I wanted to go to the coast today to take a few landscapes however the weather was absolutely miserable so here is an unseen landscape from early January taken at my local loch.
I have my fingers crossed for better weather this week as I am hoping to take some landscapes at Rumbling Bridge for the Kinross-shire web site.
Yesterday I was at Huntingtower Castle to photograph Kelly and Martin's wedding. The weather was beautiful and so was the bride.
Kelly looked stunning in her red gown and they married under candlelight inside the historic castle. Kelly had mentioned beforehand how Martin liked her to give him piggy backs hence the fun shot in this wee preview.
Also included is a photograph of the couples gift to Martin's mother as she collects elephants.
I am in the process of changing the colour scheme of my site so it is black throughout - however some galleries - i.e. Lesley and Andrew, Michaela and Tom, Leila and Ross plus my landscape galleries do not render correctly at the moment. Normal service should resume by Monday morning. Apologies for any inconvenience
Catriona and John are back from their honeymoon in the South of France and I just got the following e-mail "hi Martin, just to let you know we are back and that everyone is very impressed with your pictures. No one more so than us though - we really love them and will have to spend some time choosing our album ones."
Their wedding was in a private garden in Gauldry, Fife with music provided by a steel band from Leeds, despite the weather everyone had a great time. Catriona also let me know some of her favourites photographs and some of them are shown below, including the girls, the rings, her mum, a tender moment and the two best men.
A wee while back I was invited to join a select group of travel photographers from around the world.
At present I am Scotland's sole representative of Odyssey Photography which features imagery from 100 countries.
One of my featured photographs (see above) was also a winner earlier this year in the SWPP print competition.
A print of the same image can be viewed in the Green Hotel in Kinross along with other landscapes of Loch Leven.
A photographer sent me a link this evening to Ashes and Snow. Some really amazing imagery to be seen here - I recommend the flash site even though it is a little weird to navigate.
Some of the images with the elephants and whales are incredible. I also like the use of split toning, grain and vignetting and will look at using these darkroom techniques for some of my wedding and landscape imagery.
I also love this quotation about whales: "The Whales do not sing because they have an answer, they sing because they have a song." Inspirational stuff.
I'm desperate to take some new landscapes, however the weather is poor at the moment - leaden skies, high winds and heavy showers.
So tonight I looked at some old landscapes from last year. Below is a gem from April 2005 - a rainbow at sunset over the village were I live. I had tried to photograph the whole double rainbow but as I panicked to capture the most spectacular rainbow of my life I mounted my lens incorrectly.
By the time I'd realised my mistake, the 180 arc had disappeared but I noticed this lone sheep at the end of the rainbow - not a pot of gold - but a golden fleece. Note the ridiculously long shadows from the setting sun and the warm light from the dying sun reflecting on the air which is full of water droplets.
To advance at photography you need to make mistakes like this - next time I'll know exactly what to do!
This Saturday it's Kelly and Martin's wedding in Perth. In the evening they have a live band, a big dance floor and over 150 guests, so I'm looking forward to photographing the dancing.
The following images are some of my favourite dancing images from 2006 including my all time favourite of Pete the best man serenading the bride on his wheelchair. Pete for me was best man of 2006.
Today was a bank holiday here in Scotland so I spent a little time trying some new portraiture techniques.
Using my model daughter, aged 3yrs, some sweets and a step near the post office in Milnathort I captured this lovely warm portrait.
Best of all this is almost straight out the camera - i.e. colour corrections set within my camera.
I plan to use the same settings and techniques for Kelly and Martin's wedding portraiture this weekend.
This Saturday I am at Huntingtower Castle. This was my first booking for 2006 and one I have been looking forward to all year.
I love photographing weddings at Scottish Castles - I love the history, the romance and the amazing spaces to found inside.
Hopefully the weather will be bright as the interiors of these castles are very dark indeed.
The following photograph is where Kelly and Martin are getting married and this was taken on ISO1600 film @ f/4 @ 1/15s.
For a small charge you can have proofs of all your wedding images. Typically that's 300 or more images. Proofs are printed with black borders on fuji 6x4 gloss paper and look like those below.
The reason I offer this is the internet does no justice to my imagery - especially photographs of groups as the images on the internet compress the details about one hundred fold.
Also everyone's monitor is different - just like when you go in an electrical store - note how the colour of all the televisions look different. In particular laptop monitors are often set too bright.
These proofs have a black border with the image reference - so it makes choosing your favourites real easy. You can also show wedding images to family who have no internet access.
Prints have black borders plus a white key line. This allows the prints to be handled without getting fingerprints on the image itself. I prefer gloss photographs for their vibrant colours.
I also try and source an acid free storage box like the one illustrated below, to hold the proofs of your wedding photographs as 300 or more 6x4 prints take up a lot of room.
Today I heard of more success in SWPP's Print Competition. Earlier this year I had success with the following monochrome image taken south of Dunbar at Barns Ness.
The lighthouse is now a private dwelling and reminds me of a song by Erika Eigen called "I want to marry a lighthouse keeper" An extract of which is included below:
So if you want to make my dreams come true
You'll be a lighthouse keeper, too
We could live in a lighthouse
A white one by the bay
Won't that be okay?
I've two winning entries in SWPP's August print competition. My two winning images were the ones I've posted lower down in my blog - End of the Line and Summer a long time ago
Unfortunately my monochrome image of Twitcher was unsuccessful in the pets category but I still love this image. This month I may submit a monochrome of a pride of lions.
This year I have entered the competition three times and had two winning images every time I've entered. All my images will be entered in the annual competition where one prize is a trip to Las Vegas.
This summer we had our family holiday in Robin Hood’s Bay. We were blessed with a heatwave for the fortnight so the kids just wanted to spend most of the days on the beach.
One day while we were on the beach Angela said she thought she’d seen that artist I’d met and photographed during last years summer holiday. Last year we stayed near Filey and spent many days on Bridlington beach.
At Bridlington beach last year I met a painter called Malcolm Ludvigsen. I took a few photographs of him at work and a one of these images is shown above – some are also reproduced on Malcolm’s site (with my permission)
Having just looked at Malcolm’s Ludvigsen’s web site I note there are a lot of images of Robin Hood’s Bay so maybe Angela did see him and perhaps some of us are characters in one of his seascapes.
There are two formats I like to use for my weddings, square format and panoramic format. Although I shoot 35 mm format film cropping the image can result in an image with much more impact.
Below is a favourite image from Andrew and Lesley's wedding where I used a vertical panoramic crop. In general these images can be purchased as 10x5 prints.
Recently I have been looking at toned wedding images and thought I'd try and develop some darkroom techniques of my own. The following image is a toned image from Andrew and Lesley's wedding.
Some wedding photographer tone some of their images a deep blue. Me I prefer something that's richer like coffee or chocolate - both which I enjoy very much!
As a father to two young children and a soon to be teenager I have learnt that the best photographs of children are taken when they are being themselves and aren’t aware of the camera.
This year I have taken lots of memorable photographs of children enjoying themselves at weddings and a few of my favourites are shown below. I do enjoy weddings were there are lots of young children as they do look great in their dresses and kilts and their expressions are often priceless.
I do recommend that you have toys or a crèche if your having children at your wedding otherwise the mums and dads can get run off their feet and have little time to relax themselves.
In a previous blog I described my favourite minister. Today I’d like to share some wedding photographs from my favourite church. Dunfermline Abbey is an amazing venue to have your ceremony. If you look at the abbey’s north elevation you will notice it is actually two separate structures. The front half of the church includes parts of the original church constructed in 1128, the back half, where couples get married, was completed in 1821.
The following photographs are from Kim and Ryan’s wedding on the 8th April 2006. Before and after the service we experienced hail, snow, drizzle and brilliant sunshine. Thankfully it poured with rain during the service but it meant that light levels which are normally very low in the church, were even lower. Also the rules of the abbey are that photography is only permitted from the very back. – approximately 100 feet from the action.
One of the reasons I own professional wide angle and telephoto lenses is so I can make compelling photographs in difficult conditions. Using a tripod, fast film (ISO3200) and wide apertures I managed to capture the drama of one of the finest church interiors in Scotland. I also took one of my favourite bridal photographs of 2006 as the bride entered the abbey. While afterwards I captured a candid photograph of the groom holding the brides train.
After the wedding the couple celebrated at Lochgelly Town Hall. The following are a few of my favourites taken at their reception. I do like Fife weddings – Fifers are warm and generous folk with a wicked sense of humour. I have to say this as my fiancee and in-laws to be were all born in Fife. Seriously Fife is a superb place to get married – it has some of the best venues – i.e. St Andrews, Aberdour Castle and Dunfermline Abbey
Today I had another attempt at infra red photography using my homemade filter set. Again I had problems with light leaks and focusing but amongst the out of focus, flare riddled photographs were a couple of interesting compositions.
The photograph above is an old pier and boat house on Loch Leven and here I have combined two frames - one true colour frame and one infra red frame to create this colourful rendition of the scene. Note how the algae shows up between the reeds and the water.
Ansel Adams is one of my favourite photographers - for his dramatic black and white photographs.
The end of summer often heralds amazing cloud formations. Here huge cumulus clouds form a backdrop to my local church.
This is the church were Lucy and Martin & Lesley and Andrew were married earlier this year
Here the sun is at 90 degrees to the church facade and a circular polariser really makes the sky jump out.
A red filter further accentuates the contrast between the blue sky and towering cumulus formations.
Were possible and depending on the weather I try to take a dramatic photograph of your wedding venue.
Below is another unseen landscape from the archives. Taken at West Wemyss on the Fife Coast. I love my long exposures and how it turns the sea to a fine mist.
Hopefully this winter I will restart work on my book project - "The Fife Coast (A photographers journey)". I also have plans for a calendar for Loch Leven - but that will have to wait to 2008.
Where practical I like to attend a couples wedding rehearsal. I can then agree with the Minister where I can stand, where I can move during the ceremony and I can take some test photographs
My favourite minister is shown below, photographed at Lesley and Andrew's rehearsal. John is such a warm person but has the odd lapses of thought - a bit like me in a way.
In general I never use flash during the service and I do not photograph prayers. Often I try and attend the church early to take photographs of little details plus a photograph of the venue itself.
It's always worth checking with your minister, what the rules on photography are, as some venues allow no photography whatsoever during a religous ceremony.
A photographer who I admire is Simon Marsden. He is famous for his infra red (IR) photography and he has an amazing body of work which can be viewed at his Picture Archive.
I had no wedding today - so I thought I'd try a new technique. A while back I bought an infra red filter - it blocks all visible light and enables me to take infra red photographs
The problem taking infra red photographs with my digital cameras is their response to infra red is very weak so I need to use fast film and very long exposures even when it's bright.
Other problems with using my infra red filter is preventing light leaks and focusing - you cannot see through the viewfinder and you have to estimate focus as IR has a focus shift from visible light.
One great thing about infra red is it makes foilage glow a snowy white. The photograph above is the only photograph I managed this evening as my cable release failed.
I need a cable release as although this was an hour before sunset the exposure is 120s @ f/5.6 using ISO800 film. Hence I have ordered a new cable release so watch out for more infra red in the future.
Last weekend I was at Gauldry for Catriona and John's wedding. They were having the wedding ceremony in their back garden accompanied by a steel band from Leeds. Although the weather was very wet it did little to dampen the family, guests and children's spirits.
A few photographs are shown below including the bridesmaids bouquets, the moment when John first saw Catriona, the groomsman playing the drums, the cake which was modelled on their garden, plus John and Catriona themselves. The wedding can be viewed in full on my Web Site
A photographer who I greatly admire is Michael Kenna. He creates amazing moody black and white landscape images, often using very long exposures, during what appears to be moonlight. I have a project in mind this weekend that involves moonlight and a long exposure. (The moon was full yesterday – which may explain my sudden desire to launch my blog!) Hopefully I’ll be posting back this weekend with a moonlit landscape of my own.
One of my favourite landscape images of 2006, shown above, is called “End of the line” and was taken during foggy conditions early one Sunday morning on Loch Lomond a short drive from Rowardennan Youth Hostel. I have entered this photograph into the monochrome section of the SWPP August Print Competition. This is another landscape that doesn’t appear on my web site, over the next few weeks I plan to upload some unseen landscapes on my blog while I decide how to update my main web site.
A few weeks ago we were invited to a friends 50th birthday party. As a surprise I did a framed platinum photograph of her youngest son.
Days before the birthday her daughter sneaked him round for 5 minutes - after 5 frames I knew I had caught his enigmatic smile.
Angela delivered the print while I was at Lesley and Andrew's wedding. When our friend unwrapped it she burst into happy tears.
If you are interested in a framed portrait - please contact me via my web site - see the link in the right hand menu.
I am a member of the Society of Wedding and Portrait Photographers and enter their monthly print competitions.
One of my favourite categories is the children's section since I am a father to two children and one soon to be teenager
Here is one of my winning images "Looking for monsters" from May's Children's Section.
I have five images entered in August competition, fingers crossed for some more winners.
I’m getting married myself next year which means I am not available for weddings on Sat 2nd June 07 and Sat 9th June 07. I'm getting married at Arnot Tower Gardens and below is a proof of concept image taken early this spring at this new wedding venue.
The image above was created by stacking long exposures from my digital SLR to simulate one continuous exposure. The bottom half of the image is from an exposure taken just after sunset. To take this image I was stood in the ornamental pond in my wellington boots.
Thankfully the owner Helen Gray was kind enough to bring me a cup of tea and a chocolate biscuit as it was several degrees below and I had mistakenly got water inside my boots. I could hardly feel my feet as I made the short drive home.
This week I have had two wedding enquiries for the 7/7/7 - tipped to be the most popular wedding date of 2007. I'm sorry but a lovely couple called Laura and Craig have got my services for that day - a wedding on Loch Tay. The images below are a few of my favourites - taken an hour after I first met them.
When I meet couples I like to pose them for a few photographs so they can see first hand my approach to photography. In general I only ask for 20-30 minutes for formal photographs and 15 minutes for bridal portraits. I do not wish to take over your day but rather melt into the background and capture things as they happen. 
