Dominic & Gemma's Wedding - Westonbirt Arboretum / The Puesdown Inn - 30th June 08

Dominic & Gemma often frequent Westonbirt Arboretum as it holds a close place in the hearts so choosing it for their wedding venue was an obvious choice.

It was important for me to capture the scale of this place in the photos yet still retain some detail too. Below is a mix of photos taken on the day, some showing the true grandeur of the Arboretum, others more intimate moments.

The weather for their wedding was great - well, great for guests and tough for photographers but hey, I like a challenge!

This photo above has to be my favourite from the day - so sweet with deep saturated colours.

Portrait Session - Jo, Harry & a little bump - 11th June '08

I had a last minute call from Jo this week with a great idea for a fathers day present. Only problem was the turnaround time of 4 days - ahhh you gotta love the last minute folk in this world (me also being one of them)!

So, we hooked up the next morning and had a fab time zooming around the park with Harry on his trike. Toys are a superb addition to a photo shoot, only problem was we hadn't bargained for Harry's desire to be on it 24/7 so any photos without it were certainly tough to get without the inevitable toddler strop (which I know only too well with Daisy being pretty much the same age).

Anyway, here are a few of my favs.....and yes, looks like fathers day will be fulfilled - even with only 4 days notice!

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This photo above is my favourite from the shoot. It's one Jo chose too for framing so great to see minds thinking alike.

Harry liked swinging, which kinda tied up my hands somewhat.....never mind still snapped this with a bit of guess work.

Wahooo a week in Corsica

Last week was a rest from busy May with a week in Corsica staying at Villa Dolce e Serena. It was pretty much a super week of weather, not too hot, but with an occasional downpour to clear the air.....ohh and provide some fab clouds as you'll see in the photos below.

I'd recommend this villa, although it is larger than some, suiting six adults as my parents came with us too. VFB run a fine service and always come recommended by other friends who've used them. We stayed in the southern part of Corsica near Porto-Vecchio which has super beeches nearby yet the mountains were only a stones throw away too and definitely worth a visit.

The only bad news was for Daisy who left one of her bunnies at the airport on the way home...... worse still they don't stock him anymore (despite a mammoth Google search) so it looks like she'll have to find a new soft toy companion for the 'back up bunny'. (ohh yeah, all sensible parents have two versions of any favourite cuddly toy!)

Anyway, here's a small selection of my utmost favs from the large quantity of photos I took (as to be expected hey).

"As we're on holiday you can sit in the trolley then Daisy" A quick stock up on the essentials.... namely Frosties & milk.

Ahh, this is Bonnefacio where I believe lots of fighting occurred. Now I'm not great with history (and reading stuff) so get the low down from my wife and/or mum. I just take photos. I really wanted to capture these crosses in an appropriate way but was held back a little with only my compact camera to hand. None the less I really liked this shot above which for me summed the area up pretty well.

SELF TIMERS - Aren't they great. We all do them right? What's better than a good self timer though? A BAD one, and this is a classic below.

Daisy isn't really the ace swimmer she should be, seeing as I love the sea, but as a rule she's definitely the first to get wet.... and usually with a fresh set of clothes on just before we want to go out. The pool was excellent at this villa with a gently sloping edge to the main pool and also this lovely rill/trough which she spent a lot of time playing in. She's not to keen getting water on her face, although more than happy to pour it all over me with the help of grandma! Ummmm!!!

This photo above was one as a photographer you see happening and MUST HAVE. In less than one second you need to press the shutter as the next second it''s gone. There's nothing posed about this yet to get it I needed to react quickly to avoid any passers by walking into the frame and also nail it before my subjects walked off.

Bimpy loves this photo above of her and Daisy...it is very sweet though hey.

The harbor at Porto-Vecchio was just the subject matter for my wide angle 17-40mm lens. One of only two I took, the other being my 50mm f1.4 - I like to travel light on holiday). Reflections and symmetry were everywhere and I had great skies to boot. I certainly don't consider myself much of a landscape/cityscape photographer but was really pleased with this set of photos.

The scale in this photo above is awesome. My parents are walking along the pier either side of the lamp post yet they are barely visible.

This is a somewhat strange photo to include yet it probably summed up the trip to the mountains pretty well. This drive is just amazing with wiggly roads and views for miles across to the coast. It was clearly a cyclists heaven as many whizzed by as we drove the hour long route to Zonza.

he he.... I went out on the last evening to shoot a few photos and did this selfer above whilst strolling along Santa Giulia beach. It's a strange concept taking a photo of yourself so I tried to make it look as though someone else had taken it - did it work? I thought so!

I was quite into BIG SKIES this holiday. Probably because I had my 17-40mm lens, but hey if it looks this good why not include it!

This photo above is probably my favourite from the trip out that evening. The water is still only knee deep around these rocks despite them being quite far out. I crawled along a few other outcrops of rocks to shoot this back towards the coastline & setting sun - lovely.