Welcome to my blog. It started life as a general blog then became a photo a day project now it has reverted to my personal blog. For more examples of my work please visit my business site. Dover Design Photography - Kent Wedding Photographers.

Sunday, May 31, 2009

151/365

151/365

An ex-workmate and great friend of mine was setting off with his wife on a cruise leaving from the Dover cruise Terminal. We popped down to see them off but there were few photo opportunities. The ship looked very impressive but sadly my picture doesn't really do it justice.

I have to say that just being that close to the ship made me feel queezy - I was glad to get to the safe sanctuary of the pub beer garden. Bon Voyage!!

Saturday, May 30, 2009

150/365

150/365

Friday, May 29, 2009

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DSC_4846

Thursday, May 28, 2009

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148/365

Taken with the trusty 50mm 1.8 and a little bit of flash. I had to crop quite heavily because I couldn't get as close as I would have liked. I think I will try again tomorrow when I recover the macro lens from my son!

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

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147/365

A bit of a throwaway due to lack of time - but quite meaningful to me. One of life's little bookmarks.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

146/365

146/365

Monday, May 25, 2009

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Sunday, May 24, 2009

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144/365

Not what I intended for today - but best of a bad bunch.

Saturday, May 23, 2009

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143/365

In the past I've moaned about Marley for his antics. Today however, he was a real star - he didn't wake this morning until 10:00am which was a real treat. This probably means it will be 05:00am tomorrow!!

Friday, May 22, 2009

142/365

142/365

Cooling Castle Barn - Wedding Photography

A small collection of pictures from Alex and Reisha's wedding at Cooling Castle Barn. DSC_0019_01 DSC_0106 DSC_0118 DSC_0143 DSC_0255 DSC_0039 DSC_0121 copy DSC_0189 DSC_0367 DSC_0391

I thought I would try and capture some of the lessons learned at Cooling Castle Barn.

Equipment:- using a brand new camera is a risky strategy especially when very close to a model you are very familiar with. I should have used the reflector more - it is easy to overlook what an efficient tool it is. Flash - used for almost all of the shots it worked all day on a single set of batteries. The 'beter bounce card' worked really well but the guests found it amusing - choosing to shout 'Origami' when asked to pose. I suppose anything that generates a bit of humour is good but I'm not sure it looked very professional. I will look to replace with something more robust.

Preparation:- we met the bride and groom prior to the day and also went to the rehearsal but didn't fully exploit the time. I should have looked at more pictures and comments online from previous weddings at Cooling Castle Barn.

Formals:- we had quite a long list and struggled to get through them even with the assistance of the Toast Master, Lesley Watson. I am not sure I managed the time as effectively as possible and am keen to find out what others do. I also would like to be better at posing the larger groups. My one regret was not getting a picture of everyone together - I could blame lack of time or the change in the weather but ultimately I should have made it happen.

Editing:- Although I had a work flow I spent too much time looking as images that I would never use. I will use a much stricter quality control system in the future.

Working with others:- We got loads of help from the Videographer, Les Watts and the Toastmaster. this certainly helped in some instances - but not all. I felt we were maybe a bit heavy handed turning up on mass whist the Bride was getting ready. I will adopt a different approach next time.

Photobooth:- This was a hit and worked really well in a very confined space. We actually used a white background, two studio flashes with small softboxes and two speedlights as background lights. Next time we will make sure that we use one camera just for the photobooth. I also need to investigate a different background set up. the only other issue is selling the output - I wonder about using a photo printer in situ or maybe selling the images on USB thumb drives?

Conclusion:- Excellent day and I am delighted with the results although working with great looking people in a superb location obviously helps. Early feedback is good and prints are being ordered via the online Photobox galleries. It also looks like we may have another wedding and a portrait booking on the strength of our work.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

141/365

141/365

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

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140/365

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

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139/365

Monday, May 18, 2009

138/365 Placeholder

138/365 After a long day's editing all of the wedding pictures are online.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

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137/365

Today we were lucky enough to cover the wedding of Alex and Reisha at the fantastic Cooling Castle Barn in Rochester. This was a fantastic opportunity for us and the day proved to be even more interesting than expected. Under the watchful eye of Duty Manager Teresa the day ran with precision. We were lucky enough to be working with a fantastic Toastmaster - Lesley Watson, who really kept proceedings on track. We were also fortunate to be working alongside the highly respected Les Watts who was providing video coverage of the event. It was a real pleasure to work with such experienced professionals. We now have approximately 2000 images to sort through.....

Saturday, May 16, 2009

136/365

136/365

Friday, May 15, 2009

135/365

135/365

I needed to try out the low light capabilities of the new camera. this was taken at 1600 iso with a touch of fill flash using a bounce card.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

134/365

134/365

The wedding rehearsal the other night has been worrying me. The room where the ceremony takes place is a converted barn, very impressive architecturally but not good for lighting. There was very little natural light and no white surfaces to bounce my flash off. I contacted a local wedding photographer David Fenwick to ask how he coped. He told me that he used fast glass and shot at 1600 and also had to compensate the exposure continually. My current D50 is a fantastic camera but is very noisy at anything above 400 iso so Thomas and I decided to invest in a new camera between us. The D90 arrived today and first impressions are very positive although there hasn't been much chance to play. If you are interested in wedding photography have a look at David's blog for lots of useful advise.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

133/365

133/365

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

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132/365

This evening we went to a Wedding rehearsal at Cooling Castle Barn - the wedding is on Sunday and Thomas and I are doing the photography. The venue is fantastic and it should be a really good day. On the way out I spotted a welcome sight, they do one of my favourite beers, just a shame I will be driving :-(

Monday, May 11, 2009

131/365

131/365

Sunday, May 10, 2009

130/365

130/365

My worst week so far and possibly my worst picture.

Saturday, May 09, 2009

129/365

129/365

Friday, May 08, 2009

128/365 Garlic Bread

128/365 Garlic Bread

Thursday, May 07, 2009

127/365

127/365

Wednesday, May 06, 2009

126/365 Cheers

126/365 Cheers

Tuesday, May 05, 2009

125/365

125/365

Not what I wanted or intended for today but time is not on my side.

Monday, May 04, 2009

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124/365

Sunday, May 03, 2009

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123/365

Saturday, May 02, 2009

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122/365

Sticks, these sit artistically in a vase on a shelf in our lounge. Since the start of this project I have resisted using them - saving them for a rainy day. I need to get some inspiration from somewhere, this project just gets harder and harder...

Friday, May 01, 2009

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121/365

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