Diary of a Wedding
Almost everyone loves a good wedding, and after all there's the dresses, the flowers, the laughter, the tears. Then there's a good old family knees-up and party. My day at a wedding is kind of different, but also in a good way - I thought I'd take you through one of them...
7.00am Been awake for an hour or so, thinking through details, shots, angles, equipment... Oh, and listening to the rain(!)
8.45am Showered, shaved, suited & booted. Car loaded including at least two of everything, full studio lighting (just in case) and step ladder, two packed meals and then off to the Bride's house.
9.30am Bride's houses are always 'interesting' places when full of Brides, Bridesmaids, Mothers, Aunts, Grandmothers and goodness knows what. Definitely not the case today though - Coffee & Pain Au Chocolat makes a perfect break-in to the day. The rain continues and inside I'm photographing makeup and hair being done, bridesmaids dresses and shoes.
10.15am The Groom's party are tucking into Frankie & Benny's finest breakfast - now I'm jealous. I am due to be there, but don't want to miss the vital moment of the Bride's tiara being fitted. For a moment there it almost stopped raining.
10.40am Off to Frankie & Benny's for some blokes-doing-breakfast portraits, amusing a handful of other diners. Then the walking-up-the-road to the restaurant shots, until it starts lashing down again.
11.00am Back to the house, Dad is able to bring the dress down to photograph and the flowers arrive. It's all coming together now. The Bride's starting to panic though, no need for a particular reason, just everything.
11.45am Would have been nice to get the dress lacing up shots, but the Bride's still in PJs and the Church is awaiting. I'm always there an hour before to get the empty venue scene-setters, not to mention all the setting up and double checking. Then it's grabbing a few minutes with the Groom's party and catching the other guests arriving.
1.00pm Whoo-hoo - It's just about stopped raining!!! Just in time for the bit of the show that you see to start rolling out.
To be continued...
Saturday 10th July is Goosnargh & Longridge Agricultural Show, and by slight coincidence is also the one public outing of the Stuart Homer Photography Ltd Roadshow for this summer.
OK, so it's not quite as grand as it might sound - but we will be at the show, so why not come and pay us a visit.
We'll have our on-site studio and professional dye-sub printing facilities so you can drop in for a free portrait session, and we'll also be printing your image onto snazzy key rings at the show. Apart from that we'll have the latest in Wedding albums on display and of course the opportunity to chat with us over a coffee and discuss any requirements you may have.
Looking forward to seeing you at the show...
Sunday 9th May saw the first running (literally!) of the Blacksticks Blue 10K Road Race, and Stuart Homer Photography Ltd. were there in support. The event saw approximately 200 runners conquer a gruelling course from Whitechapel, over Beacon Fell and back to collect their trophies!
Images of the event can be viewed by Clicking HERE, which will open the gallery in a new window.
Images may also be ordered as prints, enlargements, canvases and other gifts directly from Stuart Homer Photography Ltd. as described below...
To order your image from any of those in the online gallery, follow these steps:
Browse the gallery and find the images you'd like to order. Click on each image to see it larger, and hover your mouse over the images to see the image file reference.
Click HERE to download our Blacksticks Blue 10k Road Race Photograph order form in Adobe PDF format.
Print out the order form and write in your details and the references of the images you'd like to purchase.
Payment is fine by cash, cheque, postal order etc. Please make cheques payable to Stuart Homer Photography Ltd.
There's a £1.00 charge to cover postage, unless you'd like to collect your order in person which is fine with us.
Send the form back to us with payment to:
Stuart Homer Photography Ltd,
5 Church Lane,
Goosnargh,
Preston,
Lancashire
PR3 2BE
We'll order your photographs and should have them with you in approximately 21 days.
We're donating back a chunk of your payment directly to WICE, helping to support the day's fundraising for outdoor sports facilities for the Village.
Late February 2010 has seen a lot of coverage in the Press of the UK Government's policy for the protection of young people by reducing their exposure to adult themes in the media and controlling the extent to which unrealistic images of role models are presented.
One aspect of this is in accurately describing the extent to which photo editing 'photoshopping' has been applied to imagery, for example of models and pop stars, resulting in images portraying perfection.
As a father of a primary school age child, I completely agree with the need to protect children's interests and have embedded from day one certain principles into the way Stuart Homer Photography Ltd. operates.
- Where portraiture or other work closely involving Children and young people is carried out, I will always ensure a Parent or Guardian is present and remains in full agreement throughout with the work being carried out. I always endeavour to avoid physical contact, instead showing poses by example.
- Where medium sized groups occur including children, for example Weddings, Parties, Scout Group commissions and the like, I will always ensure first of all that I have been asked by the organiser to undertake photography, and to clarify that they have made parents aware that I am operating on their behalf.
- For larger group events, the same principle applies in that I will always ensure that the organisers when requesting me to operate for them are cognisant of the rights of those involved, and have made a declaration appropriately that photography is to be professionally undertaken. Unless under the specific guidance and request of a parent, no individual photographs of young people are taken - instead always in a group context and in a way which is related to the event being covered.
- I am more than happy to discuss the limits and constraints around the Criminal Record Bureau (CRB) checking scheme for those working with young or vulnerable subjects.
Also, in the light of the recent Government announcements, please also be aware of the following:
- You will notice a relative absence of images of people within this website, despite the majority of my work being people based. This is mainly an extension of the principles described above being applied to protect the interests of my clients in respect of anonymous internet access.
- Where I do present images of people, these are generally entirely natural images with minimal editing. A certain limited amount of editing may be used to mask skin blemishes and to partially reduce the appearance of wrinkles. Generally, editing will not be any more severe and will not involve, for example trimming figures to create the illusion of skinniness.
- In addition, I do not encourage young people to adopt a style associated with, or for example to pose in a way associated with adult themes. Clothing, accesories and any make-up are the choices of the Parents and Guardians.
I hope you are satisfied and reassured by my approach to this important subject, however if you would like to know more please do not hesitate to contact me.
(Posted 5/3/2010)
Turbary Woods is an owl and bird of prey rescue and rehabilitation centre, located near Lostock Hall, Preston. Saturday 20th February saw them hosting a fundraising photographic day, check out a few of my images here...
If you'd like to order one of these images as a bespoke photographic print, enlargement, canvas or other gift please contact me. A proportion of the proceeds will go back to support the work of Turbary Woods.
Click Here to visit their website in a new window. If you're local why not pay them a visit and see these beautiful animals for yourself.
If you're a Facebook Fan, you might
like to become a friend of Stuart Homer Photography Ltd.
Just have a search for me on Facebook, listed under the company name. That way as events and any offers are coming up through 2010 and onwards, you'll be the first to know.
I've now got a new supplier on-board and as a consequence have a dramatically increased product range.
Larger sized photographic prints are available in a fantastic metallic finish, enlargements are available up to a massive 60"x40" and prints are available to order ready framed (including multiple imaged mounts) along with metal plate, acrylic, MDF Block and many other contemporary styles.
Please ask for details.
Sunday 15th November 2009
Pre-Christmas Studio Portrait Days took place very successfully on Saturday & Sunday 24-25th October, but you haven't missed out - one more session is taking place on Sunday 15th November. All day I'll be carrying out portrait sessions with a full studio set in the spacious environment of Goosnargh Village Hall.
Price for a session is just £30.00, from which you will receive a CD of images to choose from. Prints start from £2.50, along with Enlargements, Christmas Cards and many Gifts all available to order for Christmas or just for yourself.
The event is open for families, couples, individuals, friends, pets, in fact just about anyone. Children do have to be accompanied by an adult however.
Sessions are taking place starting at 9.30, 11.00, 12.30, 14.00 & 15.30 and are subject to availability - first come, first booked so don't delay. Advance booking is essential so please get in touch.
You can now become a fan on Facebook... See selected sample photographs, keep in touch with what I'm up to and join in discussions:
Just search for "Stuart Homer Photography Ltd." from your profile page, then become a fan!
A further session is taking place on Friday 6th November - contact me for details
It's an interesting month, August!!! For most businesses August is a quiet time, with the school holidays in full swing.
August for me has has seen three weddings in three weeks, all very different but all beautiful. Congratulations Clare & Graham, Matt & Louise and Beverley & Simon. Between those I've had the privilege to be present to photograph a Muslim engagement ceremony and celebration.
Over and above those formal occasions, portraits shoots have continued along with discussions over a 'Top Gear' style racing car shoot (lots of assistants volunteering! Hmmm), and talking of volunteering - congratulations to Ann-Marie and all the others who held a fantastic Wild-West fundraiser for BHF. I was there photographing Wanted posters. There have been airborne agility dogs and also studio bound rare breed dogs, and so far we're only three weeks into the month!
On top of all that work, my trusty S5 has clocked up over 10,000 shutter releases since new. Plenty of life in it yet, so let's see what next month can throw at it...
Or at least there was last weekend! But don't panic, most of the casualties were of the mechanical variety and the 'big guns' being fired off were V8 petrol engines.
Last weekend 27-28th June saw the Red Rose Land Rover Club competing in the annual War of The Roses trials. We were there to support Sister-in-Law Louise and Fiancé Mike in the competition, and got some good photos from the thick of the action as well.
All the photos are going to be displayed at the next Club Night on 7th June, and part of the proceeds of any print sales is going straight back to Red Rose Land Rover Club to support their charity work. Here's a taster of a few images:
Hitting the Road...
The Stuart Homer Photography Ltd show hit the road to go to Chipping Steam Festival which took place 23-25th May just outside the village of Chipping in Lancashire.
If you missed us there, come and say Hello and have a chat at Goosnargh and Longridge Agricultural Show on Saturday 11th July.
Come and say hello and have a chat at our trade stand. You can have your photograph taken in our live portrait studio, with printing on-site at some very special prices and you'll also be able to see examples of some of the products we can offer, including the latest top quality Italian handmade wedding books.
Mention to us that you've seen this link on the website and we'll see if we can rustle up a coffee for you when you visit!
Photographs delivered direct to you.
You can now order photographs, enlargements and gifts from selected events online, to be delivered first class direct to your door.
For selected events which I've covered, you can now browse the galleries and securely purchase from my supplier's website. This allows you to select and buy the most common sized prints, but of course please speak to me directly about other sizes, canvas and acrylic prints, framing, photobooks and albums and anything else you're looking for.
Spring is most definitely in the air, so why not celebrate new birth with a New Baby Gift Voucher.
It's the gift that will be remembered a lot longer than a cuddly toy, the new parents and baby will get a dedicated portrait session in their own home and a complementary enlargement. Prices are lower than you'd image, so why not get in touch now for details.
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PRESTON DANCE FESTIVAL took place on Thursday 2nd April, organised by Preston Schools Sports Partnership and Corpus Christi Catholic Sports College. The event featured 19 schools from the Preston area, performing on the Charter Theatre stage with the theme of countries.
The event was a huge success, with all the dancers (around 200 children) performing flawlessly to a packed house in the evening.
I was able to support the event both with still photography of the preparations and by producing a DVD of the final production in all its glory. The DVD is available for parents and staff to order. In the first instance, each school is being sent a sample copy and order forms. The schools will then collect together the orders and payment, and I will then provide them with the number of copies needed.
The order form, for use only by the Schools, may also be downloaded here.
If you have any problems or questions though, please contact me.
On Saturday 8th February, I was able to support the work of Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY, www.c-r-y.org.uk) in fundraising by photographing at their Charity 'A Taste of Robbie' night.
CRY promotes awareness and raises funds for research and screening aimed at preventing Sudden Adult Death Syndrome which tragically affects many families across the UK.
The evening, hosted by Tony Slater and Ruth Lowe (CRY Northwest Divisional Representative), featured Matt Byrne as Robbie Williams. Star of the Legends tribute show in Blackpool and with years of performance under is belt, Matt is a Robbie look-alike, sound-alike and all round good bloke. Matt dedicated one of his songs to a close friend of his who tragically passed away whilst playing rugby at the very venue of this event.
Apart from photographing throughout the evening, I was able to photograph guests posing with Matt in his dressing room and with the benefit of my on-site printing equipment, to sell their photographs to take home with them, proceeds going direct to CRY funds.
You can view more photos from the night on my gallery page. Proceeds from any other photograph sales of the event will also go direct to CRY, so browse away and don't hesitate to contact me if you'd like to order any prints.
Don't forget, if you're having a similar charity or community event, I may well be able to raise money for you without costing a penny. Please contact me for further details with no obligation.
'Shoot That Motor' is a campaign title from Stuart Homer Photography Ltd., for something a little bit different.
It's aimed at making the car, bike, 4x4 or truck the star of the photograph with the emphasis on affordability. When you've spent thousands on it, why not have your pride and joy personally photographed in your chosen surroundings. It could be anything from a dark gritty, graffiti stricken urban backdrop behind your hot hatch, dark broody skies over your Evo, or how about wind-through-the-hair sweeping open roads, or your 4x4 up to it's door-hinges in the mud.
I can have your pictures printed as true photographs up to poster sized and can have posters printed even bigger! and I can design and supply calendars, mousemats, mugs, T-shirts, stickers - almost anything.
Get in touch now with Stuart Homer Photography Ltd. for a no obligation chat around the art of the possible.
September 2008 saw Stuart & Debbie hosting a Grand Charity Ball, which successfully raised approximately £1500 for the two very worthwhile charities Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY) and British Heart Foundation (BHF).
You can visit my sister website or the two charities websites by clicking the links below.
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