The guys had a fantastic day and it was a real pleasure to be a part of it.  I wish them all the best for the future.

Orla and Dermot were so laid back and fun to work with.  I wish them all the best for their future together.

Here are a few snaps from Orla and Dermot’s special day.

There are many jobs on a wedding day from gathering cards, ring bearing, remembering gifts, thanking everyone, preparing speeches and getting around every person that attended your day.  My advice is to delegate all of these and just enjoy your day.  The Bride & Groom spend too much time worrying about how everyone else is enjoying their day when they should be living it.  Chris & Elaine embodied this ideal on their day and it was clear to me that everyone had a fantastic time being a part of it.

Good luck guys for your future together!

It was a beautiful day and I had great fun shooting the happy couple and their friends and families.  It was definitely one of the most candid and cozy weddings I have shot and the guys at the venue were as always, extremely professional.  If you are deciding upon a wedding venue I thoroughly recommend Ten Square. The staff are friendly and courteous and there’s a warm atmosphere to the place unlike any other venue in it’s class. They were also winners of Best Hotel at the 2010 Fate Awards against some stiff competition!

Thomas and Nicola are big fans of black & white photography and prefer it over colour. I am very particular about my b&w processing and conversion and have a love for the emotion that black & whites convey.  Here are a few pics from their special day.

Rick.

Asalamu Alaykum.

In any situation time is never on your side.  Be it commercial, PR, landscape, wedding or even family portrait photography, time is always a key factor and dictates how when and where we plan to take a shot.  That is why on-camera flash is so appealing and in most cases, photographers opt for direct flash in many of these scenarios.  It’s very difficult to lug around kit for off-camera scenarios or indeed move the lights from one location to the next.

There is another alternative though provided that you have the patience and don’t mind working with your camera in manual exposure mode.  I found a New Jersey based photographer Neil van Niekerk using this method and decided to give it a try.  It is quick, effective indoors and provides beautiful soft directional lighting.  Rather than bouncing your on-camera strobe at the ceiling, try bouncing at a nearby wall or even behind your shoulder.  You are effectively using that wall as a larger, softer light source like an off-camera softbox.  I strap a piece of cardboard that I’ve coloured black with a permanent marker in order to direct as much light as possible towards the new source.  I use an elastic band to secure it in place which gives me the flexibility to move it quickly should I decide to shoot portrait or bounce light in a different direction.

Below are a few examples of using this technique in on the fly to produce stunning portraits/moments.  Each and every shot below incorporated the cardboard modifier to intelligently bounce light off larger sources to achieve soft, directional light.  If you require any further info feel free to ask in the comments section below.

This is a service I provide free of charge for my wedding clients.  I can already hear my fellow wedding photographers ask why do I provide this service for free?  It’s quite simple.  Unless you are familiar with the clients (you are shooting a family member or a close friend) getting the best out of the big day for both parties can be very tricky if you have only ever met them for a consultation.  Imagine someone coming to your big day that you have never met and that nobody else knows ……awkward scenario right?  Now put a camera in their hands!  Yes, that’s a issue that occurs all too often in the wedding industry and can lead to stiff, uncomfortable portraits.

I provide this service free of charge to my wedding clients for three very important reasons:

1.  It gives the couple a chance to get comfortable with posing and being snapped for a brief and intimate peroid of time.  This is often referred to as the portrait session on the day (some milk it more than others, I prefer to limit my time spent with the couple for no more than the 20-30mins, and let them get back to enjoying the day.  After all, it is their wedding day and not a portfolio session!).

2.  It gives me the chance to make a connection with the client on a one to one basis so that they know what to expect from me and in return, I learn more about their personal preferences and can adapt my approach according to their tastes.

3.  The client gets to see me in action and sample my processing styles (the finished product).  I send on the images reprocessed to print at their convenience.

This takes a lot of time and effort but I truly believe that without a warmup shoot its virtually impossible to achieve a bond with your prospective client and get the best out of the day from the moment you enter their world.  Aideen and Declan brought along their little dog Molly who kept us all on our toes!