‘But why’ has now moved on to ‘watch this’.  Everything has to be observed.  Jumping off the stairs, giving Daddy a bear hug, riding his scooter.  This is element two of all things which drive parents crazy.

Lately its the little things that you catch yourself observing that you might otherwise miss.  Exhibit one:  whilst sitting on the quad at Winchester Cathedral yesterday there was another little boy (slightly older) who was running around growling like kids do.  Evan shot off to join in.  In the end we were encouraging him to put his lunch to one side and go play.  Sounds strange but you’ve never seen how long it takes Evan to eat a cheese ciabatta.  So in essense we were asking him to go play with strangers.  Then later, at the park, he marched straight over to the big boy swings.  It took a few minutes for me to notice what he was riding.  Its then you realise how he’s still a little boy but very much an independent little boy and not a toddler anymore.

Joanna and Darren — Saturday April 19, 2008 — Windsor Guildhall and Royal Holloway College (Egham)

G4 minus the chubby bloke

As some of you know I’ve had an assistant with me at the last few weddings.  Darren (not to be confused with the groom) is shaping up to be quite the photographer.  Last week I included one of this shots in the blog.  This week here is a few more.  I tasked him with tailing ‘Da Boys’ whilst I went to see Joanna and the girls.  He got lots a great stuff…but here are 3 I really liked.

The boys return from a coffee run

Finding a quiet pub in Windsor

A final toast to Bachelor’dom

Yes…we had thought we had dodged that fabled 3 year old question.  The one which seems to haunt parents across the world.  Sadly…we were mistaken.  At the beginning of the week the question “but why?” started to come out of Evan’s mouth.  So, like all of the rest of the parents in world, we have joined you.

This week I darted off to Manchester on Monday night…well, Knutsford M6 services.  It wasn’t just so I could test another Travelodge but in fact to shoot the wedding of Caroline and Mike.  These bright sparks decided to book their wedding on a Tuesday.  But we’re not complaining here I can assure you. 

After a long day, and a short kip on the bed of yet another Travelodge (Didsbury this time) I was up at 5:30 to race back to Heathrow to collect the in laws who have now returned from their west coast (USA) holiday.  Happy to say everyone is home safe (including me).

Special thanks to C and M for selecting me as they clearly had the choice of just about every wedding photographer in the country for a Tuesday.  I’d also like to thank my great videographer friends Sylvia and Niels of Ever After Video Productions.  A lot has been said about photographers and videographers working together…and you might think that with two cameras it would be impossible to work with them.  But…you would be wrong.   They do this wicked On the Day Edit.  Similar to when I do an on the day presentation but folks…I’ve got to be honest…its a whole lot harder to do video on the day.  So I stood in amazement watching it…as did everyone else.  To see what they did (and ironically I’ve just popped over to their blog and saw they said nice things about me too) click here.

I’ll shut up now….

Caroline and Mike — Tuesday, 15 April 2008 — Adlington Hall (Cheshire)

Yes Brides…this is just a normal beige (formerly) Rainbow wedding shoe.  Thing is Caroline is perhaps the craftiest person on the planet
and transformed them into this work of art.  I’m a guy…I don’t get amazed at things like this…but on this occasion I made an exception

What did I say?

The aforementioned Sylvia attempts to primp the dress…guess who’s holding the hanger

Living in a mirror that small must really get on your nerves

As Evan would say…huggles!

Read the card…its quite funny

Caroline’s Dad to Ursula — “You’re Fired”!

Marking the most important of days…of course I refer to April 22 when Dad has Shrigley Hall at home (golfers, eh)

Nice eggs…I don’t know if Caroline’s Dad ever did get her to eat them

Mike marvels at my magnificent Etch-a-Sketch drawing I did earlier

A guest (Drew or Brett or Ed) studies the ceremony intently…luckily there was no quiz afterwards

That Clinton joke sure gets around

This is Alex…the video man observing from sunny California.  He video’d the wedding of Gary Fong (which means nothing to anyone who’s not a photographer)

Now…was that Hillary or Bill?

Adlington Hall..honestly, I can’t see what’s so great about it :)

That’s better!

A quick dash to Shrigley Hall (I’ve seen a lot of halls in Cheshire for a Hampshire guy)

They tried to be anonymous but they didn’t fool me

The stairs seemed an unlikely spot to do a bit of Tango

Sylvia works on her On The Day Edit

It wasn’t me.  I didn’t do it.  The devil is at work here. If the glove doesn’t fit, you must acquit.

The sun graced us for a wee bit later that evening

“Sporran, you have a call on line 1″

Mike describes the hooligans who forced him to carry a handbag to the local police

This kind of sums them up…happy as Larry

Enjoying the on the day video

“You got to move it, move it, move it”

Its funny how fast things shift in the land of E.  4 weeks ago all he could think about was Shrek.  Endless requests to watch Shrek…or Shrek 2…or Shrek 3.  Although we limit TV (a principle nearly forgotten with over 23 hours of plane rides in the two weeks we were on holiday), it doesn’t stop him from anticipating what he gets to watch before bed time.  However, Shrek is just another toyland castaway.  Tarzan is flavour of the month (fortnight).  Fortunately we are referring to the Disney version and not the Johnny Weismuller one.

Yesterday we ventured to Milestones in Basingstoke.  If you’ve never been (and to be honest I wasn’t particularly keen to go) I suggest you do.  Its a brilliant indoor living museum of life from the late 1800s to the 1970s.  They have some great street scenes (like a movie set) with different eras.  In fact, if you are looking for a quick and easy “I’m the greatest grandkid in the land” move, take the grandparents to the museum.  They will certainly get a kick out of it.

I’m kind of saving the photos from America until the end of the month.  I have a couple who don’t want a blog entry.  Something about witness protection, Shergar and Lord Lucan…heck, I don’t know.  But to fill the hole I’ll do a slideshow for then.  However last week a friend said send me a photo of Evan in Vegas.  Well…saying here’s a photo of Evan in Vegas is a bit difficult given the style of imagery I take.  I think of it as ‘Photography in the First Person’.  But I did cobble together some images that I really liked…the fact that they were set in Vegas is neither here nor there.

My first trip back to Bury Court in about 16 months.  It was great to return and to see more of the grounds (I was last there in November 2006).

Kirsty and Carl — Friday 11 April, 2008 — The Barn at Bury Court

And darnit…she has every right to be in awe!

That’s what I like to see…sensible shoes!

The famed neckline shot

I don’t know what it was…but dear God, don’t come anywhere near me with those things!

“Mirror, Mirror on the…raditator….” — just doesn’t have the same ring to it

These are the moments I like

These too…

Some sort of weird Bridesmaid hair sobriety test…thankfully she was below the legal limit

Mum, after fighting off 3 other attempts to cry, can now smile

Through the gap

Before

After

It would seem the fighting off the tears was a lesson well learnt

But not everyone passed the test…OOF and backlit…but who cares, its worth a million to me

Heads I wash, tails you dry

Carl’s brother…aka the best man.

Like Wembley on a Saturday in May, the signing of the register table was mobbed by well wishing supporters

Recipe:  2 bridesmaids, a camera and champagne

Carl kept saying how lucky he was…

…but then Kirsty didn’t do so bad either

Don’t let the bright sunshine fool you…it was blinkin’ cold!

Something about what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas…a mantra I too live by

   
Carl is reminded of all that married life leaves behind

A strange cyclops eyes up the bride

You know you’re safe when you hire your brother as your best man…why?…because he ain’t gonna say
anything too dodgy with his mum sitting there.  Or would he?

And speaking of his (and Carl’s) mum…she didn’t seem to protest too much

This one is from my trusty sidekick Darren.  Each weeks he’s delivering better and better stuff…time for a blog shot D!

A Priest, a Rabbi and Bill Clinton are on a plane…

How he heard the Bill Clinton joke over the drums I’ll never know

Seonaid and Lex follows this verbage about holiday….so if you’re not interested scroll down…understand though, that I will be emotionally scarred for life if you feel you have to scroll.  I have cookies…I know who you are :)

The following Public Service Announcement is brought to you by Log — from Blammo.  (“What rolls down stairs alone or in pairs and rolls over your neighbour’s dog” — c’mon…didn’t you people watch Ren and Stimpy?)

Yes…my sister felt Evan had to deliver a message to the masses :)

This concludes our Public Service Announcement.  Normal programming will now resume.

Well…we survived.  23 hours on a planes over a 2 week period.  From the Capital of the Free World (at least that’s what the radio jingle said) to America’s Adult Playground (Hey, its just Vegas…not Hedonism) we are now back and firmly entrenched in British life again.  We were so delighted with our 4 inches of snow on Sunday.  From shorts to snow in 3 days.  Nice.

DC (or should I say Lake Ridge) was the usual scary experience.  Too many red lights…too many monster trucks and too many Wal-Marts.  Although I have to admit to shopping in all of them so tick one in the hypocrite box for me.  At nearly 2 dollars to the pound it was all too tempting.  Steaks for 3, beers and a pudding — £25.  However, in amongst all that scariness was family and friends and that’s the main reason we go.  We got to meet Baby Will…the newest addition to the family.  More on that later in the week or even next week.  I’m currently looking at over 1000 images that I need to ‘process’ from holiday and from Saturday’s wedding.

Evan was a dream on the planes.   Giving him a library of over 20 movies to watch helped.  Virgin Atlantic’s i-Kid channels with on demand viewing was also a big help.  Yeah for Bee Movie.  So when we sat Evan, Me, Aisle, Nicola we felt that we each had the chance to get some peace and quiet.  In the end I never moved as Evan only surfaced to use the loo…and as magic would have it a hooey was desperately needed as the seatbelt signs were turned on for our arrival into Dulles.  Kids and their movements!

This trip was very different to years past.  It was less about what we wanted to do and more about what we had to do to keep Evan from going nuts.  My sister was a dream and had an array of toys, puzzles and a ride on Thomas the Tank Engine.  But kids need to see the light of day as well and we can now brief you on play parks in and around the Lake Ridge area.

We saw some old friends which was great.  Had dinner out too many times (especially as the last 4 days was Vegas buffets with Nic’s family).  We even had a family Easter which, if memory serves was our first holiday gathering as a family since both of our parents passed.  Why the hell I didn’t ask Nicola to take a picture of Barry, Sandy and myself I’ll never know. 

Well…I need to get on and do about a million things.  So I’ll be doing a slideshow of images from America in the next few weeks.  I’ll let you know when its done.  For now…here’s what some of you have been waiting for.

Seonaid and Lex – Saturday 5 April 2008 – Clandon Park

When the bride ends up facing away from the light its time to go silho

Shooting against the light ain’t always a bad thing…

…as proven by this

I wish I had a funny comment…but I don’t.  It is what it is and I like it.

Seonaid contemplates the biggest decision of her life — Beef or Salmon?

Salmon wins.

Its a touching moment…a picture is worth a thousand words.  Here a brides maid holds Seonaid hands, keeping
her calm and reassuring she doing the right thing (white wine goes better with fish anyway).  Actually I’m lying,
you can’t trust anything you see folks.  She was actually holding her in place as her mum and another bridesmaid
pulled like Romans to get that dress tight.

No caption could ever top that

Ace venue, lovely setting…then Gene Hunt parks the Quattro right out front.  Bahh!

Anyone who knows Lex, know that this is Lex….

and thankfully so is this.

Seeing her Salmon for the first time

A moment of suspense whilst the best man fiddles around for the rings

Seonaid’s mum remembers the little girl

Ladies…the Woking Men’s Club (WMC) and their pipes. Dedicated bloggers may recognise Dan of Helen and Dan fame to the right from November 2006

Like a scene out of Enchanted (the things you watch on air planes)

Who’d a thought they would later be found playing Twister in the dark

Off to the reception

In a moment of Friday the 13th suspense…just who’s feet can we see on the right of this frame.  Spooky!

Jason’s (Friday the 13th) hockey mask has changed a bit…for the better some say

Balloons as table favours led to some interesting competition

And some folks took it all a little too seriously

Waiting with each twist for the balloon to bust

Its no Humber Bridge but it was a work of balloon engineering

Later, during the WMCs Texas Hold’em tournament someone was found to playing with what can only be described as Monopoly money

A best man…on a chair…asking all the guys to do a Vic Reeves for the bridesmaids.  For once, I’m not joking

The panel gives the BM straight 10s for his speech

Later, in the cantina, some aliens from Star Wars turned up