Not Long Now

I am just coming to the end of my busiest period yet and will be getting back to some serious Blogging. Just two more weddings and then I shall be taking a well earned break.

Get snappy

I havent dropped off the face of the earth!!!

Once again, I apologise for lack of posting recently. I find it very difficult to keep this blog updated during the busy wedding period.
I will however have lots to show once it is a little quieter.
I went to one of my friends weddings last weekend and also done the photography. I find this at times a hard thing to do. Part proffessional and Part personal is a bit tricky. I have to make sure I get all the shots ect they need and then also join in the fun, which sometimes means wine is involved. I always make sure I stay sober at least until after the meal anyway!
Anyway, it was very enjoyable and it was great to be amongst my friends and dance night away!

Oooooh Baby!

I had a nice play with my lense baby yesterday and have to say it makes you look at things in a different way. Anyone who doesnt know what a lense baby is, its a selective focus lense that can make any point in a photo pin sharp while throwing everything else out of focus.
Like most things I have seen lense baby's being used in both amazing ways and utter rubbish ways. And just like when you look for video done by the D90 on Google, you will most likely have to wade through all the rubbish before you find anything amazing.
I love anything that means less photoshop! I love taking a photo as I used to in my days of film.
The Lense Baby means all your work is at the time of taking the photo, not in photoshop afterwards. Anything that can do this and also feed a photographers imagination can only be a good thing.
But beware, I remember a time my dad bought a load of filters for his cine camera and I have never seen so much overuse of filters in my life. He used them just for the sake of it and made every family video look like a really bad 80's pop video.
I'm sure he would do the same with photoshop if he ever went digital!

Lumix GH-1

I have been after something compact both as a backup camera and something to carry around with me pretty much all the time.
Unfortunately there just isnt a compact that can do everything that I want it to do. Basicly I want a pocket D90 which is not going to happen at least nothing like that for a few years.
I have been keeping an eye out to see if anyone else is going to jump on the old Video and an SLR Bandwagon and sure enough Panasonic have.
The Lumix GH1 is a little smaller than an SLR. Its not going to fit in my pocket but it will be less bulky to carry around.
Now heres the thing! This gorgeous little camera can do 1080p 24fps fully manual video as well as 12mp photo's. It has a flip lcd so you can do some crazy angled photography without having to guess. You can activate auto focus on the video for those moments when its hard to focus manually.
It can also take the old Canon fd lenses (with an adapter) which I have a load of!!
If you have any doubt as to to what this little camera can do, click the link below.


http://www.vimeo.com/5033677

Mike Kobal

I have a little link below for any doubters of the quality of the D90's movies. There is also some 5dmkii stuff on there. I think this guy likes the 5d better now he has one but I love the 24fps and I hope you like my recent movies when I post them on here.
In the mean time take a look through this guys work.

http://www.mikekobal.com/blog/

Busy Summer

Apologies for no posts recently! I have been stretched to the max with weddings and havent even had time to upload anything here yet!
But watch this space as I have more Photo's and more video for you to see.
Strangely I have decided to stick with my Nikon D90 rather than splashing out £2500.00 on the Canon Eos Mkii!!! Why? I here you ask! Surely the D90 at under £1000.00 is not a pro camera!
Rubbish!!! Thats what I say! I have grown so attached to this camera that I got for about £500.00 a few months ago, that I have no need for the Canon! I have managed to overcome the quirks of the video mode and I can honestly say the people that slagged it off saying it was too hard to use can kiss my hairy toe!
I have only done movie at 3 weddings so far but I am so excited at what I have captured at the last two! I fear I am hooked on movie! Dont worry, I have not lost the love for the still image. I have just found another love for another way of capturing moments.
Back to my precious D90! The Still photography is fab also!! If I shoot jpeg, I hardly have to do any post processing to get them to how I desired when I took the photo.
It may be strange I have only decided all this now, but I think it takes a while to bond properly with a piece of camera equipment. It has took a very busy period and many photo's for me to decide if I liked this camera or not. Fact is I love it.
Lately I find myself watching movies on Tv and looking for inspiration for a little Movie of my own.
I have always done this with still phototography. I have always took inspiration from movies I have enjoyed.
So thanks to the Nikon D90 I have regained my old childhood hobby of movie making.
In the next couple of weeks I will post my latest shots all from my precious camera.
Is anyone else feels the love for the D90 let me know and post your comments.

Greenhill Hotel at Wigton A Photographers View

Greenhill Hotel was one of the first venues I ever photographed a wedding at. I'm sure it must have been around 15 years ago. Its another venue that I tend to get booked to do weddings at quite a few times every year.
Its also a venue that I find incredibly easy to take photo's at. It has no lake near by or mountains but the grounds and the building itself provide more than enough backdrops for some great photography. I have also done many weddings here in extremely bad weather conditions and never struggled even at night to get the shots I needed. It is in my favourite wedding venues for this reason and the fact that the guy who looks after the weddings there is a pro! Its all fine having a venue that looks great, but without someone there who knows what they are doing, it can be useless. He is just such a nice guy and has been there for many years. There are some good sheltered spots here and the doorway makes sure that you can get the couple into some natural light without them getting wet or blown away! It has a great staircase with a big window for any closer portraits and the building is generally well lit while keeping a nice cosy atmosphere! I would imagine that there arn't many wedding photographers that haven't done a wedding at Greenhill Hotel as it is one of the most popular venues in the area.
Below is a little video of just a few photo's from Greenhills! I have put mainly indoors photo's on here just to show that its never the end of the world if the weather is not good.

Inn on the Lake a Wedding Photographers view

I always get excited when I am asked to do a wedding at the Inn on the lake. If you want a venue with gorgeous grounds, a beautiful lake and is surrounded by mountains, then this is the place for you.

No wedding photographer should struggle here when the weather is good. To be honest even when the weather is bad, this venue is well lit in all the right places. Although its always nice to be armed with a 1.8 lense it probably isn't needed here. Bedrooms have plenty of daylight streaming through the windows which makes the early stages of the wedding easy to capture using natural light.

Nobody wants bad weather, I am just confident that it is not difficult to capture naturally lit photo's indoors here. It would be a shame at a venue like this to miss out on some of the most amazing surroundings due to bad weather though.

The service at Inn on the Lake is absolutely fantastic! The guy who has been looking after the Bride and Groom the last times I was there is a top man! Very helpful and always there to help should anyone need it!Plenty of sheltered spots and so much variety of backdrops, posed photographs will never be difficult.

Inn on the Lake is a favourite wedding venue with many wedding photographers I'm sure!

Have a look at the slideshow with about 40 photo's from a wedding I did there.

Garrie & Lisa Highlights Dalston Hall The Movie

Here is the Movie I captured at Garrie and Lisa's wedding at Dalston Hall.

Garrie & Lisa Highlights Dalston Hall

Here are a small selection of Garrie and Lisa's Wedding Photo's from last weekend.
I found it almost impossible to narrow it down to these 80ish photo's
A Fantastic wedding at Dalston Hall. They both made the Photography so easy.

Some more kind words from my clients

Here is a few words from a lovely couple who's wedding I did last week at Dalston Hall.

When deciding to get married there are a couple of really important things to think about: the venue: the dress: the photographer. We didn’t know much about wedding photographers so found ours on the internet. Paul emailed us detailing all about his services and when we met him we immediately warmed to him and haven’t looked back. Paul is friendly, funny and most importantly totally reliable. On the wedding day he arrived as agreed and blended into the background, we barely noticed his presence ( he was there from getting ready until the last dance!). We have just recently seen the DVD and slideshow of our photos. They are amazing!! We absolutely love them, he totally captured the essence of our day. We would without hesitation recommend Paul to our friends and family.
Thanks again Paul
Best wishes
Lisa and Garrie
x

A City of High Flyers

I have been getting slightly annoyed with a new local magazine which I will not name just in case they sue my ass!!!

It portrays Carlisle as a City of High Flyers and Uber Cool people. It normally has articles on stuff like some guy with a sports car living in a penthouse suite along with Hello magazine style portraits. Its all so materialistic that it does nothing but make me angry!

The fact is, 90% of people in Carlisle are not like this. They are what I would class as normal people.

This takes me back to what I said about photographers concentrating far too much on the materials on a wedding day. The ever increasing amount of photo's of Jimmy Choo shoes!

I have nothing against people who put themselves forward as high flyers. I'm sure it is the magazine itself that asks to photograph them next to their sports car ect.

Maybe it seems I am Jealous of their expensive cars and Penthouse suites. Maybe there will be an article on me and my Ford Mondeo Estate and pictures of me in Heartbreak Hotel playing Mario Kart(The building which contains the flat I live in is nick named Heartbreak Hotel, as anyone who lives there has had a failed marriage!)

Or maybe I will use the picture below which portrays me as some kind of Pimpish Uber cool dude that drives a sports car and likes to read razzle and smoke cigarettes!

Truth be told, I neither own the Honda S2000 or the copy of Razzle and the real me wouldn't have a cigarrette hanging out of my mouth. I am just the none materialistic guy who refuses to pay more than £500.00 on a car.

I'm a guy who loves taking his children to the Zoo, gets far too excited over a new purchase of an ironing board or Tumble dryer.

I have my luxury's like most people, but none are so obvious like a sports car and I dont think I would be allowed into their club or the magazine.

I am a successful photographer, but I dont think this means I should pretend to be somebody I am not.

But if I did maybe the photo below is how they would show me in the magazine!

Latest Dalston Hall Wedding Update

I went through all the wedding photography in greater depth from my latest wedding at Dalston Hall and I am over the moon with the results!
Not only that, I started putting the little movie together and I am stunned at the quality of it!
I used the D90 handheld as it really was just used to pass time in between my shooting the photographs.
I can see very little jello camera shake effect at this stage. Although once its on the big screen it may be more apparent.
As I say, I am a wedding photographer not a videographer but I have always had an interest in movies.
Its movies from which I get most of my inspiration for my still images.
I wont be posting anything on here until the couple have had their viewing, so you will have to wait a couple of weeks to see the results of both the still and movie photography from the day.
My brother is a very talented videographer so I will get his feedback after I have finished editing the movie.
So far looking at the still photography I have done from this wedding "They are fantastic!!"

Sun in Cumbria????

I was shooting a wedding yesterday and it has to be the first wedding in a long time that has had fantastic weather. It was at Dalston Hall and it was superb! The ceremony was held outdoors and I was hired to stay right through until the first dance. Once again on the evening it was a difficult task to capture moments without flash. I am still searching for a camera that is going to make my life easy in such dark atmosphere's. The Nikon d3 and D700 would do the job. But I think I would prefer the Canon 5d mkii.
Strangely the Nikon D90 didnt find it as easy as my old 20d did. To be honest I prefer Canons focusing system. I had to switch to manual focus as the D90 just didnt know what it was doing.
Regardless of this as usual I believe I have captured their whole day beautifully.
I also had a bit of a play with the D90's Movie function. I will be putting a little movie together as soon as I can and after the couple have seen the movie and their photographs I will post them on here for you to have a look at.
Don't worry I'm not turning into a Videographer! I just believe I am there to capture a wedding the best I can with the tools that I have. If this means just a little bit of candid movie to compliment my still photography then so be it. I really am going to have to invest in the 5d mkii just for the extra iso and the function that allows you to snap away while you are taking movie.
Maybe next month!!

British Weather will never get in the way

Here is a very short snapshot of a Wedding I did recently when the weather was horrific.
This is just to show that the British weather shouldnt spoil a wedding day or the photography.

2nd Time Lucky!

Although I photograph a lot of weddings of couples who are getting married for the first time, I also do a lot of couples that are getting married for a second time.
I'm doing quite a few this year and in no way is it less important than someone who has never been married before.
One of my friends is getting married again this year and he's younger than me!!!! So its not unusual for someone to get it wrong even while they are still young.
I admire people that get married again, as sometimes their heart was once broken and it has took somebody really special to help heal those open wounds.
Many people never get married again. Many of these people have had their hearts broken and will never take the risk.
I love a quote that my friend advised me of once.

"Dance like no one is watching. Sing like no one is listening. Love like you've never been hurt and live like it's heaven on Earth."

I think some people misunderstand this quote and think that it means to have a care free attitude. I think it means that we should not put up barriers to keep us from something or someone that would make us happy.

Kind Words

Below are some kind words from a recent wedding I did. Like a lot of weddings in the uk the weather was pretty bad. Fortunately I have done so many weddings in bad weather this is never a problem.

"On our wedding day we had the worst weather imaginable, but you did an amazing job.
We couldnt believe how fabulous the pictures were, and they were a great reflection of the fantastic day we had.
Thanks for keeping us laughing throughout the day!"

Vikkie

Ben & Annie a Snapshot

I thought I would just upload another video, this time just a few photo's from Ben & Annie's wedding day.
I will do this more often to show consistency in my work.
Its all well and good showing my favourite photo's but if there is no consistency to all the photo's taken on someones wedding day, then it would be a failure.
The images must capture what was happening on the day almost as a story.
It is wedding photojournalism after all.

Wedding Photography at Dale Lodge Hotel Video

I thought it may be nice to show you a wedding I did at Dale Lodge Hotel in Grasmere.
As you know, I love Dale Lodge Hotel for Wedding Photography.
This isnt the full wedding as the video would be far too long, but it is about 50% of what I did that day.
It will also be nice for clients to see the consistency in my work, rather than me just posting my favourite shots. It also gives an idea of the full story of the day and the relaxed nature

What on earth is the world coming to?

There was an article just recently in our local paper. Basicly about yet another guy who has decided photography is going to be an easy career path for him.
He has been the victim of the many redundancy's that seem to be an every day occurance at the moment.
What annoys me is since we went digital everyone thinks they can have a successful photography career.
This guy actually said that he was on a winner because cost of photography has gone down due to digital yet the prices photographers charge have not!
So this is why he wants a career in photography???? I know I wont be the only photographer that would be unhappy with comments like his.
When someone goes to a hair stylist are they thinking of the price of the scissors he uses and the cost of the perm mixture.
The cost of tools and materials are irelevant!!! What an idiot!!!!
I dont want to sound like a dinosaur but I honestly think that you have to have used film and printed your own stuff in a darkroom before you know what you are trying to achieve in the digital darkroom.
The new guys who have only ever used digital should get themselves in a darkroom and start from scratch! They will soon see that their wishy washy grey digital photo's need a lot more work!
I'm sorry to sound so hard, but its the clients that I worry about. If they hire one of these new photographers for their wedding, it will be a disaster!
Its took me 15 years to get as good as I am and its been hard work! So Uncle Norman with your new digital slr, go and get another job that you actually have a passion for!!!!

A Random Selection of my Wedding Photo's

I thought I would upload this little video of a selection of wedding photo's I have done.
The video is powered by animoto which is super cool!

Wedding Slideshows Coming Soon

Over the next few weeks I will be posting some Video Slideshows of some recent weddings I have done.
This is to go along side my current look at the various Venues in Cumbria and the Lake District I have been reviewing.
I will also post on here a little Paul Reid Photography promo video maybe this evening.
I have a recieved a lot of good feedback from the hotel reviews and also a number of bookings which I did not anticipate. I still cant get my head round how people actually find this blog.
Thanks to everyone that reads it, and your lovely emails.

Dalston Hall A Wedding Photographers view

Here are my views and observations of another of my favourite wedding venues.

Dalston Hall A Wedding Photographers Dream

Dalston Hall is a fantastic wedding venue. The great thing for anyone living in Carlisle is that its only a stones throw away from the border city. Even though it is not far from Carlisle, as soon as you step into the grounds, you could be a million miles away.

I have always found it to be an amazing building, but it wasnt until it was taken over a few years ago by what I presume to be a family that this fantastic place came into its own.

Ever since then, the place has been transformed in every way. They have obviously invested heavily in this lovely old building.

The Grade 2 listed castle has a great history to it also and any renovations that have been done have not spoiled this.

There is an amazing contrast to this venue which any photographer who knows what they are doing will take full advantage.

If the weather is good couples can have their ceremony outside in the lovely surroundings.

See below:-

This is the contrast I was talking about. Outside can be bright and sunny, while inside is dark and atmospheric.

As I have said before, most wedding photographers can deal with everything as long as there is plenty of light. Very few can capture the atmosphere at a wedding in a dark castle.

Fortunately I have done many low light weddings and this venue has never posed any problems for me.

Once again, if you are a wedding photographer wanting to capture nice images in dark places like this, you will need at least a 1.8 lense with at least a high quality 1600 iso mode on your camera.

This is if you are an available light shooter like myself. I can never really understand photographers using flash in places like this. It completely kills the atmosphere in the photographs.

I recently did a shoot of an evening wedding at there and I still never resorted to flash.

I can honestly say I believe there would be no other photographer in Cumbria that could have achieved this. There maybe a select few throughout the uk who would have coped with the darkest atmosphere I have ever encountered.

A Dark Romantic Atmosphere which suits the building! The couples that book here do so for this atmosphere.

It is therefore my job to capture this without spoiling it by using a flash or switching lights on.

I always love seeing how they set the tables out at dalston hall. It looks straight out of a mideival banquet!

These guys have just got everything right and the table layout goes well in this kind of environment.

The bedrooms are very well lit, I find and taking the getting ready shots are easy!

See below:-

Another thing I have always been impressed with is their sound system here. So many times at other venues, I have witnessed a tape recorder or small cd player controlled by someone who doesnt really know how to control the volume. Everyone waits for the bride only for the bride to be still waiting outside the room because she cant hear that the music has started.

The sound system is superb and controlled by somebody who knows exactly the correct volume.

Its a big place and anything less than this just wouldnt work. As I have said the guys there have thought of everything to make everything run smoothly without a hitch.

The food I have also been told by many couples is superb!

If you are thinking of getting hitched at Dalston Hall, you really cant go wrong.

Once again, it is very important to choose the right photographer for somewhere like this or your memories of that lovely dark atmosphere will not be captured in the the photography.

Wedding Photography at Dalston hall is like a dream for myself and I just love being booked to capture anyones day here.

Five stars from me!!!

For some video's of this venue follow the links below:-

http://paulreidphotography.blogspot.com/2009/04/garrie-lisa-highlights-dalston-hall.html

http://paulreidphotography.blogspot.com/2009/04/garrie-lisa-highlights-dalston-hall_19.html

Dalston Hall's Website http://www.dalston-hall-hotel.co.uk/celebrations.html

The Crown Hotel Wetheral. A Wedding Photographers View

The second of my Favourite Hotels for Wedding Photography is The Crown Hotel in Wetheral, Cumbria.

Wetheral is somewhere I always used to go when I was a young lad on walks along the river. This was in the Hot Summers we used to have before the Greenhouse effect changed our summers forever. The Crown Hotel has some lovely grounds with lots of sheltered areas. If you want to know why sheltered areas are important, take a look at my earlier look at Dale Lodge.

There are plenty of different backdrops you can use for varied posed shots without even leaving the grounds.

If you fancy a change, you can still venture out of the grounds and down to the river which is lovely.

Or to the old train station which is also close by.The staff are very helpful and the food is great also. No worries there then! In fact I cant think of anything negative to say about the Crown Hotel. For a Wedding couple who are thinking of having their wedding there, you cant really go wrong with the hotel or surroundings.

There are also a number of doorways to shelter

Now here's something that could make or break your wedding memories!

You must get a wedding photographer fairly experienced in low light wedding photography to do your wedding here.

I dont find any problems at all as I have done many weddings at the crown hotel in very bad weather. But I have spent years perfecting the art of low light wedding photography. If your after a very traditional wedding photographer who will be using flash a lot then also make sure he is experienced so he will balance the flash with the ambient lighting. If you want a wedding photojournalist like myself, they must be pretty good.

The reasons for this are fairly simple! I have found that the places the wedding party tend to relax and drink when indoors are where there is very little window light. Even when they are somewhere near a window they tend to position themselves with their backs to the windows which can make things very tricky for someone who doesn't know what they are doing.

For myself the lighting in the Crown gives a nice contrasty look which I love anyway and its very much my style.

My advice to any wedding photographer who is already booked to do a wedding here is this:-

Invest in at least a 1.8 50mm lense and a camera that can be used at iso 1600 without an unusable amount of grain.

And with any venue if your not confident you can capture weddings in low light yet, pass the work on to another photographer who has the experience and ask to shoot along side them so next time you can be confident.

Doing a wedding in low light without the proper experience is wedding photography suicide!

If you screw it up, they will tell everyone and it will take you years to gain trust again.

Seriously, you may not even make any money if you screw a wedding up! And you will lose so much future business its unreal!

I have seen it happen. Photographers who have been lucky to have good weather for a good few weddings, and then when the weather is bad, they crumble.

All this is not a reflection on the Hotel I must add! The Crown Hotel is amazing for wedding photography. Wedding couples must choose the right wedding photographer is all I am trying to get accross.

This is by far not the darkest venue indoors believe me. As I have said, I love the lighting in the crown hotel, as it creates a lovely warm atmosphere and goes well with my style of photography.

So to wind it up!

The Crown Hotel is a great venue for wedding photography. Lovely surroundings, lovely grounds and a nice warm atmosphere inside.

You can look at their website for The Crown Hotel in Wetheral by clicking the link below.

http://www.crownhotelwetheral.co.uk/weddings/index.htm

Not many left now!!!

There used to be a character in Carlisle who used to sell Newspapers on the street who's saying was "NOT MANY LEFT NOW" Everyone could see that he had a huge pile of papers by his feet and in fact there was "VERY MANY left now!"

Maybe we shouldnt have purchased our newspapers from him as it was obvious he was being far from honest. After years of seeing this familiar face shouting the same great big lie every day he was suddenly gone.

It was then that in the same newspapers he used to sell, we all read he had been put in Jail for reasons I wont go into. In 2002 he died.

I have no idea why I am telling you all this apart from the Not Many left now part relating to the fact that I really dont have many available dates left in 2009. I on the other hand am telling the truth, wont be going to prison and also hopefully wont be dying any time soon!

I seem to be getting a huge amount of booking enquiries at the moment.

Unfortunately I do only have certain dates left for 2009/2010. It gets to this point in the year that it is more likely I will be already booked if somebody asks for a date in 2009.

I find this frustrating when its a couple who have chosen me to do their wedding photography out of hundreds of other photographers in the Uk and they find I am already booked.

A couple of times clients have actually changed their wedding dates so I could be their photographer which is a real compliment.

I do have most dates left in November and December this year if anyone is having a winter wedding.

There are a couple of dates left in April, and May.

June, July and August are pretty much fully booked but there are odd dates dotted about that are still available.

September and October have a couple of dates left also.

The moral of the story is book your photographer at the same time as your venue or you may have to settle for a photographer you didnt really want.

Wedding Photographers in the Cumbria and the Lake District

I often get people calling me up asking for prices. Usually nothing ever comes of these calls as most times all they seem to be doing is looking around for the cheapest price rather than the best photographer.

My advice to anyone looking for a wedding photographer is to check out all the wedding photographers in the area and narrow it down to 3 or 4 that you like. At this point you can find out if they are booked and how much they cost. You can then pick the one you think is the photographer for you.

Here is a website for you to look at pretty much all the wedding photographers in Cumbria,the Lake District and the surrounding areas.

http://www.weddingsinlakeland.co.uk/category/cat/19.php

My advice is to go through every photographer on there and pick the photographer that you personally like best.

It has never bothered me being amongst so many other photographers as it gives the client more choice rather than having to pick the first photographer that comes along.

Its quite funny seeing how cagey other photographers are at wedding fairs and how they dont speak to me. What are they worried about?

I welcome other photographers to look at my work and maybe be inspired to do better themselves. In the same way I look at other photographers and from time to time find something fantastic and inspiring.

I have my own style and if someone wants to book me they will because it is my style they love and want! If they prefer another photographers work then so be it. What is sad is when a customer doesnt care enough to even look through all the different photographers before they make a decision. I would rather I was compared to all the other photographers in my area and a client chooses their favourite even if it isn't me rather than someone going through the phone book and picking the cheapest.I have no problem with any other wedding photographers in this area and if anyone wants a chat or any advice I am always happy to give it. After around 15 years now as a wedding photographer and hundreds of weddings down the line I do have a great deal of experience to draw from.

So my message to all other wedding photographers in Cumbria and the lake district is this.

Do not fear me, do not be threatened! We photographers should come together and share our experiences and styles. That way we will all keep moving on to be the best we can possibly be.

I'm feeling the love baby!!!!

Dale Lodge Hotel Grasmere A Photographers view

This is my first article on Wedding Venues in the Lake District and Cumbria. These articles I hope will show couples how important it is to have a venue that works well for the wedding photographer.

It will also be helpful for other photographers to know what they can expect and prepare themselves to take the best wedding photography they possibly can at the various wedding venues in this area.

As it is I have been to hundreds of weddings and should be a little bit of an expert on what makes a good wedding venue.

The first Wedding Venue I am going to show you is Dale Lodge Hotel. This is a great place for Wedding Photographers. In a lot of the rooms there is a good deal of natural light, which is fantastic for available light shooters like myself. See the picture below for examples:-

In my opinion as a Photographer the staff have quite a unique approach to their couples. From what I have seen they are always there to help, but give a lot more privacy to the happy couple than I have seen anywhere else.

The grounds are also superb for wedding photography!! No lake on the actual grounds, but a few minutes down the road and you get the views like this:-

A few minutes the other Direction and you have views like this:-

The grounds themselves give a lot of freedom for a photographer as there is very little you need to avoid in the background. There is also plenty of shelter here. Shelter usually comes in the shape of trees, walls, Doorways ect ect.

In my opinion, shelter is a good thing for weddings, as it protects the couple and their guests from the sun and the wind, which are the photographers worst enemies.

Not the Rain! The Rain can be handled!

There is nothing like wind to make someone look stupid! A strong gust can suddenly give a groom a comb over and a bride a mohawk just at the moment you press the shutter. Wind along with rain and to be honest you are better off stopping indoors for obvious reasons. A little bit of shelter in some part of a wedding venues grounds can go a long way though. It can guard against that wind and can stop a fine rain soaking you right through. The element people never think that you would need shelter from is the sun! With no shelter you can have the sun behind you and have your couple squinting like they are trying to read the writing on a midgets tattoo! Or you can shoot into the sun and get more flare than john travoltas pants! Dale lodge however has plenty of great trees and you shouldn't have any problems finding somewhere to soften the harsh sunlight.

The Hotel is great for those with children as they have their own little adventures in the grounds with no worries of them wandering off and falling into a lake.

If by chance bad weather completely prevents you from going outdoors to the lovely grounds and the surrounding areas, never fear!! Inside will be cozy and warm with tea, coffee or something a bit stronger. As I said the hotel gets plenty of natural light so available light photographers wont struggle indoors with a fairly fast lense.

Grasmere is a lovely place surrounded by some stunning views. My dear Photographer friend Marcus Doyle and I once had a mission on finding the finest cream tea in the Lake District. After we both gained a few stone of clotted cream,we found the ultimate cream tea in a small cafe in Grasmere. Scones the size of princess Leia's Hair Buns and clotted cream that could clog an artery with one mouthful! There were many Cream Teas after that one but none compared to it.This brings me on to the food at Dale Lodge Hotel. Let me tell you, the food is outstanding. I gladly got to sample a few dishes after I had photographed them for their website. Oh my word!!! They have an amazing cook is all I can say! Every dish was cooked to perfection and I envy anyone having their wedding reception there.

Something else I love about Dale Lodge Hotel is the bedrooms. Each room is different! I'm sure each guest has a favourite and always books that room. Its something that in theory shouldn't work but it just does! Most Hotels have all their rooms almost identical in decor but Dale Lodge I'm sure pride themselves on the individuality of each room and indeed their Hotel is completely unique. In my opinion Dale Lodge is a wedding photographers dream. Get to know the surrounding area and weather permitting you will get a variety of fantastic scenic shots.

Overall definately one of the best Wedding Venues in the Lake District and I highly recommend it.

Below is a link to a video of Dale Lodge Hotel.

http://paulreidphotography.blogspot.com/2009/03/wedding-photography-at-dale-lodge-hotel.html

Dale Lodge Hotel Website http://www.dalelodgehotel.co.uk/hotels_grasmere_weddings.htm

My Biggest Fan

As a Photographer its great to have fans and its lovely to have kind words. No matter how talented you are, there will always be times where you doubt yourself. Its only human nature to feel low sometimes no matter how much success you have.

There was a lovely lady who I was proud to call Nan. She never stopped telling me how much she loved my photography and she never stopped telling me how much she loved me.

She thought I was the best wedding photographer in the Lake District, the best wedding photographer in cumbria.

She thought I was the best wedding photographer in the world!!!

I gave her a copy of my book for Christmas and she was over the moon. "Nobody does it like you Paul" she would say. "Its the way you capture the expressions" She never stopped going on about how good it was.

Sadly she passed away recently and I cant help feeling a great loss now she has gone.

I never had Grandparents and she really became my only experience of having a grandmother.

She was always honest, and spoke her mind. For me to have such compliments from her was fantastic. She was under no obligation to love me either really. She just did, and told me every time I seen her.

I will miss her and her kind words very much.

Whats he building in there

I thought I would share this little Video with you. Its not supposed to be funny and its quite creepy, but for some reason it makes me chuckle! The movie goes very well with the words.
I wonder what he really is building in there.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaLjwSpZ6Cs

Great Wedding Venues

Over the next few weeks I will be talking about various wedding venues that I like, and showing you some of my work from them.
Other Photographers out there may find some of the info useful and it will also give any couples an insight into their possible venues from a photographers point of view.
Here is a list my favourite venues that I know inside and out.

Apart from Dale Lodge Hotel, it actually surprises me the low quality of the photography on their websites as they are all excellent venues. No offense intended, so please don't give me hassle, as I have had in the past for speaking my mind.
By the way, it was me that did all the photography for Dale Lodge Hotel including the rooms, food and all the wedding photography.

Greenhills Hotel Wigton http://www.greenhillhotel.co.uk/weddings.htm

Crown Hotel Wetheral http://www.crownhotelwetheral.co.uk/weddings/index.htm

Dale Lodge Hotel http://www.dalelodgehotel.co.uk/hotels_grasmere_weddings.htm

Inn on the Lake http://www.lakedistricthotels.net/weddings/innonthelake_lake_district_wedding_venue.htm

Armathwaite Hall http://www.armathwaite-hall.com/lake_district_weddings.html

Langley Castle http://www.langleycastle.com/weddings.html

Dalston Hall http://www.dalston-hall-hotel.co.uk/celebrations.html

Family Portraits

I keep coming accross some of my early work. All taken on film and most of it really excellent.

I love the shot above! Its a family portrait I was commissioned to do about 10 years ago. I love their eyes in the shot. I love the warm feeling it gives. The print, which I slaved over in a smelly darkroom is stunning and its hard to show how beautiful a photograph is until you see a print rather than a digital copy.

I rarely ever do anything other than Weddings and personal projects these days. There was a time however when I used to do a lot of Family and children portraits.

Now these were never your usual cheesy rubbish that you seen back then even now. Nor were they following any so called modern photography trend such as Venture. What I did then is just as good now as it was a decade ago. The images have not aged.

This has always been my aim! I will never follow any current trend no matter how lucrative it is.

Honestly, if I was as much business man as I am photographer I would have followed every trend that has came along over the last 20 years. I would probably be very rich! I have never been a sales person either. If people like my work, they can have some photographs done and get whatever prints they want. I would never try and sell people things they don't really want. Photography will always be a want, not a need. And if I had followed any of those trends my photographs would now have been taken off those customers walls because they looked dated. Either that or they would stay there only because they would feel guilty to take a cheesy picture down of their loved one.

I have bumped into quite a few clients from 10 or 12 years ago and they still have my portraits in pride of place.

I will stay true to my art and if I ever do commissioned portraits in the future, I will be sure they will be just as beautiful in 20 years time as they were when they were first taken.

The Future of Photography????

I had to borrow this that I found on Marcus Doyles Blog. Its a pretty Grim view of the future for Photographers. I can't help but think its all a valid prediction though.


Simon Norfolk
For a second answer to the question of how photographers will market their work over the next five to ten years we turned to leading UK-based landscape, documentary and fine art photographer Simon Norfolk.
Said Simon: "In the few weeks between being asked to write this piece and me actually sitting down to do it, the international financial system has dissolved and the key banks nationalized.
All the money I had squirreled away to pay my future taxes and something for Mr and Mrs Norfolk’s old age has disappeared in a bizarre Icelandic banking collapse. So my prognosis about the economy over the next 5-10 years is not very optimistic, I’m afraid.
I gave up trying to make a living from editorial a few years ago, instead selling my work as limited edition fine art prints through galleries in London, New York and Los Angeles.
I still work for magazines - most of what goes on the gallery wall starts out as a magazine commission - but I see magazine fees as start-up capital.
If they ask me to work for three days, then I see that as three days to get what will make them happy and then I’ll stay on and do as much as it takes to satisfy myself and my print-buying clients.
I try not to accept work just for the sake of working and I try to always have a final masterplan in mind. If a story in anyway contributes to my long term project about ´The BattleField´, for instance, then I’ll say yes.
But this happy niche has only been made possible by my print sales. And the people buying my prints were the bonus-fuelled bankers we see on the evening news holding cardboard boxes outside closed-down banking headquarters. Who knows whether these people will now still be buying my prints?
So my predictions for the future? More "name" photographers will be cashing in their reputations to teach "masterclasses" to wealthy orthodontists.
So-called "principled" photographers will be cozying up to Russian oligarchs and third-world billionaires. None of us will be saying "no" to wedding photography or lucrative teaching posts which sell to young students the rarely-realized dream that they’ll one day have jobs as photographers.
My advice? Get re-skilled. Keep your photographic aspirations but try to get a trade like film editing, web-design or accounting.
Soon we’ll all be amateur photographers with real money-making jobs on the side that we don’t tell our colleagues about. We need to get over the snobbery attached to that.
And we have to be tougher in our demands. Magazines online will be built by re-skilled photography lovers around business plans that don’t include paying wages to the photographers they ask to write.
They pay salaries to each other, they pay the man who comes to fix the photocopier, but the "name" photographers they ask to contribute six hundred words get nothing. With business models like that, how can we survive?"

More Low Light Weddings

Just looking through some of my older weddings and I came accross this shot I took on Tri x film a few years ago.
I really love this shot and I can't quite put my finger on what it is I love so much about it.
One thing is for sure, it was taken in another one of those really dark venues I seem to always find myself in. In this case digital at the time didn't have good enough high iso's and I always would resort back to film for any low light shots.

Another shot from my Book

This is another of my Favourite shots from my Book. I don't often get to take pictures of my eldest these days. This photo is over a year old now and is probably the last time I took her off for a photo shoot.

I think its time I did another shoot of her! If she will let me that is!

Wedding Fayre's

I remember a few years ago things were simple. I would do 4 or 5 Wedding Fayre's a year and they would cost around £50.00 each. I would get 3 or 4 weddings from these events, so it was worth turning up and putting a display out.

I attended a wedding fayre last year as you may remember and it cost around £500.00 to do it.

I got zero weddings on the day and zero from it afterwards. The few I thought I may have had booked someone cheaper in the end.

I also had an advert in the paper as part of the wedding fayre package which I also got Zero from.

It was a big event with quite a few people through the door and I'm not sure what happened, but I have always done well in the past at the small wedding fayres I have attended in the past.

Now I dont know about you but £500.00 isnt an amount of money which I just like to throw away. £50.00 and my time is worth doing one just in case you do get some weddings, but its not much of a loss if you get nothing back.

So if your wondering if I will be doing the £500.00 event this year, the answer is NO!

I would be better going to a casino and putting it all on Black! Or just giving it to Comic Relief.

The sad thing is that the small wedding fayres don't seem to happen much these days. I think this is due to the big corporations taking over the wedding fayre market.

As I see it the £500.00 event was no better or worse than the £50.00 events. I think I could almost put my own event on for £500.00! It wouldnt be a wedding fayre though! It would be a circus event where I jump from a great height into a glass of water!

Kids

Well there it is! My first book is now available at the link below.

http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/438510

Its got 78 pages but the preview only shows a few pages which doesnt really show much to be honest.

Like most of these projects, I don't actually make any money from the books but I have sold quite a few copies and have had really great feedback. To most it is an inspiration for other photographers to make sure they capture images of what is most important to them. I've said it before , but childhood only lasts a very short time and it is important for anyone who has children to capture those moments before they are gone forever.

Thanks to those who have already purchased it. Don't forget to change the currency to pounds before you have a heart attack at the price.

Nikon D90 I love it!!!!

I recently swapped my old 20d and some other old equipment I no longer use for a used Nikon D90. Now I used this camera at my last wedding and I have to say the results were fantastic. High iso is streets ahead of my old 20d. When used at 3200 my 20d suffered horrible banding and made this iso completely useless. So 1600 was my maximum I could go to in low light situations.

I was in some serious dark situations on Saturday at the wedding and I had to pump the d90 up to 6400. These images when converted to black and white were superb. I know the Nikon D700 and D3 will be much better but as an upgrade from my 20d the D90 has enabled me to now shoot at iso 6400 without worrying about Banding. There are some white flecks in dark areas that I had to deal with but no more than I had to spot out when I used 35mm film.

The other great thing which you may know I am a fan of in th eos5d mkii is the movie mode. The D90 has a movie mode that is just great. People bang on about how theres this problem or that problem with it, but I have found that with a steady hand, the quality is superb and I can't wait to put it to use in a creative way. If you think that you can get this camera for £500 odd quid new, its an amazing tool to have movie this good as an add on to your slr.

I will post some footage of my footage soon on here. In the mean time take a look at this music video someone created with the D90. I cant wait to get creating some fab movies to go along with my photographs!!!

The big plus with the D90 is the video looks like film, not home vid!!!!

http://www.vimeo.com/2081642