2 Landscape shots entered this month, big surprise to get 2 Golds in Monochrome & Open for essentially the same photograph in this months SWPP Awards. 1 straight out of camera, the other Photoshopped to high heaven :-).
This was literally a drive out 1 afternoon on top of Horwich's Winter Hill, pulled the car over took the 70-200 out of the boot, pointed the camera at something misty, took a snap at 100asa and back in the car literally a 30 second job - it was a cold evening! I wanted a warm glow for that sunset glow effect.
A lovely card of Thank You's from Neil & Maxine Alderton, you may remember their Vintage wedding we photographed back in October this year at Morecambe's finest retro Hotel The Midland Hotel. It was a very wety day but this allowed us to do more photography inside and create lots of moody images for them.
The Wedding of Mitchell & Sarah Stewart at Rowton Castle, Shropshire was a sunny Autumn/ winters day. After a long drive it was good to be back at Rowton Castle to photograph another wedding after a break of 3 years there. Sarah is a very beautiful lady whos from Manchester and Mitchell a very handsome man from Canada who both share a love of music & dance.
A beautiful warm Midland Hotel wedding in Morecambe on an Autumnal day where the sun shone during this lovely church wedding in Caton nr Lancaster. Helen's family live in Caton, nr. Lancaster where we started off with her getting ready and the church was literally a stones throw away at The Intimate Church of Our Lady Immaculate Church, Caton. Reception was (it seems like a second home now) The Midland Hotel in Morecambe where the atmosphere is always so chilled. Having fly-fished many times at Catons Bank House Fly fishery I knew this part of Lancashire very well.
On Sunday 23rd October @ The Midland Hotel, Morecambe Vicki Cruse Wedding Co-ordinator organised a beautiful Wedding/ Bridal Fayre utilising many of the Midland's preferred suppliers - local to the area. There was a beautiful bridal showcase from 3 different local bridal houses making it a great photographic opportunity 14 brides all at once! Many local people that turned up. Heres a few of the images from the show. All images by Martin Crombie.
Another beautiful wedding celebrated in October took us back to Lancaster's Ashton Memorial where the leaves were a rustic colour on the trees, the sky was without a cloud and was deep blue. Ashton Memorial was lit from the south side pretty much all the time we were there which provided me with some photo opps which I seldom get with summer weddings there. Kirsten and Dan provided the wedding compositions, heres a few of my favs so far from the day.
A fabulous wedding starring the beautiful Anna taken at the very top of the Bridal Suite at (yes you guessed it) The Midland Hotel in Morecambe. Debbie and myself had been waiting for this wedding to come round and we were disappointed. We had it all lovely weather, beautiful location and a stunning bride to photograph.
The MPA/Fuji UK Wedding Photographer Awards. It's seems this image is loved by everyone, hopefully it will winas I have very fond memories of seeing great photographers like Keith Thompson & Nigel Harper win it back in the 90's and early 2000.
We have this image also in The Mario Acerboni 3 in 1 final, surely it must win 1 ??. UPDATE : Didn't win this time my image possibly finished up 2nd as it has now featured next to the winner Sandra Parris on The MPA 2012 Entry Form, but who knows. Will try again next year. Its nice to be in the mix for a big award.
Click on the link to see The MPA/Fuji 2011 competition from the 2 rounds of judging My image is the 3 guys in the archway.
Put October 9th in your diary & add me as a friend at Facebook to find out. I must have spend 2-3 days in January working on this image if it wins I will post the original and take you all through how it was transformed.
Regardless of which wedding photographer wins - a wedding couple will receive £1,000 cash :-)
Just a note to let everyone know I'll be attending 1 wedding fayre this year - The Midland Hotel in Morecambe.
What should make this a special event is that its being organised by The Midland Hotel people directly (not a newspaper) so it should be more succinct.
Times I think are 10am -4pm, look forward to seeing brides to be. Debbie will be attending with me.
Being a BIPP member has its benefits, being able to enter The Mario Acerboni Wedding Awards is 1 of them.
After last years overall success UK 2nd place I felt I had more to give & wanted to really give it 1 more shot before baby Dominic arrives in late December this year. As my hands may be tied for a while after this year, we will see. I got the email just as myself & Debbie were going for the 6 month hospital scan so I had a GREAT day thanks MPA/ Mario Acerboni :-)
So I pulled my best image from last year (the yellow doors wedding in Lancaster) and found a couple of other images from that wedding I knew had potential. I had also entered 4 other sets of 3 this time as I really want to win the UK Title this year.
Here's the email from The MPA to say I'd won the North West Region again back to back, to now go through to the UK Final Awards presentation with the other Regional winners held at Gateshead in early October later on in the year where 1 winner is drawn from the 14 regional winners.
Here are the 3 images (3 from 1) that won the NW Region Wedding Photographer 2011 title for 2nd year running.
These images were taken in Lancaster at St.Thomas Church just opposite KFC :-)
A very wet wedding day for Maxine & Neil's civil wedding at The Midland Hotel in Morecambe. The rain poured virtually allday with Debbie & myself looking forward to experimenting with the lighting equipment for some indoor shots. The Midland Hotel in Morecambe has sooo many unique selling points to the interior design, making my job so much fun and interesting not to mention the art deco feel around the place. Neil and Maxine are both involved in the film/tv world and had invited 1 or 2 famous faces along to the wedding.
Kerry & Marc's wedding at Singleton Lodge, Singleton, nr Blackpool was a beautiful occasion with all sorts of interesting trinkets to photograph. Kerry looked stunning as she arrived at Singleton Church.
Assisted by my Debbie many reportage shots by her. A beautiful bride & many great moments there for you Kerry to choose from!!