Lisa and Daniel’s wedding reception was being held in the Claregalway Hotel in that town just north of Galway city which is well known for, amongst other things of course, being a bit of a traffic black spot. The hotel has no grounds other than a fairly extensive car park, and so there was half a plan to stop off en route from the church in Belclare at Claregalway Abbey, an old ruin which sits alongside the hotel and is popular with couples having wedding receptions at the hotel as a location for photographs. It being half a plan, myself and Lisa discussed it on the morning when I reached her house and it turned out that she didn’t have much of an inclination to stop there, and neither did I.  Her motivation was really just to get the hotel asap, which is understandable. Mine was, having visited the abbey that morning and observed that there was a lot of graveyard to be walked through before getting anywhere photogenic, that it wasn’t ideally suited to the task. Furthermore, with light that wasn’t what you’d call stunning and a sky that was drab, what photos it did offer up might well have proven to be a bit, well, bland. So we ditched the idea before anyone was even dressed that morning and planned instead to head straight for the hotel and do all the bridal party photography indoors.  Logistically that made things easy. In terms of light, I would be entirely in control. But in terms of locations, I was at the mercy of what the hotel had to offer. Thankfully, the hotel came up trumps, and we were quickly and easily able to dispense with the formals, getting some unusual perspectives along the way, and Lisa and Daniel got to mingle with their guests. Win win! Here’s just a sample of what the hotel had to offer photographically speaking.

Read the rest of this post »

In my experience all weddings are different – even those that follow the usual “template” of church, drinks, dinner, dancing – but Karen and Brian’s wedding last September at Kilshane House was even more different to any other wedding that I photographed all year. Specifically, it was photographically different, in that they wanted what most couples don’t want, or to be more correct they didn’t want what most couples do want. The photos will hopefully explain, but basically Karen and Brian didn’t want any posed photos at all. Or at least hardly any. Their “list” if you could call it that, asked for three things. A nice photo of the two of them, a nice photo of them with Karen’s family, and a nice photo of them with Brian’s family. After that, I had carte blanche, with the main request being to document the day, create a set of images that would tell the story of the day, and photograph as many of the guests as possible just being, well, guests.  In short, the kind of wedding photography I absolutely love not only doing, but seeing too. As part of the day I did capture the usual details – dress, shoes, flowers and so on – but mainly I photographed the people. And so, in this post I’m going to show you some (lots!) of my favourite images of the people who made Karen and Brian’s wedding unique to them, including, of course the happy couple themselves. And in the spirit of not intervening and not posing and not “creating” images that was my mantra on the day, I’m going to let these photos speak for themselves.

Read the rest of this post »

There was a lot to look forward to with Elaine and John’s wedding last September. For a start, they chose a photographer’s dream of a church to get married in. Spacious, beautiful, bright. Just look at it! Then again, they got married in West Cork, which is itself spacious and beautiful on even the worst days and which, on this happy sunny day in September, was bright too – if a little windy. Barryroe Church is nestled on a hill, meaning we had to take shelter around the side for the family photos after the ceremony, but its stone walls made for a nice backdrop all the same, and the wind didn’t claim much else by the way of casualties, so all in all we got about as lucky with the weather as you could hope to. Photographing any wedding in West Cork is a treat, but especially so on this occasion as Elaine and John’s reception was bringing me back to the place where I myself celebrated my wedding almost 5 years earlier – the beautiful, highly recommended, Dunmore House. Not only that, but if all went to plan we would get to stop off at the beach en route from Barryroe to Dunmore. As I said – a lot to look forward to. And it delivered on every count.

Read the rest of this post »

Aileen and Karol had asked me to stay to photograph their speeches and first dance, and if I am staying at a wedding till that point I do like, if circumstances allow for it, to offer the couple the opportunity to have a night time portrait taken, typically outside their venue, as something a little different from the rest of the wedding photos. By “if circumstances allow for it”, I mean a couple of things – primarily that the couple themselves aren’t sick of being photographed by that point, which is something, as photographer, you have to continually judge and react to (usually by shooting something else, and there’s always something else to shoot at a wedding); but also the venue having a suitable place for the shot, the weather being accommodating, and there being downtime during which the shot can be taken. That last one is usually the least of my concerns. I have yet to meet a wedding band that can set up their gear faster than I can set up a flash-lit outdoor portrait and a first dance off-camera lighting setup.  When I’ve done this type of photo in the past I’ve played it safe. One light for the couple, ambient via control of shutter speed for the venue. If I’ve been feeling adventurous I might double up and use two reflective umbrellas for the couple, cross lighting them for even (and safe) light. For Aileen and Karol’s wedding I pushed myself further for the shot. For the photographers amongst you, I’ll break that down further in an upcoming post (though feel free to knock yourself out figuring out the lighting from the shot). For the rest of you, I think you’ll agree the shot worked well – I know it was one of Aileen and Karol’s absolute favourites, and it is one of my favourite wedding shots too. There were other favourites from the second half of the day though, for both them and me.

Read the rest of this post »

One thing a lot of brides and grooms fail to realise until their wedding is how little time the two of them will have alone on their wedding day itself. In the morning they are usually separated, and once they get to see each other there’s a wedding ceremony to go through with, followed by a receiving line of congratulations, followed – usually – by formal family photos, perhaps bridal party photos, a drinks reception where there are guests to talk to, and then dinner, speeches and dancing.  In fact there are usually only two opportunities for them to have some time away from everyone else – in the car between the ceremony and the reception, and while all their guests are taking their place for dinner. The former is still in the presence of a driver, and so the latter is, to my mind at least, a crucial part of the day and one where I try to leave the couple be as much as is possible. And so it went for Helen and James’ wedding day where, as they finally got some time alone, I stayed in the function room where guests were taking their seats for dinner, shooting some candids as I did so. But I looked back out the doorway through another doorway across the hall of Innishannon House Hotel in beautiful west Cork and spotted them enjoying that time and sharing a laugh, and I took the photograph you see above. It is completely unposed, unplanned and a lucky split-second capture, but it is one of my favourite photos of the year. It wasn’t the only photo I took during the afternoon that I liked, though. Here are a few more.

Read the rest of this post »