Natalie & Bernard are a fantastic couple, living in the heart of Manchester. Bernie’s an avid United fan (Top marks straight away) and Natalie and her whole family support the Red side of Merseyside. So there were lots of camaraderie during the speeches as you can imagine.

This was our first wedding at Peckforton Castle and what a great venue it is. A proper winter wedding at the beginning of December and only a few weeks before the day, I was unsure whether there would be snow on the ground or not.

I always advise our clients when booking a late autumn or winter wedding to have the ceremony as early as possible, leaving enough daylight for capturing beautiful images. This is so true for weddings at Peckforton Castle and similar venues. On winter days, when the sun is low in the sky, the amount of light inside is dramatically reduced. That said, we knew this would be the case and our preparations paid off!

Many brides dream of far away shores, a sun drenched beach in some exotic location, their wedding vows being pledged in front of a select number of friends and family. And why not?

Emma and Tom were winners of one of our wedding fayre engagement shoots. They are getting married in the summer of next year at the beautiful Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh. As two banking professionals living in Castlefield, Manchester they decided what better place to have their pre-wedding shoot. It seems lately that every pre-wedding shoot in Manchester was falling foul of our great weather and despite being in the middle of summer it was another grey and wet day.

I’m really looking forward to Natalie and Bernie’s wedding this December at the wonderful and recently refurbished Peckforton Castle. I’m hoping for either a lovely crisp winters morning with clear blue skies or for a blanket of fresh undisturbed snow. This is however Britain, so its a lottery when it comes to the weather, as it was in the height of our summer when we took Natalie and Bernie around Manchester’s Northern Quarter for their pre-wedding photo shoot.>/p>

Perrier Jouet’s 200 Year Anniversary

At The Lowry Hotel, Manchester

Late November 2011, I was recommended to Pernod Ricard for a Perrier Jouet Bicentenary Celebration event being held at the Lowry Hotel in Manchester on 30th November 2011

Finally my Commercial Photographer networking was starting to pay off! I spoke with Philippa at Pernod Ricard explained that I had to be away from the event by about 4pm latest as I had to get home and back into Manchester later for a Bryan Adams concert at the MEN

Beautiful Baby Photography

I’ve known Danny for many years, so I was delighted to find out he and Nichola had recently celebrated the birth of a beautiful baby daughter they have called Orla. They wanted some beautiful baby photographs so I suggested that they consider our New Beginnings package for newborn to 2 years. They all came down to the studio back in January and we managed to create some gorgeous images for them.

Being an animal lover and in particular a lover of dogs (having got two of our own); when Sheryl from Clough End Kennels in Broadbottom asked if I did pet photography, and moreover whether I could photograph her two ‘lovely babies’ Tilly and Talulah, I just jumped at the chance and the pet photographer in me when on overdrive!

Monty Halls

I stood there at the Aegon 2011 National Conference working as Saville AV’s photographer for this event, talking to this very polite, tall chap who was due to go on stage as a guest speaker. I’d never met Monty Halls. In fact I had never heard of Monty Halls until that day. And as he asks me about my commercial photography I ask him what he does other than guest speaking. He replies “Oh you know a bit of TV, expeditions, exploration, diving, I love writing” It wasn’t until I got home that I found anything out about Monty Halls. But I have to say I have seen some exceptionally good business speakers. From Sir Clive Woodward to Richard Olivier, son of the famous Laurence Olivier and Monty Halls was very good. His delivery and presence on stage was first class and I think the whole audience from Aegon thought so too!

-Wedding Photography Yorkshire-

I assisted a friend, Andrew Bulloch as a second photographer at a wedding he shot for some friends of his, Adam and Bryony back in September 2010. Bryony was a photographer’s dream when it came to shooting. The wedding ceremony and reception was held at the Black Swan in Helmsley, Yorkshire.

It looks like the snow is about to descend upon the North West region of the UK over the next few days. It’s already hit Scotland and the North East and looks like Manchester is going to get it’s share towards the end of the week. The last batch of snow we had here at home a few weeks ago, gave a fabulous opportunity to take some great outdoor shots of Donna and the kids and when we got snowed in and Brandon and Saul could not get into school, the sledges came out and off we went for some family fun, camera in tow. I thought I’d share some of my favourite images from the mornings family portrait sledging session. I don’t think the British Olympic bobsleigh team have anything to be concerned about, but we had some great fun. Heres keeping fingers crossed for a white Christmas this year.