I will post some pictures of Hannah soon, but this is my favourite picture so far and the one I wanted to share quickly.

How time flies, Julie with 6 weeks to go. Julie set me the challenge of photographing her in a black maternity dress. Perhaps madly I used my black background cloth  and ended up using a reflector to try to get some more highlights on the bumplet. My friend Martin chided me for not posting much recently, and it’s true. I seem to be painting cupboards when I’m not working, and it just won’t do; I must try harder, watch this space.

Anyone want a portrait? Email me, I need to get creative again to get the numbing effects of a roller-full of “almond white Dulux” out of my soul:-)

I am delighted to finally post this set of pictures from David and Charlotte’s wedding. The wedding was on the 30th of September and I would have hoped to process and select the pictures within a week or so, but unfortunately I have moved house and into a painting, plastering and carpeting zone; finding time to work on pictures and paint in time for carpet-fitting has been a bit of a juggle.Anyway, all the time critical stuff is done and I can prioritise the photographs again and in nice surroundings with new carpets to boot. Lets start with the pre wedding relaxation at Mum’s house. Dad, Andrew patiently waiting for the dressing up and girlie preparations to be completed.

Mum, Trish relaxing while she can as well.Sporting her best Mona Lisa look.

Anyway, all this peaceful chilling-out is a mere preamble to the main item on the agenda, people, I give you the girlie preps:

Bridesmaid Kirsty:

You might recognise my special favourite helper Amber from the pre-shoot. Amber is in flower girl mode here.

And her sister Grace.

Bridesmaid Kathryn:

Bridesmaid Donna managing her stocks and shares as one of course must!

And the main actress in the girly preps, the bride Charlotte; check her lovely relaxed smile.

Some bride’s get treated to a visiting hairdresser, but poor Charlotte is a hairdresser and her sense of duty clearly trumped her sense of decadence. Who does half a dozen hairstyles just before their wedding? impressive!

I just love the rose in Donna’s hair.

Of course Donna helped with the hair too.

More pictures of the girls getting in the mood:

Charlotte and David’s daughter Katie prefers getting in the wedding mood the modern way; ipads are the only choice.

My colleague and friend Maggie comfortable in her casual togs, prior to the girly-dressing-thing that she was kind-of dreading…

and Maggie’s new hound, the gorgeous Shelby hoping the wedding will bring bones or other celebratory largesse.

Katie steps up the preparation pace, by taking her ipad to the dressing table, she really means business now..

Eventually there has to be a first all-scrubbed-polished and ready Princess, this time its Grace…

Get that dress..

Talking of striking outfits, isn’t Trisha’s amazing, just love that fascinator..

Kirsty modelling the amazing black bridesmaid’s dresses, very striking.

But speaking personally, seeing Maggie dressed up and girly, with good grace too, was a real highlight; Maggie looks great! (I had to tone down the red though as my Canon Sensor was totally saturated in the red channel, really).

Exhausted from all the hard work, cinderella finally gets that dress on, and isn’t it beautiful…

And talking of beautiful, Katie is all ready and dressed here too..

Oh, almost forgot, brother, David appeared looking the biz, no fuss, no hassle, i’m just saying….

Anyway, over to Helensburgh where groom David was all ready and looking great.

As was best man Ian..

Anyway, enough of the photographs, “I have a bride waiting”…

With the registrar at last.

All is ready.

David’s wait was not long, Charlotte arrives..

A quick moment with Dad.

But now, down to the happy business.

The ceremony over, many gathered friends and well-wishers delivered the traditional confetti, you would be amazed how many photos it takes to get one without confetti in front of the couple’s faces.

I know, it’s cheesy, but it’s fun as well, it could have been worse, look at the restraint I showed with Charlotte’s hair rose!

One happy bride, looking amazing.

Anyway, at this point, Charlotte’s plan A, the public park which I had recce’d earlier to scout locations, took a bit of a hit as the heavens opened up and the inevitable rain began, plan B was Gran’s house for the formals.

But plan B took a hammering too as the rain, turned particularly nasty, nothing like the traditional wedding-double-garage-waiting-ceremony:-)

The formals almost scuppered, the enterprising gentlemen present produced a plethora of brollies, and unorthodox or not, the show went on!

No brollies though for this posse of real men, unflinching but soaked, they really earn the right to sport sporrans here.

But, the rain got still heavier and plan D, subsection 4, paragraph C was executed, Gran’s house proper!

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.

Not only is Michael really demanding about standards, and rightly proud of his staff and his food, but he is something of a local character, raconteur, and benefactor too. A visit to the deli will often make people’s day as Michael takes an interest in them and exchanges a few thoughts in the old style of shopkeepers who know their customers and contribute to the community. I understand that Michael has taken an interest in local charities as well.

Go and see him, and have something nice to eat, trust me, they do everything!

http://www.thebuffetshop.co.uk/

Here’s Baby Lucy with her proud and lovely mum!

However, you can’t always share the limelight when you’re a big girl of one!

“Is my hair allright?”

“I’m not sure the bow was really me mum? Maybe I should just rip it off”?

“So are you getting my eyes camera-monkey”?

“What do you mean by catching flies in the last picture, just get on with it; stylist, make-up, where are you”?

Can you guess where mum is in the following pictures? A little photographer’s trick for the not-quite-walking baby?

Even a tiny starlet can only take so much of the paparazzi, Mum and Dad move in to share the limelight and take some heat off…

Faithful family hound Beau, Bo or Bow, I really should check, was keeping a watchful presence over little sis.

While the flash and background were out Mum consented to having a solo shot. I’m sure you will agree with me that not to do so would have been a missed opportunity for my blog readers.

And Dad has to consent too once Mum has set the pace. I don’t often notice this kind of thing, despite nodding dutifully on occasion, but doesn’t Lucy look like Dad?

And finally, the background put away, a few candid shots of Lucy relaxing after a hard shoot.

“you’ll never hold me here copper! Ain’t no prison built I can’t spring from!”

“Until that cake with the file baked in arrives, maybe someone could just lift me over, what’dya’say, go on…”

I hope Baby Lucy likes these and they are never used to embarrass her in front of a boyfriend when she’s eighteen. Well don’t blame me Lucy, it’s out of my hands now, better be nice to Mum and dad..

Big thanks to Julie for being a brilliant assistant on this shoot.

Most of these were on the beautiful balcony of Phil and Harvie’s flat. (Bright sun behind. Anyone would think this wasn’t Scotland; two sunny shoots in a row)

Photographing them was incredibly good fun as they are such a romantic couple. You don’t have to encourage them to get close.

See what I mean.

Eventually I felt they had worked hard enough at modelling to earn a seat.

Some photographs look too loving to be true, but trust me, this is the real thing.

One more on the balcony before heading indoors.

This isn’t the wedding ring, but soon I might photograph Phil’s other hand.

Harvie is just a really striking man, he is amazing company and a great conversationalist to boot.

The balcony is in the background in this shot.

If Harvie is striking, Phil is gorgeous. They just make a lovely couple, and yours truly gets the fun of photographing them. Look at that view of Glasgow and Paisley in the background.

Thanks for your company guys, and thanks for the delicious meal you cooked me. Can’t wait for the wedding.

PS. Thanks to Elaine for holding my remote flash and brolly!

This is Jillian. I have only recently met Jillian. Jillian works with my previous subjects, Eva, Elizabeth and Richard; I think it’s a real possibility that I will photograph my way right through the whole hotel where they work. Actually that’s a truly fun prospect.

Jillian is an Australian from Newcastle, now working in Scotland. She has amazing hair and beautiful freckles. Jillian told me that her years in Scotland, away from the Australian sunshine are allowing her freckles to fade. The raison d’etre for this session was to celebrate the freckles and I couldn’t have been more delighted to do so.

These first pictures are Jillian’s idea and are all about showing both freckles and the very distinctive birthmark on her leg.

The next 4 are all wonderful for showing how Jillian’s eyes, hair colour and freckles complement each other.

And finally 2 playful images showing off Jillian’s truly amazing hair.

For those who care, the session was done with a background draped in a room, and two remote speedlites with umbrellas to soften the light.

Hope you like these Jillian!