These pictures are the result of a styled wedding shoot held in what’s got to be the one of the world’s most photogenic gyms – Cheetah’s Gym in the King Alfred Leisure Centre in Hove.  You know how contemporary gyms are all sterile & samey & harshly lit with awful flourescent tubes?  Not this one.  The basement boxing gym at Cheetah’s is literally in an old boiler room and it looks unchanged since the 1950s – as gritty and Rocky-esque as it gets.

The shoot is based on the idea of marriage as a sparring match; while marriage is this incredible, wonderful, beautiful bond between two people, it (and weddings) can also sometimes be a bit of a battle of the sexes.  I wanted to illustrate this with a bit of humour while keeping elements that were edgy and surreal, so we’ve got the bride and groom facing off with the third character of the bride’s coach as her second – someone to take her side, step in when needed, to offer encouragement and support – like the maid of honour, if we’re talking in wedding terms.

Anyway, it was an amazing day with images resulting once again from a host of talented and generous collaborators.   I think our model Steph looks so gorgeous she gives new meaning to the term “knock-out”.  (Okay, sorry for the bad pun…)  The elaborate (time-consuming!) fashion lighting set-ups were definitely a departure for me and from the way I usually work – though upon seeing the results I am totally excited to keep learning and to practice this more often.  Of course, having Michael Orourke, “The Light Whisperer”, on set was invaluable.  Michael specialises in boudoir photography so his expertise translates into creating beautiful body sculptures with light.

Would love to hear your thoughts on other metaphors for marriage.  What other metaphors could you use to illustrate marriage?

Huge thanks to all:

Models:  Steph Gonzalez (Bride); Kim Head (Coach); Karl Stone (Groom)
Makeup:  Georgie Bambina Brown-Felpts
Lighting guru:  Michael Orourke, The Light Whisperer
Assistant photography: Karlos Wayne, Andy Leates
Wedding dress: Courtesy of Lel Hurst
Location:  Cheetah’s Gym, Hove
Art direction/ production coordination / photography: Erika Szostak (Me) for PhotoMadly 

In my last post I mentioned having gotten briefly locked out of the house while in Javea and taking that opportunity to wander around and experiment with taking pictures in the garden, shooting with my lens wide open despite the strong sunlight to create beautiful bokeh effects.

The reason I got locked out of the house is that I forgot to my phone, of course, on the day I had taken some time off from spending time with family to go and spend time with some new friends, aspiring photographer Johana, working photographer Jorge Calderon Tapia and model Ben.  Had a great time practicing different styles and techniques from creating flare, silhouetting, flash and bounce flash with Jorge’s inventive homemade reflector; here are the results with a few pics of myself by Johana, Ben & Jorge thrown in.

Image DVD Cases Each image DVD case is bespoke handcrafted for you out of upcycled woolen felt by an Etsy vendor in America.  Each case features you and your partner’s names and wedding date hand-stitched on the front in your wedding colour(s);  the inner lining is chosen to match your wedding colour as well.

Wedding Photography Albums These hardcover storybook albums are made in Italy by Album Epoca.  They are similar to coffee table books in that the images are printed directly onto the thick, UV-protected, non-tearing metallic photo paper with a gloss plastic coating. The metallic photo paper provides extra luminescence to the pages and the gloss coating provides extra protection for the images and extra durability. The cover of each album is personalised with the wedding photo of your choice, and the album proof always goes to you for approval and/or changes before going to production.

Choices I’m also open to suggestions for other ways that you might like to preserve and display your memories, and if you think you’d like something other than what you see here I am happy to try to source whatever strikes your fancy.

Now listed on Wedding Photography Select.

Mark’s mum lives in this beautiful little old town called Javea (Xabia) on the Costa Blanca in Spain.  We spent our holidays there this year and I’ve just finally gotten around to editing the pictures I took during our visit.  On one particular day I arrived home to find myself locked out of the house, so I killed a little time by exploring in my mother-in-law’s garden and getting these super girlie pastel-y images by shooting the gorgeous tropical flowers that we don’t get in England but which remind me of my California days.  I used a fast 28mm prime lens open opened up nearly all the way to get the lovely bokeh in the background. (Of course the perfect winter Spanish sunlight was the key ingredient… Using that same lens on those same settings on a grey English winter day hardly gets the same effect.)

What would you like to see in a magazine for alternative couples?  What do you think makes a vendor or a wedding “alternative”?

Oliver – amazing child that he is, as ever – attended the show with us and was cheerful the entire day despite being made to get up at 5:30am.  Here he is, modeling for me with his daddy as I test the light on the photo booth.

We ran a wedding photo booth with silly props at the fair yesterday offering free portraits to attendees so that they could try it all out.  Check out some of these fun images with said props:

What props would you most like to find with a photo booth?

I am so excited to share with you the results from a styled Alice in Wedding Land shoot that was the result of a collaboration between an amazing team of generous and talented people.   When Sada Ray of Flutterby Bakery and I first started talking about doing a shoot together, the original plan was simply to showcase Sada’s gorgeous dessert tables.

I suggested the idea of an Alice in Wonderland theme, and when Sada told me that not only was Lewis Carroll famously regular fixture in 19th-century Brighton, staying & writing frequently at his sister’s home in Sussex Square, but that local legend has it that the Sussex Square & Lewes Crescent Gardens served as inspiration for parts of the famous story, I knew that Alice in Wonderland it had to be.  And that we had to shoot in those same gardens, no less!

The most instantly recognizable connection between the Alice in Wonderland story and the gardens comes from the tunnel that runs underneath Marine Parade between the gardens and the beach at Duke’s Mound.  One look at that tunnel and it’s easy to see why locals believe it inspired Carroll to create the rabbithole that takes Alice to Wonderland.

Once we settled on the theme, things got bigger and better from there.  Amanda Refoy Flowers joined us to create Alice’s bouquets, the models floral hairpieces and buttonholes and to help dress the sets.

Amanda brought Marian Thornton of Marianne Designs on board to make us a bespoke dress for Alice, inspired by the design of one of her dresses in the Tim Burton film.  Marian added just a touch of navy blue edging to the ivory dress as a nod to the traditional blue we expect to see on Alice.  And not to mention, since this is a wedding dress, it could work as a bride’s “something blue.”

.

Miriam, the bride-to-be who won my Retro Styled Shoot competition back in August, agreed to play Alice.

Photographer Bekah Palmer volunteered to play the part of the Cheshire Cat and photographer Mike Oddhayward offered to assist on the shoot.  We sourced Bekah’s gorgeous vintage green dress from Beyond Retro for just £36, and I think we can all agree that even if Miss B is usually behind the camera, she looks fabulous in front of it.

Brighton has its very own Alice in Wonderland themed-shop, Alice Dreams: A Wonderland of Curiosities, and its very own resident Mad Hatter – Peter Gosbee, a milliner, steampunk dandy, and jeweler  - so both of those were amazing resources.  Not only is Peter actually a mad hatter, he is a collector of Victorian & Edwardian oddities, many of which – including an original Edwardian electroshock therapy machine, antique gramophone horns, a taxidermy owl and pheasant, among others –  he was incredibly kind enough to lend for the shoot.

Peter, but of course, happened to have a tailcoat covered with 300 watch faces on one side and rabbit’s feet on the other – the perfect wardrobe for the White Rabbit.

From there, we knew we wanted to convey the idea of speed associated with the White Rabbit, so we came up with the idea that he would ride a motorcycle.  To source the motorcycle, I contacted the local rep of the Vintage Motorcycle Club, Timothy Penn, and asked if he knew anyone that owned a 1920s-era bike.  To my pleasant surprise, Tim wrote back to say in fact he personally owned a 1928 Raleigh motorbike that he’d be happy to lend for the shoot.

The White Rabbit emerging from the rabbit hole on his 1928 Raleigh motorbike.

Well, it was herculean feat of organisation and a battle against gale force winds on shoot day, but I think Alice in Wedding Land was a great success.  Most of all it goes to show what can be accomplished through collaboration.

Vendors:

Cakes by Flutterby Bakery. Flowers by Amanda Refoy Flowers.  Alice’s dress by Marian Thornton of Marianne Designs, mariannedesigns [ at ] googlemail dot com. Victorian & Edwardian props & wardrobe for Mad Hatter & White Rabbit by Peter Gosbee. Other props courtesy of Alice Dreams: A Wonderland of Curiosities.  1928 Raleigh motorcycle courtesy of Timothy Penn of the Vintage MotorCycle Club. Makeup by Alessia Mancini. Hair by Elloise India Willett. Assistant photography by Mike Oddhayward.

Models:
Alice – Miriam Gisbey. Mad Hatter – Peter Gosbee.  Cheshire Cat – Bekah Palmer.  White Rabbit – Timothy Penn.

Special thanks to Andrew White for his invaluable help in organising the shoot.

Had an absolute blast at a meet-up organized by Karlos Wayne out in Brighton’s Stanmer Park last weekend, learned and experimenting with new camera techniques with long exposures, zoom bursts, tripods, off-camera flash and light painting.  And I totally owe Mike Oddhayward a big thanks for letting me borrow his 10-22mm lens and to Andrew White for letting me borrow his brand new tripod and, you know, for his brightly coloured balls.  ;)

In addition to the above, these pix were made with 30-second exposures, ISO 400, a head lamp, and a Canon 430 EX II flash gun fired multiple times within the course of one exposure.  And with a whole bunch of silly running about.  They are basically straight out of camera, except for a bit of fill light.

Worth a try?  I think so…

Happy Halloween, everybody!

What you see above is a 1950s Kodak stereo camera, which shoots 3D images on 35mm film and which we borrowed from the lovely Mike McLean while we wait for my new Loreo stereo lens for DSLRs to arrive from the U.S.

What better opportunity to try out a 3D camera than Brighton’s annual Zombie Walk?  Once the Zombie Walk got going, Mark and I recruited a cast for an impromptu zombie wedding on the beach and then proceeded to poke a bit of at ourselves (and at wedding photographers in general) by deliberately shooting some of the most commonly done and cliched wedding photos we could think of.  Frolicking flower girls?  (Love them to pieces.) Check.  Cheeky chalkboard with hand-lettered message?  (Fun!) Check.  Dreamy lens flare?  (Love!)  Check.  Wedding shoes?  (Why, pink Doc Martens of course.)  The wedding dip?  Check.  (L… Erm.  Note that you don’t actually see the wedding dip in my portfolio.  That’s totally on purpose btw.)

Anyway, there are two sets of images below: the ones we shot on film and the ones we shot on digital -  check out the differences between them.  I’ve just ordered a load of vintage Viewmasters, and I can’t wait to get our very own reel of 3D images back from the lab.

We’re now offering these to our clients as well.  If you’d like to have a vintage Viewmaster and reel of 3D images from your own wedding, engagement or portrait session, do get in touch!

Analogue:

Digital:

Super extra huge thanks to our models:  Layla (bride), Tariq (groom), Adam (father of the bride), Yves (vicar), Eden and Rohey (flower girls) and to Patricia, Eden and Rohey’s mum, for letting the girls take part in our little cracked-out project.  And if you like Adam’s makeup, he’s a pro special effects make up and body artist; check out his site, Baneology.