{blp} Birth Photography

Its funny what happens when you sign into twitter and you just see someone comment and you instantly become intrigued on the conversation. Its like eavesdropping but being allowed to. Its so much easier, and faster than facebook, and the topics are diverse.
I eavesdropped on a conversation with a few photographers about Birth Photography. And was linked to a couple of blogs incuding this one from Orange County Photographer Chenin Boutwell  and also through searching I found DFW Birth Photographer too.

There doesn’t seem to be many UK photographers offering Birth Photography but I suppose it could be that as a woman I’m not sure how I’d feel about having a camera around me when I am in labour and want to kill everyone! (Note: I’ve not had children, I just know all friends who have, have generally ordered death upon someone)

From a photographer point of view it is very much the case of being able to be there for the birth, and also how much to charge as you never know how long you are going to be there! However I found UK based Photographer Cherry Tree Photography giving her details and pricing on Birth Photography.

So…how would you feel about birth photography? How would you feel about having someone photographing one of the most amazing and life changing experiences? I am very interested to hear both Mums to Be, and Photographers regarding this, I think its interesting. Some of the photographs are beautiful….
As a woman, I’m not sure how I’d feel about it, however having seen some of the photographs my heart is warming to it a little more….comments are very welcome as I am very interested in other peoples opinions with this.

{blp} Image of the Week

Starting next week on the 4th September we will be running Image of the Week.

This will be something that has been taken whether it be the day before, or the year before.

We will be reliving some of our favourite images that I have taken.....will YOU feature?

Image of the Week will feature babies, studio, engagement and weddings...

{blp} How did you take that?

I posted this photograph on Facebook and was promtly greeted with "Oohs" and "Ahhs" but also a question from Emma, from Emma Quadra Photography "how did you take that" so I decided a blog post on how I got the idea and executed it would probably be the better way to go.

This Wedding was taking place at Tankersley Manor, and Hannah of Lifeline Photography was Second Shooting with me. In our downtime, and just as we were eating, we were sat discussing photographs etc. I got my Wedding Photography | A Guide to Posing book out of my bag, which I always carry with me. Not so much for me, but with all the photographs in it, its great for executing an idea when the Bride and Groom cannot 100% get at what you are going for you can pretty much use it for a "Like This" explanation.

On flicking through i found an image by Matthias Richter which had lit the bride and groom just via a spotlight. (The image is on his front page about 40 images in!) and we were discussing low-light photography. Looking around us, we were surrounded by spotlights, giving this little circle of light on the floor. Perfect! We're going to do a shot like this!

I got Hannah to pose for me and boy did she pull some funny faces. Totally. She's insane that girl.

I generally always shoot on flash WB setting, and then change in RAW. I took the first Test shot and exclaimed "It doesnt look right" then remembered, I had it on Flash WB and changed it to Auto, to make the shot look more "real colours" after making sure the settings were right, and here you can see the light source, I went to get the Bride and Groom and we took the photographs.

This is one of them in colour, I took a couple in portrait and a couple in Landscape. I quickly showed the Bride and Groom on the back of the Camera and they were like "Oooh that looks great"

For Photographers the Setting was: f1.8, 1/80 ISO 640 85mm lens

Thanks for looking! :)

{blp} Taste for a Tenner - Tuesday 9th August 2011

Back when I used to work as a Second Shooter, in the studio we used to do "Wacky Wednesday" and "Fab Friday" and any other use of alliteration that used to annoy some people. I have now got my own studio, as most of you are aware and I wanted to do the days again when you used to offer a cheap sitting and then get lots of people in.

Some photographers complained at me on twitter. Saying I was devaluing photography and I should be charging 400x (maybe slight exaggeration) of what I was actually charging. Many people especially the ones who attended. Thanked me for allowing photography at an accessible price. It meant that if they didnt get on with the camera, didnt like the surroundings they hadnt wasted a lot of money. But if they got on they got great photographs for a price they were happy with.

So Taste for a Tenner was born. £10, 20minutes studio time. Images uploaded onto a password protected gallery. Our first date we had 14 shoots booked in. One no-show and 1 child who didnt cooperate and just screamed for 20minutes. The rest...went fab.

Each client had a minimum of 25 images uploaded onto their gallery. And some were uploaded onto facebook so the people who were booked into for the 24th could see what they would be getting.

We've had so many words of encouragement. Its very similar to a "group-on" add. And may people are happy and orders are now coming in! :o)

Our next Taste for a Tenner will be held on 24th August 2011 and we are fully booked.

To keep up to date with more of these offers find us on facebook.

Normal photoshoots that are 1-hour long start at £25.00 for more information email adele@bluelightsphotography.co.uk



{blp} Newborn baby Isla

I thought I would blog a few images from Isla's first photoshoot. She was so well behaved and so cheeky! She was at time of shoot 11-days old - and was just adorable!

Who says babies dont smile?!

I love the faces Yawnie babies pull!

Always have to include iccle tiny toes!

We had a couple of newborn hats for her to wear, but she only seemd to like this one. I think its because she could hold onto the tassles.

The had was by Creatives by Tanya

Tiny baby with Daddy

For a newborn shoot with myself, then please contact me on
adele@bluelightsphotography.co.uk

or 01226 872 491

Newborn shoots are £35 and include a slideshow set to music.

Newborn shoots are best done before 10days, however can be done upto 14-days.

{blp} Thomas2, Lincoln

I met Sarah from Thomas2 Bakery at a Wedding Fayre that I stood at the Epic Centre in Lincoln, and I fell in love with her cakes, and cake pops! We got discussing photography and corporate photography for her business and they wanted for their new website.

So a couple of months ago now, I drove down and spent the afternoon in their lovely Cafe/Shop photographing the wonderful delights of everything that they do. Catering  Coffee and Cakes.

Thomas Tea Rooms was founded in 2002 in Newark. The company quickly developed, and with new prospects on the horizon Thomas2 was launched in 2007. Thomas is the family surname, and the 2 stuck because it was their second shop.

Thomas2 have their own exclusive coffee blend, waitress service, an ever-changing menu, and of course friendly staff.

The cakes they are always homemade and baked on our premises using traditional recipes. (And are VERY Yummy!)

Thomas2 also have a 5 stars food hygiene award that we have maintained since opening from City of Lincoln. Thomas2 was also awarded Investors in Education in 2010 for supplying local schools with worthwhile work experience placements within the company.

So the next time you are in Lincoln be sure to pop in and see them. They are open Monday to Friday 9am til 4pm, Saturday 8am til 4pm and closed Sundays and bank holidays.


If you are looking for new images for your website for your products then please contact adele@bluelightsphotography.co.uk

{blp} Wedding Venue - The Stables, High Melton

Yesterday I had my first Wedding at The Stables at High Melton.

The Stables is part of Doncaster College and it is a beautiful venue.

There is accomodation, a gorgeous courtyard, places for photographs and a church which you can also get married in.

The Stables is set within a 126-acre manor estate, and also the parish church of St James, which is an unusual 12th Century Norman Church.

The Civil Ceremony of yesterdays Wedding was in the drawing room of the Old Hall which is now named Melton Wood.

The Venue has a 5* "Scores on the Doors" Enviromental Hygiene rating for 3 years running!
The Venue has a range of menus, including BBQ and Hot Hog Roast!

The Venue offers exclusivity for Weddings with a Sit Down Breakfast of 60 or more. The Maximum Sit down numbers are 92. Smaller Weddings can be accomodated for.

The use of Melton Wood for Civil Ceremony is £250.00 and it can accomodate approximately 85 Seated Guests, this does not include any charges made by the Registrar.

The Stables currently also have a £1995 offer on their Wedding Package which includes a 3 course Wedding Breakfast for 50 day Guests and Evening for 100 or Wedding Breakfast for 60 and evening for 80 Guests. It also includes red carpet, table linen and napkins, cake stands, free round of golf for the groom, best man and two groomsmen, a master of ceremonies, in house DJ from 8pm to Midnight and Bar extension to 11:30pm.

From a photographers point of view, the staff were so helpful and friendly and really couldnt do enough for you. I look forward to shooting many more Weddings there!

{Win Your Wedding Photography} And The Winner IS.....

On 11th April, I had a bit of an Idea. I had seen another photographer do something similar in Ireland, so I decided that I wanted to do a {Win Your Wedding Photography} Competition. I decided how it would work, got the marketing material together and launched it some 20days later.


1st May was the opening for entries. People had to email in to tell us why they thought they should win the pacakge that I had put together - and it was open for 2months. Including the wedding fayres that I was exhibiting at.


The entries came in, some for dates I was already booked which I had to turn down. And some for dates that were not within the competition dates I was running.


In the end we had 10 couples to be short listed down to three. This was going to be hard. I couldn’t do it myself, so I drafted in some of the people I speak with on Twitter to help me choose and decide. This was done on a “Eurovision” style voting. Meaning people were marked out of 10 to 1, and the 3 with the most votes were the short listed couples.


And that’s how we were born. A couple had already decided to book their photographers as they didn’t want to miss out (and these were people that got short listed) so our 3rd place changed 3times!
Our three were launched Samantha & Daniel, Amy & Chris and Kalie & Claire.


I did a small photo shoot with each couple to find out how they photographed and also so that I could use the images when the Winner was announced.

We opened the voting on 1st July, open until midnight on 31st July 2011 and the winner to be announced today…3 months after the competition was announced.

We have had over 1200 votes, with some duplicates meaning the final total was 1132 votes. The votes were per email address. All duplicated emails were deleted.

At one point one couple were some 300 votes ahead, but big pushes from everyone meant that the final voting came down to 31 votes between 1st and 2nd place.

The winner, with 46.9% of the votes (523) is….

Amy & Chris

I want to say a big well done to Samantha & Daniel (43%) and Kalie & Claire (10.1%) for entering the competition and doing so well to get the votes that you have had. And I look forward to speaking with you regarding your respective Weddings to see if Blue Lights Photography can help you in any way.

Lets have a look at some of the photographs taken of Amy & Chris and a bit more of their story.

Amy & Chris met in Whitley Bay on August Bank Holiday 2005 through mutual friends, and thats how it all started. (Chris wasnt actually going to go "with the lads" so this could have all worked out differently!)

The are getting married on Christmas Eve at Tankersley Manor, Barnsley. With a Ceremony at 1pm and then onto their Wedding Breakfast and the Evening Reception.

They do not know anyone who has got married on Christmas Eve before, so it is unique to them. And a venue they had seen suggested it. (but not the venue they actually booked)

Chris proposed to Amy, when they had just purchased their first house, and she was pregnant with their now eldest daughter Jessica. The time just felt right to make this little family complete.

They are having a small wedding with just 30 close family and friends. They say choosing to stick to having a small number of guests made the decision some of the planning easier.

Amy and Chris were the first couple to email in to the {Win Your Wedding Photography Competition} so they have had an agonising 3months of waiting and I know for Amy some times of it has been stressful.

Her origional email stated:

My name is Amy. Me and my partner Chris are getting married on the 24th December 2011 at Tankersly Manor, Barnsley. We think we should win because we need a helping hand towards our Wedding. We have two young children and a mortgage and have been struggling to afford a good photographer. Chris is currently working three different jobs in an attempt to pay off this wedding without getting into too much debt. Thanks for this opportunity.

I asked them also what would winning the competition mean to them:
Winning this competition would mean a lot like it would do for all the couples, not just the cost of it as this would take a lot of stress off us, but having a well known professional photographer looking after the one day you will always look back on and the one day you could never buy back as it only happens the once.

Well congratulations Amy & Chris.

You've WON!