As you remember my sister-in-law Caz gave birth to a little girl Caitlin in April. Caz, Rodi and Caitlin now live in Helsinki, Finland (yes, we are a pretty international family) and, according to my husband John, it’s minus 15 degrees Celsius there right now.

I finished processing my last wedding of 2006 and decided to play with a beta version of a new software. I have been a DPP die-hard for many years, but Adobe is on the verge of releasing Lightroom 1.0 on 19 February. Lightroom is a digital asset management and workflow solution for professional photographers.

I am not usually a beta tester but I figured that, being this close to the final release,  this version will be quite stable so I decided to download it and test it on some photos from the 2006 Christmas re-union of the Walls family.

Disclaimer: I was having a break from work so I was only taking photos half-heartedly. My little niece Caitlin was 9 month old and it was her first real Xmas. Wasn’t it an occasion worth documenting? Plus I could test-drive the Lightroom beta version to please my geeky self!

OK, don’t laugh - I feel like I am cheating on DPP here (DPP - Digital Photo Professional RAW development software from Canon) - it hasn’t happened in almost two years…

Here we go - Caitlin’s first ever Christmas.

Early Xmas morning - Caitlin got the biggest pile of pressies to unwrap:

Grandma Gloria added a polar teddy bear to the pile of goodies:

Cailin didn’t know what to do with her new shoes and decided to chew on them:

Gloria and Jim gave her a walker for Xmas. Being Russian, I didn’t know what a walker was until I came to the UK! I am sure they have them now over there though.

Rodi sharing his Finnish CD booklet:

Under her first Xmas tree:

Later in the day we all went to John’s sister Teri in Hexham for Xmas meal:

Morning 26 January - having a bath:

Caz and Caitlin after the bath:

Nearly finished post-processing the photos from Carly and Moussa’s wedding (their pre-wedding shoot is just below this post). Here’s a brief sneakpeek selection for the impatient.

Carly had an amazingly detailed dress:

The shoes, of course:

and the engagement ring:

Make-up finished:

Putting the dress on:

Question: How many girls does it take to lace the dress? Answer: As many as you can find in the house on the morning of bridal preparations.

The ceremony and wedding breakfast were in the Stower Grange Hotel in Drayton:

When I arrived, Moussa was already there:

At the bar with his best man:

Taking over as a photographer:

Some of his relatives who arrived from France:

As the wedding was so near Xmas, there were crackers and hats as favours at the wedding breakfast:

and chocolate fountain was opened for the evening guests:

Kiddies (aka “honoured guests”):

While the band was setting up, we sneaked upstairs to the four-poster bedroom for Carly and Moussa’s private photos:

The band:

First dance:

A couple of days after Lucy and Lee’s session I photographed Carly and Moussa after sunset. It was much warmer and we ended up shooting on the streets of Norwich. I decided to go with rich dark moody tones to complement the evening setting.

Thanks, John, for being my “statue of Liberty” during this shoot! Thank you, Carly and Moussa, for being fun and co-operative!

Here we go:

Carly outside a bus stop:

Moussa:

Walking past pre-Xmas Debenhams:

Outside Topsop:

I had a pleasure of photographing this couple’s wedding about a week later at Drayton Lodge - just started editing their wedding…

Continuing our series of urban pre-wedding sessions, Lucy and Lee  had theirs at the Chapelfield Centre. It was a fairly reasonable choice because it was very cold outside.

Walking to Chapelfield:

Nearly there:

Playing on the escalator:

Lucy and Lee pretending to be models:

Saying hello to the world (right…):

Lee taking on Gwen Stefani:

At this point the security guard who eyed us for quite a while decided he had enough information and kicked us out!

Kerry and Simon got married in December at the Assembly House in Norwich. I always dreamt of a Xmass-y urban wedding illuminated by multi-coloured  lights and was very excited about photographing this couple!

But before we come to this part, here are some pictures from the getting ready part of the day:

Assembly House:

Guests arriving:

and boys greeting them:

The whole family is very kid-friendly and a lot of them were invited (I like this - they make beautiful subjects!):

Kerry and her flower-girls:

Here are Kerry and Simon marching to the Ice Rink in the Forum for their portraits (it was really freezing cold - but I hope the photos were worth braving the elements):

Outside the BBC reception:

Walking back:

This one was funny - I wanted to take a picture of the bride and groom at the pedestrian crossing with cars passing by. Obviously every single car stopped to let them cross. I had a jump and waive my arms in the air to let the drivers know that we actually wanted them to keep going!

Rejoining the party - Simon being lifted  between his legs (sort of - I hadn’t noticed anything until the boys started laughing):

Little poser:

I noticed this little girl all alone with her book in the corner:

All is set for dinner:

Best man’s speech - Simon was getting progressively embarassed:

A parting shot before I packed my bags:

I enjoyed our pre-wedding shoot together and was looking forward to photographing Yvonne and John’s wedding at Hales barn near Loddon. I was not dissappointed - there were a lot of really original elements in this wedding, and Yvonne planned it on a relaxed and generous schedule.

Some details and getting ready shots (how can I not shoot the shoes?!):

At the church:

John’s friends really knew how to make a point:

The ringbearer was Yvonne and John’s dog. I think he is called Jake. He had a black pouch containing the rings tied to his neck and ran to the front of the church to deliver them when the time came.

The bridal party went to Hales Hall in an old green bus towed by a tractor:

A toast before departing:

Arriving:

Some bride and groom piccies:

When we returned, a jazz band was playing:

Yvonne, a wedding jewellery designer, demostrates the rings designed by herself:

Friends:

while tiny canapes are served:

and oysters:

Table decorations:

Instead of a table plan Yvone and John had a tree:

Wedding breakfast:

The couple had a carvery as a main meal and one guest at each table was wearing a hat and an apron with the words “I carved at the Barrett wedding”. Here’s Yvonne’s dad in the attire:

The cake(s):

We wish all all the best, guys! Hope you’ll enjoy your photos!

I normally offer pre-wedding shoots in Norfolk only, but Elaine and Neil suggested doing it at Portobello Road Market in London. I was curious and succumbed to tempation to check it out (as one does, John says).

Some piccies from this shoot:

Neil feeding strawberries to Elaine:

Some genuine spice shopping took place as well:

OK, holidays are over… I am slowly easing myself back into the weekly routine of editing , designing, uploading and packaging…

Thank you all of you who sent us your lovely cards and thank you notes over the Xmas and New Year period.

Emily and Mark dropped a note to say:

“Just to let you know that everybody who has seen the album have thrown complements to you and your photography/design and the sense of style. Quotes include ‘Best Wedding Album’, ‘I now want to get married just to have photos like this’ etc. etc.”

Thank you, guys - I loved photographing your wedding too and many photos have ended in my portfolio updated in December!