Portrait Photography

Petrea and Steve

09.30.11

Last weekend I had the pleasure of photographing my old colleague and friend, Petrea’s wedding. Amazingly, it didn’t rain, and the sky allowed some drama, I was happy. I was assisted all day by my girlfriend Julie, and she did an amazing job of holding remote flash, helping to ensure that we didn’t miss critical moments, and arranging the main Bride and Groom shots. In addition Julie was second shooter, and captured loads of shots that will be an essential part of the album and slideshow from the day. Just for fun, I have slipped 4 of Julie’s shot’s into this blog posting, I wonder if you can spot any of them? I’ll start with a shot of Petrea and Steve enjoying their first few hours of marriage. The dress was arranged here by Julie, and I love the drama in the shot. Offboard flash used.

However, all weddings start with panic and fun for the bridal party. It would be unprofessional of me to mention the exciting game of “hunt the missing earrings”. Oops….

Some of Petrea’s younger supporters:

Back to the pampering.

Of course, meanwhile the men were looking after each other’s preparations.

But eventually all were ready and Petrea emerged, looking amazing..

And here’s one of Steve looking equally great, ready to meet Petrea.

Assisted in last minute good wishes by sister, Ginny.

The ever so girlie bridal party prepare to accompany Petrea into the marriage room.

And, finally, down to the business in hand.

It wouldn’t of course be a Petrea event without a musical element, Petrea and the registrar, a friend from Edinburgh celebrate the union with an Operatic duet. So classy and so beautiful..

Safely married and looking delighted, these pictures show the details of Petrea’s dress.

And so to the formals, struggling as I was with the tail end of a chest infection, marshalling the troops by power of voice alone was never going to be easy, mercifully Petrea and Steve had pre-selected all the guests for docility and obedience……

Eventually the guests were left to relax and enjoy the castle setting, while Petrea, Steve, Julie and I went to a local beach in Cove. The wedding was held in Craigrownie Castle in Cove, Rosneath Peninsula, Argyll. Somewow an Irish/Scottish wedding was set of by the very Celtic setting of Loch Long and the Cowal hills beyond. Enjoy these:

We loved photographing Petrea and Steve on the beach and hope you like the images as much as we do. However, if the Celtic theme was to continue, it needed music:

“Ah, if only someone would dance with me, my pumpkin will be here soon”

Apparently wallflowers were sprouting all over the floor…

However, this girl didn’t have too long to wait:

More ceilidh music supplied by an excellent trio:

And more dancing, some cruel guest even made me join in.

One of the most lovely moments, was Petrea dancing a waltz, with her mum. Boy did they know how to Waltz.

This is just a flavour of the wedding. I hope you enjoyed it. Good luck Steve and Petrea.

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FranSeptember 30, 2011 - 7:52 pm
Wonderful photos, will bring much enjoyment and a rekindling of happy memories as the years go by.

Great Job!
Lelia NewmanOctober 1, 2011 - 3:14 pm
Great viewing the many lovely pictures …….bringing back happy memories of Petrea & Steve’s Wedding Day ……24th. September 2011 ……Buiochas o Auntie Celine …….
JoyceOctober 1, 2011 - 4:38 pm
These are wonderful – I love the ones taken on the beach (especially those in black and white). Was it only a week ago???
MaggieOctober 1, 2011 - 9:18 pm
Stunning, Matthew. Do you realise how talented you are?
alistair thomsonOctober 1, 2011 - 10:20 pm
Pippa and I agree that it was the most romantic and joyful of days, and these photographs have captured that mood perfectly.
They are expertly composed while maintaining a wonderful informality.
This selection makes great viewing. We’re looking forward to seeing more.
PetreaOctober 3, 2011 - 9:31 pm
Love the photos Matthew, they are just great and can’t wait to see the rest. We both have had fantastic feedback on your photos from friends and colleagues at work…Pure talent…
From the bride and goom themselves…thank you so much!!!
Susan KingOctober 10, 2011 - 9:36 pm
Theses are without doubt, some of the loveliest wedding photos I have ever seen.
You’ve captured the joy of the occasion so beautifully – if I ever need a photographer, you’ll be my first call.
marina scottNovember 2, 2011 - 4:17 pm
I have just seen the most romantic picture of a bride that I think I have ever seen. Windswept, on the beach, veil billowing, just GORGEOUS. Some lovely ones of the happy couple too, very, very well done. 🙂
ISABEL GALLUDDecember 23, 2011 - 11:52 pm
Hello Petrea, this is Isabel, your mother neighbourgh in Torrevieja. Orla told me about this photos of your wedding, they are wonderfull, seams like very carefull planned. All those smart garmets on everybody.
CONGRATULATIONS, and wish you to be happy.
See you maybe sometime in Torrevieja.
Greetings…..!!!
ISABEL GALLUDDecember 23, 2011 - 11:54 pm
OHHHH……!!! I forgot about Grace and Katherine they look like coming out of a fairy tail…. the whole wedding look like that in fact….!!!

Julie

09.21.11

Julie celebrating a family Birthday in Clydebank Recently. Mixed lighting from my camera mounted flash and various mixed temperature sources meant black and white was an obvious fallback. A Lightroom preset in duotone, which I have never used before gave a lovely effect on Julie’s very stylishly cut hair. It is “split tone 2” in blue and green.

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Charlotte and David

09.08.11

There is nothing nicer as a photographer than being asked to take someone’s wedding photographs. I am absolutely thrilled that Charlotte and David have asked me. As always with an important event like someone’s special day, a pre-shoot lets us get to know each other and gets everyone comfortable with me and my terribly in-your-face camera:-) We went down to the beach at Rosneath in Argyll to a lovely spot overlooking the Gareloch off the Clyde which Charlotte and David chose for the occasion. Let me start with two pictures of the gorgeous Charlotte:

And then two of the equally handsome David; can you believe that this guy doesn’t like being photographed, really?

Charlotte will have these wee sweeties assisting at the event. Her daughter Katie on the left and friend and bridesmaid’s girls Grace and Amber behind. I grant that they are all lovely, but this photographer needs to record here that Amber is the best camera bag tidier and carrier ever on my shoots; thanks Amber!

Bridesmaid Donna with the girls; yes, we did get wet feet, but it was so worth it!

Grace with cool-as-cool-can-be T-Shirt:

Amber with Megawatt smile:

Big smiles all round here, even from slightly-grumpy-wanting-macaroni-pure starving-Katie. You just have to be patient and catch the moment. (Or carry a photographer’s stove and some pasta…).

Finally we get down to a little couple stuff, after all, that’s what it’s all about.

Awww, aren’t they fantastic together. Looking forward to capturing their wedding smooches:-)

I love this one, they really look like they have something we don’t. Look at their eyes, they look amazing, no touch up or enhancement in software, just as they were eye-wise!

And now for some romantic snuggling, surveys at the time have revealed that 100% of all bridesmaids present said “awwwwww”.

Now donning my anorak, all previous pictures were taken with my surprisingly great Sigma 24-70 f2.8, I completed the wedding lens set last weekend with the Sigma 70-200 f2.8 and this is my first blogged image with it. I already have a Canon 70-300 f4.5-5.6, and it has produced some great images, but somehow it has never produced the magic I need in portraits, this seems to deliver it in spades. My first impression is sharpness and soft bokeh by the bucket, but it’s a beast in the paws, scarily bulky. Quality glass isn’t small I suppose. I hope they like this family grouping as much as I do.

These are with my Canon 50mm f1.4 prime.

This was a fun pre-shoot, and everyone was really lovely and determined to have fun and make good pictures. The wedding will be great to photograph. I’m sure you’ll all watch this space.

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Mike Ritchie’s new workshop

08.23.11

Mike made both my acoustic guitars, and I consider him to be the best guitar maker ever; if you could hear my guitars you would understand that this is no exaggeration. This is Mike in his newly constructed workshop.

Check this magnificent new entrance, Mike in the background playing my guitar.

And a closer picture after stepping through the door.

Good to see the maker looking satisfied with his craftsmanship; it was a pleasure hearing him playing it.

Anyway, I took some shots of work in progress for Mike, this is a pair of necks for classical instruments in early gluing.

Mike preparing his plane blade for book-matching and gluing some tables. This was the process that Mike thought would interest me, done in the traditional way.

Mike takes blade sharpness really seriously.

Mike beginning to prepare the edges for sticking together.

And here Mike is checking that the two edges meet perfectly and mate properly along the whole length.

This bit is so interesting, Mike uses traditional animal glue, which needs to be warmed briefly to ensure good penetration. After using traditional string and wedges to bring the two faces together, Mike plays a torch over the joint to help the glue to do it’s job.

Mike was keen for me to photograph the process, but I wanted to photograph Mike; I love this close-up of Mike while he focuses on the new joint. I have said this in previous posts, but what a striking man Mike is.

I couldn’t resist these sound-hole inlays, all handmade by Mike; I love these and wish I could have a guitar to go with each of these!

Finally, a workshop detail for fun.

This set of pictures was all taken with my Canon 5dMk2 and my Sigma 24-70 f2.8. Mike was working really quickly and so I wanted to frame him working while staying safely out of his way. I bought this lens for my recent wedding shoot and have been really happy with it. It takes great portraits and delivers that look of gorgeous bokeh that I am addicted to. I hadn’t expected to like it this much, being a prime lens addict, but it is really special and will be heavily used in wedding shoots.

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Julie at the Gauldrons

08.22.11

I have been spending a lot of my weekends at Campbeltown this year, but still haven’t seen all of the main local geographical attractions. My dear colleague Catherine who lives there had recommended the Gauldrons some time ago, but I only remembered her suggestion today. Julie kindly showed me this amazing place, and I have to say I am totally impressed. This might just be my favourite place on the Kintyre peninsula so far. We saw another seal when parking the car, and a lovely encounter with what was probably a Mink later. We just sat enjoying the landscape for half an hour before the cameras even left our bags. This first picture shows Julie against the dramatic bay of the Gauldrons.

This picture was our first deliberate attempt to capture the now more obvious baby bump!

This one was a quick landscape with my beloved 28mm prime Sigma. On the Canon 7d, more or less a normal view like the 50mm was on older SLR film cameras.

These next two images were handheld HDR’s using my Sigma 10-20mm zoom, wide. On the 7d this is 16mm equivalent. Three bracketed exposures were taken handheld at high speed to minimise movement between them and they were processed in my favourite “Photomatix” HDR software helped by the “Lightroom” plugin.

A beautiful place, you should go there sometime.

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