Award of Excellence from the IPPA..

Last Sunday I had to make myself respectable for the 2011 Irish Professional Photographers Association Awards. Here is what it was all about..

Pictured at the Irish Professional Photographers Awards 2011 are Gareth Byrne, President, IPPA presenting a Certificate of Excellence to Pauline Dennigan, Dennigan Photography, Tralee. Pauline was presented with the cert in recognition for winning 6 gold awards with the IPPA for her wedding photographs which were all taken in Kerry. The awards were held in the Burlington Hotel, Dublin.

Thanks to Gerard McCarthy for the pic.

The Girl With the Golden Shoes – San Francisco to Castle Leslie..

This is just a very quick taste of Nikki & Ed’s wedding in Castle Leslie. Yes, Nikki did wear gold runners (sneakers) with her dress and it totally worked..

The next shot was taken on a very majestic toilet!

Fenit, A Source of Inspiration..

Last week I had the pleasure of meeting Abbey Cummings who represents Tralee & Fenit Harbour Commissioners. If I could clone Abbey to promote Tralee town, then something positive would start happening. The best thing the Irish Government could do for this country, is to place a leader of progress, like Abbey (who is not a politician) into each and every town. Someone to motivate businesses as an entire collective in how create their own unique solutions for town and business survival. Every single shop window all over Ireland currently has a “Sale” , a sale that appears to have started before Christmas and is still continuing. No vision, no innovation and no hope is what the “sale” sign says to me. I will finish off on a positive note by directing you to the Tralee & Fenit Harbour Commissioners fantastic website by clicking here.

Back to Kenmare and Sneem…

I had intended in posting a new wedding but after meeting one of my brides, Myrna last night I decided I would delve into her wedding again because there were some beautiful shots that I had forgotten about. We sat down to choose the photographs for her and Jamie’s album while having a laugh over some incidents on the day of the wedding, the flat tyre on the wedding car being the most memorable..

FAQ: How long will the Wedding Photographs take on my Wedding Day?

“How long do the photographs normally take?” This is the question I get asked the most by wedding couples (sometimes accompanied by a worried look). I always answer their question by talking about the day as a whole rather than just the photography on its own. This approach helps people to understand that for everything to run smoothly, all aspects of the day are to be considered.

For you, I have narrowed these down to the key factors that will influence timing on the day as a whole:

One: It would be the opinion of many that a 2pm ceremony time is perfect as the day is not too long for your guests. Well what about you? Your day disappears rapidly as the Priest may give a longer that expected ceremony (normally 1 hour and ceremonies rarely start on time). It takes at at least a half hour to meet your guests as they come out of the church. Depending on the distance between the church and hotel, it may take a half hour or more to get to the reception venue. We are now at 4.30pm and you still need to allow time for the bulk of the photographs. The chances of mingling with your guests are fast diminishing to make the 5.30pm meal time. Where is the whole day going (a day you spent a year planning)? Remember that your guests have taken the day off to spend with you. Do yourself some justice and plan to have your ceremony at 1pm. An extra hour WILL make a huge difference for all invloved.

Image from http://funnyweddingphotos.net

Two: Be on time for your ceremony. This may be a no-brainer but it doesn’t happen enough. Ten minutes may be okay but remember you will also need to allow time for some shots with your Dad/Mum before  you walk up the aisle. Some time to compose yourself is also important. This is not going to happen if you know you are late.

Three: A major time consumer is how many family photographs you decide to have. I always recommend no more than six formal groups (less would be even better). This frequently gets stretched to many more, and brides & grooms find themselves with a pain in their jaw and wondering when they will be able to mingle with their guests. Be strict, don’t get carried away with these shots. I know they are important but by keeping it simple at least you will have the family groups you really want and a chance to enjoy some drinks with your other guests.

Image from http://funnyweddingphotos.net

Four: The weather. I would consider myself to be a very efficient kind of gal. No stone is left unturned in the lead up to ensure that we (myself and my assistant) know exactly how will get great shots no matter what the situation. We have a wet day and dry day plan but there is no denying that rain can slow down proceedings. Small things like having to place towels on the ground under dress trains will add minutes . Rain can be an inconvenience and cause disappointment but my mental attitude is to be prepared for anything to happen. And remember if you have booked a good (qualified & experienced) photographer, relax knowing that she/he will produce the goods no matter what the weather.

Image from http://funnyweddingphotos.net

Five: Spontaneous or formal shots. I could make this very complicated but I have decided to keep it simple. Both spontaneous and formal shots need time. Approx 95% of my couples want both spontaneous and formal shots in their wedding albums. Spontaneous shots require the Photographer to wait, wait and wait some more for a moment to happen that is worthy of photographing. It is not simply a case of being snap happy. The one trade off however is that you are amongst family and friends as opposed to going overboard on the formal side of being photographed on your own. The more formal shots you have the more it will eat into the spontaneous opportunities.

If you have found this helpful, please add a comment. You can also ask any related questions and I will do my best to help you.

One More Dramatic Kiss…

I am trying to meet a deadline but really wanted to share this shot with you. I mentioned Niamh & Tom in an earlier post on their rainy day wedding. Well I have just edited another one of their shots which I really love. This was shot within seconds of rain falling on us. Kerry is such a beautiful county but boy does it rain a lot. I can still say, hand on my heart, that it is THE best place in Ireland to get married…

When my Wedding Photograph Plan does not go to Plan…

The landscape shots from my last post were a result of research done for Niamh & Tom’s wedding which was happening in Lispole. I felt great excitement at the potential for their shots. Visually I knew exactly what I was aiming for. Well to get to the point, none of this happened. It rained sporadically throughout the day and in fact every time I even suggested we put a toe outside the door of the church, the clouds would systematically spill down on top of us. Finally, I was given a 10 minute reprieve and this was what we got…

Oh and it wasn’t just the rain.. The tide was in with no sand left to stand on, the rocks were slippy and my feet were buried in slimy seaweed (I was hauled out by a gallant groomsman). The funny thing was that we were all happy to work with what we had and there was no disappointment to be seen on Niamh & Tom’s faces. The beach below these rocks was where Tom proposed to Niamh by writing it in the sand. They were happy regardless..

 

Lost in Ireland

I was reading a travel article in the New York Times written by Matt Gross who allows himself to get lost in countries by not using any aids to help him find his way. So this week his article was on getting “Lost in Ireland” . It got me thinking on how many times I have gotten lost when I am checking out remote areas for wedding shots. I would consider just about anywhere off the M50 remote because the sign posting is so incredibly bad. Come to think of it the M50 is not particularly good either. There seems to be a pattern of planting trees in front of signs and letting them spread in all their glory so that you just manage to see the last letter of what might be the destination you are looking for. Putting signs right on the exit so that you sail on past and travel a few miles more out of your way causes me to say not very nice words. Only recently the sign person (whoever he/she is) has figured out that putting signs over the motorway seems to be the way to go. Many times I would have liked to have met this sign person when they thought it was a good idea to put country road signs on round poles just so the local boys could easily manoeuvre the sign for Ballinamuck in the wrong direction.

This weekend I would have happily got lost on a network of country roads near Lispole in Kerry. To my left were stunning views of cliff edges and to my right a patchwork of green fields in a valley. I couldn’t allow myself to stray because I was on a tight schedule during Niamh and Tom’s wedding. Earlier on in the week I had checked this whole area out. The directions given to me by Tom involved driving through a farmyard, vering right up the hill, down the hill, then I went off track and ended up in the yard of another person’s house. The man was working outside but quickly disappeared inside when he saw yet another fool end up in his yard. Ahead of me was an overgrown grass track so I pulled on my wellies and decided to make my own way down the track, to see if there was anything worthwhile at the end of it…

The surprise at the end was the most perfect, small beach I have ever been on. There was not one footprint on the sand until I walked on it. I was surrounded by calm water, cliffs topped by velvet green grass and a castle ruin to my right. I stood there taking it all in and at that moment all was well in my world…

Allowing Yourself to Shine…

I had an obscene amount of shots to edit from Eoin and Elva’s wedding, definitely more than I have ever had on any other wedding. I was trying to figure out why this was. As I went back through the polished shots, I realised that Elva was a woman who allowed herself to shine in every sense. She strutted up the aisle, guests applauded, she danced back down the aisle with Eoin, she beamed the biggest smiles you could ever imagine, she felt at home in the luscious velvet seat of the horse and carriage, waving to the crowd. My photographic eye was in heaven, with the result that I had a field day with the shots…

Loved the bridesmaids dresses and Elva’s Mum cleverly created this “sky garden” which travels upwards with an abundance of colours..

One of my most favouritist (I know its not a word but I need to use it) shots.You can feel the excitement in the smile of Eoin’s sister…

 

Going Wild in Sneem..

Crazy busy at the moment but I had to post this shot of Elva and Eoin who came from Dublin to get married in Sneem. They have a huge appreciation for this part of Kerry so I really wanted to do justice to the beautiful landscape and to their sense of excitement about it. I am in the middle of editing Elva and Eoin’s wedding and believe me there are many more gems to be posted over the coming week..