StillVision Photography

The Wedding of Patrick & Hannah

Congratulations to Patrick & Hannah who were married on an unexpectedly sunny Saturday 12th may 2012!  The build up to the wedding day has been 6 weeks of almost constant rain (this also appears to have returned since the wedding day) so I didn’t have my sights set too high for the day!  To my surprise I was dealing with a very bright and often sunny sky!  This provides problems but does make for a good atmosphere (not to mention a cracking sunset as you can see below).  The wedding locations were off the M25 in Bovingdon so outside of my Cambridge catchment area and in a new territory for me!  The church was an attractive village church and the reception was held at the Bride’s parents’ house including a full size marquee in the garden.  I’ve covered a few ‘home’ weddings in the past and they always have a real personal feel to them and today was no exception.  I left the bride and groom munching on cake and listening to a jazz band.  My wedding photography highlights follow:

www.stillvision.co.uk 2012

Zeiss Ikonta 521/16 Results ii

Last year I processed my first experiments with a vintage, 1940’s, Zeiss Ikonta 521/16 medium format camera.  Below are the results from the second roll!  Unfortunately I’ve got to grips with the way the film moves through the camera now so there weren’t as many awesome looking ‘mistakes’ this time around!  The look is still totally brilliant – Instagram eat your heart out!

The Wedding of Alex & Hannah

Congratulations to Alex & Hannah who were married on Saturday 14th April 2012.  Their wedding was my second of the season and compared to the first was significantly more akin to what you’d expect from an April wedding!  We had to dodge the odd shower, the light changed every six seconds and there was quite a chill in the air!  Classic sunshine and showers basically.  That said, everyone admired the beautiful surroundings of Gonville and Caius College in the very centre of Cambridge where the whole wedding day took place regardless of what the sky provided.  I was present for the very middle portion of the day and there was quite a formal group list to get through so it was a good job that time wasn’t tight during the drinks reception.  We left the couple to their wedding breakfast having covered the speeches that took place before the food came out.  My Cambridge wedding photography highlights follow:

The Wedding of Ryan & Caroline

Congratulations to Ryan & Caroline who were married at Queen’s College, Cambridge on Sunday 1st April 2012.  Today was my first wedding of the 2012 season and what a fantastic start!  The wedding was quite spectacular, the weather was un-seasonably amazing (that’s all changed now as I’m sure you can all look out of your windows and see) and Queen’s is one of my favourite college venues!  The wedding ceremony and reception were both held in the Old Hall which made for a spectacular ceremony setting and a single location always helps a wedding day run smoothly.  Whilst the guests enjoyed drinks in the wall to wall sunshine, I managed a good 30 minute walk with the couple around the plethora of photo locations Queen’s has to offer.  I could literally shoot there for hours if I was allowed!  I was booked to stay all day and really enjoyed myself.  I left the bride and groom dancing to the disco.  My Cambridge wedding photography highlights follow:

www.stillvision.co.uk 2012

www.stillvision.co.uk down

My three websites are down today and it sounds serious!  This  blog is still functioning so acts as an online portfolio of sorts for now!  I can still be contacted by e-mail (info@stillvision.co.uk) and by telephone on (01223) 711508.  I hope this gets sorted soon…

Mike.

Our Baby Competition Winner’s Prize Shoot!

This morning we saw 4 month old Callum in the studio for the first time since his newborn session back in November.  Some of you may remember Callum as the irresistible newborn baby who won our 2011 StillVision Photography Baby Competition (see threads below)!  Today was his prize shoot and he will get a disk of images plus a certificate to treasure for ever (or for his parents to bring out for the 18th birthday)!

Given that a newborn was judged to be the overall favourite baby from the baby competition finalists, I didn’t really know what to expect from Callum at 4 months old!  Babies change so much and as a competition winner he came to the studio with a lot to live up to!  He took the session (and such immense pressure) in his stride and provided me with a really fun session full of smiles and expression.  He’s developed a really great personality and there’s every chance that he’d have got picked as a monthly winner if the competition was running again this year!

Here are a few favourites:

www.stillvision.co.uk 2012

BIPP Corruption

Ever since starting out in the photographic profession and achieving my Licentiateship back in 2005 I have had my doubts about the British Institute of Professional Photographers (BIPP).  It had always struck me as odd that the same handful of photographers seemed to win the awards.  There are in fact one or two Cambridge area photographers who have quite a questionable assortment of BIPP awards that it now emerges, don’t have much to do with merit!  In the latest competition 4 out of the 7 judges won prizes and the BIPP photographic competitions have now hit the national news:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-17472993

As a quick word of advice, when picking your photographer for a wedding or anything else, please don’t be impressed by BIPP competition winners!  There’s every chance they simply know the judges

And the winner is…

After reading the opinions of my 7 ‘expert’ judges and receiving hundreds of public votes, I’m delighted to announce the winner of the StillVision Photography Baby Competition 2011!  By the smallest of winning margins, the smallest of the baby finalists, 7 day old Calum, is crowned the overall winner!

I was very surprised by the public reaction to the competition and received far more votes than I expected.  All of the babies did remarkably well and I’m thrilled for them all as they were all pretty amazing!  Many of the votes came in with personal comments such as ‘they’re all so cute, I can’t decide’ or ‘such loooovely babies’ etc, etc… and I think I agree!

Our baby competition winner can now enjoy another studio shoot with me plus a high resolution disk of images (a portrait prize worth over £500).  He’ll also get a lovely certificate for his parents to keep and perhaps bring out for his 18th birthday   His face will also grace the studio walls on a new canvas to be hung above me desk! I am thoroughly looking forward to photographing him again and seeing how he is growing up!

www.stillvision.co.uk 2012

A bit about our baby competition judges:

Before Christmas  we hand picked a series of baby and family related local business owners as ‘expert judges’ in the StillVision Photography baby competition 2011.  These are the people who will help choose the winner:

Claire is well placed to be a judge for us as a business owner with a focus on travel for children and babies.  She runs the Curious Camel Company and a small holiday lodge in the Red Sea coastal town of Dahab, Egypt.  She says that Dahab is such a child friendly place that it is the ideal first holiday destination for your little ones (and it won’t break the bank either)! www.sunrisedahab.com

Helen and the Cambridge Baby team seemed to thoroughly enjoy going through the finalists and loved every single picture!  They are well placed to help pick the winner as they work with children’s clothes every day!  They stock clothing for children aged 0-teen as well as some adult items.  All have been produced ethically and traded fairly and look really beautiful (take a look on their website):

Vivienne  from the Cambridge Toy Shop must see babies, children and families every day of the week in her toy shop in the middle of Cambridge and this makes her an idea judge!  Her shop is a vibrant toy shop with a much wider range and choice that you can find in a typical toy shop, offering some of the best new toys as well as those that parents and grandparents can remember from their own childhoods!

Play Music Play promotes creative music making for children in their early years and was founded by Linda Bance in 1984.  She therefore has oodles of experience with babies and is in touch with parents on a weekly basis so was an excellent choice as a judge for us!  She’s based in Hertfordshire and aims to reach out to all members of the community concerned with the development, education and well being of babies and young children up to the age of 9 years old.

Ray from Streamline Imaging does a lot of StillVision Photography’s print work for our beautiful wedding albums as well as some of our studio print products.  He has an excellent eye so is an excellent choice as a judge for a photography competition and we were pleased to see that his favorites were very similar to ours!

Sally at Birthlight Cambridge runs unique classes for active birth, pregnancy and parent/baby.  Designed to enhance the experience of pregnancy and life with a new baby, she is a highly qualified teacher with over 10 years experience.  All classes include yoga stretches, breathing techniques, relaxation and time for discussion.

Actors!

Yesterday afternoon/early evening we were invaded by a troop (I think that’s what you’d refer to them as) of actors and actresses from the Cambridge University Marlowe Dramatic Society.   The society is rather famous and was the start point for the likes of Stephen Fry, Rachel Weisz & Emma Thompson among many other acclaimed actors, actresses and directors!  12 came for head shots and a group shot needed for an up and coming industry showcase for which they had all auditioned.  There’s no doubt that we met some future famous faces it’s just a case of which ones!

The shoot provided me with a great opportunity to pretend to be Annie Leibovitz and put together a studio portrait digital montage!  The StillVision studio isn’t big enough for groups of more than about 8 so I got to work on shooting smaller portions and painstakingly stitched the group together digitally and in a Leibovitz style.  I will credit Annie for the inspiration but I’m pleased with the montage and hope it can be used for their showcase art work (we did shoot something ’safer’ and altogether less technically challenging as a back up)!  I’m looking forward to seeing them all in action as I’ve landed tickets to the event myself.

A section of actor portfolio photography follow:

www.stillvision.co.uk 2012