When I mentioned a couple of months ago that I was looking for a brave bride who is prepared to trash her wedding dress for my personal project, Yvonne, an award-winning jeweller designer (her website is www.yvonneknights.co.uk) and a former bride, volunteered in a blink of an eye. All we had to do is wait for a warmer weather. “Trash the dress” sessions have recently become popular in America, but the water is so much warmer in California and Florida than in the old England.

The D-day arrived last Wednesday - with a wedding season looming we needed to act decisively.

The session took place mostly at an abandoned derelict barn and in the fields with cows. I haven’t processed those images yet - there are so many I really like. Something to look forward to, I suppose… I started working on the trashing section instead.

It’s funny but the idea to go to the stream arose spontaneously. I thought Yvonne will just walk in her welly boots and make some splashes, this sort of thing. Her approach to trashing was much more radical! She is creative to boot, and her energy is infectious!

Here are some images:

It’s amazing how poised she looks sitting in the friezing water. I took my shoes off and walked around her barefoot with my camera - the stones were ever so sharp and slippery.

John, her husband, had a deep cut on his hand and could not participate, but he offered his common sense advice and kept Jake, a dog who was a ringbearer at their wedding, from joining us in the water.

The sun was going down, the water was getting colder. Should Yvonne lie down? We decided just to go for it.

She looked like Ophelia floating the water:

Completely drenched - getting out of the stream:

Wet Jake and Yvonne are being towed away home:

Next day I received this email from Yvonne:

“Hi Galina
really enjoyed your photoshoot and hope you get a couple of good shots!
I got the garden hose out and washed the dress and it looks liike new (sort of!) so would be happy to help again and do something crazy.
Bye for now
Yvonne”

Thank you for being so brave and supportive! That dress is indestructable!

I have recieved TWO thank you notes from Emma and Andy.

One via email:

“Hi Galina - many thanks for this and for all the wonderful photos. They are really amazing and we have spent hours pouring over them all….”

And another one came on Saturday on a pretty sheet of paper (with flowers!):

“The photos of the wedding are completely brilliant! We love them all, as do all of our guests.”

Thank you guys for being great subjects - and for feeding us well on the day!!!

I met Emma and Keith for the first time just 15-20 minutes before their pre-wedding session. They were both travelling, and Emma’s dad was in charge of booking me.

I wanted to explore the textures and vistas of Blackney for ages, so I was quite happy when Emma and Keith gave me this opportunity to photograph them there as the sun was setting down.

We started with scene setters of the little harbour with its weathered boats:

A few black and white images:

I love this shot:

The skies were dark and stormy:

Exposed glistening mud as the tide ebbed away:

I received a recent email from Emma telling me how nervous they were at the beginning of the session and how the nervousness went away as we kept shooting. I am glad it did - this little exercise will really help you to relax in front of the camera on your wedding day.

Another sunny day for Caroline and Rob whose reception was at Briarfields at Titchwell, very close to Brancaster beach which our bride and groom visited a lot.

The church:

As you might guess from this photo Rob is in RAF:

The groom:

The boys

Bride arrives greeted by a guard of honour:

Rob waiting for his bride:

First kiss:

Leaving the church:

Caroline and Rob decided to have their location shoot at the Brancaster beach. It was a warm Saturday afternoon. The tide was off and we expected a lot of passers-by and spectators, but hey - I photographed these guys wearing red noses in the middle of Gentlemen’s Walk in Norwich without any harm before. Their energy and charm are contagious.

Here’s Caroline doing a runaway bride routine, complete with a pair of trainers:

The rings:

The rocks made an interesting background:

Walking back to the car:

Past the icecream parlour:

Ready to rejoin the guests at Briarfields:

This venue is ideal if you invited a lot of kids (as Caroline and Rob did):

A bit of family history - the 1920s trouseau book brought by one of the relatives from Ireland:

It makes a facinating reading - how many pairs of stockings, vests and sheets the bride had to collect before getting married.

Everyone was very chilled - what a lovely relaxed wedding it was!

A customer has just emailed me to ask why her cards were refused at the checkout and whether there was a problem with my website.

This is not my website fault! Your cards are perfectly valid!

Here’s the deal:

I currently accept payments either by cheque or PayPal.

If you don’t have a PayPal account, they will allow you to use any of your credit and debit cards through their secure payment gateway.

However, if you do have a PayPal account already they “intelligently” link it to your email address or the card registered with them, and force you to use the PayPal service, refusing other forms of payment.

Sorry for the stress!

Galina

If you are into contemporary photography there is an exhibition held at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Art that might insterest you.

It is called “Something that I’ll never Really See”. The images on display are from the V&A international photography holding and include work by such well-known names as Richard Billingham, Cindy Cherman and Nick Knight.

Here is a link to get more information: http://www.scva.co.uk/exhibitions/current/?exhibition=81

Finishes on 21 June. Not to be missed!

To breal the ice (as one does) I asked Victoria and Sholto at the beginning of the session to do “something funny” in front of the blank wall of the medical centre. Understandably, it was a hard direction to follow but this is what they came up with:

UEA has an amazing number of interesting nooks and crannies and the whole shoot turned into an exploration of multi-coloured and textured surfaces. Just a short walk away we found a yellow wall:

Both Victoria and Sholto are quite expressive - a pleasure to work with:

Wood:

Concrete and tiles:

By the time we finished playing with concrete the light turned sweet and we could venture outside.

At the lake:

Sholto threatening to drown Victiria (the lake looks very pretty but the water was so stinky!):

Their wedding is 7.07.07 - I had about 10 enquiries for this date, but Victoria was the first to book me. I am so glad they did!

Emma and Andy got married at Bylaugh Hall on a bright sunny spring day. Just a couple of weeks before them poor Naomi and Matthew had to shiver through their formals, but the weather suddenly changed and blessed Emma and Andy with warn sunshine.

Bylaugh Hall in spring:

Unusually this couple had both a civil ceremony and a church blessing down the hill at a small church at Bylaugh:

You can just make out its outline in the distance through the haze.

Some guests arriving:

Meanwhile Emma is getting ready in the room upstairs.

I decided to go for moody and mysterious interpretation of the details - it shows the richness of texture better:

This little antique-looking ring box is quite interesting. One of Emma’s friends bought it for her, and apparently it is selling right now at Monsoon and Accessorize:

The rings:

Emma applying make-up:

Her little niece:

Andy and his best man (do you really want to see their faces?):

OK, here’s Andy helping his wife to get in the car to drive to the church for the second ceremony:

Drinks reception:

Something blue and a penny (not in the shoe - Andy had another one in his but he was not willing to showing it - uhh…):

There was a lot of laughter and hand-waiving at the “grown-ups” table.

It turned out everyone was entertaining this little princess:

In her own world during the speeches:

Bride and groom in the fields at the “sweet” hour:

2

Most photographed first dance:

Sarah and David’s local pub is Adam and Eve. The mistress of this oldest pub in Norwich is a friend of the couple and kindly allowed us to use Adam and Eve as a setting of their pre-wedding shoot.

When Sarah mentioned her idea I was very excited because it was such an excellent historical venue to play in - and a bit worried. The fellow photographers would understand - small dark cavernous spaces, low ceilings, lots of furniture… I didn’t want to use the flash and brought a video light mounted on a stand, which gave me a bit gentler light source, but most likely was a bit intimidating to Sarah and David. They survived the “interrogation light” pretty well, and with good humour!

Here are some photos:

Just as they sought it was over and the bags were packed I saw the gorgeous textures of the pub’s exterior and pursuaded Sarah and David to stay for a couple more (OK, I lied - more than a couple…) shots:

I do not usually post-process my images a lot, but I have just seen Yervant’s talk in Croydon and am still under the influence.

Sorry for not writing for a while.

John’s uncle Murdy died on Wednesday. John has a lot of memories of spending time with him as a child and teenager in Berwick-upon-Tweed, and it is a very emotional time for us.

The funeral is on Monday.