Commercial Photography – St Andrews

One of my clients had asked me to provide them with some photographs of Students at Graduation wearing robes and hoods, the brief was happy spontaneous shots that had to be very high quality as they will be printed at a large size. I went along to St Andrews University Graduation with my long lens – felt a little like a sniper.





I started off asking some students to pose for me, they were ok but not as spontaneous as I would have liked so I hung around and waited until the official ceremony was over.


Nice bit of back lighting!


Ok they are all women, it’s just because thats what was available – honest!



 

A good job, in the sun, nice people and great shots – what more do you need.

Tamara and Michael – Wedding Photography

Once again, sorry for the lack of posts, I have been really busy but I promise to get caught up this week. Last Saturday, I had the pleasure to photograph the Wedding of Tamara and Michael who were Married in Froickheim Church.

As usual I started at the Brides home capturing the preparations, it was all very relaxed, Tamara was calm, her Mother was relaxed and even Ben the Border Collie was laid back. After that I scooted along to the Church to get a few shots of the Groom, Michael was a little nervous but calm enough.

Church services are relatively rare these days but this was a very traditional Wedding, even the crowds had turned out to see the event, Froickheim is a small place and everyone knew the Bride.

After the service we went to Pitmuse Gardens to take some shots of Tamara and Michael, this was a last minute decision but I am so glad we decided to so it, the gardens are stunning and made a great location. 
 
 






Tamara and Michael, You were great to work with, very relaxed and easy going, not a Bridzilla at all! I hope you are as delighted with the photographs as I am and best wishes for the future.

Scone Palace

I had the pleasure today of spending some time in the sun in the grounds of Scone Palace near Perth. I was doing a job for 2 PR companies who had come together to jointly promote their 2 clients. We had a rock chick, a falconer and a working dog – all very lovely.

 

 



It was all very embarrassing, during the shoot my flash broke, no idea what happened buy thankfully I always have spare stuff so I was able to replace it and carry on. It is now working but I have lost confidence in it so it must go back for a check up.

Even more great feedback

It’s all happening this week, today I received a lovely card in the post from Colin and Susan who got Married in April at Piperdam, it reads:

“We just wanted to say thank you for all your hard work at the Wedding and in producing our fabulous photos. The DVD is fantastic and has received lots of compliments so far. “

Thanks to Susan and Colin for taking the time to write, although I bet it was Susan!

More great feedback

Today I received 2 good emails, the first one was from Norma, mother of Arlene whos Wedding Celebration I photographed on Saturday :

Hi Angus,

Delighted with photos.   I even managed to view the ones you sent online!!

Regards,

Norma

And then I received another from Alan and Martine whos Wedding I photographed in Renfrewshire on Friday :

hey angus we recieved the pics yesterday and they are fantastic thanks very much for being our photographer you played a big part in making our big day perfect thanks again alan & martine

Great customer feedback

I love positive feedback, received this letter today:

Hi Angus,

Just a quick note to let you know how pleased we (including the parents - very important this) are with the pictures you took of our wedding and also to say that everyone thought you were very unobtrusive and friendly when taking them. It was just like having a friend take the pictures - apart from the obvious difference in quality (for the better - I noticed that none yours didn't have the wee stickers on like what you used to get from Boots)!

Thanks once again and we hope to be able to recommend you or work with you again at some point in the future.All the best to you and yours - especially the dogs!
Regards,

Stephan

 

This was from Stephan and Sheena, their Blog entry can be seen here

Wedding Photography – Busy

It’s a quick post today, been a busy few days so lots of pics to work through. Friday I was down in Renfrewshire for the Wedding of Alan and Martine, a lovely day, great weather and from a Photographic point of view, an easy day. After that I worked my way through the traffic to Airdrie to meet a couple that might want me to Photograph their Wedding next summer.

Saturday I was up in Aberdeen for the Wedding Celebration of Arlene and Gary, they got Married in Turkey last week so this was the celebration for their friends that could not manage to go to Turkey. Although it was not an official Wedding we still managed a few traditional type shots in the grounds of the Thistle Altens hotel before the sea mist came in.

I’ll post some pics from each in a few days time when I get them sorted through.

Wedding Photography – The Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow

I had the real privilege on Saturday to photograph Jacqueline and Gary at the Fruitmarket in Glasgow, this was my first Wedding there and I certainly hope it wont be the last. It was a stunning venue, very unique and original, a great place to get married. Sarah and her colleagues were extremely professional and well organised which made my job so much easier. The only issue is parking but a small price to pay for such an unusual venue. If you are looking for a unique venue then talk to Sarah, you wont be disappointed.


Gary was there with his best man, he was incredibly early given that it was an hour until the service, and there was rumour that Jacqueline would also be early!


Gary was extremely laid back, I had never met him before but Jacqueline had said that he was very easy going which was certainly true!



Jacqueline arrived at 12.30 – half an hour before the service, some of the guests had still to arrive, she was put in a room until everyone was ready.


Gary was very pleased (in a laid back kind of way) to see her.







The light was fantastic in the main staircase, as the clouds passed we got some great light, if a little harsh at times.
 

Gary is a Firefighter so Jacqueline had to wave to the engine as it went past, pity that girl got in the road!


The Best Mans speech had Jacqueline in fits of laughter and Gary a little embarrassed.  




The evening sun was nice and warm so we went for a walk to find someplace else to take some shots. We found a garden but struggled to get in, eventually a hairdresser let us go through their back shop to access the gardens.

Jacqueline and Gary had been going to dance lessons for their first dance, Gary was very nervous and convinced he’d fluff it but they were fantastic, it looked very professional.
You can see the old fruit market here, the names of the old traders are still above the old shops. It was very tricky to light this room though. For the photography minded I use Canon Eos 5D camera, they are very good at high ISO but even the highest 1250 was not enough for this huge dark room. So, I put 2 radio controlled flashes up on the balcony but what I had not figured on was that the DJ was using a radio mike and everytime he spoke my flashes fired, the batteries were running down but I managed to get him to shut up in time!

 

 

It was a great day, I really enjoyed it – thanks Jacqueline and Gary. The photographs are on line here , the username is amforbes and the password is Garys surname – all in lower case.

Wedding Photography – The Altamount Hotel, Blairgowrie

Last week was quiet with Wedding Bookings and the paranoid side of me was beginning to wonder why but this week has taken off with a bang again. It began with a confirmed booking for Gemma and Craig who are to be married at the Altamount Hotel in Blairgowrie next year. Since I live about 300 metres from this venue you’d imagine that I’d be there all the time but strangely not, this will only be my second Wedding there. Also, 2 other verbal bookings for this year have come my way today so I’m happy again.

The commercial side is a little quiet also, I tried really hard last week to finish off all the jobs I had on the cards so that I could have some time off this week. However, today I had a very exciting enquiry for a really unique job that will be absolutely brilliant if it comes off, more on that when I can.

Saturday I was at Jacqueline and Gary's Wedding in Glasgow and I hope to process the shots tomorrow so I’ll get some on the blog tomorrow.

Stephan and Sheena, Cortachy Castle

Last Saturday, on what was probably the hottest day of the year I was in the grounds of Cortachy Castle near Kirriemuir for the Wedding of Stephan and Sheena. It was a great day with bright sunshine, most photographers will agree that bright sunlight is not great for photography, it creates areas of high contrast where you can get dark shadows and large highlights in the same area. This results in a difficult working environment, however, blue skies and sunlight do make a great day so we have to work with it. You’ll often see Photographer using flash guns which seems strange on a bright day but it helps to balance the light out.



The Service was to take place outside “Bellas Cottage” in the grounds of Airlie Estate, it was a brilliant place to be married, especially at this time of year and on such a great day. Future Brides, don;t get any ideas, this was a one off location as the family have a connection with the estate – I don't think they would allow any other Weddings there.


The guests started to arrive early


Stephan and his Best man arrived, sunglasses were the order of the day.

Before they were handed over I took a shot of the rings.

Stephans Mum comes from France and was wearing traditional Breton Costume

Sheena arrived in Style

She walked down the red carpet with her father into the sunlight
 
Stephan shed a few tears when he saw her, he’s such a nice guy. The service was a Humanist service conducted by Mary Wallace who has a really useful blog, it was a very nice service, one of the best I have seen.



One of the things that Mary did was to ask each of them in private to say what 3 things they loved about each other then she read them out, this caused some hilarity I can tell you.


I sneaked round the back and into the cottage to get a different perspective.


Stephan and Sheena didn;t want many formal pictures of themselves but one thing they did want was a Gainsborough, Stephan is a vet and they both really like cows so we managed to get the cows to come to the riverbank and take a shot vaguely similar to a Gainsborough!

 




We then drove to the Village Hall in Glen Isla, Stephan and Sheena had spent a lot of time decorating this hall, considering that it is a rural village hall more used to Scout and Guide groups, they had done a brilliant job. Books are a large part of their lives (they are both actually highly intelligent) so that was the theme of the day and they had done it wonderfully.



Even the Deer's Head had been decorated!

All in all it was a great day, so personal to them and they are a brilliant and happy couple, I wish you both the very best for your future, it was a pleasure to work with you.

Capri Skies

All of us that work in the Scottish Wedding Industry are watching this situation with interest, it has affected many brides and caused a considerable degree of stress to many people. One of my clients who was affected by this closure has reported that the situation appears to be somewhat resolved. Apparently another dress supplier has taken all the stock and is in the process of sorting through what is there and is planning on making the dresses available to the brides in a timescale that is in line with their date, ie, if your Wedding is this week you’re at the top of the list.

Lets hope that’s the end if the matter and Brides can get back to planning what should be a happy and exciting day. It does raise the matter of insurance though, and it is likely of no coincidence that the 2 potential clients that have called me today have both asked me about Wedding Insurance. What that would actually have been able to offer them is not clear, if the Wedding was this weekend and they could not get the dress it is unlikely that an insurance company could make any better arrangement, the only consolation would be that they would not lose any money.

The power of blogging

Regular readers will remember a few months back I posted about a commercial job for a new Boutique B&B in Arbroath. I had been looking for the website to see what they had done with my images but I could never find it. Anyway,  this morning I had a phone call from a lady that had been reading the blog and fancied a few days in the hotel but like me she could not find any more information. I was able to give her the phone number and she was off to make enquiries.

She did call me back to tell me that the web site was on line and is at www.brucefieldbandb.com so if you want to have a look then this is where to go. It’s a lovely house, well restored to a very high standard and I would be happy to stay there myself.

Windows Hotmail – Whats happening

I get a lot of enquiries each week for Wedding Photography, many of them come from Hotmail addresses but for 2 days now I have been unable to send emails to hotmail. This has happened once before and a search of the web makes it obvious that many more people are suffering the same problems.

If you have emailed or completed my web form and the only contact information you leave is a hotmail address then it is unlikely that I will be able to reply so if you are wondering why I have not come back to you then that is the reason. Please re contact me again with an alternative contact method.

Thanks – and on behalf of Hotmail – sorry!