This week is National Countryside week and in the last few weeks I have not only been photographing fabulous weddings, lovely people and drooling dogs but I have been busy taking photographs in our glorious countryside. So every day this week I will post a few images of our beautiful green and pleasant land.
I’ve had an eventful few weeks but the highlight must have been meeting royalty! It had been mentioned to me that I would receive an invitation in the post but it wasn’t until a large cream envelope dropped onto the doormat from Buckingham Palace that the reality of fulfilling one of my ambitions came true.
In the last 12 months I have been a proud supporter of The Prince’s Countryside Fund & have photographed several projects across the country for them along with charitable events. The Prince of Wales has long been passionate about the countryside & set up the fund to give grants to projects that help support the people who care for the countryside.
So it was a very excited photographer that traveled up to the big smoke & across London to Clarence House for a garden party to mingle with other supporters & meet the great man himself. The party was attended by some of the projects that I photographed including Hampshire Fare who help pig farmers diversify & some of the farm apprentices from the Yorkshire moors. There also were some of the celebrity ambassadors who help to raise the profile of the fund including Jimmy Doherty, Phil Vickery, JB from JLS, and Alex James ex member of Blur along with a few other familiar faces from television. We mingled in the garden with some of my images on easels as a backdrop showing the various projects the fund support. The Prince of Wales arrived & was introduced to each group in turn. It was finally my turn to meet His Highness & what can I say? It all went by in a flash! I shook his hand & we had a brief chat about photography & the work I have done for the fund before he had to move on.
It was a memorable moment in my profession and I hope I will have the opportunity of meeting Prince Charles again, maybe building a dry stone wall somewhere!
Here are a few pictures taken by the official photographer of the day Alistair Fyfe.
Some of the images I have taken for The Princes Countryside Fund can be seen on my Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/MarkLordPhotography
Earlier in May I had the pleasure of photographing Danielle and David’s big day at Great Fosters, Egham, Surrey.
Having only ever photographed at Great Fosters once before I was really keen to go back as it is a stunning wedding venue.
Great Fosters has a great past with more than four centuries of celebrated history having enriched Great Fosters with a remarkable heritage. Probably built as a royal hunting lodge in 1550 and very much a stately home since then, Great Fosters is now a prestigious 43 bedroom hotel.
Sympathetically converted in the 1930s by the Sutcliffe family, who are still its current custodians, the hotel possesses a plethora of original details and features including mullioned windows, Jacobean fireplaces, a rare oakwell staircase, authentic tapestries and moulded ceilings.
Danielle was lucky to get ready in the Tapestry Room, a stunning large room with tapestries adorning the walls giving a very regal and historic look to the getting ready photographs.
After a lovely civil ceremony in the Orangery guests were able to stroll around the gorgeous grounds of Great Fosters enjoying the formal gardens, lawns, moat, Japanese bridge and more whilst also enjoying the sunshine!
The wedding breakfast was served in the Tythe Barn followed by some hilarious speeches by mother of the bride, groom and then two best men who gave David a good ribbing!
All in all a fantastic day. Congratulations to Danielle and David and here is a sneaky peek of their beautiful wedding day……
A few kind words gratefully received from Danielle and David this morning
‘Just wanted to say thanks so much to both you and Jack for all your hard work on the day – everyone commented how lovely you both were 🙂 It was such a long day and your energy levels were both amazing all day!! ‘
Last Saturday, what a day.
Firstly I awoke to lovely weather. The 1st June – ‘Is this the start of Summer’ I asked myself?
On Saturday Sarah (one of my assistants) and I photographed the wedding of Kathryn and David at Christ Church, Henley on Thames and then onto one of my favourite Buckinghamshire wedding venues, the magnificent Hedsor House. When I initially got an enquiry from Kathryn for wedding photography and was told it was a Hedsor House I was thrilled. You only have to look at the Hedsor House website to realise how fabulous it is with all of the awards and accolades awarded within the wedding industry.
Tomorrow I have a beautiful wedding at Hedsor house, Taplow, Buckinghamshire. The wedding service is in Henley on Thames and then the reception at Hedsor house. I am very excited as Hedsor is such a splendid wedding venue and great for wedding photography. The Bride and Groom are really up for having some pictures taken in the grounds at Hedsor so fingers crossed the sunshine will be out and everyone will have a wonderful time. With some great props supplied by the bride there will be some amazing photograph opportunities. So keep a look out for the sneaky peek on my blog……. you will not be able to miss these pictures……
In the meantime here are a few images from the last wedding I photographed at Hedsor House.
With all this rain and cold weather I though we all needed cheering up so I just had a look at some of the images I took at Waterperry Gardens a few weekends ago on a jolly with Mrs Lord.
Becky armed with Instagram and me with my camera we had a great time photographing the blossom at it’s best in the orchards of Waterperry as well as many other plant varieties. I want to try a few things out with floral photography, something less precise and more artistic than the technically perfect images of flora we see in catalogues and magazines. I hope to make several visits to Waterperry this year and build a collection of more expressionistic images of flora and botanical images for future use in the countryside part of my business.
Here are a few working images I have put through Lightroom to share with you.
The next step is an early morning start to catch the early morning light! Good night all!
A couple of months ago I met one of my lovely couples, Charlotte and Robin at Wellington Riding near Reading, Berkshire. Charlotte keeps her horse there and wanted to have some pictures with him and their dog Oswald. Pirate the horse and I originate from Cornwall so we had something in common, he is definately more handsome although my nose is smaller! I love photographing people as well as animals so this session was going to be great fun and possibly challenging as Oswald and Pirate do not always see eye to eye!
It was a great session and I think we all enjoyed it, even Pirate and Oswald! Here are some of the pictures that Charlotte and Robin had in their signing book for their wedding.
Keep a look out on my Facebook page http://www.facebook.com.marklordphotography for a sneaky peek at some of their wedding pictures from last weekend!
Film Director Amit Gupta recently asked me to do a few portraits of him for his press releases. We spent 15 minutes together getting a few pictures and he recently contacted me to tell me his portrait is in Empire magazine and also one now online.
Amit’s first film that he directed was called Resistance and was set in a Welsh village in WWII, imagining life had the Germans invaded. With a cast including Michael Sheen it is a brilliant art house film and is well worth a watch.
To find out more about Resistance and to watch the trailer please click here
Amit’s latest film I am looking forward to watching is Jadoo the Movie, a British comedy that takes Amit back to his roots of growing up in Leicester. Its about two brothers who are chefs & what happens when they fall out. They set up rival restaurants across the road from each other in the Belgrave Road in Leicester, close to where Amit grew up.
To follow the latest news of Amit’s film Jadoo the Movie please sign up to their blog / Facebook page or Twitter by clicking here
If you are looking for portraits for publicity purposes please contact me for more information. info@marklordphotography.com
With the unpredictable weather we have these days who really knows when is the best time of year to get married. I’ve photographed glorious weddings in March and weddings where it’s hammered down in August. Whatever the weather the show must go on and regardless of the weather everyone will still have a great time.
But from experience here are a few tips in case the weather is not quite want you wished for.
1. Hire or buy some white umbrellas. These will be invaluable for you and your guests who need to go outside and being white they will be nice and bright underneath for some photos. Most quality venues should have some but it’s worth checking beforehand.
2. Pack wellies and enjoy the puddles. It’s popular now to pack the Hunter wellies in case of bad weather and are a great look in the photos and a nice contrast to the Jimmy Choos!
3. Give your bridesmaids a small can of hair spray for windy days and a pack of hair clips just in case it’s windy and your hair gets blown around during the group photos.
4. Ask a bridesmaid or close friend to come with you when you are having photographs with your groom. A bridesmaid can be on hand to help with hair adjustments or to rearrange your dress.
5. Have a back up plan. What will you all do if it rains all day long and you were planning an outdoors reception? Speak to your venue so you know where you and your guests can go if it’s wet outside.
6. Speak to your photographer and ask them where they plan to do the group photos if the weather is bad. A good photographer will have some portable flash heads they can set up to do the group photographs indoors.
Regardless of the weather you will have a fab day as you are surrounded by your family and friends and those that love you both.
Finally in my 15 years of photographing weddings I have never photographed one where it has rained ALL day long. Call it the luck of The Lord!
For those that attended the magnificent West Wycombe Park yesterday for the Princes Countryside Fund clay pigeon shoot hosted by Sir Edward Dashwood the images are now online and ready to view. Please contact me or the Princes Countyside Fund for the access code.
If you were not lucky enough to be there you missed a real treat. Fabulous weather, generous hospitality and brilliant clay pigeon targets presented to the guns over a variety of stands. The day started with speeches from Rob Fenwick of E J Churchill who organised the event & set the course & Mark Price Managing Director of Waitrose on behalf of H.R.H The Prince of Wales. With top UK and International clay shots there with some impressive shooting, namely from George Digweed, Ambassador to The Princes Countryside Fund, Charlotte Kerwood and Micky Rouse who put on a fine demonstration afterwards. Also showing their support to the fund were Phil Vickery, Cornishman and England Rugby Pro and Heston Blumenthal the highly renowned chef.
The fund raised approximately £50,000 yesterday with the generous support of several of its supporters who attended the shoot along with friends of the fund.
I am the official photographer to the Princes Countryside Fund and some of the projects I have photographed for them can be found further down this blog. The fund is there to support rural communities, train farm apprentices, and educate the public what goes on in the British countryside.
With many farmers suffering with the bad weather in recent months losing crops as well as their livestock the fund has donated nearly £600,000 to farmers and their families since the new year.
To find out more and to see how you can do your part in helping rural communities please checkout the Princes Countryside Fund by clicking here
In the meantime here are a few images from yesterday.
Mark Lord Photography 