Summer is here!

After a couple of damp and dreary summers it is looking as if 2009 is certainly going to be a lot brighter.

With the onset of the longer days, the wedding season swings firmly into top gear for many photographers. This means that most weekends and many weekdays are now taken up with weddings, but this is what i got into wedding photography in the first place. In fact in my mind, the actual wedding days are my "days off" as i am very fortunate to be passionate about my work.

Saying that. as usual we have been very busy for most of the year as i am fortunate enough to shoot all year round. Indeed i have become a bit of a winter wedding specialist over the past few years, shooting 15 weddings from October last year through to the end of February this.

Of course, this throws up a completely different set of challenges to photographing summer weddings but to be honest, this a huge attraction for me. I love the diversity of working in the different seasons.

Summer is always lovely, weather permitting, but i genuinely love shooting in the autumn, spring and winter. The light, or lack of it, is so much more challenging and can be very dramatic which in turn lends itself to superb photographic opportunities.

Getting the best out of tricky conditions can seperate the men from the boys so to speak but at the end of the day, that is what being a professsional wedding photographer is all about. I always feel that it is my job to produce images that are on a much higher level than those taken by the proliferation of guests cameras that are present at every wedding these days.

An experienced eye and correct technique combined with the right equipment (not necessarily the most expensive) and the knowledge of how best to use it are all key to producing consistantly, stunning results.

To see my galleries that show real wedding pictures taken at real weddings (by this i mean images not set up by other photographers and shot at workshops or as a tag along on someone else's weddings) please visit my website.

Finally here are a couple of recent personal images taken on my lovely Canon G10.

"Where is she?"........ John looking for Ruby!



Amelia growing up too fast.



Jacob



Amelia and Baggins



On the beach at beautiful Pevensey Bay.

Peter Wins at South East Region, Master Photographers Association's Annual Awards

Monday was a long day. After being woken up by someone worse for wear at 3.15am i decided to get up at 5am to walk the dog before getting ready for a day of learning at Rowfont House.

I had help arrange for Mark Leightley to come over from Guernsey to talk about the ways he runs his very successful portrait studio on the small island where he lives.

As it was a gorgeous morning i decided to beat the traffic and jumped onto the Fat Boy for a relaxing ride up the A22 and through Ashdown Forest, arriving early to help prepare the venue for our speaker.

The seminar was superb and Mark was one of the best speakers i have had the pleasure to hear.

The day ran late and when i heard that the judge for the evening's annual print awards wasn't going to finish until 10pm i decided that the lack of sleep made it wise to leave early. To be fair the region had a huge entry and this was the reason for him over running.

So i missed the fun and drama of the competiton and was stunned, surprised and very excited to hear the results on Tuesday afternoon.

I was fortunate enough to win the Classic Wedding and Events categories as well as picking up Runner Up in the Open Portrait section and a merit in Landscapes, Pictorial and Travel.

More suprising has been the huge number of congratulations messages and i am very thankful for all of these well wishers taking the time to get in touch.

In answer to so many requests to see the winning images, i thought i would share them with you all here. Many thanks to VPS Imaging of Goring ( http://www.vpsimaging.com/Home.html ) for the superb printing and mounting of my entries.

Classic Weddings: 1st Place



Events: 1st Place



Open Portrait: Runner up



Landscape, Pictorial and Travel: Merit

Website Face Lift

After 4 years of having it's present layout and look unchanged i am please to reveal a face lift of my website www.peterprior.com .

The main site and galleries are basically unchanged, although once i get some time, i will be adding new images and changing things in the flash galleries.

As the site has been so successful for us and in fact the best investment we have ever made, i couldn't see the point of "binning it". Instead after a lot of research and talking to various website and SEO companies we got together with John of Zig Zag Design (www.zigzagdesign.co.uk), to build content around the existing galleries.

The main aims were to make the site more visible to search engines and therefore prospective clients as well as adding information to help brides as they look for the their ideal wedding photographer.

I have to say that John has done an excellent job in cloning the look of our main site and all being well, the results will be repay the effort we have put in together.

Please take a look at www.peterprior.com and feel free to send any comments over regarding the content, navigation and any ideas you may have to improve the experience for clients and visitors alike.

The Grand Hotel Wedding Experience: Thursday 4th June

I just thought i would post a reminder that the Grand Hotel Eastbourne, is throwing open its doors to couples looking for a wedding venue to WOW them!

The date is Thursday 4th June and the time is 5pm until 9pm.

No appointment is necessary, its free and the hotel's amazing staff will be present to ensure you get the red carpet treatment on the evening.

I will be present along with some of the Grand Hotel's preferred wedding suppliers and will be looking forward to talking over your plans and ideas for your big day.

For further information, please feel free to give me a call on 01323 740741, the Grand Hotel on 01323 412345 or go to http://www.grandeastbourne.com/weddings.html .

Kate and David's Wedding at Somerley in Ringwood

I have to start by saying how lucky we were at Kate and David's wedding.

Firstly, the drive from home to Hampshire was very, very wet indeed and the rain didn't abate until we closed in on Ringwood. Even then we were blessed with good fortune weather-wise as the wind kept the showers brief throughout the day, meaning when ever we needed to be outside, the sun was out. PHEW!

Next the luck continued with the venue. Somerley, is absolutely stunning and even better than the website makes it look (http://www.somerley.com/).

To cap it all, Tony and his staff was superb as well, ensuring that everything went smoothly and that Kate and David could really enjoy their day without any worries or glitches.

Kate and David, together with their guests genuinely made my life easy. There was a great, relaxed atmosphere and i managed to really capture the essence of their day.

Having everything in the one location, certainly allowed them to have a stress free time and it was great to be there for their escape; the leaving shots really help to bring the photography to a nice conclusion.

Here are a few moments of the day and the rest of the photographs are now on my website www.peterprior.com

Another Testimonial

I returned home, late yesterday evening after a fabulous day at Port Lympne Zoo in Kent, where i covered the wedding of Adam and Louise to open a lovely testimonial and thank you card from Iain and Julie whose wedding i was privileged to cover at Herstmonceux Castle last month.



"We wanted to say a really big thank you for your advice and enthusiasm leading up to the big day and for your hard work and professionalism on the day itself. No one could believe how quickly you got through the formal photographs whilst achieving the amazing results that you did. We absolutely love the artistic yet casual style of the photos and you captured the atmosphere of the day perfectly. We look forward to seeing the photos in the album."

Iain and Julie



We really love receiving these cards, that all help to make our art and service even more the worthwhile.

Ceri and Steve's Wedding at the Powdermills Hotel, Battle

The Powdermills Hotel (http://www.powdermillshotel.com/) is one of my favourite Sussex wedding venues and over the years i must have shot 40 or more weddings there.

Last week saw me photograph the wedding of Ceri and Steve who i had only met the three days beforehand. They had booked me to be their wedding photographer a year beforehand but lived away from Sussex and the pressures of work had made it impossible to meet up.

After a couple of unsettled weeks, we finally had a dry day for a wedding!

The ceremony was held at Battle Church and Ceri and her bride's maids were accompanied down the aisle by her dog who was probably the coolest head there, almost dosing off at the front of the church during the ceremony!

What made their wedding stand out was the "wedding car" which was a chauffeur driven VW Camper van in stunning condition.

We also went for a long walk right around the far side of the huge lake at Powdermills where i managed to capture some stunning images in the woods and amoung the wild garlic. To be honest i have never had the time allowed at a wedding to explore that far at Powdermills before and i have to say it was well worth the effort.

As ever the wedding is viewable on my main website http://www.peterprior.com/ but here are a few images of the day.