Post-Covid Plans - Photo, Hybrid Shooting and Taking to the Skies!
What a rubbish year it’s been for many of us, with weddings cancelled or moved, charity events cancelled and of course missing our loved ones. It’s also been rough for the photography business, and I’ve had to put A D Hall Photography on hold since since New Year 2020, with zero wedding and event photography happening.
But there are the green shoots of recovery; wedding and event bookings are starting again following the Government’s outline plans recently. Small weddings of up to 15 guest - INCLUDING the photographer - able to go ahead from 12th of April. In fact I had an inquiry last weekend for a wedding on that day! As you can see below, we then ramp up to 30 guests from mid-May and then (fingers crossed) we’re back to ‘normal’ from 21st of June. I can’t wait!
Of course, many will be waiting until after June, and indeed all of the dates for weddings and events that were delayed from last year are now re-booked for July onwards - a sensible move I think!
Naturally if you (or anyone you know) are looking for a wedding photographer, I still have gaps in my diary that I’d love to fill - I’ve got a feeling 2021 weddings will be awesome, and I’ve held my prices from last year.
So what else is new? Well, before the lockdown I’d started to experiment with ‘hybrid shooting’ - essentially capturing snippets of video in between the stills shots. By the end of a wedding day, I end up with a 5 minute (ish) highlight reel of all the main events. Personally, I think there’s a higher chance that you’d sit through a 5 minute clip of your day rather than a full-length video. I am of course not taking anything away from the awesome job wedding videographers do, and it may be right for you to hire one; but I think it could be an interesting extra I can offer. I’ll certainly be looking to re-energise this option this year should anyone want to add to the existing packages I offer.
Talking of new ways of shooting, I’ve decided to take the leap and get one of these:
I’ll be taking delivery of a Mavic 2 Pro sometime in April, and will be undertaking a full commercial training course, with a view to adding to the hybrid video I talked about earlier. It’ll also be great for capturing those ‘whole wedding’ group shots that up until now I’ve needed to hang out of windows to get! On a personal level, I’ll be using it for landscape shots once lockdown is over and I can get out and about.
I intend to do a series of videos on YouTube to document the drone, my practice and training, the regulatory workflow I’ll need to follow and of course some awesome footage. I’ll be sure to update this blog with the links.
Thanks for reading and see you all soon!
Al.
A & M at Ravenwood Hall
This Suffolk wedding was an amazing day – really relaxed, a wonderful couple and a miraculous amount of sunshine! This booking was actually a really rapid book-to-shoot affair, with only 2 months notice. The couple approached me whilst I was doing the portraits at a charity ball in Kings Lynn, and asked about their date. On checking my diary, I was actually already booked for another charity ball in Lincoln – so I initially had to turn them down. But this got me thinking, as I’d not heard from the existing booking in a while and we’d arranged to meet up sometime in the 1st half of the year. So, the next morning I e-mailed the clients to confirm all was still on track. I must say I was glad I did, as due to some sad events, they had actually cancelled the event.
Now, I was left with an empty weekend, and a potential client – but I had no way of contacting the couple who approached me the night before! This led me to some amateur sleuthing – the charity ball had been organised by an old school friend of mine, and I knew that many of the guests worked at the same company that she did. So I sent her an image of the couple and asked if she knew who they were – and amazingly she did and passed on an e-mail address. Obviously they were still interested in booking me and I got the gig! I guess it shows that it’s worth always chasing those leads!
I wish I’d taken a screenshot of the weather forecast for that day – as it was showing heavy rain all day. It was looking to be my first proper washout of a wedding day. But I was prepared with umbrellas and extra lights should I need to do indoor group shots, so I wasn’t panicked. Arriving at the Bride’s address to capture the makeup and hair it was indeed grey, overcast, and at times quite drizzly. But from then on, it just got sunnier and sunnier and I had the alternate problem of too much light and squinting guests! That’s the great thing about wedding photography, you never really know what you’ll be faced with and you’ve got to remain flexible.
Long story short, it was a beautiful day, and the couple were totally enchanted with each other. The intimate number of guests perfectly suited this day of love. The venue is perfect for small to medium weddings and the staff couldn’t have been more accommodating – I highly recommend it if you’re in the Bury St Edmunds area.
I’ve put some of my favourite pictures from the day below – I hope you like them!
As I’ve said at the top of this post, I was able to arrange this booking due to a cancellation so it’s always worth getting in touch if your date is creeping up and you’ve not yet arranged a photographer – but in general I’d recommend getting someone (preferably me of course!) booked around a year ahead of the big day – maybe more for popular summer dates, especially bank holiday weekends.
Thanks for reading – Al.
A Lincolnshire Wedding Styled Shoot
I hope this blog post finds you enjoying the Bank Holiday, and that the weather hasn’t been too extreme for you – do you see the brilliant pictures of lighting circulating Facebook? I’ve missed out on all this as we’ve whisked the kids away to southern Spain to enjoy some reliable sunshine! Don’t feel too bad for me…
What I actually wanted to talk about today is a recent styled shoot I did at the beautiful Irnham Hall near Grantham. Now, I’ve got a conflicted view of styled shoots, in that they can give an unrealistic view of wedding photography for potential clients. A real wedding day is a somewhat busy affair, with not a whole lot of time to arrange the shots you want – it can be a real “under pressure” situation! A styled shoot however, often provides a whole load of time to get the shots, and also more often than not has trained or experienced models instead of a real couple to shoot.
Because of this, I’ve tended to steer clear of styled shoots, but one did catch my eye on a Facebook group I’m part of, being run by ‘The Alternatives’. What appealed to me was that they planned to keep the day’s timings fairly up-tempo, moving from one shot to the next at a fair clip, along with 2 couples that were recently married, and in no way trained models. To me this seemed to be much more representative of a ‘real’ wedding day, giving me some great shots (honestly captured) for the portfolio as well as being able to meet like-minded photographers and suppliers. Clearly, as I’m taking the time to write about this, I signed up and turned up at Irnham Hall on a (very) bright Sunday, not really knowing what to expect.
The day was spent very pleasantly split between 2 couples, (the photographers split into 2 groups and swapped at lunchtime). I started with the lovely Emily and Gavin, capturing some images of Emily having her hair and makeup done, along with Gavin getting himself prepped. We then made our way out into an awesome walled garden, and the Hall’s greenhouses for some beautiful intimate pictures.
After our midday break, we swapped over and my group were taking photos of Drew and Adam, making wider use of the Hall’s grounds. Being able to photograph a same-sex couple was also part of the appeal of the day, as it’s something I’d not done before. Drew and Adam were both great fun, and clearly enjoyed being in front of the cameras!
As I said at the top of this post, styled shoots can give us great results, but they are still false representation if the images are claimed to be from a ‘real’ wedding. However, I found it a really good day of skills-building, bouncing ideas off other photographers and really getting back into the swing of things before the wedding seasons properly kicks in.
As ever, my thanks for reading, see below for a list (and Instagram handles) of the fantastic suppliers who made the day a success.
@emilykweddings - styling
@all_bunched_up - flowers
@meggieandma - dress
@georgettevioletmua - Makeup
@akitoavalanche - hangers
@irnhamhall - venue
@andersandboo - props
@london_victorian_ring_co - rings
@boxandbubbles - prosecco trailer
@raspberry_toast – stationery
@theconfetticakery - cakes and desserts
@opposuits - Mexican suit
@irregularchoice - shoes
@halohairdesignz - hair
@tillyvintage - vintage hire props.
A word about Data Privacy and the New General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
This email / blog is somewhat different to my usual photo output, but please give it a read, as it’s actually quite important (I’ll try and keep it as brief as possible!)
In my line of work, where collecting personal information (email addresses, names etc) is vital to maintain your business, there is a big shift in the law next month, with regard to Personal Data that I need to be compliant with or face the sort of fine that would essentially be ruinous. So, best I comply!
Essentially, GDPR is an update of the Data Protection Act, and it means that all businesses need to be extra vigilant when it comes to handling personal information.
So, pretty dull, but what does this all mean to you? There are a few expanded provisions under GDPR that give you as an EU citizen additional rights (and the UK is adopting this regardless of Brexit.) The most pertinent rights are as follows:
Right to be forgotten. You can demand that for all data pertinent to you to be permanently deleted.
Right to object. You can prohibit certain data uses.
Right to rectification. You demand for your details to be corrected
Right of access. You have the right to know what data an organisation holds about you and how it is being used.
Right of portability. You can ask for personal data held by one organisation be transported / sent to another organisation.
How does this relate to A D Hall Photography? If you’re receiving this as an email, you’re obviously on my mailing list, so I clearly hold and process a certain amount of personal data about you. All personal information I have obtained for both my mailing list and my customer / leads database up to now has been collected in a legal way under the current DPA rules and GDPR does not compel me to remove it or seek re-authorisation (but it must be handled in a compliant way in the future.)
Here is a list of the locations I may hold personal data in order to run my business:
Mailing List. My mailing list is held by a company called Mailchimp, who I use to automate the sending of ‘bulk’ e-mails (it’d be impossible to do this through Outlook!) This company is fully compliant with GDPR, and gives me the tools to properly-manage the personal data they hold on my behalf.
Customer Database. My customer and lead database is held by a company called Tave, who I use to manage names, payments, contracts and task scheduling - anything else required to run a small business. Again, this company is GDPR compliant and holds the information in a compliant way.
Online Sales. My online sales partner is a company calledShootproof. This company is also GDPR compliant and only holds sufficient data in order to process your order and deliver it to you.
Social Media and Payment Gateways. Contacts I have on social media and payment gateways is somewhat out of my direct control as the data is held by that platform (FaceBook, Twitter, PayPal etc.) Data shared with them is only done so in order to communicate with you (ie direct messages, feed posts etc) or to process a payment or refund.
The bottom line is that you are covered by the ‘Rights’ as described above. If you wish to enact any of those rights with respect to me and my business, then I will action your request as quickly as I can humanly do so – it is a legal obligation and the right thing to do.
If you are so inclined, you can read my full privacy statement HERE, and the links to my partners above will take you to their respective privacy statements.
If you’ve read this far, well done! It’s all a bit dull, but I believed it was necessary to explain to you as one of my several hundred subscribers, how I hold your data, and reassure you that I hold it and use it in a legal way.
Thanks for reading!
Al.
J & A's Lincolnshire Summer Wedding
Last summer I was privileged to photograph the wedding day of J and A in Lincolnshire. As a Lincolnshire-based wedding photographer I actually tend to do more weddings out of the county, so it was a real treat to have so little travelling to do!
Last summer I was privileged to photograph the wedding day of J & A in Lincolnshire. As a Lincolnshire-based wedding photographer I actually tend to do more weddings out of the county, so it was a real treat to have so little travelling!
As usual on a wedding day, I started with the bridal make-up session, this time at a salon in the market town of Sleaford. After a nice cuppa and some banter with the ladies, I made my way to the main location of the day; which was the wonderful Branston Hall (http://www.branstonhall.com/) just to the south of Lincoln. My coverage started with the groom and his groomsmen and the arriving guests; and once I'd got shots of the rings and the obligatory 'Reservoir Dogs' walk, I headed upstairs to capture the bride in her beautiful dress before zooming back downstairs for the ceremony.
Branston Hall is a relatively small venue, but they can erect a large marquee in the grounds to cater for larger numbers, so don't discount them if your guest list starts expanding! Branston also has a great variety of locations for photos, from a gazebo to a lake (the ground was a bit soft on this day, so we didn't risk the high heels!)
The day continued with dinner, speeches and dancing (and the bar was naturally doing a good trade!) All in all, it was a wonderful day with lots of laughter and warmth, and it was my aboslute pleasure to be able to capture it.
As usual, I'll end with a selection of photos from the day - thanks for reading.
How I Tamed the Beast From the East
It may seem just a distant memory – but the recent snow storms almost put a stop to me getting to a number of event shoots recently. But through determination (aka bloody-mindedness) and a fair amount of luck, I managed to get to where I had to be!
It may now seem a distant memory – but the recent snow storms almost put a stop to me getting to a number of event shoots recently. But through determination (aka bloody-mindedness) and a fair amount of luck, I managed to get to where I had to be!
The first event I want to discuss is the genuine honour I had to take the graduation photographs at the Royal Air Force college Cranwell. I’d been booked to take photographs of the newly-minted officers with their guests inside the beautiful College Hall (that’s the impressive tall building with the clock tower, you can see it easily from the A17 if you’re passing by!). The journey from my house to Cranwell should be a 10 mile / 20 minute trip. In the end, it was actually a 65 mile / 90 minute one! With the various road closures – including portions of the A15 and seemingly all of the A17, I had a fun journey via Newark, Grantham and Sleaford. Still, I arrived with about 20 mins to spare, and I managed to take some wonderful portraits that will bring proud memories for years to come. I should add that many of these pictures will end up in the brilliant frames offered by Victoria Prints (www.victoriaprints.co.uk)
I was also booked to cover the nights festivities in the form of my more regular black tie ball portraits. An asdded bonus is that I was also able to venture out into the snow to capture the amazing firework display. I was a touch close to some falling and flaming debris, but I hope you agree images like this make it worthwhile.
My drive home wasn’t quite as epic as I found a more direct route, but the number of cars firmly lodged in snowdrifts were a constant reminder to be on my guard!
The next night was spent in Sheffield at the Genting Casino, supporting the Cavendish Cancer Care charity (https://www.cavcare.org.uk/) This charity does some fantastic work in the South Yorkshire area, providing support to families dealing with cancer. Whilst we didn’t make a huge number of sales (it was a relatively small event) we did manage to raise some extra cash for the charity which is always a great feeling.
Also providing the entertainment were the fantastic ZF Dancers, (http://www.zoefrancesca.co.uk/m.index.html) performing their first public show; and the incredibly talented Oliver Parker - Close Up Magician (http://www.leedsmagician.co.uk/)
The snow on the way back wasn’t too bad – sleet really – but it did give the experience of travelling at hyperspace all the way home!
The final run of event shoots was held at the Jury’s Inn near Hinckley, in support of the Sunflower Ball, raising money for the battle against cystic Fibrosis. Again, there was plenty of snow about, but the most treacherous part was the ice-rink like car park!
This was quite a large event, and we were given a brilliant location in the rotunda that gave us loads of space. After a few wifi-related issues (and reverting to an old-fashioned cable) we made entry of sales, that translated to another healthy charitable donation.
Here's a very wobbly video of our setup:
We even got a visit from Captain Jack!
Right, I’ve waffled on for too long, but just a reminder that at charity events, I donate 20% of my sales back to the charity – so it’s win-win for everyone!
Thanks for reading!
R&R's Gorgeous Dorset Wedding
Last summer I had the delight of photographing a military wedding in Dorset in the glorious sunshine. If you didn’t know I offer an automatic 10% to members of the armed forces and blue-light services; and whilst I’m primarily a Lincolnshire photographer, I’m more than happy to travel. (I also advertise on MOD discount websites so I never know where I’m likely to be off to!)
Last summer I had the delight of photographing a military wedding in Dorset in the glorious sunshine. If you didn’t know I offer an automatic 10% to members of the armed forces and blue-light services; and whilst I’m primarily a Lincolnshire photographer, I’m more than happy to travel. (I also advertise on MOD discount websites so I never know where I’m likely to be off to!)
The day started bright, and I made my way to West Farm Holiday Cottages (http://www.westfarmholidays.co.uk/) to capture the bride and her entourage getting ready. I must say, what a happy bunch they were (I think the bride is the smiley-est person I’ve ever met – just see the pictures below!). I busied myself getting all the usual detail shots, and recording the ‘goings-on’ before getting some images of the bridal party outside.
Ever-conscious of the time, I then bid the ladies a temporary goodbye (after a panic that I’d locked my car keys in the car – luckily a false-alarm!) and headed to the church at Canford Magna to meet up with the boys and the rest of the guests.
The church was small but perfectly-formed, with plenty of room for me to move around and get different angles (I’m not a big fan of being stuck in one place) and there was even a raised area where the sound board sits (and the pipes for the organ). Up here I placed a spare camera that
I could fire off with a remote trigger – with a wide angle lens I could get some great shots of the bride as she walked down the aisle with her groom looking on.
As I was getting a few pictures outside the bride’s car arrived a little early – sending the best man a few groomsmen into a panicked run into the church – luckily the groom was already inside.
After a happy ceremony, and the obligatorily confetti and group shots, I whisked the couple away for a breather and some relaxed images next to the river Stour, taking advantage of the weeping willows and beautiful countryside. Naturally there followed the fun and games of the reception and speeches – held in a large marquee at the Grange Holiday cottages just north of Wimborne Minster.
I was in no rush to get back to the B&B (the excellent Sheaf of Arrows in Cranborne www.sheafofarrows.co.uk) I hung around until the sun went down to get some great sparkler and flash pictures to finish the day off. I think you’ll agree they came out really well!
I’ll finish off with some of my favourite images of the day – I hope you like them!
Al.
M & M's Wonderful North Norfolk Coast Wedding
Back in August I had the genuine pleasure to share the wedding day of M & M in the beautiful North Norfolk village of Holme-Next-The-Sea. They had actually booked me in Autumn of 2016 at the Knight's Hill Wedding Fair, and we actually met up in the March for a great engagement shoot down on the beach (it costme a smashed flash trigger, but there's no accounting for mother nature!)
The wedding day itself was blessed with beautiful blue skies and no lack of warmth, and we started by finding the ladies at the Old School House of Hair (http://www.theoldschoolhousehaircompany.co.uk) getting their makeup and hair needs being attended to. This is a fabulous little salon in an old school house, really friendly staff - and they make a great cuppa! After capturing the girls' preparations, we ventured on to Thornham to see the boys - who were mid-lunch! We did the obligatory groom's family and best man shots in the garden, and then headed back to see the girls for their final preparations, the dress and the first look with the father of the bride.
The journey to the church was very short – literally across the road! If only every venue was so easy to get to! The ceremony that followed was filled with smiles and laughter – an accurate reflection of the bride and groom and their approach to life. After the deed was done, I whisked them away to the beach for some bright and breezy couple portraits. The beach has some special childhood memories for them, so it’s wonderful that we could weave that into their day.
The garden-filling marquee was a blessing as we dodged a couple of showers in-between the obligatory group shots, and we then had a wonderful meal, followed by truly heartfelt speeches and the first dance.
It’s such a privilege to be invited into couple’s wedding days to be able to capture these memories for them. It’s even more fun when the couple are as warm and welcoming as M & M and their family – it was a such a pleasure to be involved.
Scroll down for some of my favourite pictures of the day.
Unit next time!
Al.
ps I must add that I was ably assisted by my niece who is a budding photographer herself, you can check out her growing portfolio here: https://www.mhallphotography.photos/
A & J's Wedding, Branston Hall, Lincoln. July 2017
In keeping with my look back at 2017, this week I’d like to share a few pictures from a beautiful day in July.
A & J had chosen the wonderful venue of Branston Hall, just to the south of Lincoln, to host their wedding day; a brilliant location that can cater to most sizes of wedding, (including the provision of a large marquee if needed) but keeping quite an intimate and welcoming feel.
The grounds are just brilliant, with plenty of options for pictures and space for the little ones to let off some steam.
I hope you like this latest look back!
Al.
L and M’s Wedding at Stanton House Hotel, Swindon, July 2017.
In line with my blogging plans set out in my Belated New Year email, I think the time is right to show some pictures that are brighter than the grey January view I can see from my window!
In line with my blogging plans set out in my Belated New Year email, I think the time is right to show some pictures that are brighter than the grey January view I can see from my window!
The first of my 2017 weddings I want to share with you is L and M, who got married at Stanton House Hotel, just north of Swindon. Although church weddings are often prettier, this country house has bags of character, yet has been tastefully modernised.
The other bonus of hotel weddings is that it’s usually much easier for me to capture both the bride and the groom getting ready – in fact, it’s much easier to capture all sorts of things as there’s less travel involved. The bride and groom also graciously sorted me out with a room for the night, so I was able to stay later than usual with the evening photobooth – it was a great relief not to have a long drive to my bed – it was about 50m!
I must also point out the excellent support from Lisa and the staff at Stanton House, they run a tight ship and the master of ceremonies kept everything running to schedule – wedding day timings are notoriously vague!
So, enough of my waffle, please enjoy some the pictures of the day:
