The Royal Wedding In Wivenhoe

It's been pretty hard to ignore the build up to the Royal Wedding. Countless TV documentaries tacky souvenirs and even a film has been kicking around for what seems like forever, I had managed to avoid being too swept up in the whole thing but secretly intrigued to see how Will and Kate would tie the knot.

I'm sure I wasn't alone in watching the royal wedding yesterday and actually surprised at how interested in it I became. Originally I thought I was only interested in seeing what dress Kate wore but from the moment I switched on the TV in the morning I became a bit involved in the whole thing. I guess it is just the idea of someone normal entering into the royal family that really captured everyones attention and seeing some of Kate's reactions on the day was such a great insight. 

We celebrated the Royal Wedding at the local cricket club, the kids all played on the pitch outside while the adults (ok, majority of the women) crammed around the TV in the pavilion to see it all unfold. there were tears from some and cheers during the kisses! But what was really great was seeing everyone come together for a day of fun, and no matter how many people were complaining about the whole kerfuffle, I bet you were all sat there enthralled too!

And below are a few links to other blogs and websites about the Royal Wedding I've really enjoyed reading today.

Kate Griffin's Faces In The Crowd Street Photography
Fanni's Amazing Point of View of the whole day
Katherine Ashdown's Royal Wedding Inspired Photo Shoot
Documentary photographs as the day unfolded
The Official Wedding Photographs by Hugo Burnard

York Family - Wivenhoe Woods Family Photo Shoot with Bluebells

You may remember back in August last year I ran a competition for a free photo shoot for up to four people via my Facebook Page. 

Ali was the winner of the shoot (you can see the video we made for the drawing here) and she wanted to use it to get some up to date photos of her family. We finally got round to doing the shoot over the bank holiday weekend and decided to do it at Wivenhoe Woods as the Bluebells were out. Couldn't have asked for better weather either! I'm looking forward to more family shoots in this kind of weather.... hello summer!!

I'm considering running another contest for this summer so keep your eyes peeled and let me know if you'd be interested by commenting below!

Mothers Day: A Nine Year Old's View

On Mothers day I had been taking Gemma's Teen photos and so when it came to family lunch I was a little photo-ed out although I had my camera with me. My younger brother was bored within 5 minutes of arriving and finishing his homework and so I gave him my camera, set it on auto and let him snap away. Here are his pictures, which I did edit slightly (mainly adding my logo) but not alot, it's his composition and point of view and it's some pretty good work.

The men made starters and the main meal, however my older brother managed to get away with it.

Had to include a picture of my mum on mothers day....

After he came back and showed me this on on the LCD screen I told him to try getting up really close to one of the flowers and seeing what would happen. Then he came back with the two below... I think he's a natural.

We had to have an obligatory group picture, which with a 50mm prime was difficult for Ben to make sure he had everyone in frame (he was in another room for this shot!) I can't remember what we're laughing at, but I like this picture because we're all doing something different.

So I now offer a nine year old second shooter... is that allowed?! :D

Claudia Carter - Shoot Swap

It seems like ages ago now that Claudia and I met for lunch in Colchester whilst she was down for a few days to meet lots of photographers in London. We did a bit of shopping and then took some pictures of each other at Castle Park.

Claudia is such an inspiration to both myself and lots of other people. I met her at SWPP in January and she seems to have single handedly pulled together a great community of photographers both pro and amateur to offer advice and experience to one another. Before SWPP I didn't know anyone, and after a meet-up in the pub after the conference I was suddenly able to faces to names and even speak to Chris Becker. She is also in the process of setting up 'Photography Events UK' a website that will list all photographic events such as workshops, exhibitions, shoot swaps, meet-ups, conferences in one place online. It's a mammoth task but such a great idea, it wont be long until it launches!

Below are my pictures of Claudia from our meet-up.

Gemma - Teen Representative 2011 - Braintree Teen Photo Shoot.

Gemma reminds me of exactly of how I would be if I were her age and going for a photo shoot. Nervous! She started off shy, but after a few frames she hit her stride and enjoyed the process and this is the case with everyone I photograph. It's always nerve wracking being in front of the camera! I'm happy to say you can't tell in these pictures though, she looks amazing and I had a hard time cutting them down for blogging and Facebook. Gemma's sister Kate also did her some great make-up.

Gemma chose to have her photo shoot at a park nearby her house and then we wandered down to the Braintree Public Gardens when she changed outfits. It was also such a gorgeous day weather-wise, which made me glad that we had previously cancelled Gemma's shoot twice! I much prefer these results than what we would have got in rainy cold March.

I brought along a couple of camera's for Gemma to pose with in this shoot because she has started studying photography at college so we thought it would be fitting to have her pose with my Polaroid and Diana camera.

Make sure you leave some comments on the blog and let Gemma know just how great she did, despite those worries!

Sneak Peek: Gemma

Couldn't wait to get started on these recent pictures of Gemma who is one of my last few teen representatives. Here is one to tide her over until the full set on Thursday night.