Sian and Kevin’s pre-wedding photosession took place in Tynemouth, a small coastal town near Newcastle where they plan to get married in January. As theirs would be an afternoon winter wedding we timed the engagement shoot to show the outdoor location to its best advantage!

We met outside Tynemouth Priory:

I loved the colours and the notice at the bottom of the hill:

On the beach nearby:

The varied masses of boulders, stones and pebbles shaped by the sea made such a great environmental setting!

Sian and Kevin on the pier:

On the way to the car park we took a break at the Salutation Inn:

Several years ago I photographed Louise and Alex’s wedding. Now they are proud parents of a delightful baby daughter Abigail and have come back for a portrait session at their family home.

We started with a window lit portrait of Abigail in her room:

But, as often with little babies, they fret and are easier to photograph when asleep.

In the doorway:

Abigail with her toys:

Experimenting with reflections on the kitchen table:

Autumn colours, textures and soft diffused quality of lights make a perfect setting for a family portrait session. It is also a good time to be photographed if you want to give prints and framed images as Christmas presents.

Every time when I pop out to our corner shop or post office I am dying to explore the weathered doorways and stylish Victorian features of the Birmingham Jewellery Quarter where we live now.

For a limited time there is a special offer for an autumn family portrait session in Birmingham - £45 for an hour location sitting and a 10″x8″ print in a mount folder. The rest of the images are uploaded to an online proofing/ordering gallery.

To guarantee that your photos are delivered before Xmas book your session any time before 10 November and order before 15 November 2009.

To give you an idea here are some photos of Paola and Johannes’s sons I took earlier.

OK, that time of the year is rapidly approaching!

The cutoff date for Xmas orders this year is 15 November, so if you want to give prints as your Xmas presents please don’t miss the deadline! We are expecting several post office strikes in December so it’s critical.

Chris and David got married in Lavenham in a magnificent 15th century St Peter and St Paul church, one of the prettiest churches in Suffolk. If you are in Lavenham don’t miss it - it’s definitely worth visiting:

David and the boys:

Chris arriving:

Some images from the ceremony:

Married!

Then everyone moved on to a historic Swan Hotel for their wedding reception.

At the drinks reception:

We sneaked out to a picturesque street full of crooked Tudor cottages at the back of the Swan Hotel:

Chris and David had fun cutting their cake:

You’ll see what happened next if you follow my Dark and Moody previous post.

I was editing photos from Chris and David’s wedding at Lavenham and (as one does) and kept thinking that the images we took at the end of the day would benefit from a more atmospheric vintage treatment. A bar of dark chocolate that John bought for me last night has something to do with it too, I think. I’ll publish a photostory of this wedding tomorrow, but here is a sneakpeek of a dark and moody sequence.

My husband John needed some new headshots done for his new job at the university of Birmingham as he changed his haircut, bought new French T-shirt and went a bit metro. I stole a couple of minutes during a meal break at the latest wedding to photograph him.

To follow an earlier introduction of vintage 10″x8″ prints as an online cart ordering option I’ll show you the difference between the usual print and a vintage one below.

Image 1 (before) is a straightforward colour photo as taken by the camera:

Image 2 (after) - the photo is faded and tinted in the 70s manner to match the mood already created by Sarah’s period hairdress and Phil’s brown velvet suit. The resulting image is cropped and “taped” to a vintage textured background to complete the design: