Today saw me again shooting with Marie Man, this time in the picturesque village of Dinder in Somerset. Will got the day off to a good start with a pint of Tribute in the local, leaving Bonnie to get ready in her own time, before heading to the local Church in the best man’s Triumph Spitfire.
After that, a wonderful reception in Charlton House near Shepton Mallett; I’ll let the pictures do the talking from now on.
I love the countryside, I really do, so when I saw the beautiful country cottage in the Cotswolds that would be the location for Victoria and Joe’s reception (as well as being their home) I was very happy.
After a week of showery weather we were rewarded with sunshine on the day, ending with a beautiful golden sunset. I’ll happily take on more weddings that are next to meadows!
A big thank you too to Marie Man for her excellent second shooting.
After much saving up and selling of old kit, I have finally purchased one of my dream lenses – the Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS II
It’s a big, heavy beast, but the quality of the lens and the images that are coming out of it are just incredible! I really can’t wait to use it at next Friday’s wedding.
Now to live on beans on toast for a while…
Today I met up with a group of models and photographers in the glorious Bristol sunshine, under the scaffolding clad Cabot Tower.
The theme of the shoot was fantasy, so dreamy shots in a natural background were the order of the day. I’ve also been wanting to do a photoshoot in some daffodils for ages!
Sophie has such vivid eyes that I couldn’t help concentrating my shooting on them – they really pop out of the photos without any real help from photoshop.
These were all shot with my Canon 50mm f/1.4 – I’m starting to get a feel for the prime lenses now – this could be an expensive habit…
This weekend I went to a lighting workshop, run by the very talented Alex Beckett
I’ve done a lot of photography using off camera flash, but it never hurts to brush up on your skills and I came away feeling I’d learned something. Plus, the excellent lunch alone was worth the price!
Today’s addition to my kit is the Canon 50mm f/1.4 lens.
It’s reasonably inexpensive at just over the £300 mark, but excellent quality and a has a very wide f/1.4 aperture – great for low light conditions and dreamy portraiture.
In December Swedish metalcore band Sonic Syndicate were again touring the UK, and I managed to get myself a photopass to their gig at the Bristol O2 Academy.
Last month, myself and a group of fellow strobists got together with some models and make up artists to do a 1940s/50s style pin-up shoot. The day started well, but got even better when some members of the Bristol Street Rods turned up with their fantastic cars.
A very long but rewarding day.
This bright autumn day saw the wedding of Anne-Marie and Robert at the beautiful 18th century parish church at Redland, Bristol.
This was a wonderful day from start to end and the reception venue was just amazing.
All credit for this last shot goes to my good friend Albert Palmer, as I completely stole the idea from one of his weddings 
Photo 15 by Robert Monczak.
Last weekend I was down in Glastonbury, shooting the handfasting of Roy and Deeya – a lovely couple from Mauritius. Although it was my first time photographing a handfasting, I’d been to one before so the format wasn’t completely new to me.
The locations for both the ceremony and reception were beautiful. The reception venue itself backed onto the remains of Glastonbury Abbey, to which we were fortunate to be allowed access for some evening photos.
