The Belmont School fundraising event was billed as a 007 (James Bond) themed evening. With the ladies dressed to the nines (although no one dared wear a white bikini) and the men sporting bow ties and carrying an assortment of weapons or dressed as USSR generals. As well as some other fantastic costumes the event was a total hit! With auctions ranging from a pair of diamond earings, to being headmaster of this prestigious school (for a day). Ladies and Gentlemen you all looked amazing, you danced hard, and got involved in raising money for a great cause. But not only that you were great fun to spend the evening with and I hope you all enjoyed the fun. I dare say I’ve never seen so many people hit the dance floor right from the word go than at this do!

A special thank you must go to Nicky Curran who invited me to take part in this event. I hope it raised a significant amount of funds for the school, and I hope I get asked to do it again.

To purchase any prints from this event please visit our online shop.

From a photography point of view, we were faced with a challenge, we initially had 45 minutes to photograph every guest as they arrived at a champagne reception. The remainder of the evening was meant to be spent selling the photos we’d taken in that 45 minutes. Unfortunately in the time allocated we only managed about 25 couples (about half the total guest list). The remainder of the guests it appears weren’t even aware of our presence, due to being in a side room. So with typical Alex White panache we revised our plans and set-up a mini studio in our spot. With no space for my regular white background and usual array of lights we made do with a single flash and a black sheet (which had originally been a table cloth). Once the sit down dinner was over we quickly rallied those folks who had missed out in the drinks reception and got them all ‘shot’ in our firing range. The result was some great shots of all the guests at the event (and even some of the serving staff) And thanks to the change in background most of the original guests came back for seconds, which is always great.

I was recently phoned by my cousin who had been asked if he would photograph a friend’s wedding. My heart immediately sunk as I knew what was coming, it’s not so much that my cousin is a bad photographer, but in his own words ‘I mainly do landscapes, and nice flowers’. The conversation revolved around, lenses, ISO’s (the camera’s sensitivity to light) and F-stops (how much light get’s through the lens to the camera’s image sensor). And within about thirty seconds I knew that although it was a very nice thought, my cousin taking photos for his friend as his wedding present to them would inevitably all end in tears.

‘Why?’ you ask. Simple, you don’t trust the recording of the most precious day in your life to a mate who’s got a camera. Just because you know someone who owns a high spec Digital SLR (DSLR) does not mean that mean they know how to use it? There’s a reason the word ‘professional’ is used in ‘professional photographer’, it means that the photographer in question knows their equipment, how it works, and most importantly knows how to work with people to capture them at their best.

Many people these days will trust their most precious memories to a total amateur. The emerging market for wedding day re-shoots or ‘trash the dress’ shoots as they are sometimes called is due, in part, to the fact that the wedding day photos weren’t as good as they should have been. Don’t get me wrong some people will pay thousands for a top notch photographer and then pay them again for the post wedding shoot. No, it’s those who when thinking of their wedding photos think ‘now we can save some money here’ who end up with serious heart ache as their friend doesn’t turn out to be the ‘Mario Testino’ they thought they were.

As the going says…the proof is in the pudding. If you like…no… love your friends photography, and I don’t mean they take a nice picture of a flower or landscape now and then, I mean their portraiture? Do they pose their subjects well, do they make the average person on the street look as if they have been lifted out of a glossy magazine? If not, don’t even mention wedding photography to them and you’ll save yourself from ruined wedding photos, and the possibility of loosing a friend.

By all means, if your friend is a professional wedding or portrait photographer then they are the ones to talk to. But even then you need to ‘know’ that you’ve chosen the right one.

To help you choose below is a short list of things you need to look out for when you choose your wedding photographer, and although it’s not foolproof it’ll help you think through your options.

1. Know what you want, yes I know this is about you and not the photographer, but you need to know what you want before you get there, don’t just assume the photographer can read your mind, they haven’t spent the months or years planning for your big day like you. They certainly don’t know the details, each with meaning and purpose that you’re putting into your day. They may not be able to tell the difference between the decorations from pound-land, and the lovingly hand made decorations made by you, your family and friends. If you don’t inform your photographer, that for example the groom’s cuff-links are a family heirloom and are of great significance to him, then how is the photographer going to know? A good photographer will want to know the details of your day, give them a list of ‘important photos not to miss’.

2. I’ve mentioned it before, but I’ll say it again…do you love your chosen photographer’s style? Would you hang their photographs in your home? Whoever you ask, you need to know that you like their style, it’s not just the quality of the original photographs that matter, it’s how they edit them which gives each photographer their own unique style.

3. Ask your photographer to see a complete set of photos taken from a single wedding they’ve done. Anyone can capture a great photo as a one off, but you want to know that that result can be consistently recreated throughout your day?

4. Do you ‘click’ with your photographer? Getting on with your photographer is important, they will spend more time with you than a lot of your guests on your day, so pick someone you find easy to get on with.

5. Spend time talking with your photographer about your day, people who have worked in the wedding industry know a thing or two about weddings and will usually be more than happy to help you spot potential problems, especially when it comes to timings, before they happen.

6. Lastly, how much will it all cost? Some photographers hide certain costs and everything is extra. Make sure you get a grand-total before you sign anything.

There’s plenty more that could be added to this list, but if you’ve done all these you’ll be that much closer to getting what you are imagining as the wedding photos you’re dreaming of.

Also for those of you who wanted to buy any portraits of yourselves that were taken in the wedding reception photo booth, please visit our online shop.

What a brilliant day we’ve just had, Martin Bolton-Smith and his crew of helpers and friends have pulled off an awesome charity fundraiser day today at Slinfold Golf Course, all in aid of raising awareness and funds into researching a cure for Amyloidosis.

As I type they’re expecting another batch of fund-raisers to arrive for their evening event…I don’t know where they get their energy from!

Thank you Martin for having me as part of your day, and I hope that you and the team beat your fundraising target by a long way.

For the rest of you out there, here are just a few of the day’s photos.

For anyone wanting to buy any of the photos of themselves please find below the links by your team name, in the order in which your photos were taken.

There are also a few shots taken throughout the day of the Slinfold Golf course, and a few of the people involved in making the whole day happen, these can be found here.

To view all the photos or to purchase any prints from this event please visit our online shop.

A little sample of the sort of thing I’m working on at the moment…
This is a 360º virtual tour of StMary’s church in Horsham.

If you know anyone who has, or you have a building that you’d like photographing and turning into one of these stunning 360º panoramas for a website, please get in touch by using the contact page.

These panoramas were put together using over 50 images taken from each viewing point. These were then stitched together to produce the panorama (example below), which in turn is output into the ‘movie’ mode you can see above.

We want all our photos…and for free!

… so for any Silver or Gold wedding packages booked, with deposits paid, in March 2012, you will be given all the photos shown at the proofing stage, which is in the region of 250 unedited photographs, in high resolution for free. This is £200 worth of the best photographs taken on your day for absolutely nothing! ZERO! Nowt! Zilch! Diddly Squat! Zip!  Nada!….

And you still get all the edited photos as per the package you book for.

This time it’s the Watts family from Crawley.  So much fun to be had, especially with three lively boys and a camera shy toddler, but what a photogenic family to capture.

We were jumping, hiding, rolling, laughing and crying at times in the studio for a good hour and the results are fantastic! Thanks for asking me to take these photos for you. I hope you treasure them forever.

Whilst everyone else is wrapping up their January sales we’ve decided to go crazy and start another one!
So for 1 week only, from Friday the 27th of January to Friday the 3rd of February, all bookings for studio photography are 20% OFF!
And if you recommend a friend, and they booking on the same day, we’ll give you 33% OFF both bookings.