Barrett and Coe Wedding Course

Today was day one of the wedding course I am undertaking, and its good to be doing some training again.  Although its only 5 weeks since the exam day for the portrait course, I have missed my Sundays in Ware.  Although there is some cross over from the portrait course to this course there is a whole lot to learn.  One of the daunting things about wedding photography, is remembering the photos you have to take.  Missing an important shot, is going to get you into hot water with the bride and groom.  So, to remember the shots you have to take the wedding is broken down into blocks, and today we learnt about Block A, which is the groom and best man, with the ushers at the church, normally taken before the bride arrives.

Obviously we didn’t have a wedding party to use as models, so we used the other students and members of staff.  Jenny, above, is a dab hand at role playing members of the wedding party – above, she is role playing the best man.

Here, the groom and the best man shake hands, a classic wedding shot, although the groom isn’t usually wearing cargo shorts and trainers!

We also practiced some environmental shots, with the aim of killing top light, and recognising the differing levels of light and shade.

So, in this shot of another student, the left side of his face is a little shiney, but there is a hint of a rembrandt triangle, and I am quite happy with the shot.

In summary, its good to be training again, now, on with the homework!

Back at work and into the deep end

So my work wassn’t going to allow me a nice easy way back into things; oh, no, straight into the thick of it by flying to Athens.  Despite all the news about the troubles there, the only issue I faced was a 24 hour strike by the taxi drivers, but, fortunately my hotel was fairly close to where I needed to be, so that wasn’t an issue.  I found a nice taverna around the corner from the hotel so I could get a reasonably priced meal in the evening (not only was the food in the hotel expensive, but service looked exceedingly slow – even by Greek standards.

I flew out and back with Swiss Air, and I was pleasantly surprised and impressed by the service.  I would definitely fly them again.

This weekend, I drag my camera gear back up to Ware, to start the Wedding Photography course, which I am really looking forward to.

I have been on holiday

I haven’t posted for a while because, for the last fortnight I have been on holiday in Phuket, indulging in my favourite pastimes of meeting up with old friends, spicy food, photography, and lying on the beach all day doing nothing!

This is my first time back since completing the portrait photography course, and I was keen to practice what I had learned on the course.  I have found, in the past, that Thais can pose quite naturally, and trying to get them to break away from that pose was really quite difficult, but I persevered and got some really quite nice photos.

Of course, not having studio lighting or posing blocks with me made life slightly difficult, but I reckon I did OK.

On the last night of my holiday, in return for a home cooked Thai meal. I photographed the family of friends Nikke and Ead, which I have been doing for the last three years, now.  The photos were taken with a single off camera flash into an umbrella, and I was reasonably happy with the results.

Next weekend, I am starting out on the Barrett & Coe Wedding photography course, which I am really looking forward to.  I already have a work colleague who wants me to fly out to Switzerland next year to photograph her wedding; however, i have a funny feeling that she doesn’t want to pay me anything more than my expenses.