Evan and Holly’s Dad’s Blog

Hi and welcome to my blog. Filled with images from my recent weddings, engagement shoots, portrait sessions and corporate work. Most importantly its a window into my world...a world where family takes an upper hand and I have the images to prove it. Hopefully you'll take a few minutes to browse and once addicted set the blog as a bookmark. If you have any comments please feel free to add them or just get in touch.

For The Record: The images that I put on the blog from recent weddings may not always be the best or even ones you might expect. They are things that I saw, that I like that I want to share. Sometimes they are part of a quirky story or show a tender or ironic side to a wedding.

Archive for The Vyne

Good day to you all (how very British of me).  On Friday I got back to The Vyne nr Basingstoke for the first time this year.  Its a National Trust property and is continuing to increase in popularity.  The team there are excellent to work with and do all they can to make the experience as easy as possible for you.  I’m running a bit late so I’ll have to leave it there.  Hope you enjoy the images.

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Laughter…its nervous laughter…but its still laughter

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2 shots on the blog from the same darn place…but I LOVE ‘EM

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Its so good that Vicars wear big white reflectors

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After not opting for the premium seats at the back, Claire and Steve spent the entire ceremony with a crick in their necks

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Meet Billie Jean.  She’s NOT my lover and whatever she says about me being THE ONE is a complete fabrication of the truth!

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Tungsten buzz

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OK…make that 3 in the same place

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Show someone your moon walk and what respect do they have for you?

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I remember one of my first weddings.  I was so ticked off at a shot like this…How inconsiderate of the person throwing their hand in to the top right hand of the shot.  Geez…of course, now I think it totally makes the shot.  Funny how your perspective changes.

A MasterCard Moment

Wedding dress — More than a £5er
Reception at posh venue with 60 guests — Significantly more than a £5er
Having a Stagecoach bus drive at 5 miles an hour in the background as you drive down a long drive ensuring you can’t get the damn thing out of the photo — PRICELESS! (ok…I did get a few without the darn bus!)

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The wheels on the bus….

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A couple of P.Y.T.s

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Forest for the trees

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A fan of the John Cleese funny walk or simply avoiding the swan poo!  You be the judge.

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Don’t stop till you get….to the end actually

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This was my Just One

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Steve…apparently he’s a smooth criminal

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Speeches outside…sweet!

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You had to know that by outgrowing your hired suit (my money is on the fact that they gave you the wrong suit BTW) that you’d certainly get the mick taken out of you

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Mixing harsh and soft light…interesting

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A comment more for photographers…interesting that someone elses flash filled in my shot…more interesting is that even with a shutter speed of 1/200th, its still not in sync.hmmmm

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Having a 9 piece band was a little ‘off the wall’ (I’m running out of MJ songs)

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Sorry folks…no Darren this week.

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Claire, who claims to be uncomfortable around the camera, flashes her best Vogue in front of the doors at The Vyne’s 17th Century portico.

028 003 Hampshire Wedding Photography   Just One   Claire and Steve

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Lewis Hamilton…here’s some advice for you.  After the next qualifying…when you’ve sat your shiny silver McLaren on pole…do the extra work on the Saturday night…sneak in the Parc Ferme with some red spray paint and re-style your car as a Ferrari.  That way, the idiots in Formula One won’t penalise you every time you do something amazing for the sport.  My blood still boils!

Last Thursday we took Evan to London to visit the Science Museum.  I had a meeting at 6:30 near Waterloo and it seemed a good excuse to make a family day of it.  It was brilliant.  What I love about it is that in a years time he’ll get something different out it.  In fact, I suspect if you went every other year it would fascinate him until he was 34.  We only saw a few galleries but he was in overdrive.  If you’ve never been can I recommend that you head straight for ‘The Launchpad’ on the 3rd floor.  Absolutely amazing.  The other amazing thing (and this is going to show me as quite an anorak) was in the plane gallery (don’t know its real name) on the 3rd floor.  They took a 747 double decker, cut out about 5 foot long section and put it up…they left the seats in, the storage in and put a few containers underneath.  It really put the whole flying experience in a different perspective.

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Evan is always up for the train ride

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But is even more excited about seeing another train — he loved Clapham Junction

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Inside ‘The Garden’ at the Science Museum

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What a baa-d disguise

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“Bend over let me see you shake your sheep feather”

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Totally amazed by the bubble table

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Giving it a try

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Quite pleased with himself…and rightfully so

Bernie and Andrew — The Vyne — Friday, September 5, 2008

Bernie is the catering manager at The Vyne.  Given the late notice I was able to do a mini coverage of around 2 hours.  It was interesting to see how the place acts a bit different when their own comes to town.  As such there are just a few images from my short visit.

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Ben, one of the venue coordinators, keeps everyone up to speed…another trip to the Vyne with flood like conditions.  Thankfully this time the worst we had to contend with was a late arriving coach load of guests.

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Some guests, however, took the delay in their stride

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In the end I came round to loving this image.  Her beaming smile…his splitting headache.

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The Bridesmaids pray for a change in the forecast…its expected that later it really will rain men

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Bernie’s catering crowd turn out to greet her

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Time to kill….waiting for the registrar to complete the interview

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My favourite doorway at The Vyne

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Andrew counts the tiles

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Bernie and Andrew’s son acts as ring bearer…awww…bless

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In the Stone Room, great light bathes many of the guests

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Dad contemplates allowing Andrew into his Circle of Trust

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A shot you will likely never see again….its good to know the right people!

Nicky and Rob — Rownhams Church and The Cromwell Arms, Romsey — Saturday, 6 September, 2008

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I won’t share which member of the wedding party this is for fear of reprisal…nope, the secrets is safe…mums the word

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This is taking it just a bit too far don’t you think…although it did make it easier to know which to tea to spike with the Rescue Remedy

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Perhaps…and I mean that…one of my all time favourite shots, ever

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It was the first time I ever a) saw a Dad ready so darn early and b) stick around to see the make up.  Word of warning…don’t get him started on his Toby (sorry, character) mugs :)

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I’ve often wonder what goes through a mum’s mind at a time like this…odds are I’m over
romanticising it…probably just the shopping list

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Bread, milk, eggs etc etc etc

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Bacon, beans, Spam

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The old “nice skirt” joke gets’m every time!

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Some folks would say…for goodness sakes edit yourself out of the shot.  But its not my fault the doors were made of chrome.  Besides, I wouldn’t want them to forget little ol’me

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“Now to see you Vicar…the difference between a Toby mug and a…..”

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LOOK!!! He’s BACK!  More on Darren later

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Deep breath…resist the urge to push — umm — sorry, my mind raced forward to January for a second

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Remember this shot…then see what Darren gets later

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Rob is one of those guys who has a permanent smile on…and if he’s not smiling, he’s scheming which is half way there…so to get one this serious…well, I reckon it might be a first

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Tick!

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One would hope…not all at the same time!

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Posh beer…one of the few times I found myself tempted!

OK…a word about the ‘couple’ shots.  This was, by far my biggest challenge.  No ballrooms or sweeping stair cases.  Just a marquee which was filled with guests, a willow tree, which was filled with rain and the inside of a working gastropub.  After hitting what felt like a few brick walls (ideas, that I didn’t really feel worked as well as I wanted them to)  it started to kick in.  “Usewhatchagot” became the mantra.

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Why shy away from a busy road when you can be a part of it

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I love this one….most because of how it turned out versus what it look like in real life…SEE BELOW

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Same location, lighting adjusted to see how it all fit together

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Nice Sporran!

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Not really sure about this one…in the end I just wanted to shoot it like I saw these two hanging out…who knows

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Ah the innocence…a youthful charm….just don’t ask me what he said when he realised I has just taken his photo (or at least not until after the watershed!)

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Thumbs up…to the imaginary guest on the second floor of this one floor marque…beats me!

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Rob’s mantra was “all laughs no tears”…fat chance!

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Its been a while since I did an ambient light dance shot

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Rob showed Nicky a new Scottish jig…the Gay Grooms

Darren returned from his month away.  After random excursions to Newquay and nights hold up in a pub for the criminally insane he returned, hair cut and ready to get back to it.

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He has a sense for the odd and disturbing…WTF?

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I dispatched him to a secret gallery ‘bride stage left’….here’s his first glimpse of Nicky coming down the aisle

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Oh yeah!  He makes me so proud!

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A simple illustration of the hat to mum ratio

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Unfortunately some of his shots were tainted by some mad man in the background with a camera and a receding hair line.  Damn that man!

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See what I mean about finding the disturbed…I cannot tell you how much I wish that was my shot.

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As you can see…my advice “its in the eyes” wasn’t forgotten despite his drunken nights at the Reading Festival

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Fabulous work Darren!  You da man!

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