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!

Add a Dash of Colour to Your Winter Wedding and Flavour With Some Zest…

I recently photographed Niamh & Colman’s wedding at Springfort Hall, a cosy country house in Cork. It was a cold, cold day to be in a dress but Niamh was a star, not to mention Colman who really nailed the shots in the 15 minutes we spent outdoors. I was delighted to find that Mallow had a great blue church, a yellow door (compliments of the Arts Centre) and this stunning rich, red drawing room in Sprinfort Hall. All of these elements allowed me to create some very vibrant, winter wedding shots..

Let’s go back to the beginning…

Miss Bossy Boots in Action…

I was kindly given this photograph, taken by a wedding guest at Jamie and Myrna’s wedding. So now I know what I look like when I am giving orders. It’s not very pretty. Mind you, this photograph was taken at my only truly vocal time of the wedding day, when I need to herd (encourage) the wedding guests into one big group. It is not a major problem to do this, but boy are you wasting your time if you think it can be done from the ground. There is a specifically Irish trait of not wanting to appear too enthusiastic about having your photograph taken because you might appear too confident. We are very good at acting not worthy. Why? I have no idea. All I know is that it takes one or two people to break from the pack and put themselves into the photograph and then the rest will follow…

 

 

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..

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…

Photogenic Kissing-The Ultimate Guide to Wedding Photograph Kisses…

Whether you are getting married or not, November is a time when we could all do with some extra hugs and kisses so why not practice some photogenic kissing…

Rule One – Do not pout like a trout! Partners lips should be just touching and not protruding or squashed against each other.

Rule Two – Do not have a collision of noses going on! Tilt your heads in opposite directions so that you fit together comfortably.

Rule Three – Feel free to use your hands around the face or neck for a more passionate embrace but without squashing your partners skin. Hands need to rest gently or risk distorting your beloved’s face.

Rule Four – Close your eyes when kissing. The rabbit caught in headlights look is not good when kissing your partner! Much more passionate when you allow yourself to be lost in the moment.

Rule Five – You don’t always have to kiss on the lips. Forehead, cheek or neck can sometimes look really good.

Now practice!

Shhhh! I just won 6 Gold Awards…

Here are my 6 winning photographs which achieved Gold Awards at the Irish Professional Photographers Association two nights ago. I am now in the running for IPPA Photographer of the Year 2010, but let me tell you it is very, very difficult to win and the the standard of my colleagues is incredible so don’t hold your breath….

Huge thanks to Lorraine & Joe, Lillian & Marco, Jasmin & Danny, Elva & Eoin, Judy & Brian and Louise & Des, firstly for booking me as their wedding photographer and secondly for creating these images with me.

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…