Wedding fayre this coming week at The Notley Tythe Barn, Long Crendon

This Sunday I will be at The Notley Tythe Barn, Long Crendon (near Thame) at their wedding fayre. It will be on from 11am to 3pm and if it’s anything like normal it will be brilliant. Lots of lovely food to try and an open bar! The friendly staff we will able to show you around and answer any questions you have.

Here are some pictures of Grace and Brian who had their wedding at The Notley Tythe Barn last year. So if you are planning your wedding please do drop by and meet lots of lovely wedding suppliers who can help you with your Buckinghamshire or Oxfordshire wedding.

More details of The Notley Tythe Barn barn can be found here

#Weddings at the Tythe Barn, Caroline and Greg’s sneaky peek

Between Christmas and New Year I was back at one of my regular haunts, The Tythe Barn, Launton. Anyone who follows my blog or Facebook page will know I shoot several weddings at the barn and it is certainly one of my favourite Oxfordshire wedding venues.
Caroline and Greg came to me highly recommended by the barn and booked me for their big day. I have always wanted to photograph a Christmas wedding at the barn and when Caroline and Greg booked me I was more than delighted. The weather on the run up to the wedding was, as you will probably remember quite stormy, so naturally I was slightly concerned what the weather would be like for Caroline and Greg. The barn is a perfect venue should the weather turn bad as there is plenty of room indoors for the wedding guests to enjoy. Still, I did not have to worry as it was a glorious sunny day. Caroline and Greg had their wedding service at Caroline’s family church in Ambrosden with part of the service being taken by a family friend. The light on the day was amazing, if not a little sideways, but that’s all one can expect this time of the year and I was just grateful it was not raining.
The barn put on their usual high standard of service, food and drink for the lovely couple and the guests danced the night away with a DJ dishing out some pretty groovy tracks!
Here is Caroline and Greg’s sneaky peek. Plenty more to come and I hope the galleries will go live later next week.

Jim Morrison – A Salty Seadog

Some 15 years ago whilst I was at college I did a series of portraits of retired seafarers in Falmouth, Cornwall. Those men who had spent their lives at sea, working the Cornish harbours, fishing and saving lives in the seas around Cornwall. One of the gentleman I photographed was Jim Morrison (nothing to do with The Doors!) Jimmy was a lovely man, retired and at the time, was in his eighties. He had plenty a tale to tell of his life aboard his boat named Eclipse moving cargo from one Cornish harbour to another under full sail.

These images were very well received locally and I had a few of them in an exhibition at a Truro gallery. Two of the images sold almost instantly to the gallery owner’s son who wanted them for his home. Some years later (15!) and I get a call from the gallery owner, (John – who is also now retired) who has been trying to track me down. I moved away from Cornwall 13 years ago and lost touch with John but thankfully I have still the same mobile phone number which he kept filed away.

He was after two prints of the images his son had bought for a friend who admired them on his gallery wall 15 years ago. His friend lives in Munich but had mentioned she would love a couple of prints if John could find me.

Times have moved on in the world of photography and those negatives that I made on my Hasselblad film camera would be stored away in a box somewhere at home. I spoke to John a couple of months ago and we agreed it would be a good idea for me to search for the negatives in January when I was a bit quieter. One night last week I unpacked a large box full of negatives, wow my film processing costs must have been high. All of my college negatives are in folders and it didn’t take too long to find the images I was looking for, all still in amazing condition. Now, I have the negatives but I don’t have a darkroom anymore, so they need to be into an electronic format. I sent the negatives to my lab for scanning and they arrived yesterday. The images look fantastic on my Mac screen and it is testament to the amazing optics of the Hasselblad camera I shot the portraits on – such an amazing camera that I still own! So a quick retouch to remove dust spots from the scans and the files are now ready to be printed. I would have remove dust marks with dye back in the day but Photoshop sorts it out now.

So times move on, our ways of recording images and outputting them has changed but the images of Jim Morrison will always remain dear to my heart. Such a wonderful man.

Here are the two images of Jimmy and his boat. Limited edition fine art Giclee prints available on request to info@marklordphotography.co.uk

Kick start 2014 off with a new profile pic for #Twitter

With the increasing use of social media in the corporate and business world it is important to keep a fresh looking image of yourself for your professional profiles on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.

I photograph many business people from different walks of life from authors to surgeons who want to keep their image up to date. I offer a simple approach to business portraits in the Henley on Thames, Marlow, Oxford and Thames Valley area, I can either come to you at your home or office or we can meet somewhere in the local area for the shoot. The shoot will last half an hour or so and I will capture a variety of relaxed but professional looking portraits from which you can choose your favourites.

With session fees from just £25 why not kick off the New Year with a new look? All images are digitally enhanced to soften lines, remove blemishes if necessary and can be supplied in colour or black and white.

For more examples of my business style photography please visit my website http://www.marklordphotography.co.uk

It may be stormy but #LOVE is in the air…..

I’ve had several orders placed over the weekend from various shoots and thought I would choose one of these images for my blog post today. It’s from a pre wedding shoot I did in the local countryside near my home last year of a couple who’s wedding is later this year.

I love the composition of this pictures, with the nettles giving some foreground interest, the dramatic sky and of course the lovely expressions on the couple. My portrait shoots or pre wedding shoots are always very relaxed and fun and it’s a great way to get to know each other before the big day. For the bride and groom, it gives them confidence in knowing how they look in front of the camera, and for me I can see if I have any serial blinkers!

Portrait Photography Oxford

To see more of my portrait and wedding photography in Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and beyond please visit http://www.marklordphotography.co.uk

#Royal visit to #Sherston Old School, #Wiltshire

A few months ago I had the pleasure of being the official photographer for HRH Prince Charles’ visit to Sherston old school in Wiltshire. With several press boys and girls there I was privileged to be the only photographer to accompany HRH into the building on his visit to Sherston old school.

Sherston old school is a great community project helped by The Princes Countryside Fund, one of Prince Charles’ charities. To find out more about the fund and to see how you can help please click here. To read the ‘Sherston Cliffhanger’ and all about the Royal visit please click here. To see the images I took on my first visit to Sherston old school please click here.

In the meantime here is one of my favourite images from the visit, I just love the enthusiasm of the little boy in the middle! Wiltshire followers of my blog please keep a look out in your county magazines for more of my images from the visit.

Family Portrait #Photography #Oxfordshire

It may be blowing to gale out there but we do get some beautiful days here in the Spring and Summer – honest! Here are a few family portrait pictures I shot last summer on a gorgeous day, the family owned a farm so it made sense to do the shoot on the farm. Farm yard locations for family portraits are one of my favourite locations as there is plenty to entertain the children and also some lovely backgrounds.

I offer a great family portrait shoot offer from just £25 to £75 depending on location. Why not treat your family to a family portrait voucher this year. All vouchers purchased before the 31st January 2014 will be valid until the end of 2014.

A portrait session is a great way of bringing an extended family together, can be great fun and you will have some pictures to show for it at the end.

Please call me on 01844 351218 or email me info@marklordphotography.co.uk for more information.

Check out my portrait photography galleries at http://www.marklordphotography.co.uk

Weddings at The Tythe Barn

A couple of weeks ago I was back at my favourite Oxfordshire wedding venue, The Tythe Barn nr Bicester. I have photographed several weddings there over the years and know the venue and staff really well. However, this wedding was going to be a little different….

Tim and Cat contacted me earlier this year to check my availability. On talking to them they told me about a few things they were going to do differently. One of those things was a ‘First Look’. I had never done a ‘First Look’ before but was keen to photograph one. A First Look is…. well a First Look at each other generally with the bride walking up to the groom and then looking at each other for the first time (that day!) Got it! Well, I was very excited about photographing my first ‘First Look’!

I was not disappointed. Tim positioned himself amongst the trees at The Tythe Barn and Cat approached from behind and it really was a lovely moment when they saw each other for the first time and made for some great photographs.

As Tim and Cat had seen each other now before the wedding ceremony we decided to do a few pictures of the two of them and a few family groups for those that were there. It was quite cool doing a wedding day in a different order, and also with a Winter wedding with it getting dark by 4pm it made a lot of sense to shoot the group photos and pictures of the bride and groom pre ceremony. Obviously this will only work if you are doing a ‘First Look’ but something I would recommend if you wanted to do things

Tim greeted their family and friends as they arrived whilst Cat was tucked away. We all then enjoyed a wonderful ceremony with some entertaining readings, a few more group shots and a drinks reception in the cow shed. Then another first for me was The Tythe Barn’s self carve roast, which went down well with everyone.

Tim and Cat had several lovely touches to the day with georgous flowers by The Flower Fairies and a massive LOVE by Vowed and Amazed.

Finally another cool idea Tim and Cat had was for the first dance, where Cat starts dancing with her Dad, whilst Tim eyes Cat up and then comes onto the dance floor, kicks Dad off and has his first dance with his bride. It was a lot more romantic then I have made it sound!

I am one of the recommended photographers of The Tythe Barn and have a special offer for all couples who get married at The Tythe Barn. If you are getting married there in 2014, 2015 or beyond please do get in touch. www.marklordphotography.co.uk

Frolicking in the meadows…. #NCW13

A few weeks ago I was photographing some gorgeous wildflower meadows and the gentleman I was with had his Land Rover parked near to us. I could see the back window a bit steamed up and something licking the glass and then saw these lovely faces looking at me.

‘Can I photograph your dogs’ I said ‘Of course, my wife will love that’ was the reply. I’m not sure who enjoyed the shoot the most, me or the dog!

Here are a few pictures of his dogs in the meadow.

Heritage Harvest – using traditional skills to grow traditional cereal crops – #NCW13

A couple of weeks ago I met John Letts who runs Heritage Harvest in the Buckinghamshire Oxfordshire area. John and his small team help farmers grow heritage cereals for thatching straw and grain and distributes bread and flour through the Oxford Bread Group. The Prince’s Countryside Fund have helped John by giving him a grant to develop his business further. The Fund’s grant has helped to establish a demonstration farm and education centre of heritage wheat varieties in collaboration with a group of 100 thatchers, organic farmers and traditional millers. Their aim is to reduce the UK’s dependence on imported thatching materials while encouraging the development of this traditional skill and providing a valuable diversification opportunity for farmers. 10 school visits have taken place and 2 summer placements for agricultural students completed. The flour is now being used in 4 lines of Astons organic bakery and is available through the Tru Food Group with 350 members.

On a personal note John made me understand the problems we could potentially be facing as a result of global warming and how farmers need to diversify and change their farming methods in our ever changing climate. I was also introduced to some of the earliest forms of wheat including Einkorn which is one of the earliest forms of cultivated wheat dating back to 7500BC. John was very kind and loaded my car with eggs, 4 bags of flour, a sourdough starter and some fresh fruit picked from his allotment. Mrs Lord has since made some delicious sourdough bread using Einkorn and Rye flour.

Keep a look out for Heritage Harvest’s website, John is an excellent supplier of flour to anyone who enjoys baking real bread!

To find out more about the Princes Countryside Fund and how you could help please click here.

In the pictures below John is weeding the borders of the fields with a scythe, he does use motor driven vehicles for sowing and harvesting but enjoys using traditional tools where he can. I was given the opportunity to have a go with the scythe and lets just say I will stick to using a camera!