VALENTINE'S DAY GIFT IDEAS

If you are looking for a different and extra special Valentine's Day gift then look no further. I may have just something you can seriously impress your loved one with. 

How about a photography gift voucher? The ultimate present - you will be helping your loved one receive beautiful, timeless and artistic photographs of your children and family. Or how about some gorgeous photographs of you and your partner? Most gifts don't get more valuable over time - but I guarantee you your wall art most definitely will. 

Gift cards can be purchased for any amount you desire. 

And because I know no Valentine's Day is complete without chocolate involved (well it isn't in my opinion anyway) every gift voucher over £175 purchased between now and the 14th February will also come with one of Hotel Chocolate's 'Classic Signature Collection' boxes of chocolates. Yum, yum!!!

To order a gift voucher head over to my portrait site (www.callaghansmithportraits.com) and just drop me an email on the contact page.

MY PINTEREST OBSESSION

I've not been that great at keeping this blog up to date. I've been been massively preoccupied with all the branding changes which have been going on to reflect that I'm now shooting film. But I intend to get back on blogging track! A late new year's resolution....

One resource that was MASSIVELY useful in deciding how I wanted my business as a film photographer to look has been Pinterest. For those of you that aren't familiar with it - it is basically a massive online pin board. If you see a great photograph on the internet you can pin it to one of your online boards. It's great for researching shoot ideas and themes, and of course for working out what kind of images appeal to you and why. 

When I went back to basics and started over with what I wanted my business to say and how I wanted it to feel I spent a long time not thinking about wedding photography at all. Which seemed sort of strange but I wanted to step back and just think about the types of images that appealed to me and why. Turns out that I like really clean, simple images. Ones which had a genuine honesty about them. Ones that weren't contrived but were basically real. I was also attracted to images that were really simply processed, no 'of the moment' vintage effects. Images that were classic and timeless, with soft pastel colours or gorgeous black and whites. 

So that's what I aspire to shoot more of. A lot more of. 

And as for the wood themed wallpaper. I'll leave that story for another day.

Pinterest is an invite only resource. You have to apply to have an account, which can take a couple of weeks or you get added instantly by anyone who already uses it. So if anyone out there would like a pinterest account then drop me an email at stephanie@callaghansmith.com with 'pinterest' in the subject line and I'll get you all set up. But be warned....it's seriously addictive!! 

 

NOTTINGHAM WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER | IMOGEN AND ADRIAN

This was one of my favourite weddings from this year. A gorgeous country wedding in Nottinghamshire, held at the Ruddington Country Cottage Hotel.

The Country Cottage Hotel is a lovely wedding venue and somewhere that I used to drive past on the school bus for many years. It's great to have the opportunity all these years later to see what the inside of the hotel is like.

Little did I know all those years ago, when I would be trying to finish my homework off on the bus, that I'd be working as a wedding photographer here one day.

I'm really looking forward to sharing more from this wonderful venue in another blog post. But for now, here are some favourites from the getting ready stages.

Although I'm based in Kingston Upon Thames I really enjoy travelling around the country to different venues so if you are planning a wedding somewhere outside the Surrey or London area please don't hesitate to get in contact as I'd love to hear about your plans.

2012 WEDDINGS | WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER LONDON

You might have gathered from the blog that I'm moving over to film photography, which I am so, so excited about.  I'm going to be bringing my medium format film camera along to all current 2012 bookings to create that something a little extra special. It's fantastic at capturing details and also bride and groom portraits. I'm going to mix it up with digital throughout the day. 

For all future bookings, my pricing structure will be changing slightly so that I can shoot the whole wedding on film. It's going to be so awesome - I can't wait!

I love the fact that film has history, that you parents and your grandparents will have had their weddings photographed on film. Yes the style has changed (massively!) but the process of taking photographs and developing them in darkroom hasn't.

I love the fact that there is still a real craft associated with film photography. That it takes time for the whole process to happen. 

There seems a real need amongst wedding photographers to process some photographs super quickly and get them up on facebook before any one else at the wedding posts their photographs. 

I don't like being in a race. In fact, ask anyone who knows me and if they tell me something is a race I'll probably do everything possible to not participate....It's just not my thing. 

I love the fact that there is no immediate gratification with film. It seems to go against everything that we experience in modern life. But that's part of it's charm. It's like the old cliché  that the best things in life are worth waiting for. 

It takes a bit longer to get a wedding developed and edited with film. So there will be no same day slideshows and no photographs posted to facebook 24 hours after the wedding with me. But I promise you that the wait will be well worth it. 

DISSINGTON HALL WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER

This is one absolutely stunning venue. Set in a gorgeous Georgian estate it is an amazing place for a wedding. Not only do you get exclusive use of the entire venue but the beautiful grounds are all open to the guests too. Dissington Hall, in Northumberland, is a family run business and that really adds a wonderful ambience to the whole place.

I love country house weddings where there is a gorgeous long driveway leading up the venue. And this country house wedding venue did not disappoint at all. Unfortunately the weather was a little bit more disappointing. We had torrential rain virtually all day long.   This was a shot I managed to get in-between windscreen wipers (and don't worry I wasn't driving...!). More from this wedding to come soon. 

HO, HO, HO

Well it's officially the start of the Christmas season and I've been itching to post these photographs for a while now. Here is gorgeous Noah modelling the outfit that he will be wearing on Christmas day. Shot on the wonderful Contax 645 medium format film camera. 

He was quite fascinated by the baubles. I think we could be in trouble when we get the tree up.  We will have to be on constant watch that he doesn't pull the whole thing over trying to get to the decorations. I think this Christmas will be quite different with a little one around - but different in lots and lots of lovely new ways!

NOTTINGHAM WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER | HERITAGE RAILWAY

It's not every day that you see a stream train on a wedding day. This is the Heritage Railway that goes through the village of Ruddington, near Nottingham, all the way to Loughborough. We were doing some photographs near Ruddington Country Park and suddenly heard the distinctive choo, choo of an approaching train. 

It was too good and opportunity to miss and I think we gave all the passengers a bit of a surprise too. 

LONDON DOCUMENTARY WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER

As a documentary wedding photographer I just let your day unfold naturally. And that of course includes the evening celebrations too. I love colour but there is something quite special about gorgeously grainy black and white dance floor shots.

I love black and white photography as it just lets you focus on the shapes and movements without any distractions from the disco lights. 

I find the best time for dance floor shots at a wedding is usually in the 15 minutes or so following the first dance. That's when parents, grandparents, little kids, everyone basically will just give it a go.  

And you just never know what might happen.... someone's shirt might just start to radiate...

FILM PHOTOGRAPHY

I am totally in love. 

With film photography. 

It's completely transformed how I think about photography and also how I take images. 

It's a bit of a mindset change as it involves far more thought and consideration before you press the shutter. I always get scans of the negatives but I don't like to tinker with them. With film, you are capturing something pure, something real and something that I really believe shouldn't be (or shouldn't need to be) maniupulated at a computer. 

Of course there is far less editing needed with film anyway as the skin tones are rendered so gorgeously and film evens out any minor blemishes beautifully.

My new medium format camera is my new best friend. It's a beast of a camera and makes my DSLRs look like light weight impostors. But the extra weight is worth it. 

Also good for getting a head start on the post-Christmas training regime. Certainly works your arm muscles!

WANT TO BE IN A MUSIC VIDEO?

Well now you can!

My sister, Callaghan, is putting together a music video to accompany her Christmas song 'snowflakes' and is looking for people to send in Christmas messages to feature in the video. So if you are feeling full of Christmas cheer and would like to send a Christmas message to someone then you can find out how to on her website. 

It doesn't cost anything and it could be a great Christmas surprise for someone.  After all, it's not everyday that you get to send someone you love a message via a music video. 

You have until the 11th December to get your messages to her. You can check out some of the entries so far on her facebook page.