All Yours Photography's blog

Amazing wedding testimonial

2010-01-27T05:45:00.000-08:00

Helen sees her hair extensions for the first time, taken by Rachel

We were thrilled to get a thankyou card from Helen and Richard - they were married near Worcester late last Summer, and a lovelier couple you'd be hard pressed to meet. Here are Helen's words in full:

"To Rachel and Phil

Richard and I really cannot thank you enough for our incredible wedding photos. I find myself constantly looking at them time and time again recalling those special moments you have both so beautifully captured. There are so many gorgeous pictures that it's so difficult to choose which ones to have on view. What's even more amazing is that I still struggle to believe that the person staring back is me!

We will treasure them always.

Love,

Helen and Richard

Richard checks his great-grandfather's watch, taken by Phil

This was our standard package. We genuinely strive to give the best quality and least obtrusive wedding photography you can buy for a sensible price.

Richard and Helen, taken by Rachel

Wyvern FM - Helen's new man!

2010-01-04T09:21:00.000-08:00

Our good friends at Wyvern FM asked us to come in and take some informal shots of the new presenter who started this morning on the Breakfast Show with Helen.

He's called Hursty, and he's a top bloke!

On the list to photograph weddings at Portmeirion

2009-11-23T08:42:00.000-08:00

If you fancy an amazing venue, why not get married at Portmeirion? It's the most incredible place, with a list of recommended photographers that includes us. We've dealt with them frequently over the last year, and we can honestly say they are one of the very best wedding venues in the country.

Wedding testimonials

2009-10-25T14:44:00.001-07:00

Tidying up the office I came across two cards that I'd not seen. Both these weddings were in Summer 2009.

Hannah and Adam won the Wyvern FM Runaway Bride competition, so they got us for free, but they didn't actually choose us so it could have been a disaster. But it wasn't:

When we first met you at the Runaway Bride Auditions immediately we knew you would both be our photographers at our wedding, to capture every special moment. This was without a shadow of a doubt even if we hadn't won the competition!

We really cannot express our thanks to you for all your hard work, not only on our wedding day but also in the build up to it! We are thrilled to have met to! And we are pleased to help you in any events you may have in the future. Hannah and Adam Newton-Smith

Christina and Kevin wrote:

We just wanted to take the opportunity to say thank you so much for our fantastic wedding pictures. We are really pleased with them all, so natural and flattering they tell a story better than any video - plus none of the cringe-worthy bits! Every aspect of the day was captured so beautifully, we couldn't have wished for anything better. Enclosed is a small token of our appreciation. Love and best wishes, Christina and Kevin Quinn

And the gave us a voucher for some wine! Blimey!

So what makes us different to every other (arrogant, self-absorbed, prima-donna, grasping) wedding photographers? We work as a genuinely equal professional couple, which reduces all the stress. We capture both sides of the story without changing the events, and we give you all the photos without trying to ring more money out of you later or discarding your precious moments.

Simple really, and it's why we photographed (unobtrusively, sensitively and inexpensively) three times as many weddings in 2009 as in 2008. Why not give us the opportunity to quote for your big day?

Lutes are cool

2009-10-13T11:57:00.000-07:00

Rachel was commissioned to take these pictures for local lutenist Liz Pallett. Liz's text when she received the pictures:

"Rachel, I think they are really FAB!! Some are just stunning! Just what I was after. I'm over the moon!!"

It really helped to have a tight brief - Liz knew exactly what she wanted and Rachel got it.

Wyvern FM runaway bride Hannah and Adam's Big Day!

2009-09-13T13:46:00.001-07:00

Yep that's JD coming between the happy couple.
Confetti Time
Oops a bit more lippy!
Alysia interviews for JD's show.
True love.

On the cover of Worcestershire Life!!

2009-08-26T10:20:00.000-07:00

This month's Worcestershire life has a few of our pictures on the front cover! Fleet street here we come.

Actually, photographing dogs is tricky, so we done good!

Megan Baker House Photography Exhibition at Malvern Theatres

2009-07-08T08:54:00.000-07:00

The Megan Baker House exhibition has hit the road, and is on exhibition for the next month at the prestigeous Malvern Theatres.

The Theatres is a lovely modern light building, and about 700 people a day pass through it's doors, so we hope they like the pictures.

It makes a change from teaching photography courses!

Megan Baker House Photography Exhibition

2009-07-03T05:02:00.000-07:00

An exhibition of our work opened last night before touring England, and we feel the need to tell everyone about it! It's for charideee, so we don't like to talk about it, but we spent a week (pro bono) at Megan Baker House, where they use conductive education to help people who have been brain injured - perhaps by cerebral palsy, head injury or Parkinson's Disease. Megan Baker House provides conductive education this for free, and people travel there from all over the country to re-learn how to use their limbs. They have no funding from central government, and constantly need to publicise themselves and their work.

To find out more about their work have a look at www.meganbakerhouse.org.uk

The exhibition will be touring to Malvern, Worcester, Hereford and Liverpool, among other UK cities.

We photographed the clients using very wide apertures to accentuate their individuality and to blur a cluttered background. It's a working space, not a studio! The trick to this was not making it look like torture, but not making it look easy either.

Caro Sweet

2009-06-22T08:23:00.000-07:00

We were asked to photograph the famous sculptor Caro Sweet's open evening for Worcestershire Life at her studio in Bransford. What an amazing woman! It's fascinating to see such a diverse collection of sculptures! It also turned out that we know each other...how fab to hook up again!

Rocking Piano Man at Linton Festival!

2009-06-22T03:41:00.000-07:00

Linton Festival is fab! We were photographing for next year's publicity. Set in the grounds of a pub, the atmosphere was electric, and despite a few drops of rain, nothing dampened the spirits of the bands or the audience! We were particularly chuffed with these photo's of The Rocking Piano Man, Matthew Lee and his band. We think they really capture the atmosphere!

Abbeys and Cadillacs

2009-06-20T03:08:00.000-07:00

A bit of wedding photography from yesterday - Christina and Kevin at Pershore Abbey. We love this kind of stuff.

Dog Photography

2009-06-18T06:01:00.000-07:00

Worcestershire Life magazine asked us to cover the Three Counties Championship Dog Show (Gundogs). Here's Indra, owned by Rita Abbott. She's a Spanish Water Dog...having a bad hair day...or is it a good one?

Here is judge John Barber hard at work.

German Shorthaired Pointer "Monti" (kennel nane Jennaline John Twirlswell JW SHCM) waiting to show.

Bob's amazing panoramas

2009-06-17T01:35:00.001-07:00

Robert Bilsand (www.panoview.co.uk) took these astonishing pictures for our Thursday night group. It's the Malvern Hills (both sides in one picture) from the same spot in day and night. See if you can spot the train!

More rather good photography course pics

2009-06-17T01:15:00.000-07:00

Sorry to say we've been pre-occupied with getting our new venture photography made simple (http://www.photographymadesimple.co.uk/) up and running. We did take a group of students from one of our existing photography courses out to photograph landscapes - look at what David and Mike got on a beautiful afternoon in Worcestershire.

Photography Made Simple is up and running!

2009-06-15T05:16:00.001-07:00

Our new series of one day photography courses is now available. Have a look at www.photographymadesimple.co.uk

We have six different courses at twelve different locations. We have some of the loveliest locations in England (and the loveliest location in Wales) We're really looking forward to these courses, which begin in July.

Hope to see you there!

Shelsley Walsh Hill Climb Pictures

2009-06-04T02:58:00.000-07:00

People pictures are what we normally do, but Worcestershire Life asked us to cover the Hill Climb, so we took our 15m telescopic mast, and a bag full of cameras

It always rains in North Wales

2009-06-04T02:22:00.000-07:00

Don't believe the hype! Portmeirion, near Harlech sticks out into the Gulf Stream and has nicer weather than is entirely feasible.

Holy Grail/Da Vinci code mystery solved!!

2009-05-28T12:54:00.000-07:00

Shugborough Hall in Staffordshire has beautiful gardens and a well known but never decoded encrypted bit of sculpture known as the Shepherd's Monument, which bears a strange reproduction of the famous Poussin painting Les Bergers d'Arcadie (known to many mystery researchers under the name Et in Arcadia Ego). I can announce that today we have decoded the message beneath. Not very interesting actually.

Attack ponies in the New Forest

2009-05-27T03:58:00.001-07:00

We took the caravan to the new forest for a couple of nights, stayed at Hollands Wood, which is a groovy campsite run by the Forestry Commission. Ponies wander round the site - it's a very interesting experience for townies unused to the equestrian arts. (Even if you are used to horses, they get a bit protective of their foals).

Here are some views from inside the caravan, taken with the Canon G9.

Corporate photography doesn't have to be boring

2009-05-20T03:08:00.000-07:00

Corporate photography is often pictures of people in suits shaking hands. As this picture of the incoming head at Malvern College Prep School shows, they don't have to be dull and devoid of emotion.

The Beautiful Lewis lot

2009-05-20T03:03:00.000-07:00

Rachel has been lucky enough to photograph this family several times - in fact the baby is the one lying on the sheets on our home page. My, hasn't she grown!

Informal family portraits are a speciality of Rachel's - there can't be many babies and children around Malvern that she hasn't photographed at some time or another!

Carol Klein at the Spring Gardening Show

2009-05-11T03:21:00.000-07:00

We're usually asked to cover the Spring Gardening Show for Worcestershire Life, and this year was no exception. Here's Carol Klein of the BBC in full flow, taken by Rachel.

Blimey, it's an Emmy

2009-05-11T03:13:00.000-07:00

Following on from Martyn, Rachel photographed the supremely talented Kate Hopkins, dubbing editor and sound designer at Wounded Buffalo in Bristol (www.woundedbuffalo.co.uk). Kate has designed sound for a huge number of BBC TV natural history programmes, not to mention Hellraiser III! When we were there she was producing underwater squid noises for the BBC, as you do.

And yes, that's an Emmy.

Blimey, it's a BAFTA

2009-05-07T09:20:00.001-07:00

We were commissioned to photograph Martyn Harries, dubbing mixer extraordinaire at the BBC Natural History Unit in Bristol. When not mixing other people's sounds in the studio, he gets to make some of his own - so here he is producing the foot falls of David Attenborough in a box of gravel and the flapping of a gull's wings with some gloves. Funny old business, dubbing.

Martin is a thoroughly nice man, and won a BAFTA which obviously we tried to include in as many shots as possible!

The Downs, Malvern College Preparatory School Opening

2009-04-28T04:56:00.000-07:00

We have been working all this year with the staff at this outstanding school in Colwall. Here are a few pictures from the opening of their new facilities. It was a grand day out and yes, that is cricketer Graeme Hick opening the new sports centre, along with headmaster and good egg Alistair Ramsay. Fun was had by all (the ones with the buckets of water anyway) and of course the Downs Light Railway was in full steam.

Up in the air again

2009-04-22T04:14:00.000-07:00

We have a telescopic mast for aerial photography, usually of buildings. We put it to good use yesterday in these publicity shots of the Diglis House Hotel in Worcester. The change of height makes a big difference to the point of view, as you can see.

It's always a good idea to get Worcester Cathedral in your pictures, we always say!

Farazana and Khaliq's celebrations

2009-04-21T06:02:00.000-07:00

We were honoured to be asked to help our friend and photographer Zein at a wedding in Birmingham. Since it is traditional to separate the men and women into separate rooms at Moslem wedding feasts, working as a couple worked well, and was great fun too. The food was astonishingly good and the hospitality superb. Never once did we feel unwelcome, as the only non-Asians present in a congregation of several hundred.

Congratulations and best wishes to Khaliq Hafeez and Farazana Hanif.

What we did on our holidays

2009-04-19T11:18:00.000-07:00

Well, not really holidays - we had a meeting in about our new website with some nice people in Cambridge and thought we'd take the weekend to have a look around the place - we camped in a very nice forest near Bury St Edmunds. While we were there we took in a couple of local churches and the cathedral in Bury. There's even a picture of what Phil looks like after three nights in a caravan.

The cross is the 12th century Bury Cross, believed by many to have been taken on the crusades by Richard the Lionheart. Sadly this is a replica, the original being in New York. Tricky to photograph as it is ivory and it glows a bit in the light. We also had a go at some other museumy stuff in the Cathedral, for experience. See what you think.

RAF Benevolent Fashion Show

2009-04-10T06:05:00.000-07:00

Rachel was asked to attend this women-only event in Malvern and take some pictures for the RAF Benevolent Society. She was happy to support this worthy cause - and look at the lovely letter they sent!!

Pregnancy shoots for F2 magazine

2009-04-10T05:48:00.001-07:00

Prestigious photography magazine F2 is doing a profile on pregancy photography in all it's forms featuring the pregancy photography of Rachel Hibberd. So Rachel has been out and about photographing ladies in their natural habitats.

Jo Brand in Worcester

2009-04-10T05:31:00.000-07:00

I forgot we'd taken these for Worcestershire Life - Jo Brand and her support Brummie comedian Andy Robinson live at Worcester Rugby Club. This was a benefit for the Megan Baker House, of which Jo is very generously the patron.

Congratulations Runaway Bride Hannah!!

2009-04-08T03:46:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Hannah and Adam for winning Wyvern FM's Runaway Bride competition. Hannah made it as far as Palma in her wedding dress and trainers, for the princely sum of £10.

It was a stressful occasion, as you can see in some of these pictures.

Hannah and Adam have won a free wedding with all the trimmings, for which we will be providing the photography.

Well done both - see you later in the year!!!!

Wyvern FM Runaway Bride gets started!

2009-04-06T03:01:00.000-07:00

We got up unfeasibly early this morning to witness the nail-biting selection of brides in the final of the Runaway Bride competition. 5 girls were whittled down to 4, then 3, then the final two were blindfolded and taken to a mystery location (er, Droitwich) from which they are, even as I type this, racing to get as far away as possible to win a dream wedding, at which we are doing the photography.

We've never been at such a tense occasion, or felt so much that everyone ought to win!!
Far more tension than at a real wedding.

Queensberry albums are go!!

2009-03-27T10:15:00.000-07:00

As successful wedding photographers in Malvern, we are often asked to produce high quality albums. We decided to got with the very best and have just designed and produced an album for a wedding we photographed back in 2007. We are, quite honestly, amazed by the quality of it. Queensberry albums are often referred to as the best in the world, and having made a few of them we believe it.

We have decided to start our Queensberry albums at a low price - a 10"X7" album like the one this sells for £495 - buy now while stocks last!!

Vampire photography at Malvern College

2009-03-24T09:10:00.000-07:00

We've been photographing the school production put on by the Downs School/Malvern College Prep for the school prospectus. It called for prime lenses, low light and 800 ISO. It was the same kit we used for photographing Jo Brand the other week.

Fang-tastic, as they said in the Malvern Gazette!

Tom Catchesides drops in

2009-03-17T10:56:00.000-07:00

We spent the day today with Tom Catchesides, one of the UK's top ten wedding photographers, based in Cambridge. Tom is helping us with marketing and workflow and is an all-round good egg.

He's developed some great software for photographers, and he really knows his stuff. Good to work with him!

www.catchesides.co.uk

Happy Birthday Mr. Potts!

2009-03-12T06:36:00.001-07:00

We love to sell our work, but some purchases mean more than others. Kenneth Potts, the renowned sculptor of the Elgar statue in Worcester High Street will be receiving this picture from his son on his upcoming 60th birthday.

Rachel took it in October 2006 as part of an exhibition of Worcester photographs. Ironically, we often ask our students to photograph it on our Starting Photography reportage shoot - try and take an unusual shot of a familiar object.

Happy Birthday Mr. Potts!

Wyvern FM Runaway Bride

2009-03-11T04:09:00.000-07:00

We were honoured to be asked to act as the wedding photographers for Wyvern FM's Runaway Bride competition which is currently on air.

Here are JD and Helen from the Breakfast Show messing about for the publcity photos.

We don't normally do cheesy soft focus - but for JD and Helen it seemed appropriate!!

The wedding itself will be in September, featuring some of the best wedding suppliers in the area at the Hadley Bowling Green. It promises to be a great laugh whoever wins.

Kaiser found in Malvern Priory

2009-03-11T02:50:00.000-07:00

On a recent class at Malvern Priory, we took these pictures which show the stained glass of the Kaiser at Queen Victoria's Jubilee (he's the one in red standing behind her).

All taken with our inexpensive but useful D50. Teaching students when we we've got D2X's does not seem fair!

Megan Baker House - our favourite charity

2009-02-27T07:24:00.000-08:00

When we can fit it in, we do a bit of pro bono work for local charities. We are spending a week, off and on, at Megan Baker House near Leominster. We have been deeply touched by photographing the clients and staff there.

Megan Baker House provides free conductive education, which enables people who are motor impaired to learn or re-learn how to use their limbs. Have a look at www.meganbakerhouse.org.uk

We were lucky to witness Danny's first unaided steps, Hope getting stuck on the equipment, Debbie tying knots, and Luke and Millie using the bars to stand. The patience of the staff has to be seen to be believed.

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Quirky Portraits with the Wednesday night gang

2009-02-27T07:12:00.000-08:00

At the Plough in Worcester the order of the day was quirky portraits, and the gang did not disappoint.

Bob managed to get Big Dave to lie down outside the pub, Jacqueline showed Teresa reading the paper, and Teresa scared the life out of us with Jacqueline and a sieve.

Heather and Robert make an appearance

2009-02-27T06:59:00.000-08:00

Our continuing photography group did a portrait session at the Great Malvern Hotel with our old friend Heather and her friend Robert. The session was largely devoted to engaging with the subject, and moving to get the best aspect of an immobile subject. And very bad jokes.

Queensberry are go!

2009-02-17T01:05:00.000-08:00

We are currently excited about our decision to use Queensberry albums for weddings. Queensberry is widely thought of as the best album company in the world, and so far we're not disappointed. Have a look at www.queensberry.com

All Yours pics hit YouTube

2009-02-02T14:32:00.000-08:00

We've had a go before at YouTube, but this is really sweet.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Nzzqv-tHTRo

Eddie

2009-02-02T01:43:00.000-08:00

Eddie is an actor in the fine stable of Malvern's NJR Management, who often commission us for portfolio shots.

Eddie, it must be said, is at the rather more buff end of NJR's star line up!

More annoyingly good class pictures

2009-01-24T09:23:00.000-08:00

Our Wednesday night group had the task of visualising a photograph, writing it down and then actually taking it. This is the opposite of happy snapping, or just seeing a thing and grabbing the camera.

A bit zen, but look what Tim, Jacqui Suz and Jon came up with! This was taken upstairs in a pub, or in the street outside. No wimpy studios for the Wednesday night gang!

Making it look interesting, again

2009-01-24T06:13:00.001-08:00

Making a man in a suit giving a powerpoint
presentation look interesting is not especially easy.

Phil took these of Rod Nipper launching the new Destination Worcestershire brochure last week.

Not much light, so used an 85mm prime lens at f1.8 . No flash.

A nice letter

2009-01-24T05:46:00.000-08:00

We received this the other day from Dennis Waterman, no less. Big fans of the Sweeney and Minder that we are, we were thrilled. Click on it to read it if it's a bit small.

Rachel is particularly chuffed because according to Dennis and Pam have been photographed by Hello and OK! magazines, and feel Rachel's work is better. That's Rachel, on her own with no lighting and no entourage. Some of these pictures are in an earlier blog post.

Dennis and Pam actually bought some of these pictures to hang in their house, and they don't have many pictures up. High praise indeed.

Thanks Dennis, owe you a pint!

Catching up

2009-01-03T06:06:00.000-08:00

Not much to report over Christmas - historically the slow time of year for photography work. We are re-vamping our website (watch this space) and pulling together new products for weddings and new coursework.

We've been learning new software both for album production and picture editing, and can definitely say we've upped our game for the new season. We're looking forward to 2009 with new kit and a positive outlook.

As part of the new website we will be listing all the venues where we've photographed weddings - currently this stands at a creditable 62 or so - not bad considering the many times we've photographed at Malvern Registry Office or the lovely Abbey Hotel in Malvern.

We'd like to wish all our customers and visitors a great 2009 - it will be far better than advertised!

Malvern in the spotlight

2008-12-11T10:05:00.000-08:00

We do a spot of photography for the wonderful magazine Worcestershire Life, who are running a spread about Malvern in the January issue. Cue Phil and Rachel trying to take old subjects in new ways.

The lad with the knife is Shaun Harris at Cridlan and Walker, organic butchers to the stars.

Panoramas

2008-12-11T09:36:00.000-08:00

I don't know about you, but we often find that stitched panoramas make me feel a bit seasick. Both these two stitches are intended to give a wider angle with less distortion, but without the usual nausea.

These are images of The Downs School, Malvern College Preparatory School for their upcoming prospectus. We've left some of the image edge effects in so you can see how it was done.

If you like this kind of thing, why not look at our friend Bob Bilsland's site www.panoview.co.uk
Bob is the king of enormous panoramas!

Glamourpuss

2008-11-19T08:38:00.000-08:00

These shots were for Apparicio's hair salon in Worcester. We took these in a busy hairdressers, though you'd never know!!!

It's nice to be appreciated, once again

2008-11-19T08:35:00.001-08:00

OK, so we get a lot of nice emails from wedding couples. Here's the latest email from the latest wedding!

Rachel and Phil: We both just wanted to say a massive thankyou for photographing our wedding. Weve just had the best weekend of our lives. We want to do it again.Ha ha. We just loved it so much. I couldnt get over how gorgeous my Rachel looked. Since we've been home ive asked her to put back on her wedding dress about 100 times.ha ha. Once again though, thankyou. Your both such lovely people. We cant wait to see the photos. We'll be in touch when we return from Thailand in 2 weeks. Mr & Mrs Smith.

Worcestershire Life Spread

2008-10-30T03:51:00.000-07:00

We have three pages of pics in Worcestershire Life this month - various shots of the Autumn Show at the Three Counties Showground. The layout does us proud!

We have some more commissions for November which will be in the December issue - watch this space!

All Yours picture in today's Sunday Telegraph

2008-10-26T09:58:00.000-07:00

we don't normally buy this paper, but we had to today to see Rachel's picture of Susan Kelsey. This was taken as a publicity picture for Susan-Russell publishing, who produce a range of diaries so that women can chart their various cycles. Available at a Waterstones near you!!

http://www.susan-russell.com/

Making it look interesting

2008-10-24T08:13:00.000-07:00

Sometimes it's hard to introduce some movement and drama into an office-based commercial shoot. This is early days, but we're trying to get something interesting in the new website for Russell and Co., local solicitors and all-round good eggs:

www.russellandcosolicitors.co.uk

The problem with teaching

2008-10-24T08:05:00.000-07:00

Is that some pupils are better than the teachers!

Witness these efforts from this term's Even Less Basic class in Worcester - my night time shot in Malvern totally eclipsed by student Roger King's picture of Worcester Bridge. Drat and double drat!!

Roger uses a Nikon D70, which makes it even worse since I'm on a D2X. Must try harder!

Shoe fetish

2008-10-24T07:56:00.000-07:00

October has been a busy month at All Yours Towers, with lots of weddings, magazine shoots, schools work, teaching and product shoots. Our office is currently overflowing with shoes and handbags as we are photographing the new collection from Zinnia. Very nice products, nice people to deal with and fair trade as well:

www.zinnia-gifts.co.uk

It's nice to be appreciated, again

2008-10-02T03:38:00.000-07:00

We happened to be up in Bromsgrove yesterday so we dropped in Sandy and Aimi's wedding photos personally. We'd also put together a little album for them as a present, which is something we often try to do for our customers if we can.

When we got home, they had sent us an email:

Hi Phil and Rachel,

Was great to see you both. A massive thank you for dropping the photos and cd’s off. Also for the present you gave us, its fantastic!, I like how you have got my dress detail in the background, gotta show off me dress J

It was a fab day, and you have captured it all on your amazing pictures.

Really enjoyed having you with us on our special day, and will recommend you to EVERYONE!

Well, hope to see you,

Cant say ‘thank you’ enough

Aimi & Sandy

(there were also some smiley faces which the blog software can't do)!

Here are a few pics from their day.

Massive cabbages and medieval divorces

2008-10-02T03:14:00.000-07:00

First of all, apologies for the lack of blog postings over the past few weeks - we've been snowed under with weddings of all shapes and sizes, and we are working on a new wedding-related project that I can't mention at the moment but is close to fruition. We've also been doing some schools photography which is great fun but can't be shown here.

Meanwhile, we've started photographing for Worcestershire Life magazine. We covered the Three Counties show this weekend. We are deighted to be working with such a prestigious publication. Here are a few of the pictures, but there are many more in the magazine and you really should buy your own copy!

Sir David and Lady de Jarpanville (Philip and Louise Monteith), of the Freemen of Gwent discuss their medieval divorce.

Bob Edwards with Sky.

Winning gundog from the Mid-Western Gundog Society.

Ian Scott with his unfeasibly large first prize cabbage - 23kg!!!

Detail from Rosemary Stammer and Sheila Madigan's Gold Prize winning flower arrangement.

We love this kind of shoot, but there is lots to do - is it portraiture? is it journalism? who cares??

Rachel in leather at Hanbury Hall

2008-09-04T08:47:00.000-07:00

Rachel and Phil are photographing a wedding this weekend so we did a quick recce on the motorbike. Tricky lighting, but very nice cakes.

Up in the air

2008-08-23T01:45:00.000-07:00

We have worked for a while as specialist property photographers, but the state of the market has reduced the demand for this. We have a 15m telescopic mast and a Canon G9 (a great little camera even if it is a Canon) which can be controlled from the ground. 15m does not sound like much, but can provide a much better view of properties - showing the layout of the site, the gardens behind the building etc.

This picture is of a barn conversion near Redditch - we think the angle makes the scale, layout and gardens more visible.

Kaylee strikes again

2008-08-20T01:34:00.000-07:00

Rachel's picture of Kaylee was taken in at Apparicio's hair salon in Worcester for their window display. It has been printed very large - about 46" square and looks great. It just goes to show that you don't need a studio to do glamour.

Wet motorbikes

2008-08-20T01:14:00.000-07:00

We have a motorbike (nothing flash - a 1990 BMW K75S), and one of the joys of the Summer is to go out on a Wednesday night to the Bikers Nites, which are at various pubs in the Cotswolds. (Check out the schedule - www.//bikersnite.mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk) If the weather is good there can be several hundred motorbikes at a tiny Cotswold hostelry. Our good friends at Cotswold Style magazine asked us to take some pictures of the bikes.

Cue black skies, pouring rain and low attendance by fair weather bikers. Having stuck the cameras in the panniers, we took a few pictures, but we still never have done the Cotswold Style shoot because it's rained every Wednesday ever since!

All Yours seeking to expand

2008-08-20T01:00:00.000-07:00

Following our very successful Summer, and with plenty of weddings booked for the rest of the year and a growing crop booked for 2009, we have been looking for photographers to join the team. So we placed a small ad on a photography website, with the result that we have been bombarded with portfolios and cv's from all over the UK. Our website viewing figures have gone through the roof!

The problem is, a lot of the photographs that have been sent are just not very good. In fact, some people's best work is so poor that it might have been on the cutting room floor around here. Among all this there are a few real gems, though, and we'll be talking to people in due course to see what we can do.

We've been speaking to couples about their weddings this week, and they have all been to weddings that have been ruined by the photographers. So it's not just about taking the right shots properly, it's also about giving the whole wedding family a decent experience at the same time.

Our experience of photographing small children has come in really useful here - we know how to get the job done quickly. Even a couple with a list of 40 shots don't want to spend 2 minutes per shot i.e. 80 minutes grinning at the camera when there is champagne ready to be drunk! Having the experience to get on with the photography quickly, and the tact and diplomacy to get on with the family nicely is what we strive to do and what we're looking for.

It's nice to be appreciated

2008-08-12T03:05:00.000-07:00

Just got off the phone from Pam Flint (see below). Being a celeb family, Pam's been photographed by Hello magazine, and reckons Rachel did a better job without the crew of people. Putting her money where her mouth is, Pam ordered some enlargements for her lovely house. It's great for a little family firm like ours to know that people in the know appreciate our work.

Wedding frenzy

2008-08-11T05:28:00.000-07:00

We are just recovering from shooting three weddings in a weekend, including our biggest ever - a big event in Cheltenham Town Hall. This required the biggest group shot we've ever done with 300 people. Fortunately the weather was good. On Saturday we shot weddings in Malvern and Droitwich, in dreadful weather. As always, it is a privilege to be there, and we come away happy and full of energy even after a long day.

Live 24/7 new edition on the streets

2008-08-08T01:19:00.000-07:00

The new edition of the glossy Birmingham lifestyle magazine is out and full of our pictures. From pictures of Dennis Waterman's beautiful partner Pam Flint, to tourist scenes of Worcester to advertising shots of food and interiors, there is a lot of our work in there. It's always satisfying to see your pics in print.

International Property photography, don't you know

2008-08-07T04:56:00.000-07:00

We were asked to photograph this ski lodge development near Val d'Isere, and who were we to say no? Since we don't ski, going in the Summer was no problem for us. Much of our restaurant and pub photography is along similar lines, but with less snow and more crisps.

The mountain is the fourth highest in Europe, and gives you something to look at as you're doing the washing up.

The pictures will be used in the next revision of the website, but the old one is http://www.balcons-ste-foy.com/ It really is a fabulous part of the world, a couple of hours drive from Geneva

Photobooks arrive!!

2008-08-07T04:37:00.000-07:00

Our new photobooks arrived today (well, strictly we collected them by motorbike yesterday because we needed to show them to a couple last night), but this has been the first chance we've had to sit down and look at them properly. They're absolutely beautiful, and we can't wait for customers to see them. We've had a range of sizes produced, from wedding albums to pocket books and we're really proud of them. They are also much less expensive than most albums that couples have to choose from.

We're getting ready for the three weddings we're covering this weekend, and still working on teaching materials for the courses we'll be running in September. It's a long job, but as ex-teachers we know that more preparation leads to better classes.