Last night I popped out with a friend to make the most of this beautiful weather, great light and stunning new vegetation in our local countryside. She has a couple of German Shorthaired Pointers, Luna and Lottie. Luna’s a lively 2 year old and Lottie, a more sedate older girl who trots along happily. Luna on the other hand bounds around making her a challenging subject to photograph shall we say! Well, here are a few of my pictures from the session I was rather happy with. I will photograph them again soon in the next couple of months so keep an eye out!
Here are some of my favourite pictures from the Open Working Test for the Bucks Area of the United Retriever Club held on the Portman Burtley Estate, Beaconsfield on Sunday 20th May by kind permission Mr John Blakeston. The test was a qualifying event to select the Bucks Area team for the URC Area Finals to be held on July 15th.
You have to be pretty quick to capture the labs and retrievers racing about but all good fun and a nice day out in a wood! Lunch was a full blown buffet served in a gazebo in the middle of the woods which was much appreciated after a ‘challenging morning’. By the end of the day I was exhausted but I bet some of those dogs could have done it all again!
Earlier this week I photographed a charity clay pigeon shoot for The Prince’s Countryside Fund hosted by Sir Edward Dashwood at his West Wycombe home. E J Churchill put on a superb display of targets for the guests to shoot in the grounds of West Wycombe Estate. After a breakfast served in the hall the 9 teams had an eventful morning shooting in their teams of 4 guns over the various stands. England rugby star Phil Vickery, the new ambassador of The Prince’s Countryside Fund was there demonstrating his sharp shooting eye and support to the other guests and the PCF.
West Wycombe House – an ideal venue for a clay shoot or a wedding!
With teams from various industries that support the PCF competing the final winners were Samworth Brothers and runners up Dovecote Park who had their awards presented to them by Sir Edward Dashwood, Phil Vickery and Managing Director of Waitrose, Mark Price. With other notable figures in the teams it really was a great fund raising event for the PCF and raising awareness to help rural communities across the UK.
Phil Vickery, ambassador to the PCF and all round nice guy
To find out more about the Prince’s Countryside Fund and to support the Great British countryside and it’s people please click here.
Here are some of my favourite images from the day.
Last Friday I was at the private view for the Fabian Perez exhibition at the Lemongrove gallery, Marlow. The gallery was packed with fans of Fabian hoping to see him and in some cases get him to sign a painting they had just purchased. The gallery was so full I decided to remove my lens shade just to give me a few more inches of space! Well, it goes without saying the evening was a great success and a most enjoyable event. To see more of Fabian’s work at the Lemongrove galleries please click here.
A candid portrait I grabbed of Fabian in front of one of his paintings.
To see more pictures from the event please check out my facebook page here.
A great memory of a summer’s evening at a wedding in Essex. The groom was whisked outside by the flowergirls for them to show him their spinning……. Oh and also to hold their shoes!
Later that evening as the sun went down I quickly grabbed the bride and groom and took this romantic shot of the two of them. Love it!
I can remember taking this shot quite vividly. The bridesmaid came into to room after the bride got ready, looked up at the bride and said ‘you look beautiful’. I love the composition with the mirror reflecting the bride and the expressions on their faces.
With all this wet stuff coming down its understandable the couples will worry it may rain on their wedding day – I am one of those people, getting married next month myself and wondering how the photos will look if its raining. However in the last 15 years of photographing weddings I have never seen it rain all day long, usually there is a gap in the day when the bride and groom can slip outside with their photographer for some great shots of the two of them together. Above are a few pictures from over the last few years of pictures taken in the rain at weddings. There may not be any bright sunshine but these pictures have atmosphere! So if its a bit wet on your wedding day, never fear, im sure your photographer will be able to get some truely memorable pictures.
In my opinion the best weather for weddings is a bright overcast day with a slight breeze. With a layer of cloud between you and the sun the sunlight will be diffused so no shiny patches and the slight breeze will keep you and your guests cool and even blow that veil a bit for some lovely veil pictures.
Mark Lord Photography 