mother and daughter can have.


Young Ellie settled quickly into the role of international supermodel - maybe a portent for the future?


Sometimes the best images come through play and not through posing. Ellie seemed particularly susceptible to the 'tickle treatment'!


And having been the victim of a little rib-tickling Ellie seemed keen that she should turn the tables on her own Dad!


In fact she found it so funny, that for a few moments she could only roll around on the floor in fits of giggles!


In a quiet moment (and thanks to Ellies phenomenal energy levels, there weren't many!) I took the chance to make a few images of Mum & Dad...


...Before returning to focus on the undoubted star of the show, who by now was loving the camera!


A final shot of Ellie on her own, where I tried to create a sense of her smallness and vulnerbility with this shot.



Sometimes it's not just about the single images themselves. Here I've combined two complimentary shots to create this one canvas that I think really showcases Ellie and her Dad perfectly.


A huge thank you to all three of you for the fun, energy and spirit you brought into my studio last month. It really is a pleasure to create great images of such great people!

Dan

Catching up: Hyde Park, the perfect pre-wedding photoshoot location?

Another in my series of catch-up blog postings today as I look back to Abi & Ricardo's pre-wedding shoot in Hyde Park last month.

An early arrival and a scout around the park confirmed what I had originally imagined - that there were a million possible locations for shooting. One of the many great things about this career is that it frequently gives me the opportunity for new discoveries.

As a Londoner for most of my (ahem) 40 years, I pride myself on having a pretty good knowledge of most of the capital, but it's frequently when walking around a location having arrived early in case of possible travel delays that I make new discoveries.

I must have been through Hyde Park more than a thousand times in my life, but I still didn't know of it's police station and I had never spotted the fact that each plinth on the Albert Memorial depicted a different continent. Being a photographer encourages you to "look" really closely and in London there's so much to learn.

So, onto the shoot itself. I offer every couple whos wedding I photograph a complimentary pre-wedding shoot. Actually I almost insist upon having one. Quite apart from being a load of fun, these have a very defined purpose. On your wedding day, as bride & groom you'll spend more time with your wedding photographer than anyone else (apart from each other!). Imagine how difficult that is if you don't know or feel comfortable with that. A pre-wedding shoot allows us to continue to build a relationship that serves us well on the nervous big day. It also allows me to try out various styles of photography and find out which the couple is happiest with - meaning that we don't waste any time on your wedding day taking photographs that will never see the light of day.

We met at the beautiful Serpentine Cafe (great Eggs Benedict!) before heading off to begin the days shooting.



We started on the Bridge over the Serpentine. Couples who are not used to being in front of the camera (i.e. pretty much everyone) often find it easier, at least to begin with if they aren't looking directly at the camera & the photographer so I often begin with an image taken with the couple looking adoringly at each other. Quite apart from that it's great fun to see how long any given couple can "hold" this look without dissolving into fits of laughter!

I think that we came closer to the "moment of giggle" in this second shot taken in front of the Diana memorial fountain!



The Albert Memorial gave us our next location, and next challenge.



The technical set up of the image was relatively easy, the pose was easy (for the couple at least - any excuse for a kiss!) but the challenge was negotiating in several languages with the hoards of tourists who randomly walked across the frame, or even took a seat behind the couple. I'll have to insist that my next pre-wedding shoot in the park begins at 5:00 am.



We moved slightly for the next shot, allowing the Albert Hall to share top billing with Abi & Ricardo. I underexposed the background slightly, allowing some detail to be recorded in what looked at first glance a flat grey sky, using the flash to bring the light back for my relaxed couple in the foreground.

Walking from location to location, I glanced down to see my couples hands entwined. Asking them to stop for a second I grabbed this:



The bright colours of Abi & Ricardo's clothing help this one to sing out and confirm that good images are everywhere if you only keep your eyes open. I call it "looking with intent".

Finally for today, we took the chance to try and grab a deck-chair without being accosted by an attendent looking for our daily fee for doing so:



I worked through a variety of colour and black & white options in Lightroom, before deciding that this fun mix complimented their relaxed pose.

So, at the end of the shoot I felt I knew Abi & Ricardo a little better, was aware of how relaxed and easy to direct they were (thanks guys!) and in short can't wait to Photograph their wedding at the end of October.

Dan

Catching up: London Style at Nicola & Ben's Chancery Lane Wedding

September was a mad, but hugely fun month at Daniel Davies Photography. As a result, I've been rather naughty with regards to my blogging. It's time to catch up!

The month started with a very lovely wedding in Central London's Chancery Lane. I arrived at the Knights Templar pub bright and early and was amazed at how beautiful it is. The walls and ceilings are so much prettier than I had imagined (and I even had time for a tour of the ladies - before any guests arrived I should add - which were truly stunning). Jan Swords, the pubs manager was incredibly helpful and couldn't have done more to make the bride & grooms day go swimmingly. Massive cudos to her and her friendly team.



I spent a lovely hour or so before the session strolling around Fleet Street, Chancery Lane and the local area. I always leave a good couple of hours spare before a wedding just in case of any traffic delays, and spending this quiet time in such lovely surroundings made for the perfect preparation for my long days work as well as giving me a few more ideas for locations for shots later that day.

Bang on time, the ceremony began, meaning that there was just time for me to capture this lovely image



of the nervous groom with his sister, waiting impatiently for his bride to make her entrance.

The registrar's were great, very relaxed and the ceremony itself flowed easily. Here's the great moment when the new Mr. & Mrs. Minto took their first kiss as a married couple:



We headed outside for the posed part of the day, a mixture of traditional, formal family groups and some more relaxed shots of the Bride & Groom together, enjoying a quick half hour away from the throng of guests. As we walked up to the location for the formal shots, I couldn't help noticing the immaculately dressed young chap in front of me and as he turned to look for his parents, captured this lovely moment:



How grown up does he look!

After the formals, we headed into nearby Lincoln Inns Fields where together with the newlyweds, I created this fab shot.



I decided to slightly mute the colours to give the image a timeless feel - you can see how the Bride & Groom are lovely and relaxed now the scary part of their day is more or less done!

We finished these shots in Chancery Lane itself, where I deliberately took a low position so as to include the street sign in the image, so that it had a sense of place. A little photoshop work removed the stray "stop the war" sticker from the corner of the sign and we were done.



Back into the Knight's Templar and scandal ensued! It seemed that the Groom had been spreading his love around and that another woman wanted to snatch him back.



No sooner had the cake been cut and there she was, desperate to drag him away from his bride! Grandparents are truly a blessing and it was lovely that she was around to see her Grandson so smart and so very happy.

When the first dance comes, I usually try and set up some lights away from the camera. This creates drama and allows me to focus attention on the bride and groom in a way that's not otherwise possible.



I love how this image echoes the feeling that most brides and grooms have at this time (I know I did when I got married) that you are the only people in the room as you move gracefully across the dancefloor.

I finished with some silhouette shots, and these were enhanced by the light bouncing off the bubbles blown across the dancefloor by the younger guests at the wedding:



It was only when I got home and processed the images that I caught sight of the beautiful young face, eyes wide and smiling broadly in the corner of the frame in this lovely shot.

Nicola and Ben were kind enough to ask me to stay on and relax for a while once my work day was complete - this was typical of the generosity that they showed to everyone throughout the day. Nicola, you looked stunning in that beautiful dress and Ben and the boys defined "dapper" with their matching outfits. Thank you so much for inviting me to record your day - I hope that you'll be happy with the images and that you'll look forward to viewing them for years to come.

Dan