Just a quick post, those who follow the blog regularly will notice that I’ve change the colour on both the blog and main site from the old black and grays to the more light and airy whites with the beach background. As a photographer I view images against a gray background which helps the eye adjust however as most brides  don’t have special colour balanced monitors and as it can make the website look a little dark and gloomy I’ve decided to lighten things up and give the website a new fresher brighter look.

Whilst I’m writing I thought I’d also clear up why I had turned off the comments on my posts. I’ve had a few people asking why the comments where off, asking had someone been slating my work and such like, nothing of the sort, I used to love receiving your comments on my photo’s it was such a great way of getting feedback. Sadly somehow I started getting junk comments with links to site with shall we say “ladies”, every website get one or two of these but over a four day period I suddenly got hit with I think it was nearly 2500 of these, so I decided to just turn the comments off altogether for a time until I could find the source and handle it.

We’ll I turned the comments back on with new posts last week and all seems well so far.

Barry and Janes wedding down in the heart of Devon in a small village in the Torbay area went down well. I always like to mix with the guests at a wedding it means I can get in close and take the sort of pictures my clients like but I have to say I was greeted almost like an old friend by this crowd. Well here’s just a selection I’ll try and upload a couple of hundred more of this wedding soon. Hope you enjoy them and please email me your comments I always love to hear your thoughts.

Poor Katharine nearly fainted, she isn’t the first and wont be the last. Too many years behind the lens has taught me not to miss moments like this yet I questioned if I should include this image in the final cut. It’s not the classic wedding image but to me it conveyed such a strong message, ‘it didn’t matter to the groom what his guest were thinking suddenly the care of his bride was much more important’  The gentleness with which he supports her his attention focused on her and her alone as she hold on to the doorway. Isn’t that what love is caring for someone so much it doesn’t matter what else is happening.

I loved this image, its not the best composed if I could have I would have dropped down to my right and framed it a little better but I love the movement in Kerry’s mouth as he shakes the confetti off his hat.

Garden weddings are great when the weather is with you and fortunately the weather turned out well for Rory and Alex’s wedding in the heart of the Somerset. I’ve done a few garden weddings and they remind me of the Darling buds of May with Ma and Pa Larkin. The reality is that when the sun shines they can be fantastic but it only takes a down poor to turn a lawn into a scene from Glastonbury festival with everyone covered in mud  or all huddled in the end of a marque. As it happened this was one of the hottest days this summer and everyone had a great time.

Alex’s Mum and Dad had done a lovely job of working on the garden since October to ensure that everything was in bloom.

I was recently talking to another photographer about how to improve their photography and I thought I would share some thoughts for all who are interested in photography and taking pictures. People often ask what camera or lens or settings I am using and I say it’s not about the camera or type of equipment, there will always be a time when no matter how good your photographic equipment you’re lacking some bit of kit which is back in the studio or hasn’t been invented yet. It’s the person who makes an image not the camera.

When I started taking photos everything was done manually and there used to be a lot of rules you needed to know just to get a picture sharp and correctly exposed, now days with everything being automatic it much easier and 90% of the time you almost don’t have to worry about that side of things any more. An amateur photographer will often get caught up in how the camera works and then look at another photographer website and study how the image was created, what settings were used and such like, then set about trying to copy what someone else has done. Of course it is worth knowing about how a camera works but often that can be learnt over a couple of weeks with a good book to hand. Studying each of the different functions one after the other. It’s almost like a painter studying how a to apply paint once they have learnt how it doesn’t benefit them to copy another painter brush stroke for brush stroke.

The real key to improving photography or any form of art is not copying another’s style but improving the minds eye. To do this a photographer needs to think that a photograph must communicate a message to the intended viewer. The communication might be something as simple as its nice here. The better photographs communicates a message which invites an emotional response or feeling in the intended viewer. This is why a mother will love a photograph of their child but someone else looking at the same photo without the emotional connection to the child and just sees a child kicking a ball. A travel photographer must not just be able to take a photo of a place but be able to communicate the message across to the viewer that this is a interesting place to go or look at, or looking at this picture will make you feel good, if he fails to get that message across then he fails to sell any images, its as simple as that. The very best photographs communicate not only a feeling or message but then get people thinking and talking.

Probably one of the prime differences between a good photographer or artist and a bad one is the ability to see life with a frame around it, isolating or arranging the important elements within that frame whilst cutting out or deleting elements so as to communicate a message across. If the photographer can not put themselves in the place of others and imagine viewing the picture and receiving that message then chances are he will never be able to take a good picture as he will not see what the important elements are in the message. Like recognising facial expression is perhaps more important than the number of mega pixals. I can’t stress enough how important it is when trying to improve ones photography to consider the idea of communicating a message or feeling across to a viewer. Considering what emotions do I wish to trigger in the viewer, or what emotions they wish to feel when viewing the image and what are the important elements that would help communicate that message.

If we take a small family group as an example before we take a photo we must ask who is likely to be the viewer? Chances are it will be friends and other family members who might enjoy to see their family enjoying themselves. Setting up this image is easy but if we allow things which distract from communicating the message of family fun inside the frame like loads of other people, the back of a bus or, a pile of dirty clothes, the picture no longer communicates the intended message but conveys a different message of clutter  the  photo is then considered dull by the viewer. Alternatively if we include within the frame this family having fun together perhaps laughing and smiling then the message which is communicated to the viewer is much stronger even if the background is distracting. This is why a person will prefer a photo they themselves took of the bride laughing to the one they paid thousands of pounds from a studio for simply because one conveys a message or feeling to them and the other doesn’t. Of course to get a winning photo one must do both remove unwanted elements and include elements which help.

When for instance I am taking photos for myself I act as both the photographer and the viewer I can do as I please, but when I am photographing a wedding or editing wedding photos or building a wedding album I have to consider that the photos will act as a strong reminder and put myself in the couples place. The photos must work together like a well worded book, if a wedding organiser was being bossy and causing a problem I must almost delete all photos with them in, even if the photo is otherwise great as it would act as a reminder of a bad memory when viewing the album. Equally I might have to include photos of the groom split trousers if they saw it as funny at the time this way when they look at the photo album in twenty years time they will still have a good emotional response to the photos. Individually the images may not communicate the feeling of the day across but collectively they must work to communicate the energy of the day for that couple and them alone. I have to have no consideration to the judges of a photographic competition or my own personal taste.

The greatest artists of all time considered only communicating a message across. The Mona Lisa is a classic example of this, is she smiling, has she a secret to hide, the message of ‘her thinking is a mystery’ hits home and has got people talking for years.

That really is all there is as regard the key to improving photography ‘considering the message and what could communicate that’. A picture of the 12th hole on a golf course may mean nothing to 99% of people the photographer themselves may have felt it dull but to the guy who just got a hole in one there he put his own message into the photo ‘this is where I got my first hole in one it was wonderful’ the emotional response to the photo is often strong enough for him to buy the photo.

I thought I’d share a few of Katharine and Kerry’s engagement photos

Reportage wedding photography at Westonbirt School, Gloucester just across the road from Westonbirt Arboretum.

This was the wedding of Ian and Katharine, I liked these guys we had an engagement photo shoot earlier in the year and loads of fun was had by all. The school itself is quite a venue for a wedding, the grandeur of the building and gardens really lend themselves to photography and just makes the whole day that little bit more special.

This image above is one of mine and Ian’s favorite images from the day, the guy with the newspaper and man in the window pretending to take a photo just make me smile.

Again for those who like to see more of a wedding here is a couple of hundred from the day. I think there was about 400-500 images I’ve given to Ian and Katherine.

Steve Watkins Bristol Bath Gloucester wedding photographer

Nick and Louise wedding photos,  Bradford on Avon.

Again this was another relaxed affair and everyone enjoyed themselves.

Joe and Charmaine’s wedding at a little family church just outside Wellington followed by the reception at Gerbestone Manor, Wellington, near Taunton, Somerset.

This was one of the first weddings after Isaac was born and it was lovely. Joe and Charmaine wanted me to do their wedding photography they already had an engagement photo shoot with me earlier in the year so we had already got to know each other and I knew what they liked and how they would react to the camera.

I like capturing reflections and this was a great image of the vicar by the bridal car.

Dad see his daughter for the first time in her dress.

And of course the bride smiling back. Images like this above I feel capture the flower and dress detail in a much nicer way than if I were just to lay the flowers on the window sill. Of course I’ve still take the flowers separately earlier in the day

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Looks like someone needs an early night.

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Being a smaller wedding much of the grounds of Gerbestone Manor were unused for the wedding during the day. This was the first time I heard of this venue as they’ve only just done it up a couple of years ago before opening for weddings, they’ve done a nice job bringing it all together inside and out with all the dark oak.

Normally I tend to like big Georgain Buildings with lots of light but this reminded me of my old family home as a child although ours was thatched. It had that lovely feel of classic old English house. I can imagine photographing wedding parties drinking Pimms and playing croquet on the lawns or sat in front of an open fire at night.

I loved this one with the bridesmaids

Joe was a bit of a character and there was no end of stories to be told at the speeches

Just to say a huge thank you to all for the hundreds of emails, cards and even gifts congratulating us on Isaac. Both Zoe and I are overwhelmed by the kindness of complete strangers. I can’t believe how much he has grown in such a short time and we just love sitting and watching him. I will at some point put some more photos up on here of him for you all.

I’ve had three weddings since he was born, I had intended to put every single wedding this year up but I just don’t think its going to be practical with having a new baby around. I think it will be a case of time permitting.

Well once again a big thanks to you all.. may you all find great happiness

What an amazing feeling it is, I tell you I couldn’t be happier right now. Baby Isaac was born Sunday at 1.43 am weighing 8 pounds 11 ounces. He is very cute indeed curling himself up like a little ball on my chest. He was very very very very late indeed, we avoided the medics who wanted to induce and eventually he came of his own accord when he was good and ready. Lots of people have said how they change so quickly and we should get loads of pictures and its true even over the first hours he changed so much. We’ve agreed I should document everything from the first scan, I got some great images of him the moment he was born just as the nurse went to put him on Zoe. I guess there are some advantages to being a photographer I wont share here as there are some people out there, but we’ll make album for ourself and Granny’s.

So much for the best laid plans, I didn’t taken any wedding photography bookings for the end of April and the whole of May as I couldn’t guarantee when he would come and I wanted to spend at least the first 2 weeks with Zoe and Isaac. As it’s worked out being he was so late I’ve three weddings to photograph within  two weeks, all fairly local to Bristol so its not to bad.

To all those who have been asking if Zoe had the baby yet I thought I’d share this link http://www.haveyouhadthatbabyyet.com/

Well those who follow the blog will know myself and Zoe are expecting our first child. It’s a exciting time for both of us, some worries but mostly exciting,  it has a feeling of hurry up and wait about it as baby could be here any day and at any time. We are making the most of free time to catch up on different things and enjoy each others company. I’ll keep you posted.

I thought I’d post a quick article on a subject I am often asked about by guests at weddings.  Can I recommend a camera and how should they set their camera up.

Of course my professional camera equipment I use for my wedding photography is very different from having a camera for use on days out and whilst on holiday. It’s worth realising when you go in a camera shop that regardless of how nice the person behind the counter is, the camera shop owners and camera manufactures have a policy of making the most money, as such the staff are guided to selling certain things. There are also certain perceived ideas about one camera being better than another. I always say the best camera is the camera you carry with you and are happy with the results from. It’s all very well having a top of the range digital SLR but if down the pub or out with the kids in the park and your camera is back in a cupboard at home then its not much good.

Unless you intend to study photography as a student and one day become a professional wedding photographer. I always recommend people to buy a good quality compact camera as an everyday use camera, something between £200-400. At that price mark you get pretty good quality images and it should last a few years, you’ll carry it with you and use it. Below that price the quality tends to lead to disappointment and you might as well stick with a camera phone, above that price you’ll either leave it at home or worry about having it stolen all the time. Ideally you should be able to comfortably fit it in a pocket and it should have some control over exposure. Don’t worry to much about pixel counts and zoom length thats just sales talk. Its the size and quality of the chip, the software and lens which makes the difference. It may sound strange but a £400 compact will give better results than the same price SLR.

Next you need to know how to set it up. Its no good buying a good quality camera and saving the files at the lowest quality. Set the camera up to the save the files at highest quality, it will be in the manual but normally its easy to find on the menu and just keep moving the picture onto the computer when the card is full. Lastly don’t leave the photo’s on the camera or the computer get the best ones printed as there will come a time when either the computer dies and the images are lost or the things have moved so far forwards you cant view the pictures a little like all those old videos tapes we can’t watch anymore.

The little Canon S90 pictured is an ideal example of a quality compact camera. It’s small, lightweight, easy to use with quite a few extra functions making it possible for the slightly more advanced photographer to get the most out of it. Ideal for walks, nights days out, holidays and even ideal if your a guest at a wedding lol.

My day as second photographer

I mentor a few wedding photographers, you know give them tips and such like, one I’ve become friendly with, a local Bristol wedding photographer, asked me late Thursday night if I could help and be the second wedding photographer at a weddings not far from Bristol on Friday morning whilst giving him some pointers and tips.

Here is a hand full from my efforts.

I find it interesting watching how other wedding photographers work around Bristol and Bath. The main photographer I was working with on Friday is getting there, he is not bad, he is still struggling with capturing the moments, handling people and working in low light without flash, (thats the real difference when you get a proper professional wedding photographer these things aren’t a problem) overall he is OK and he’s pretty honest with people explaining his limitations which I like. There is a lot of people out there who aren’t so honest and you don’t really know if the work is their own. I recall watching a wedding photographer in Wells Somerset, he stood there must be for a minute with the Bride and Groom looking most bored, he had set up this photograph and then having taken an image looked at the screen on the back of his very expensive Nikon camera. Meanwhile the bride and groom had relaxed laughed and joked with each other and were now looking bored. The photographer could have taken a load more of relaxed images instead of looking at the screen or he could have let the bride and groom get on, what made it worse was that he did the same thing again a moment later. People don’t want to wait around like that.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out that people will put up with quite a bit pretending its OK, yet inside they are getting fed up and they are holding that feeling not wanting to say anything to offend. I ask you what’s the memories going to be like if you got a photographer like that. Everyone says they want it relaxed and natural and every photographers website says they are offer natural and relaxed wedding photography. Whoever heard of a photographer who said they were old and stuffy. There’s relaxed and there’s genuinely relaxed.

Anyway after my little rant, I hope you enjoy my images lol. I’m pleased, I’m never 100% happy, I shouldn’t be to critical of myself the couple will be happy I would just like to push myself a little further I’d have liked to be a little more arty a little bit more creative, it will come.

I’m afraid I’ve had to leave the comments off because of the amount of junk but I do love hearing your email comments.

This confetti shot really worked for me, the main photographer was in front and I was hanging back. The dark background and depth of field (how quickly the background goes blurry) really helped isolate the couple and confetti from the crowd.

I like this little series of photo’s next as the bride gets in the car.

As is normal for me on the wedding day nothing is set up the bride was just looking through the door, I didn’t direct her to stand there and I thought it looked really nice so took the picture. Both the church and venue were quite dark with the main photographer struggling for lack of light. I used a couple of very expensive lenses and just carried on, over exposing a little to give a very light and airy look. I love the way the background is thrown so far out of focus with these lenses I’ve added an extra element of defussion (softness)  in post production to most of the images to give a slightly dreamy feel.

You can just feel the brides embarrassment.

Great eyes

The main photographer had set up quite a few several staged traditional photos with the couple earlier in the day, so I knew if I wanted anything alternative I had to be  quick about it. When I saw this cricket pavilion in the garden of the wedding venue I thought it made a great backdrop I staged the bride and groom, took six or seven photos in under 3 minutes and was done.

Once again for those who like to see loads of wedding photos here is a couple of hundred images for you to have a better look.

A hand full of images from Joe and Kelly’s engagement photoshoot.

SteveWatkinsPhotography.co.uk Bristol Gloucestershire Bath Somerset Devon wedding Photographer

Ryan and Natalie relaxed wedding at Kingscote Barn, nr Tetbury, Gloucestershire. Kingscote Barn is a nice venue, it’s an old barn with all the old beams exposed but still very light, sitting in the open landscape on the side of a valley in the Cotswolds so it’s quite picturesque.

There was a bit of a story behind this wedding at Kingscote Barn, a fellow wedding photographer friend of mine phoned me up saying he was stuck in Australia following the Icelandic volcano shutting all the airports for the week and could I help him out of a pickle. It was lucky for him we are due a baby and I haven’t taken any wedding photography bookings for the end of April and all of May to get all the house sorted and be there for the birth. As I’ve said before due dates are one thing but I would hate the thought that I was at someones wedding and Zoe was going into labour. Anyway he asked nicely and I said yes I could cover the wedding photography for him as it was local.

Ryan was naturally enough really quite worried what sort of photographer was going to cover their day at Kingscote Barn and I can understand his concerns, we looked a few years ago and it really was quite hard to find good quality wedding photography. Being in the industry I am a little wise to it but, I hear so many stories of brides being caught out by bad wedding photographers, don’t get me wrong we all have to start somewhere and there is a market for different styles and budgets but unlike the woman who makes the wedding dress who has to have a degree of real skill nowadays it’s very easy for someone to go out and buy a camera take some snaps of the girlfriend, maybe pay a professional model for the for the afternoon, do a couple of courses, even do a couple of free weddings then steal a load of images off other peoples websites and call themselves a wedding photographer. There is a lot more to being a wedding photographer than just pressing the shutter it really does a huge disservice to the real professionals out there who are trying to make a reasonable living.

Well I managed to put Ryan and Natalie’s mind at rest and the day went really well. I had loads of people coming up to me and saying thank you for stepping in at the last minute saying how I seemed to be doing a great job. It makes me laugh when people say that because they haven’t seen the images  I could be taking a load of rubbish.

I’ll let you judge for yourself.

For those who like to see loads of weddings photos here is another couple of hundred from the bunch just click and drag to see the full size images.

www.SteveWatkinsPhotography.co.uk

www.kingscotebarn.co.uk/

I wanted to share some thoughts on why its really important to print up photos you’ve taken with your digital camera and why its a good idea to have a proper wedding photo album made.

We live in an age of the lost image, think about it everything goes on Facebook or a hard disc somewhere. We might keep the original images on a CD but what happens when computer technology moves forwards and we are no longer able to view the images. Think about it years ago when you got your 36 photos back from boots after looking at them they all went in the draw, then years later when you looked at them again you notice new things like all the clothes, how young people look and the old cars. It’s a simple case that kids will never have the same experience of going through a draw of old photos that we did as all those everyday images will be lost unless we print the photos. Nowadays its not expensive to have a load of the best pictures printed cheaply, just take your card in and away you go, even if all that happens is they are kept in a draw and taken out every now and then at least you’ll never run into that situation of needing an old computer to view them.

As an nice alternative to a stack of photos pretty much anyone can put together a photo book from one of the online photo book makers in under 2 hours no problem. I know a lot of people including some wedding photographers will actually use these as the wedding album. Don’t get me wrong these photo books have there place and they are great value for money but you can’t compare them to an quality photo album you’d use for a wedding. The pages often fall out, print quality is variable at best and the layouts are limited. When you see just how a set of images can be put together by someone with a really creative eye using proper professional album design software in a top quality albums its like chalk and cheese.

I’ll be honest with you here at one time I hated designing albums, just hated it, mostly because either the software wouldn’t work or it was massively time consuming I’m talking 50-60 hours or more. Now I just see it as an extension of the creative process its a little like editing a good film.

Professional software in the last few years has improved massively and the stuff available this year blows the socks off what we used to have to put up with. Wedding albums with 200+ images are now no longer a  problem for me in the same way they were. Personally I’ve teamed up with Graphistudio for my albums, they are probably one of the best album makers in the world. The pages are proper photographic paper so you get all the depth and clarity of a proper photo, there is a massive range of covers from traditional plain leather to photo covers to metal all with a life time guarantee. I know its a luxury product but I think when you want something thats gong to last a lifetime that your children and even your grand children will look at it, it’s worth it.

Have a look at how I’ve put an album together

www.SteveWatkinsPhotography.co.uk

I thought I would share this image with you from a recent pre wedding shoot I did, more to follow shortly. I loved the strong eye contact here.