In 2007 I had the great pleasure of meeting Mandee and Justin at Sue and Colin's wedding on the Cape (pic of them outside the church below).



Justin is Colin's brother and Mandee was getting ready with Sue in Chatham; while she was getting her makeup put on we were winding each other up big time and in the back of my head I was thinking that I wish I could shoot this girl's wedding some day! Over the last couple of years Sue and I have kept in close touch and I was extremely excited to hear about their engagement and the following phone call from the very excitable couple. I was actually a little  surprised given that I had thrust and extra beer bottle in Mandee's hand (after she told me earlier that she was always the girl with the beer bottle in her hand at the end of a wedding), but I guess she fell right into that one! 



Of course I was also relishing the thought of setting up the same shot for their wedding (little did she know)...



Enough goofing around - on with the good stuff :)

So it was yet another gorgeous day as Doug and I again made the trip down to Chatham to meet with the Blairs and the future Mrs B. I was really, genuinely excited to see Sue and Colin again and meeting their cute new addition to their family, Hannah. Plus I was also looking forward to hanging with Mandee and Justin, because if you are one of the very fortunate people to know these two jesters you know you are always in for a good time!

We knocked on the door of their gorgeous beach front room at the Chatham Bars Inn and it was like a family reunion - Mandee, Sue and Sheila (Justin's mum) were there along with Mandee's mum Diane and all her bridesmaids. I briefly caught up with Sue and Colin, chatted with Justin over the fence, then set to work to cover Mandee's prep. Doug headed next door to hang out with the boys as I chuckled my way through Mandee getting ready. Then it was all aboard the trolley for the Holy Redeemer in Chatham (same chapel that Sue and Colin were married in in 2007) for a fun service, before heading back to the Chatham Bars Inn for photos on the beach. I dragged the new Mr and Mrs Blair away for their couple photos on the beach and surprised them a little with my commando rolls into the sand as we briskly moved up the beach. We caught the setting sun for some front and back lit portraits of them before heading inside for dancing, speeches and big time partying. There was a brief interlude when I took them both outside for a couple of shots in the dunes with the inn behind them, before they headed back inside to do their reception some serious justice!



Definitely the most fun all year! I wish them both the very best for their future together and hope I get to spend another wedding someday with the Blairs.

Here's a slideshow (with music to turn up the volume!). Make sure that you hit the full screen button in the bottom right to view it in HD! Password = Mandee's maiden name. AFTER YOU'VE VIEWED THE SLIDESHOW BELOW, YOU CAN VIEW ALL OF THE PHOTOS OF THEIR WEDDING BY CLICKING HERE

Last month I flew back to the UK for a week of festivities before the marriage of my best friends Tom and Michelle. I honoured to be the man documenting their special day...

I've known Tom since 1997 when we were a couple of doors away from each other in our student accommodation at the University of Wales in Swansea. We were and still are part of an extremely tight group of friends that forged our friendship on that legendary floor in Clyne Halls. Following a few years of tremendous fun at uni, we parted ways for a year before reuniting, porting the members of our Swansea household to the streets of North London. Not really knowing where I lives were heading, our very different careers mattered little as we enjoyed the delights of Shoreditch, Brick Lane and later Balham, south of the river.

Now Tom's a pretty special guy. Not only is he downright humourous, with masses of energy (think Tigger from Winnie-the-Pooh), but he was always the go-to guy for a chat about anything. We helped each other through ups and downs and were wingmen when we were single (as it turned out a pretty pitiful combo on that front!).

One afternoon later on in our London years I was chatting over text with a friend from work, Holly, (who lived a few doors from us in Swansea) about a party that we were headed to in Shoreditch of a friend of ours. A few of us were going; Holly and her roommate were (I guess) at a loose end for something to do and they 'might' come along. I guess they were searching for better offers, but luckily that was not forthcoming. We headed along to the bar and then Holly turned up later with Michelle, an attractive girl and fellow Midlander. I don't really remember too much else about the details of the evening, but we all ended up roaming the streets of Brick Lane where Tom and Michelle were glued into conversation.

Well I don't really need to describe much else about how they led up to their marriage; that's their story. I was fortunate enough to capture the story behind their wedding and when I learned of their engagement at Christmas I was itching for them to ask me.

After a week of celebrating Tom's last week as a bachelor in Wales, we all headed up to Melton Mowbray (home of legendary Stilton cheese and pork pies) and I stayed with Tom and his family in the pub where the two were to be married the next day. After a full English the following morning everyone swung into action (or back to bed) and I headed over to document Michelle getting ready at her parents' in the early afternoon. A surprise antique car was arranged (it worked - 'you gits' was the phrase uttered when she found out she'd been had) and I headed back to the pub to get some shots of the groom and best man and fellow best friend Toni Deluca. After a quick, intimate ceremony on the lawn with their closest friends and family looking on, the pub put on a fabulous reception. I dragged them outside into the fields as the sun was skimming through the trees for some great couple photos, then Toni D took to the stage for an epic speech/grilling. One of the finest speeches I've witnessed - he lived up to his title - nice work Toni! Following cutting of their Stilton cake, dancing, presentation of a photo book of their lives and more drinking and dancing the night was over. I packed my bags for my flight the following day, knowing it would be a long time before we were all together again but happy for the newlyweds that their day had gone perfectly.

The happy couple are now back in Sydney settling back into life. While they are so very far away, it is comforting to know that my best friend is being looked after by such a wonderful lady - someone who I've felt like I've known far longer than four years and someone who can put the Law into line when he's bouncing around too much :)

All the best Mr and Mrs Law! 


 




To view the slideshow below enter Michelle's maiden name as the password. Hit the full screen button in the bottom right and turn up the volume!



All of the photos are available to purchase as prints here: http://photo.brownphotographic.com/p856913176

I don't really need to talk much about this: Emilie just posted the testimonials on the new Roots Workshop blog. That's me in the blue shirt on the stairs.

All I can say is this: if you are in the business of telling stories through images, this workshop is an absolute must. Call Emilie now and book your spot for 2010 - I'm not kidding - this workshop will change the way that you think and shoot. Without reservation it is easily worth the money and the week away from your business. Listen to what we have to say peeps!

I am forever learning - I'm a complete nerd when it comes to photography - I soak up everything photo related and try to put it out simply to my fellow photographers on my twitter stream. When it comes to new tricks such as the most efficient way to control your aperture and shutter at the same time I'm the man. Nobody knows where it get it from, but they appreciate the geekdom :) I know my gear back to front; I can light pretty much anything; but when it came to trying to find a unique story in every wedding or a family portrait session I was honestly starting to become unstuck.

Earlier in the year my friend Shyla was featured in a video review of the Roots Workshop (yes that's me in both shots) - a week long boot camp introduction photojournalism to get a grasp of visual storytelling. Run by Emilie Sommer a professional photojournalist and wedding photographer extraordinaire from Portland ME, the workshop gathers together an impressive talent pool of her PJ friends: Greg Gibson, Tyler Wirken, Rachel LaCour Niesen, Mark Adams and Jennifer Domenick (and not forgetting J Sandifer as head chef and Mr Eric Laurits as the resident workshop storyteller). Add just a handful of students to the mix and what you get is a rather impressive tutor/student ratio! I called Shyla and it didn't take long for her to convince me to go.

The concept is this:
- Throw all of us together under the same roof of a lovely Cape Cod house for a week.
- Provide us with amazing food so we can just concentrate on the task at hand.
- Give us a thorough grounding in story telling and beat out the preconceived notions of what photojournalism really is.
- Assess our strengths and weaknesses and then give us a gruelling two day assignment that really, really tests us.
- Try to find a story and a way of telling it through beautiful images.
- Have your mentors come out, follow you around and kick your butt! Love it!
- Enjoy jumping off the dock after a tough day.
- At the end of each day sit us down in front of everyone, then image by image, disect exactly what and why we were trying to do.
- Send us back out with a clearer sense of where we were going.
- At the end of it all relish the lobster bake and present your story to the whole house.

Well I think I made it sound incredibly easy, but as Emilie puts it: "it is most certainly not a fluff workshop. Students will work hard and be critiqued hard". Yup, hard it was! Not being one that was ever good at easy, I relished the whole week.

My assignment was at a YMCA camp on the Cape with kids hanging literally from my cameras. Not having 'camp' back in England, the concept wasn't entirely new to me but I didn't really know what to expect. When I got there on the first day I walked up over the brow of a hill to a sea of colour and the immense noise of hundreds of kids and their camp counsellors. Then it hit me: how was I going to find a story in that? Then something else hit me: that was exactly why they sent me here! Not being able to carry any more gear than two cameras and a spare battery, the only thing I could concentrate on was the story.

Jennifer, Mark and Tyler provided critical feedback while I was either drenched from a full day of rain or knee deep in water trying to get action shots of the kids swimming in the lake. I came back from the first day feeling rather deflated, but after the first critique night with Tyler and Mark providing some pretty humorous ways of making me rethink my actions (complete with legendary quotes), I went forth into day two feeling energised and more purposeful. Taking all of the advice on board I was able to develop a simple story that showed the emotions of the kids and the counsellors, as both were as important as each other. At the end of it all I came away with a cohesive set of images that I delivered to everyone on the last evening.

I learned a huge amount, gained a much better sense of visual story telling and came away with a great bunch of new friends. Roots was the best workshop I have attended - the hardest work, but certainly the most ground covered in advancing my skills.

Every time I now shoot I'm constantly drawing on everything I learned - it helped me to see differently and find the story when one is not always obviously there.

Take a look at the story below and add your comments!
 

English sky, long evening sunset, an English rose and a gent, a country pub and a quality breakfast to start the day... a full English

I just got back from the UK after a great week visiting my family, then spending a stag week (that's bachelor party to all ye Amerian peeps) in Wales, followed by the wedding of my best friends Tom and Michelle in the countryside of the English Midlands at Melton Mowbray. More photos to come, but here's the shot of the day...