The Importance of Photography
This is an old advert for Kodak about the importance of photographs. It’s a shame the old giant of photography is seeking protection from bankruptcy, but the message from the film – the importance of photographs – is as strong as ever.
Summer Holidays
I can’t remember the last time I had a summer holiday. After all, summer is the peak time for wedding photographers. However, some things are more important than work, and after meeting Charlotte and her two sons eight months ago, I quickly booked two weeks out of my schedule, at the beginning of the English school holidays.
They arrived two weeks ago in North Berwick and I was slightly apprehensive of what the boys would think. However, two borrowed bikes, beaches galore, a football and weather that was (except for a couple of days) perfect, seemed to provide enough entertainment for two teenagers. They even managed to meet a schoolfriend from Oxford on the beach! It was also Charles’ birthday, so that was an excuse for one of the two parties we had. (That’s Charles, grinning with his new laptop, in the second photo below.)
It was really great for them to see where I live and to meet my friends again (they’d last seen them in Marrakech.) I now see a flurry of Facebook activity going on between Seb, Charles, Neil and Callum!
Charlotte and I live 360 miles apart – a whole days travel whether driving or taking the train – and our conflicting work schedules mean that this was the first time she, Seb and Charles had visited North Berwick. In fact, it was the first time they’d been to Scotland.
I have plans for the next trip they make……
A Royal Wedding Present
A book by my friend and colleague Glyn Davies has been chosen by the Prime Minister as his wedding gift to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Glyn is a landscape photographer on Anglesey, where the couple live, and David Cameron declared he’d found these “excellent images” that would remind them of their time on the island. You too can have a copy of this unique wedding gift, and see his stunning landscapes by visiting his web site.
No News is Good News
Two months is a long time with no blog posts, but I have my excuses!
There are actually two pieces of very big news that have happened to me this year.
Firstly, I finally managed to give up smoking. I haven’t had a cigarette since the 14th January! I suspect that like an alcoholic, I’ll always be a smoker – but just not smoking.
Secondly, after over ten years of being single – I’ve met someone! However, since Charlotte lives in Oxfordshire, I’m spending a lot of time getting to know the A1/M1/M40 – or reading lots of books on trains.
Lastly, and not very importantly, I’ve been having fun with my small but growing photo series of ‘blurry landscapes,’ two of which can be seen below.
international wedding photographer
I have been looking at some of the statistics revealed by Google analytics, about visitors to this web site, and they are fascinating.
In the past 12 months, there have been visitors from 95 different countries. While the top 5 countries offer no surprises (UK, USA, Canada, Australia and France) the bottom 23 with one visitor from each country are interesting! Moldova, Belarus and Cambodia all feature, and very welcome they are too.
If the one visitor from St Vincent and the Grenadines, or the one visitor from the British Virgin Islands is a Bride or Groom – then yes, I’d love to be your wedding photographer!
I also had three visits from Azerbaijan, and further probing leads me to think they all came from Belarus. Some of the cities the visitors came from demanded a further Googling: I’ve learned that Zaporilzhia is a city in the Ukraine (two visitors) Rocky Hill is in Connecticut, USA (two visitors) and Ixellos is a suberb of Brussels (another two visitors.) However, as expected, Edinburgh, London and Glasgow make up the top three cities where my visitors are based. So, an international audience for my documentary wedding photography in Scotland!
