December 31st, 2010
In 2011 I am going to run a series of workshops aimed at helping new or struggling photographers. Having been a photographer for over 20 years and shot hundreds of weddings in the last decade, I have learned what works and what doesn’t in terms of marketing, technique and workflow. I find it very inspiring to meet photographers and my ambition is to guide others to a successful business. The first day course is going to be on Thursday the 27th of January in Brighton and will run from 10am until 5pm. This first workshop is covering ~
how to progress and market your business
~ how to get the clients you connect with
~ the best places to spend your advertising budget
~ ways of getting known that cost nothing
~ using social networking
~ looking at blogging, both your own and national wedding blogs
~ shooting images that tell a story and are appealing to wedding magazines and blogs
~ basic workflow {the next workshop will cover more in-depth post production}
~ whats in my bag
~ I will finish up with an open Q & A session
Numbers will be very limited and the cost is £250 all inclusive with lunch provided. If necessary, overnight accommodation can be arranged. To book, send me an email or call 01273 231047.
***Future Workshops for 2011 in Brighton, places are limited but can be reserved now***
24th February ~ Post Production on Vintage Wedding Photography.
If you don’t know where to start or want to refine your Post Production, this workshop will look at getting an efficient workflow and using Photoshop to create vintage tones on your images. Between myself and my second photographer, we shoot on average 1600 raw files per wedding. I then spend a (long!) day doing the edit and post production. I do not profess to be the most technically minded photographer or Photoshop expert but I will share the techniques that work well for me.
~ the process of shooting a wedding from pre-wedding meeting to delivering the images
~ how not to get overwhelmed with post production by creating an efficient workflow
~ using Photoshop to refine images
~ achieving beautiful black & white and colour vintage tones with Photoshop actions
~ blogging a wedding
~ what to give the clients
~ we will also briefly look at albums
~ again I will finish with an open Q&A session
£250
Tags: vintage wedding photography course, vintage wedding photography workshop, wedding blog, wedding photographer workflow, wedding photography workshops
Posted in workshops | 4 Comments »
December 21st, 2010
Well, its been one amazing year at Devlin Towers. We have been lucky to shoot some gorgeous weddings for some very lovely people and finished 12 months of extremely hard work by achieving an amazing award. Still feel like I have won an Oscar! 2011 is already looking like another crazy year with some exciting projects lined up and lots more weddings in the diary. I am also going to start teaching some workshops for new photographers, starting in January. As we wind things up for 2010, there is time for one last blog post. I love Christmas and there are two little people here who are enthralled by all the magic and tradition. So from all of us, hope you and yours have a very Merry Christmas.
Posted in Uncategorized | 7 Comments »
December 20th, 2010
Last week, I traveled up to a frozen Glasgow and met Fiona and Phil who’s wedding is next summer in Crear on the west coast of Scotland. Fiona is a designer so their flat is gorgeous, as are their two cats who decided to take a starring role in the pictures. We did brave the elements and took in their neighborhood which has some quirky, kooky spots that I loved before making the most of the late afternoon light in the local park.
Tags: engagement, engagement photos, glasgow engagement photography, quirky wedding photography, wedding crear scotland
Posted in Engagement | 4 Comments »
December 1st, 2010
I am so in love with shooting London weddings and it was such a joy to be involved in Leslie and Ben’s cool vintage/rock n roll inspired day. I had a lot of fun at Leslie’s hotel in the morning shooting the getting ready – gorgeous Joanne Fleming frock and Laboutins, heaven! There was a bit of a panic on so I got to fulfill my inner bridesmaid (never been one never gonna be at this rate) In between shots I got to help the bride get beautiful. New girl Jayne did her magic with the groom and we all met again at Marylebone Old Town Hall for the very lovely ceremony. We shot their portraits in the streets around there, you can’t beat a London Mews and we even came across a great vintage Jaguar to ‘borrow’ for some shots. The reception was in an old rowing club by the river, very vintage but the atmosphere was pure Rock n Roll. After the delicious meal, everyone totally rocked out to the awesome band and the bride changed into some converse. I have heard that it all ended in a big moshpit.
devlinphotos
Tags: joanne fleming, london wedding photographer, london wedding photography, Rock n Roll Bride, rock n roll london wedding, vintage london wedding
Posted in London Wedding, Uncategorized, Vintage weddings | 11 Comments »
November 23rd, 2010
Katrina and Alistair are good friends of mine and I was honoured to be the photographer at their Vintage inspired wedding at Brighton’s Pub du Vin. When I arrived at their house, Katrina already looked gorgeous having been made up by Alison Smith and was keeping her nerves in check by doing chores and getting ready with her two sisters. It was going to be an emotional day as sadly Katrina’s lovely Mum had been ill and passed away last year. Before she died she had planted a rose bush in Katrina’s front garden which hadn’t yet bloomed. A couple of days before the wedding, a delicate rose budded and blossomed despite the November frost. The girls knew it was their Mum’s way of being at the wedding so they added it to Katrina’s lovely bouquet of hand-tied roses and herbs from the amazing Miss Mole’s Flower Emporium. It fitted in perfectly and Katrina kept calm by looking at her flowers as she walked by herself down the aisle. I absolutely loved the wedding dress from the amazing Joanne Fleming and the whole day was just so perfect. There were a few tears but really it was a happy and fun celebration of the love between a couple who started as friends and ended up as a family.
Tags: vintage brighton wedding, vintage wedding, vintage wedding dress brighton, vintage wedding photographer, vintage wedding photography, wedding pub du vin brighton
Posted in Pub du Vin, Vintage weddings, Weddings, Weddings in Brighton | 9 Comments »
November 16th, 2010
Americans Olivia and Justin are getting married in their home city in Utah next February with 400 guests. So their wedding day is going to be quite busy and most likely in the snow, amazing. As Olivia is currently studying in London, they opted to have their engagement photography shot here, in a week that Justin was visiting. They wanted the shoot to feature some of London’s most iconic landmarks so we took a whirlwind tour of Big Ben, Trafalgar Square and St Paul’s. We even came across the Royal Guard. The light was just beautiful, it had that romantic winter haze to it and these two are so in love despite the current distance between them. Gorgeous….
devlinphotos
Tags: American engagement London, engagement photos, london engagement photography, London engagement shoot, london wedding, Royal engagement
Posted in Engagement | 4 Comments »
November 10th, 2010
Lucy and Stephen live in the Middle East and know quite a lot about hotels as Stephen works for probably the most luxurious hotel in the world. When they get a break and want to get away from it all, they travel to Rye in Sussex and the very chic but cosy George Hotel. In planning their wedding, it was the natural choice and it is a great venue for a quirky vintage inspired wedding. I loved all Lucy’s ideas from the rosette place names to the vintage crockery and there were bowls of sweets everywhere. When we came out from the ceremony in Rye Town Hall, Mr & Mrs Gee bunting had been hung across the entrance as well as colourful weather balloons. My kind of props so of course we took them off when we went to do their photography around the gorgeous ancient streets of Rye. It was cold and there was some rain but the crisp winter light and the reflections of the cobbles gave the images a romantic feel. Considering the height of her heels and that her beautiful wedding dress had a train on it, Lucy was a very happy to walk around quite a few locations and I found it all incredibly inspirational. While the guests were having dinner, Amy and I set up the Photo Booth (pics to follow), which was perfect for this fun wedding.
devlinphotos
Posted in The George in Rye, Vintage weddings | 3 Comments »
November 4th, 2010
Its been a crazy week at Devlin Towers but as we are taking December off from wedding photography, there is an end of term feeling too. This has been a big year and a very busy one with lots of seven day weeks, time spent on motorways, some frustrating times but also some amazing times. As well as Amy and Clare shooting weddings with me and working on post production and album design, new girl Jayne is also proving to be just our cup of tea (from a vintage tea-pot!!!) At the start of this year, I set some goals. Number one was to get a feature on the gorgeous wedding blog Rock n Roll Bride. Kat had just been named the most influential person in the industry and the photography on her site is incredibly inspirational. To my amazement she picked up a great civil partnership that I had shot even though it had no bride! Since then I have been lucky to have had several more weddings featured on there including my current favourite Sophie & Barney’s recent North London vintage wedding. This has also led to my work being picked up by other great UK wedding blogs and now some US ones. It has also sent me some fabulous clients. Number two has yet to happen but fingers crossed and I will keep you posted. Three was to be Wedding Photographer of the Year, somewhere! Having been a wedding photographer for ten years, I wanted some recognition. That week, a fellow photographer showed me the current issue of the much revered British Journal of Photography which for the first time ever was doing a Wedding Photographer of the Year Award along with Wedding magazine. Perfect.
When it came to submitting an entry, we all agreed that Lauri and Stuart’s DIY vintage wedding was the one. Its a set of images that reflect a day filled with love, warmth and romance.
On Monday, I was on my own in the office. I was having an email conversation with a bride who was considering moving the date of her French Chateau wedding just so I could shoot it. Wow! Then another potential client phoned to book for his wedding at a very beautiful venue. Happy days! Then a very lovely lady from the BJP called to check through my entry. ‘Great’ I thought, ‘I must have made it quite far’ So far, a great morning. ‘Well’ the very lovely lady said ‘Everything seems to be in order so in that case I’m delighted to tell you that you are our winner’ For all of about 20 seconds I was actually silent. Wowzers! Then I screamed so loudly the cat ran for cover and proceeded to babble at the very lovely lady who must now be thinking ‘What a lunatic!’ When I eventually let her get off the phone, I screamed some more and then rang my Mum and then had a little cry. There are so many brilliant photographers shooting weddings in the UK now, at a time that seems to be more creative that ever for us and the clients. I am completely blown away to have achieved this award and I owe a lot to the other girls who shoot with me as they are also a constant source of inspiration to me and just great company. I am off to plan a little celebration for the four of us and then we can talk about what our ambitions are for next year 
See the full article here
Tags: bjp, BJP wedding photographer of the year, british journal of photography, british wedding photographer of the year, london wedding photography, uk wedding photographer, vintage wedding, vintage wedding photography, wedding french chateau, wedding photographer of the year
Posted in Awards | 5 Comments »
October 26th, 2010
I almost don’t want to write anything, I love these images so so much. Sophie and Barney found me through the gorgeous Rock n Roll Bride site and this was certainly a London Rock n Roll Wedding. After checking out Sophie’s website and then meeting them both, I pitched the idea to incorporate some quirky animal masks that I have had waiting for just the right wedding. Amy went to their very cool flat to cover the boys while I had a wicked time with Sophie and her six bridesmaids who all wore vintage pieces altered by Sophie. The vintage 1930s silk wedding dress originated from the Victoria and Albert museum via My Sugarland and was altered by the Queen’s seamstress. Though we were running a little late, the very kind registrar at Islington Town Hall let me take a quick shot of Sophie walking up those steps on her own to show off the amazing train. After the ceremony, we walked through the vintage and antique shops of Camden Passage down to their venue which was an old metal works in a cobbled street. Such a privilege to be involved in a wedding day like this and I hope the images do justice to it. Before you ask, the “Till Death Do Us Part” cake is from Choccywoccydoodah.
devlinphotos
Tags: antique wedding dress, choccywoccydoodah, london rock n roll wedding, my sugarland, quirky wedding, quirky wedding photography, Rock n Roll Bride, vintage london wedding, vintage wedding dress, vintage wedding photographer
Posted in London Wedding, Rock n Roll Bride, Vintage weddings, Weddings | 7 Comments »
October 13th, 2010
On a beautiful warm autumnal day, Amy and I started coverage at the couple’s house where Lucy was getting ready. Their house is amazing and very photogenic so we had some fun playing around with the dress and shoes. Lucy helped to design her pretty delicate dress from White Leaf in Brighton and we loved her jewelery. The wedding was at the very chic Hotel du Vin in Brighton with great readings from Lucy’s sons and her chief bridesmaid and daughter, Zoë. Joaquin was a very hands on groom and was doing the table settings as we were photographing the room. Meantime, the guests were treated to wine tasting sessions from the hotel’s sommelier and after dinner there was a fun Mr & Mrs quiz hosted by their sons. Before we left, we had a taste of the yummy Croque en Bouche cake from the Real Patisserie.
devlinphotos
Posted in Hotel du Vin, Weddings, Weddings in Brighton | 2 Comments »
