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I don’t tend to do too much family portraiture these days, not because I don’t enjoy it, but mostly because I spend all my time focusing on weddings, interiors, and editorial + if I’m being very honest things have changed a lot since my first jobs out of university in Studios where I’d have an average order over £1000. Portraiture is a great springboard and training tool into other types of photography. Having said that occasional I will do the odd session for friends and family (of course I don’t charge!) Here are some pics I did for my very own sister last weekend, with shock horror sun!!!
A very exciting wedding at Ramster. Congratulations to Chris & Sarah. Yes it rained all day, but it didn’t effect the love and fun of the day at all! Chris and Sarah had some brilliant ideas which were a joy to photograph. We had dancing down the isle, neon signs during speeches, Mark – The brilliant resident DJ working doing bits all day, two VW campervans, singing during the service of ’Love is in the air’, and over 160 guests. It was the first time I’ve worked with the band Rollercoaster who are a fantastic swing band. A very fun day.
Another rainy day but it stopped for 20 minutes whilst we took some pictures of Tim & Alex at Rumbolds farm – my first visit to this venue and I’ve got to say its wonderful. I actually went to school with both Tim & Alex, I’m so happy for them both and both excited and honoured to be capturing the story of their wedding day for them at the end of June.
We had a brilliant time taking pictures of Chris & Floz the other weekend, we had to take shelter under trees and a large photographic reflector as the rain suddenly came down but we turned it to our advantae the great some great fun shots. They were also kind enough afterwards to do a video interview for our DVD coming soon in wedding packs!
This week I did a shoot for Nature magazine & studio 8. I was asked to photograph Professor Tom Higham who in oxford. It was a fun mornings shoot. The images will appear in a large feature in next months edition of the magazine. Below is just a sample.
I had another fantastic day shooting Nicky & Johns wedding, in Haslemere. Every0ne was so friendly and welcoming which made for some great pictures! I also think the big group shot was organised getting everyone outside in record time thanks to some very good ushers.
Well we had an amazing time at Lee & Vanessas wedding last week at Ramster. Our experience with the venue really came into play with the ceremony onwards which started at 4 pm. What this meant was that we could have lots of fun being creative with lighting outside to create some warm loving shots.
Thank you to all the family and friends as well for making myself and Can so welcome and all the best to the happy couple for their first xmas as husband and wife .
As we head into October I start to see a bit influx of work similar to that of June as I head out to squeeze more and more property shoots in everyday. I went to a great property this week but I only really have an hour to hour 1/2 to get round a house so I leave 20 – 30 minutes to do a floorplan and an hour to do the photos inside and out. I’m able to do this because I’ve been doing this work for a few years now and have a system of setting up the lights, hiding others and using my huge reflector as well as getting to the right height and angle and quickly tidying away everything I need to do to get the shots which hopefully will sell the property. It can be quite hard going but I honestly love it and its really satisfying to seethe pictures at the end of the day and a sence of achievement knowing I’m working efficiently.
I often take close ups of fittings etc inside a property which are known as ‘lifestyle shots’ and also pictures of the owners for articles etc but never shots of the owners dressed in the style of their house for the property brochure!. Its a new idea and it went very well this week. This vendor really wanted a 1950′s feel like you sometimes see on cards. She had several outfits and whilst after doing the photos and floorplan I only had 30 minutes left it was plenty enough to set up some studio lights in her house and have some fun shooting. The agent I did this for is now drawing up a flyer using these shots so I’m looking forward to doing some more soon.
I’m currently taking bookings to attend events throughout the festive season. The postcards are printed and ready to go out to lots of lucky venues 
If you would like me / & my team to attend your event this year please feel free to drop me an email or a phone call. Obviously I’m fully insured! but I can offer myself as a roaming photographer with the images being available from an online gallery – or supplied to you on disk the next day. a portable studio with proofing screen and onsite instant printing, or a mixture of the two. We’re quick friendly and will supply a great service with no fuss – which is why I’m used time and time again.
A new office is opening in Headington Oxford and we needed some pictures of the minis for a big display at the back so today we went up to shotover woods to get some dynamic interesting shots. heres one of the examples of the mornings shoot.
Another fantastic wedding at Ramster! This couple and their friends and family were an absolute pleasure to work with. It was a bit hit and miss with the weather but it held out for us and we were able to have fun getting some brilliant shots around Ramster. Its weddings like this which I love so much fun and love. I feel very lucky to have the opportunity to shoot the couples that I do.
The day before a wedding I always lay everything out charge it, check it, double check it and then pack it away ready to be quickly accessed the next day, preparation is the key to a fun and relaxed day! This is just my mobile kit! but all the guests will see on the day is two cameras and two flashes the rest is carefully hidden so as not to draw too much attention to the guy taking pictures!
Theres something different everyday with my job. This month I went to an international rockstars house hidden away in Oxford. It wouldn’t be right to say who this person was but I will say it was a pleasure to meet them they were very friendly and helpful and I managed to get through the whole thing without mentioning their band and how I’d been a huge fan since I was 13 – Ever the professional
I’ve just had the most fantastic album made up. Its a 50 story book album which has an aluminium print cover. Products like this I send away to professional labs to have made up. I must be honest they do cost me alot to have produced but I just love the finish! and I think whilst I might not make any money on the product, the results do far more in terms of getting recommendations from clients and in the long run thats where I’ll earn more. This 50page 12 x 10 album presently costs £425 to all my wedding clients.
Oh how I love working with frontdoorz. I turn up to a property and its all dressed and ready to be shot. I use multiple flashes in each shot you’d be amazed are where they are all hiding (hint theres one inside the lamp in the first shot so I could control how bright it appeared) and how much you have to sometimes manipulate the natural tones of a room just to replicate what the eye sees normally, but thats part of the reason why I love to do this work. All of this is done along with floorpans in just over an hour.
Such a loverly loverly couple. I was looking forward to this wedding for ages. The reception was at Eynsham Hall in Oxfordshire, a venue I’ve been waiting to shoot at for a long time. I’d seen what other photographers had done there and thought the group shots would be fantastic if they moved further from the house (making it smaller in the background) down to the grass. The sun came out and I was able to put the vision I had for group shots into action. I was very happy with the results. The whole grounds made for some fantastic photography opportunities. I’m just waiting for their album to come back now so I can se the pictures in print, very excited!
Well things have been going so well shooting interiors that we’ve now been able to take someone else on. This is Can he’s been shooting at Weddings with me for quite a while now and this month takes the leap into shooting property with me. He’s been learning floorplan drawing for a while as well. He now undertakes a busy few months learning how to cope quickly with all sizes shapes of rooms and the interesting complications the english weather can throw into the mix too!
Every year with a colleague we are asked to photograph the nationwide awards. this year I had the great opportunity to shoot two stars from strictly come dancing James and Ola. They were both incredibly friendly nice people as you might expect and I loved using my camera to its full low light capabilities shooting just using the dance floor lights.
I worked with Kirsten a few years ago and she said when she got married she wanted me to do the photography, and true to her work she and Jon gave me the pleasure of capturing their wedding day in Surrey this last week. Jon said before at our pre-wedding meeting that he really like the picture of the couple of the Bike at Ramster shooting down the hill that I took so as soon as they mentioned they were having a wedding vw camper van I had in my mind a vision of the camper coming towards me with their heads out of each of the windows. The day before it had completely pelted it down with rain, but as Jon arrived at the church in Guildford the sun came out and stayed out for the rest of the day!
This weekend I shot a beautiful wedding at the Bay Tree hotel in Oxford. When Mike & Ann told me they were having a horse drawn carriage I knew it would be a special wedding and I wasn’t disappointed. The Bay tree is such a wonderful venue as well, the perfect size for taking a stroll with the bride and groom for their individual pictures. It was meant to rain but the sun was out the whole day and wow was it strong!
I attended the blenheim 10k fun run this week. It was far busier than last years event which made getting a spot amongst all the people with their dslrs quite a job!
I really enjoyed doing Mike & Anns pre-wedding shoot this weekend. Its always fun to walk around a venue with a couple and see how much they are into doing the photos by the end of the shoot.
I was asked to go back again for the second year running to take some pictures of the south oxford adventure playground for their advertising. I was amazed how much has been done there in the last year. They’ve added loads of new equipment for the kids. The shots will be added to fliers which will be making their way through letter boxes across Oxfordshire in the next few weeks.
I was asked to photograph the final stage of this bike race this week. Islip is such a loverly place and the riders finishing were greeted by cheers and drinks from the local community.
This time for an architects in Oxford. They asked me to come and shoot this building at night to show the work they had done on the staircases inside. Which this one I got some hight and lifted the shadows on the outside of the building by dipping in a number of flashes from the left and the front at different angles, much to the wonder of the residence living opposite.
I’ve been trying an HDR technique this month called exposure fusion. It basically involves shooting several different exposures then putting then together using software. I’m using photomatix at the moment. I quite like it as you don’t get the ‘glow’ you sometimes get with full HDR or the glowing arou d the edges of objects.
I love the challenge of doing these night shoots on properties. Here is one I did this week in Oxford. You have to wait for a certain time then you have about 10minutes to get the shots you need, the light is changing constantly as well so you have to be ready. I always shoot completely in manual on both camera and lights. You probably can’t make it out on this image but the stars actually showed up on this image too. Best part is the owners were so impressed and happy with me they have now booked me to shoot their wedding next year as well.
I’m now offering a Tablet kit for wedding pictures.This is a product available only to Wedding clients!
I love just using available light for my interior shots you can create such loverly atmosphere and if needed add just a touch of flash, or a reflector to brighten small areas. Here is such an example at a cottage I visited this month.
I’ve ben shooting some interesting places this month. Here is a place in oxford used by the T.A. Now looking to be hired out for events.
Wow this was what I’d call a real Christmas wedding. It was a bit touch and go as to how many guests would get to Ramster as the wedding there the week before was called off because of the snow. Everyone got through though and I had a brilliant time shooting Ewan and Karens big day.
It also shows what a difference a touch of creative flash can add to Ramster in the winter to add warmth and sharpness to the images
Its been a year since I started the blog. Its been a great year with record numbers of new clients and jobs 99% of which have come from word of mouth recommendations! I’d like to thank everyone for their support. I’m really looking forward to 2011 and expanding all aspects of the business. A year ago I posted pictures of the snow which had just fallen so it seems only right that I post another from this years snow. This is our rescue pup we got in March sporting a fantastic santa beard made of snow earlier on today.
Its always fun at this time of year to set up the portable stdio for event photography. I use a variety of different size and coloured backdrops depending on what the venue prefers and have a great night taking pictures of people with their friends and family. The pictures instantly appear on the computer screen and the guests can choose which images they like the most. I then print them out within 20 minutes in 9 x 6 ” on a dye-sub printer.
This week was a fun one at the Hilton in Milton Keynes.
It had poured with rain all week but on saturday the sun came out for Simon & Cassie’s big day. I’ve never seen so many tears at a ceremony, it made for some great pictures and really showed the love between this couple. It was an honour to be part of their special day and I wish them all the happiness in the world in their lives together.
I was lucky enough to shoot a Beautiful wedding in Surrey. We we’re so lucky with the weather as it had rained the day before and infact the day after! Fun was had by all with some brilliant speeches i even learnt a few spanish words too. I wish the very happy couple all the best in their future lives together.
I had a brilliant time taking pictures of Andrew & Erin’s wedding in Oxford. They had hired a London bus to take the guests on a tour!
I wish them all the best in their future together and thank them once again for choosing me to capture their special day.
Studio 8 in Kidlington asked if I could shoot some pictures of Oxford Fertility Unit for their website an other promotional material this week. The building was really beautifully presented and a joy to shoot.
I had the opportunity to photograph a beautiful property this week. It was extremely well presented which made my job nice and easy. It is currently on the market with Lock of Wallingford.
What a lovely couple and a brilliant day! I had so much fun last weekend shooting Paul & Zdenka’s wedding in Oxford. It was chucking it down with rain the night before (and the night after!) so I thought I might need some brollies. but we had bright sun and blue skys the entire day.
On Saturday I was lucky enough to be asked by Studio 8 in Kidlington to shoot Adam and Clare’s Wedding. I was worried it would start raining just when we did the group shots but all of a sudden the clouds passed and the venue was filled with bright sunshine!
This flyer will be making its way through hundreds of front doors in Oxford this week. I took the pictures last week – was a bit touch & go’ though as it was chucking it down with rain! we managed to get the shots we needed though as you can see.
Wow what a great day! Laura and I got some wonderful shots at David and Emmas wedding this weekend in Chertsey. Botley Mansion was the venue for a fantastic day. It had been raining all week so I was thinking we might need the brollies out, but as the day went on it got hotter and hotter. Such a lovely couple I’m sure they are going to have a brilliant life together.
The Gore is on with Breckon & Breckon & savills and is my property of the month for July!
I attended a fun raser for St Mary’s school in Witney this week – Though as I’m always working we did the photos as the guests were arriving with all the proceeds of prints bought on the night going straight to the school.
It was an absolute honour to be asked to photograph my good friend Emi & Pauls wedding on Friday. The sun came out for them and everyone had a great time. I loved the cake depicting how they met when Emi drove into Pauls car. The floating lanterns were brilliant and I discovered a talent for giant connect 4! I was also very touched that they gave me an inscribed flask for doing the photography.
Myself and a friend Nick covered their awards last year and we went back again this year. It was held in a lovely resort in Wales. Was a fun night and I even got a shameless picture as we hung out with Flawless from ‘Britain s got talen’t (complete with terrible thumbs up pose from me.
I had a fantastic time last weekend photographing Scott & Alishia’s big day. Despite the rain everyone was in great spirits and the partying went long into the night!
Front doorz helped style this property ready to go to market. It is on with Breckon & Breckon.
Studio 8 in Kidlington, Oxford were nice enough to let me use their studio for a portrait session. Its a fantastic space and what really impressed me was the even light throughout the whole studio space meaning I could concentrate on the portrait session a bit more and get some great shots using the entire space.
Wow what an amazing day! Hong and Tim were such a loverly couple. We had a lot of rain but it didn’t stop them smiling and despite the rain we had alot of luck in that as soon as they exited the church the sun came out for them so we could get all of their group shots done. A really fun happy day with my favourite stand out comment of the day from Hong during the cutting of the cake ‘Did you get it Mark did you get it?!’
I found this fantastic fun application online. You can test combinations of different Nikon Lens on Different nikon cameras. Its not as comprehensive as say the ken rockwell site, but still a bit of fun.
http://imaging.nikon.com/products/imaging/lineup/lens/simulator/index.htm
I had a wonderful day today photographing the Blenheim 7k fun run in Woodstock with over 800 entrants!. It was a pleasure to be invited along and despite the overcast weather everyone had a great time. Doing events like this is a wonderful challenge I love capturing the action with my long lens!
http://www.blenheim7k.co.uk/
Congratulations to the May’s who had their son Christened last weekend. It was a wonderful happy occasion the sun even came out for them which made for some great pictures.
I went to a great property the other day. The owner I think is looking to move into interior design. She had won competitions in a house magazine for her previous property, and this one is in the running to be used in channel4′s ‘Location, Location’
At the time of this post the property is about to Launch with Breckon & Breckon of Witney.
I’ve been to some amazing properties this month. This one in Woodstock really stood out for me though, it is quite a modern build with a gallery area overlooking the living room.
I had a big change in my personal life this week as we got a dog from the rescue centre. We called her Tilly. Tilly has been re-homed twice before in the last 2 and a half years.
I love working with dogs. The great news is she doesn’t mind having her picture taken. I’m sure I’ll be using her in the future in my pets portfolio on the website.
Whilst attending Focus on Imaging this year I had the chance to test Nikons D3s body. I have a Nikon D3 and was blown away at the high iso settings I could shoot at so was eager to test the D3s which improves image quality in terms of noise up to 2 iso stops high than the D3! I made sure all the settings on both cameras were the same. I shot fully manual using the same lens. The results are below:
Both images were shot at 4000iso which is higher than I would normally go with a camera even though I’ve read so many articles of professionals using iso 6400+. for me 2500 iso is fine.. if I’m really struggling 3600 iso is great.
As you can see both images seem very similar except that the D3 is slightly darker and perhaps a bit more vibrant – this may be due to my custom settings though.
At 100% however things look a bit different the D3s for some reason appears slightly softer. There is not as much visible grain but I wonder if this is at the expense of definition.
The D3s is certainly a fantastic camera but I think with the same resolution as the D3 and the fact that the D3 is now dropping in price because the D3s has been released I think I’ll stick with my trusty Nikon D3 – and perhaps even invest in another.
This is the great thing about Focus on Imaging each year you can read review after review but nothing beats taking you memory cards along and getting some hands on experience with the cameras and lens of your choice, exploring the elements of a camera that really matter to your work!
Breckon & Breckon have begun working with a company called ‘Frontdoorz’ who offer a range of specialist services that are designed to save you time, money and effort whether you are buying, selling or renting property. So today I did some head shots for them. Cathy and Sonia came over and we got some great shots. They were both very friendly approachable and seemed to really enjoy themselves. I was really impressed as its not the easiest thing in the world having your picture taken with studio lights blazing down on you! We did some individual shots and some of the two ladies together. I’ve taken pictures of some of their work last wee (see previous entry) and can’t wait to work with them again. If your looking to sell in the Oxford area their website is well worth a look. www.frontdoorz.co.uk
Was a great weekend for photography, the highlight of which was a lovely meeting with Luis and Debbie at Ramster in Surrey. Had a great hour doing their pre-wedding shoot and discussing plans for their wedding. They were complete naturals in front of the camera which really showed in their pictures.
Everyday I shoot different properties from £100k – 7 million in value. Today I went to take some images of some new apartments in Oxford which have been styled by a company called Frontdoorz. Front doorz have just started working with Breckon & Breckon and are well worth a look if your thinking of putting your property on the market and are looking for that extra edge. After all property is such a huge investment why take any chances!
My ‘Property of the Month’ this month is Bladon House. It was a really interesting property to produce the floorplan for and a joy to take pictures of.
It is currently on the market with Breckon and Breckon at £1,450,000
The good people at Sussex cameras have repaired my lens so today I return the hired one from LensesForHire.co.uk. I’ve got to say I’ve been really impressed by them and I’m happy to say that already a friend of mine has used them through my recommendation. I will definitely be using them again! They have asked if I could post a few pictures I took using their lenses to them for use in their gallery. I have so many to pick through from the last few weeks, but keep a look out in their gallery for some shots from me coming soon!
It happens to us all for no reason something suddenly stops working, that feeling of dread passes across you as you realise ‘Its broken!’ . I have back ups for most things but on this occasion not for a particular lens. Because of the amount of work I do I can’t really afford to not have this lens as part of my arsenal whilst its being repaired.
So what happened? Basically my auto focus died then I discovered the reason why, one of the elements has become displaced the lens has to be repaired. I must admit I’ve not really hired too much camera equipment in the past. I’ve always made sure I have what I need for a certain job but I do constantly receive emails advertising rental services so I started doing some research.
The first company I looked at was camulet http://www.calumetphoto.co.uk/ I see them advertised all over so thought I’d take a look at their prices. Their site is great with lots of choices and a great pdf guide you can download. They give the option to have an item delivered or to pick up from their store. The lens I needed was £84 a week. I couldn’t find a way to add the rental item I needed to a shopping basket so I think you have to call them to hire the item. I don’t know if they charge a deposit, or insurance. I thought I would keep them in mind anyway.
Next I tried http://www.hireacamera.com The site was again very easy to navigate and the prices were’nt too bad either coming in a bit cheaper than camulet for longer rental terms. I could order from online and so set about doing so. This company do charge a £150 deposit for the lens and a £25 delivery charge (There was no option to collect). The delivery would be next day so I signed up to order the lens I needed. I received a mail saying it was out of stock, they did offer me an alternative but it wasn’t what I was after, I also saw another £20 charge if I did want to order the lens which was a reserve charge. Even though I wanted to hire the lens there and then. I could see the costs building up. However on the plus side they do also offer sigma lens which could be a great alternative for those on a budget. Again the lens I requested in the sigma range wasn’t in stock!
After much google searching I came across www.lensesforhire.com they run from Maidenhead so only about 40 minutes drive away. The site was once again easy to use, but this time rather than having to wait for a mail to say if the lens was in or not it had a calender showing when each item was available. The lens I was after was and it was at a great price! I got the lens for £100 including VAT. There were no hidden costs, and I didn’t have to pay a deposit. I called to make sure it was ok to pick up, and found out you can only drop off on a saturday not pick up. However the friendly lady on the phone said I could collect the lens on a friday and drop it back 3 weeks later on a saturday at no extra charge! I think they are quite a small operation as I’m meeting the lady at a cafe round the corner from their offices. However I’ve had this before with rentals. I hired a portable generator for a photography event last summer from a guy who runs a farm in Winchester (www.centralgeneratorhire.com) the price was incredible, and because the business is small I received great customer service and lots of flexibility.
It just shows you what you can get from shopping around at first I was heading for a weekly hire cost of £88 – not including vat, delivery, deposit ect. In the end I got a 3 week hire with everything included for £100.
I should also mention the great customer service I got from Sussex camera center in Chichester. I called them to tell them about my lens, it is 1 week outside of its warranty! (can you believe it?!) I told them and the staff member said not to worry as it was only a few days out they would honour the warranty as if it wasn’t and will send away my lens for repair for free. Whats also great about that is its a second hand lens so they really we’re going out of their way to help. I’ve had good experiences with them in the past and I always get my sensor swabs from them as when it comes to which liquid to use for which camera they know what they’re talking about! http://www.sussexcameracentre.co.uk/
I’ve had an incredibly busy last few weeks meeting lots of agents in Oxford about doing their photos and floorplans. I’ve had great feedback from my work and was asked by QB Management in Headington if I could do a few shots of the front of new premises. The inside looked fantastic so I offered to do an interior shot as well. They asked if I could do some shots at night, so I headed out at 5 am on Saturday morning and did a few second exposures at F8. This is where my Nikon D3 really comes into its element as I was able to capture both detail inside the office and the agents front sign by using the cameras HDR (High Dynamic Range) settings. The pictures will also appear in an article about the agent in ‘The Oxford Times’.
You can find out more about QB Management by visiting their website at www.qbman.co.uk
QB Managemnt in Headington - Night shot
The Society of Wedding and Portrait Photographers awards 2009 took place last weekend. Its always a big occasion in the industry and I was lucky enough to win two awards this year for commercial and Wedding photography
It seems so rare that we get snow that settles that I really want to make the most of it so I’m making the most of using different angles this week.
Wide angle shots can also give impact to the subject with distorted lines pointing inwards
It seems the new wedding season is just kicking off as soon as 2010 came in so enquires have for wedding dates this and next year.
2009 was a great year for the reportage style wedding photography. There were so many great shots from so many memorable weddings, I got to take lots of loving shots of couples but some of the fun ones really still make me smile everytime I look at them. I’ve ‘tried’ to pick out some of my favourites. I’m really exciting about getting underway with 2010′s weddings if they are half as fun and happy as 2009′s I’ll have lots more wonderful shots to post this time next year.
Matt goes to grab the knife to cut the cake
A collection of my Architectural images are now available in a book from Blurb.
http://www.blurb.com/my/book/detail/1117164
I’ve just launched two new pages / sites. One s a facebook group Hydra Photographic.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=224336609874
The other is a Flickr account
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mark-hardy/
which is quite good as an ongoing portfolio of my work.
It seemed to me with the new website it would be nice to have more of an online presence. I’ve not done a blog before – I’ve got to be honest I’m hoping it will generate some hits on google to move me up against the sea of other photographers. I’ll try to use this to show some new and ongoing projects.
Lets see how it goes
Mark
