Nottinghamshire Wedding Photography – Thoresby Courtyard – Rebecca & Dave

Todays blog post if from a wedding back in October at the stunning Thoresby Hall/Courtyard.  Rebecca & Dave booked me way back in 2016 after seeing a previous blog post from the same venue.  I’m typing this on a cold rainy January day and that seems to be the norm while i’m sat at the computer, roll on spring & summer.

Rebecca chose to have her bridal prep with all the bridal party in one of the exquisite rooms in Thoresby Hall, a grade 1 listed building built in 1865 and location for some of the filming of the film Great Expectations.  Her stunning dress was designed by Sophia Toli and supplied by Iconic Bride in nearby Edwinstowe.  Hair styling was completed by Helen Hewgill & make-up was was done by Sam from Sam’s Cottage creations.

Their wedding ceremony took place at Perlethorpe church, just a short car journey away, at the edge of the Thoresby Estate and after a few group photos, and special photoshoot with her horse Ella, it was off to Thoresby Courtyard for their wedding breakfast and reception.  Obviously, the couple made that short journey in style with a beautiful vintage car supplied Fabulous Cars.

Thoresby courtyard is the perfect canvas to crate your own bespoke look for your evening celebration, i’ve photographed numerous wedding here and no two are the same.  On this occasion the room decor was partially completed by Dan at Individual by design with other finishing touched by Rebecca and Dave themselves and with flowers by Jill’s Fabulous Flowers, Retford.

After a sumptuous meal supplied by Hensons catering it was time to get the party started with evening entertainment from the band Episode 21.

All in all, it was an amazing day with weather typical of the time of year, unpredictable, but it didn’t detract from a beautiful emotive day and a happy celebration of Dave & Rebecca’s love for each other.

If you’d like to find out more about our wedding photography services please do not hesitate to get in touch, we’d love to hear from you.   You can also find details over on our website.  Here’s a few more images from their day.

London with the XT2 and the 18-55mm Kit Lens

Some time ago i decided to make the leap from Canon over to the Fuji X system, and quite frankly, i’ve not looked back.  Now I’m not saying i disliked Canon, moreover, i had many happy years shooting with various Canon DSLR’s, it’s just that the Fuji X system seemed to just suit me and my way of shooting.  I suppose it’s like a pair of underpants, some fit well, others not so, you can’t explain it but they just do, lol.

Now, ask me to say what my way of shooting is and i couldn’t possibly tell you.   I’m a small chap and i like to feel at ease when shooting, free to float around, especially when shooting busy weddings, and not feel weighted down with cumbersome gear etc.  If the full frame DSLR’s suits YOU stick with them.

Anyway, since making the move to Fuji i’ve amassed a collection of Lens’, both primes and zooms and recently pondered which to take for a planned day trip to London for a birthday jolly outing.  I wanted to travel light, and as this was a family trip, photography was not the main purpose of the day.

I elected to take just the one camera, my XT2, and just one lens, the XF 18-55mm, the Fuji equivalent of a kit lens.  Its a lens that often gets left at home in preference of my primes, especially for shooting weddings etc, but decided to make the most of what this combination could give.

So, no tripod, no filters, no big zoom lens’s, i was free to ‘float around’ and have a good old family day out, while quickly grabbing the odd image.  As you’ll see from the images below just a day in London does not give you too much time to take it all in, so as my son wanted to visit the Tower of London that was the main part of our day.  If you’ve never done the Beefeater guided tour you MUST put it on your ‘todo’ list.  Their historical knowledge, humour, quick wit and amazing character make the entrance fee with while alone.

You could quite easily spend the whole day in the Tower and there is all manner of things to photograph but i tried to take a few different images away from the usual ‘tourist’ snap shots, let me know what you think.

Our second port of call was to take in the ‘View from the Shard’ which was a short 20 minute walk from the Tower via London bridge.  I managed to grab a few long exposures using the bridge wall as a camera rest, remember i had no tripod, and then some concrete bollards.  Sadly, these concrete bollards were put in place after the recent terrorists atrocities that took place here a few months back.

The view from the shard is quite amazing but its hard to avoid the reflections on the glass and there were no elevated positions on which to place my camera, so, i ramped up the ISO, opened up the aperture and took a few handheld shots.  They are not the best but certainly show the view we had.  I’m hoping to plan another visit which will take in a pre booked good sunset, lol.

I thoroughly enjoyed travelling with just one camera & one lens and will make the effort to use that ‘kit lens’ a little more.  I’d love to hear your thoughts and how you travel with your camera gear.  Do you try to travel light, or do you take a full compliment of lens’s etc?

Wedding Photography – Mount pleasant Hotel – Beth & Dan

It was huge pleasure to be asked to capture Beth & Dans big day.  They had booked me quite some time before their actual day and it was one i was eagerly awaiting as it would be my first wedding at Mount Pleasant Hotel near Doncaster.

I always enjoy shooting at new venues and take the time to explore them beforehand with the couple, normally at their pre wedding photoshoot.  Mount Pleasant had a fantastic array of photo location opportunities but i don’t think they were expecting to have photos taken in the car park, more about that later.

The day started with the hustle n bustle of the bridal prep at Beth’s mums home with Make-up by Lizzy Brown & Hair by Uber The Salon.  With 8 people needing their attention at was a busy place.

Once the girls were all ready it was off to the church for their ceremony and then onwards to Mount Pleasant Hotel for their wedding breakfast & reception.  The room looked amazing with decor supplied by Sophia’s Final touch.

We had a short period of time ahead of the wedding breakfast & speeches to take some group images before exploring the beautiful gardens for some couple portraits and just before heading in for their meal the wedding party had a ballon release sending love to the skies remembering absent family & friends.

After a short but heavy downpour, and i do mean heavy, some guests were stranded under parasols outside for some time, i took a look at the sky and instantly thought we could make the most of what others would probably avoid.  I took the couple to a far corner of the car park, found a bit of a puddle and made some epic images.

The rain didn’t dampen their spirits, intact their day was full of emotion, happiness and some truly emotive moments and from start to finish it was a real pleasure to be a small part of their special day.

Beth had gone to town with the detail & planning and wanted a timeless emotive portfolio of images and judging by her response i think i fulfilled the brief.

I hope you enjoy these images below as much as i enjoyed making them!!  If you would like to find out more about my wedding photography services please do check out my website & Facebook page or get in touch via email.  I’d love to hear from you.

Travel Photography – Cluj Napoca, Romania

I’ve just returned from a group trip i organised exploring a little corner of Romania that has been on my bucket list for some time.  Cluj Napoca, the unofficial capital of Transylvania is steeped in history dating back to the Roman Empire and offers a multitude of photographic opportunities.

I’d researched what to expect, areas i’d like to visit in the city, and also a little further afield, with the wealth if information already available on the internet.   One day was used to visit Corvin Castle which had association with Vlad the impaler but the other days were spent exploring the streets and mostly the old part of the city which did not disappoint.

Street photography has always been one of my favourite genres but, make no bones about it, it’s hard work.  Trying to capture spontaneous candid moment or qwerky compositions is no easy task but it gave me the opportunity to work on my zone focusing techniques and also a little shooting from the hip.  Using the Fuji x camera app also got used too.  The light was harsh throughout the day with clear blue skies compounding the difficulties but it was great to be put under pressure and work hard to produce what i think are some worthy images.  Take a look at these and let me know what you think.

The city of Cluj has a colourful history from the many ruling factions dating back to the middle ages and the Roman Empire to most recently the last Romanian Revolution of 1989 which saw the end of authoritarian communist rule and the ousting of Nicolae Ceausescu after nationwide demonstrations.

The ‘old city’ offers plentiful medieval gothic architecture interspersed with neo gothic and renaissance architecture all within a small area.  With a bountiful assortment of cafes and restaurants you could spend more than a couple of days exploring this part of the city.   The city has a busy bustling feel about it with many cafes and bars in the main square but be a little brave and explore some of the side streets and you will find some amazing hidden gems.  One such place is Roata restaurant which offers local traditional cuisine at an amazingly affordable price.  Again, here are a selection of images from that area.

Day two saw us heading out on a road trip to Corvin castle briefly venturing off the beaten track for a short distance to the abandoned fortress of Coltesti and then a short walk through the village of Rimetea with its Germanic inspired architecture at the foothills of the Carpathian mountains.

Corvin Castle was one place I’ve wanted to visit for some time.  It’s association with the story of Bram Stokers Dracula is often misplaced.  The real association is that Vlad III, commonly known as Vlad the Impaler, was imprisoned there for many years and whilst held prisoner the Hungarian military leader who ruled the area, John Hunyadi, executed his father.  On his release Vlad III entered into a political alliance initially but then sought his revenge for his fathers death and went on a killing spree using impalement as his favoured method of execution.

Photographically the castle is best viewed from the northern side, either at dawn or dusk, but to get a clear view you have to be relatively close so a wide angle lens would definitely be required.  My xf14mm on my Fuji X-T1 was at the very limit of what i could fit in view.  That said i did attempt a few multiple image panoramic shots which turned out ok.  A wide angle tilt-shift lens would have been ideal.

Throughout the trip i was thankful for my lightweight Fuji X gear.  We were out from early in the morning returning to our accommodation late in the evening and much of that time was spent on our feet exploring, apart from the frequent stops at many of the local cafes.  All of the images were taken on my Fuji X-T1 with the XF14mm & 35mm primes and the 18-55 & 55-140mm Zoom lens’ and, when required, supported with the Lee Seven5 Filter system.

So, that wraps up this little blog please feel free to share this and to leave me any comments or questions.  There is much much more to explore and find in this wonderful city so i’ll be organising another small group trip soon.  If you’d like to join me then please do get in touch.  You can take a look at my website for more from this trip and details of any future tours when they are planned or catch up with me on social media on twitter, Facebook or instagram @robferrolphoto

Travel Photography – Ukraine & Chernobyl

Ukraine is a country steeped in history and there is much going on in the country today that will be read about in history books in years to come.  Many of us will recall  an event in Ukraine’s history that had a wider impact on much of what was then the USSR and also Europe, that was the 1986 Chernobyl Nuclear Power plant disaster.

Having been involved with the Chernobyl Childrens Lifeline Charity, you can read more about this here, for a number of years a few of us decided we would like to experience their side of the story, learn more about their every day lives & struggles and to also visit the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant itself.

Travel photography is something I’m aiming to do a lot more of as having spent much of my earlier working years traveling the world, sadly the photography bug had not yet bit.  Its now time to put that right. So, what more of an excuse could one want, to do a little travel photography, and explore somewhere were there is a personal connection?

I’ll be honest and say that I didn’t do much research before heading over to Ukraine and was somewhat unsure if there were any constraints with regards to photography etc.  I suppose that a little bit of me still thought of it as being very much a controlled state.  As a youngster growing up in the eighties i felt somewhat intrigued and mystified by the old Soviet cold war era and some of that mystery still lives with me today.  In reality though i couldn’t have been further from the truth.  Ukraine is a bustling country eager to have its own unique identity, with symbols of patriotism almost on every corner, and many a stranger happy to say hello and chat, with the obvious language barrier though.

For the trip i had a reasonable luggage allowance so took a full compliment of gear including my two Fuji XT-1’s, the xf18-55mm & xf55-140mm zoom lens’ and also the xf14mm, xf35mm & xf56mm primes.  I’ve got to say though, that i found myself mainly using the 18-55mm which is totally opposite to the way i normally work when shooting weddings etc where the primes are the only lens’ i use.  The 18-55mm, with its image stabilisation, is such a versatile lens and coped well with the many situations i found myself.   There is one thing i will add though and that is that the airport security was a nightmare.  Every item of photographic & electronic gear had to be taken out of my rucksack and placed in a separate tray for the x-ray scanner.  It was a lengthy process and chaos of re-packing everything while you have the constant stream of other peoples stuff pushing you along was a bit of a nightmare.

Anyway, gear aside, i wanted to experience, or at least see, the Ukrainian way of life.  In particular that of the more rural setting where many of our visiting children come from.  We were lucky to see many aspects of their lives from the hustle and bustle of the town markets to the self reliant lifestyle many lead with their own small holdings.  People from all walks of life, complete strangers, were happy to welcome us with open arms as if we were family, an experience that was overwhelmingly humbling.

The trip would not have been complete without a visit to the infamous Nuclear Power plant of Chernobyl.  Reactor number four catastrophically exploded on 26th April 1986 and immediately changed the lives of thousands of people and sadly, to this very day, still affects the lives of many more thousands.

The exclusion zone can only be visited by prior booking a guided tour.  There are a number of companies on the internet selling tickets but its only once you arrive at the first 30km check point that you realise just how much of a tourist attraction this place has become.  With the mystery of the many abandoned villages and the stories they hold to the somewhat imposing steel structure that now covers the reactor, who wouldn’t want to visit the site of the worlds worst nuclear disaster?  I know, its not for everyone, but it was a very emotional experience thinking of the time when many people gave their lives to avoid an even greater explosion and thus saving the lives of many and even the existence of the European continent.

So below is a pictorial collection of my visit, from the humbling family encounters, the emotional visit to a local orphanage and to the poignant visit to Chernobyl & the abandoned city of Prypiat.  If you’d like to know a little  more about my visit please do leave me a comment or get in touch.  You can also find a Youtube travel blog i made here.  Finally, more of my work can be found on my website which you can find here.  I’ll look forward to sharing images of my future travels with you soon….Rob

Monuments from the Soviet era celebrating the defeat of Nazi Germany.

Monuments from the Soviet era celebrating the defeat of Nazi Germany.

Korosten, an important rail hub in the Zhytomyr region. Fire crews from here were some of the first to attend the Chernobyl Nuclear disaster.

Busy markets in Korosten with Salo (cured fat) in abundance.

There were wild dogs everywhere, some quite placid while others harassed the busy shoppers.

Children in a local school were intrigued by their foreign visitors.

Typical rural houses in Ukraine.

Chernobyl and the queues of tourists waiting for their guides.

Items discarded in a village that was hastily abandoned shortly after the nuclear disaster.

Nature rapidly reclaiming what it once owned.

The city of Chernobyl.

Our guide showed us how the background radiation levels fluctuated within relatively short distances.

Childhood toys lay abandoned in a village near Chernobyl.

The infamous reactor 4 at Chernobyl, now with its new steel confinement.

The road to Prypiat. The city that offered a new beginning, and new hope and a new life to many. A city that only had a life of 16 years.

This amusement park was never used. It was due to be opened on 1st May 1986, just a week after the nuclear disaster.

The Soviet Duga 3 ‘over the horizon’ radar close to the Chernobyl Nuclear power plant.

Soviet military wall painting.

An abandoned Soviet missile bunker.

Soviet era newspapers pasted to the wall of an abandoned missile base.

 

Wedding Photography at Rossington Hall

Last week I assisted in the delivery of a fantastic Wedding Photography workshop hosted by the talented James Davies Photography.  The chosen venue for the day was the Stunning Rossington Hall near Doncaster, South Yorkshire.

The day focused on being creative with available light and using locations around the property along with the introduction of Off Camera Flash (OCF) techniques to capture the ambience of the venue with our model bride & groom.

The 10 delegates assembled for early introductions, aided by the beautiful pastries with tea & coffee supplied by the venue, and then it was straight into the nitty gritty of how James achieves his images.

Having worked with James on numerous weddings and other photography assignments, I understand the way he works and his approach to achieving his images, but its the way he delivers his theoretical knowledge on his courses in an easy to understand manner that demystifies the technicalities of working with OCF.

Below you can find some ‘behind the scenes’ images which i took, along with examples of images i managed to grab along the way showing what can be achieved.

Throughout the day, all these images were taken on my trusty Fuji X system cameras which i use throughout my wedding & commercial photography and you can find many more examples of my work on my website.

If your a photographer looking to either enhance your photography, or what i’ve shown you here is of particular interest please do get in touch.  James runs numerous courses throughout the year and I’m sure he’d be delighted to have you join him on the next one.

Aurora Cancer Charity Fashion Show

I’ve been photographing an amazing bunch of people now for the past couple of years and what these people do is nothing short of astonishing.

The Aurora Cancer Charity exists to help and support people and their families who are affected by and living with cancer.  Anyone with a diagnosis receives a free package of support, wellbeing programmes and holistic & beauty treatments to help raise their self-esteem and confidence at one of their local wellbeing centres.

The charity relies on much needed donations and part of it’s fundraising efforts, amongst many other events, is the annual Aurora Fashion Show and the stars of the show are all affected by cancer.  The spectacle is a culmination of months of hard work and dedication, not only from the models, but also the amazing team behind them who put the show together.  From the choreography and the amazing audio visual performance to the individual stories of people going above and beyond, it’s one truly emotive evening.

The show runs for two nights at the Doncaster Dome and this years guests were entertained by the highly acclaimed Rob McVeigh and their regular host and patron Caroline Hodgson.  If you’d like to find out more about the charity please do head over to  their website here.

If you’d like to find out more about my commercial photographic services then you can find my website here, or why not follow me on social media via the links below.  If you like this blog post please feel free to post a comment and please do share it with your family & friends.

London and a mixed bag of Photography

Last week I ventured off on a day trip to London.  It had been a while since my last visit and I was long overdue a day of ‘me’ photography.  I had no real agenda and no expectations of what i would find or photograph, but, as London is place where you can find and photograph anything and everything, i was more than confident of getting something ‘in the bag’.

With that in mind it did make me take a little more kit that I really should have, but, with the light weight of the Fuji XT1 and its complement of amazing lens’ it wasn’t a real issue.  I did however make a return trip to the car shortly after parking at the rain station to dump my tripod as a last minute decision to leave this behind.

Monday morning in London was manic, it’s manic every morning to be honest, but this particular Monday was the day after the London Marathon.  The cleanup process was still in full swing and there were stacks upon stacks of those meal barriers everywhere, but, the cleanup team must have been very hard at work all night restoring the city to its normal self ready for there Monday morning onslaught.

I love the huge diversity London offers and it’s great to see all the tourists taking in the sights but i’d wish they would leave those blooming selfie sticks at home.  Having nearly had my eye taken out on a couple of occasions was beginning to wear a little thin as they waved them around with little or no regard to those around them.

All-in-all though it was a great day where i photographed ‘that’ anything & everything, from some of the iconic buildings, life on the street, life under the street and even those blooming tourists with their selfie sticks, lol.  The weather was very changeable with some heavy rain showers but it certainly did not stop play, moreover, it helped create a winning image, more about that a little further on.

Again, the Xt1 was a dream to work with, occasionally shooting from the hip and zone focusing for the street shots – but i must admit that i still need a little more practice at this technique.  As for that tripod i left behind, i didn’t even miss it.  I photographed a few long exposure images, some in excess of 75 seconds, all helped with the Lee Seven5 filter system, and just used what was available such as walls and even the pavement.  It helped me compose some great images with a low perspective and the freedom of working without a tripod was very liberating.

The week ended on a high by me submitting an image into the Fujifilm_UK #fujifridaychallenge, with the weeks theme being reflections, and having my entry chosen by renowned Fuji X Photographer Paul Sanders as the winning image.  As mentioned above, the image was taken just after a heavy rain shower and i was in an area of high-rise office blocks, with a view of the Shard in-between, and the wet pavement in combination with the glass sided buildings created an amazing reflective scene.

Anyway, I hope you like the images i’ve added below.  Please do feel free to share the blog and leave me a comment and if you missed my last blog post on why i moved to the Fujifilm X system you can read that here.  Thanks, Rob.

There’s more to London you know.

News reader ready for action

Grrr, the curse of the selfie sticks.

Lovers locks

Just married

Lunchtime rush hour at Westminster bridge

Stormy clouds over Westminster

Fag break

Another fag break

Deep in thought

 

London city skyline

Tower Bridge long exposure

St Paul’s from Millennium bridge

Firefighter statue near St Pauls

The winning shot

Why i moved to the Fujifilm X system

Ok, i can hear you all moaning already “not another i’ve moved to Fuji blog” well yes, sorry, but it is.  It’s a poignant post for me as i’ve been integrating Fuji x cameras into my workflow for some time and now the move is now complete.  Yes, i’ve sold all my DSLR gear and am now a ‘fully Fuji’ X system photographer.  So, this is a little blog of why ‘I’ personally have made the move.

The Fujifilm x100

Some years ago, and a year or so after its initial launch, i purchased the original Fuji x100 which I was drawn to after seeing a full page add on the back of a camera mag.  I though “WOW that looks awesome” the design was amazing, it had so much character and it just called out to me – I wanted one so much!!  Yes, i can be a bit of an impulsive buyer but I mused over the idea for sometime on whether to purchase one.  Anyway i did and made my purchase almost a year after it’s initial launch.  Sods law though, not long after my purchase, Fuji released the X100s with many improvements – lesson learned do some more thorough research.  But not perturbed i persevered with the x100 and I remember being in awe of the first few initial test images.  Below is my first portrait of my daughter with the x100, about the 5th frame i made since taking it out of the box.  Simple window light on a dull day with a not so willing model.  Her expression was ‘hurry up, i want to go out’ – she didn’t share my excitement over my new toy.

First image out of the x100 – 

My kids had been my test subject on many occasions and somehow this little camera made grabbing images of them somewhat easier.  It was far less intimidating than my big DSLR with equally big lens, easier to grab and pop it my my pocket at a moments notice and it quickly became my ‘go to’ camera for family outings etc but thats as far as it went.  For some bizarre reason i never considered it a tool for my professional work.

X100 | f/4 | 1/250 |iso200

For my professional photography i stuck with the DSLR gear and continued to do so for a couple more years but as a Wedding and Commercial Photographer, along with some other random assignments & commissions, 2 full frame DSLR’s and an accompaniment of lens’ was quickly taking it’s toll, and my back was beginning to groan.  I’m a small chap at 5′ 5″ and i felt like the weight was compressing my spine reducing those valuable inches even further.

Street photography with the x100

 

Street Photography with the X-T1 | 1/4sec Handheld

X-T1 | Ramada Hotel, Leicester

In a bid to ease my back woes i researched and tried many options for carrying the DSLR’s, waist holsters, double harnesses, roller bags, the lot, and none seemed to suit me.  I’d used the ThinkTank belt pouch system for a number of years but sold my set during my quest to find a suitable alternative but i ended up buying another as it proved to be the best of what i’d tried.  But, at the end of a busy wedding at the end of the 2014 season, i could take no more and i decided to look at alternative camera systems.

X-T1 | xf35mm | f/1.4 | 1/125th | iso200

X-T1 | xf35mm | f/4.5 | 1/30th | iso400

X-T1 | xf35mm | f/1.4 | 1/420th | iso200

Over the Christmas break of 2014/15 i looked around at the alternatives.  I loved my X100 and the X100T, a successor to the x100s, had just been released but i wanted a system that offered interchangeable lens’ and being left eye dominant i wanted a central viewfinder DSLR style design.  I was drawn by the Fuji lure to the X-T1.  I can’t remember where i first saw this camera but i had heard wonderful things about it.  It had been on the market for almost a year and a few other photographers that i know were already using it in a professional capacity and raving about it.  So, my Christmas holidays were spent between my family and frenzied research for more info about this camera in eager anticipation of an early new year purchase.

Fujifilm X-T1

I purchased my first Fujifilm X-T1 Graphite Silver edition with a couple of lens’ and, just like the impact the X100 had one me, i was blown away with the image quality.  It was on par, if not surpassing, what i was getting from my Canon DSLR.  The instant image preview with live exposure simulation in the large EVF was a dream to use and the camera instantly felt much more comfortable in my smallish hands compared to my DSLR.  The tactile controls, reminiscent of a bygone age, were very different to my DSLR but took me back to my days with the Canon AE1, oh the irony!!

X-T1 | xf35mm | f/1.4 | 1/4000th | iso200

X-T1 | xf35.. | f/1.4 | 1/2300th | iso200

From the outset of 2015 it worked amazingly alongside my Canon gear, using it to shoot weddings and commercial commissions, but it lacked a vital element that was crucial to a particular genre of photography that i also undertook, corporate events with onsite sales, which required me to shoot tethered.  At The Photography Show last year i spoke to the Fuji team who said the software was coming and had already been given out to a select few for testing.  In fact, i recalled Bert Stephani seamlessly shooting tethered during his presentation at the show,  it gave me hope that it wasn’t far away. By the way, i’ve followed Bert’s work for a few years with his early YouTube ‘Confessions of a Photographer‘ and ‘Motivational Light’ video series and it’s well worth checking out.  Here’s a few commercial jobs undertaken with the X-T1.

One of the biggest factors forcing my move was weight and during my weddings of 2015 i found i was using the X-T1 more and more.  The X-T1 and a selection of lens’ was a massive weight saving.  I felt a sense of liberation from the heavy ‘bricks’ that were weighing me down during long wedding shoots, sometimes in excess of ten hours.  The image preview in the EVF allowed me to see what i was getting before the shot was taken so i was shooting less but ending up with many more ‘keepers’, thus speeding up my post processing workflow.  Here’s a bunch of wedding related images shot on my X-T1’s, nothing overly fancy, im still building on my X-T1 wedding portfolio but you can find more of my wedding photography here.

Very soon the DSLR never made it out of the bag and after just a few months with my initial X-T1 i purchased another, this time a black model, and further lens’ to compliment what i already had.  Additionally, i found that i was favouring prime lens’ having always used zoom’s on my DSLR and the quality of the Fuji glass is equally as good and my Canon L series lens’.  Once the tethering issue was sorted with the software patch for Adobe Lightroom being made available it was full steam ahead with my complete move to the Fuji platform.

Derwent Reservoir | X-T1 | xf14mm | f/11 | 1/30th |iso200

Saltburn Pier | X-T1 | xf18-55 @20mm | f/14 | 14secs | iso200 | Lee Filters

Ladybower Reservoir | X-T1 | xf14mm | f/11 | 1/30th | iso200 | Lee Filters

I’ve used the Fuji X-T1’s extensively now across my compliment of services covering weddings, landscapes, commercial & charity events and also a little travel photography where i took them to Morocco, North Africa.  Shooting from the city to the edge of the Sahara where the temperatures often exceeded 45 degrees celsius and the camera never faltered.  Moreover, the massive weight reduction compared to my much heavier DSLR gear made working thought the day in the blistering heat bearable.  Below are a few images from that trip but you can find my blog post with more images from that trip here and a clip on YouTube here.

This by no means a technical evaluation or reasoning for my move, i’ve purposefully avoided going down that route on this blog post for the sake of simplicity, many of the factors are just personal preference for me.  The system has proven to be a worthy workhorse across all the genres that i cover and not once have i regretted my decision to move away from DSLR’s.   I’m not saying its a camera system that will suit everyone and i’m not ruling out a further change somewhere down the line myself, the recently released X-Pro-2 looks sublime and is receiving much hype on social media and i’m eagerly awaiting to hear more of the much anticipated X-T2, but for now its a tool that i am more than happy with and would happily recommend to others.  The journey, and the story continues………

x100 | Oban, Argyll

x100 | St Pancras, London

x100 | St Pancras, London

X-T1 | St Pancras, London

X-T1 | London

Photography Training days at Hodsock priory

It has to be said that continuing professional development is a must for anyone whatever your profession and one way to gain a little of that CPD is to attend training days or workshops.  It’s an opportunity to develop or hone your skills a little further, and maybe a platform to develop different way of thinking allowing time to experiment and try techniques or ideas you are unfamiliar with the benefit of being away from the pressures of a paid shoot or assignment.

My good friend and fellow photographer James Davies has embarked on what are becoming increasingly popular portrait & flash photography workshops.  With tuition also being provided by the renowned photographic tutor and writer Doug Chinnery and myself as their assistant there is a wealth of knowledge & expertise on hand for all the attendees to hone their portraiture and wedding photography skills.

For the last few courses James has chosen the beautiful setting of Hodsock priory, which, with it’s 15th Century Tudor gatehouse and it’s beautifully maintained grounds, in an 800 acre estate there is a bounty of photographic opportunities to fuel your photographic creativity.

The day starts with coffee & pastries and after brief group introductions James gives a short introduction to the way he works with natural light and then a little on how he introduces flash into his creative workflow, all backed up with examples of his work and how each of them were created.  An important part of the day with plenty of engaging questions and group discussion.

With the theory out of the way it was time to put things into practice and use the various locations around Hodsock priory, both inside and out.  Working with professional models Alison & Luke from Y2K promotions, along with beautiful wedding attire from Olivia Jane Jones, Make-up artist Melanie Lyndsay and a bridal bouquet from Flowers by Kay James creates an abundance of photographic opportunities.  Working first with natural light, showing how subtle changes in your position or that of your subject can dramatically change the quality of the light and increase the potential imaging opportunities.

After lunch the day moved on to creative off-camera flash photography demonstrating how to balance flash with ambient light and also how to create dramatic portraits even in the strongest of daylight situations.  James used the trusty Elinchrom Quadra & Rangers but also highlighted how the same images can be achieved from many other brands of lighting equipment available.

As the day drew to a close we ended with coffee & biscuits and another opportunity for a Q&A session before all heading home with memory cards full of images and heads full of knowledge and creative ideas.

If you are interested in attending one of James’ courses head on over to his training page for further details.

For further details of my photography please do get in touch or head on over to my website or follow me on my social media links below.  I’ll leave you with a selection of my images from the day all taken on my Fuji XT1.

James giving his introduction to the techniques he uses.

Simple positioning of the model to capture the natural light.

Photographers using the techniques described by James.

Using a large window to create dramatic but natural light.

More use of a large window

Beautiful even natural light by careful positioning of the models in a large open doorway

Beautiful soft natural light.

Photographers making the most of the moment

Dramatic off camera flash is demonstrated by James using a mix of lighting equipment.

Attentive work by the MUA while shooting in the beautiful grounds of Hodsock Priory.

A little fun to end the day making the most of the environment and the beautiful evening light.