Ruby Love Photography

NATTER NATTER

admin — Thu, 10 May 2012 21:07:59 +0000

See my latest interview with Wedding Photography Select

SEONAD & THOMAS A LITTLE TENDERNESS

admin — Tue, 01 May 2012 09:14:45 +0000

When Seonad and Thomas decided they were getting married, they gave themselves four months. Their wedding was a real family affair with lots of help from both sides. For all that it was put together quickly, their wedding day went off beautifully, although, they had one headache, which nearly halted their first dance?

It was a gloriously fine day for their nuptials at the beautiful Park Circus. We were lucky it was the last wedding of the day because usually wedding parties are ushered away swiftly to make way for the next one but we could take a lazy pace. After we headed to the park and some fun was had with a little boy called Charlie and a cuddly cat.

Later on my return for the reception I encountered the couple walking towards me with their heads bowed, Seonad had got a horrid migraine and felt unwell; they were unsure whether they would make the reception. Even though it was an unfortunate situation, Thomas was very tender towards his new wife and it was charming to witness. They took a little time out and returned with Seonad feeling much recovered and not missing their first dance after all.

THE OWL & THE PUSSYCAT UP THE CAMPSIES

admin — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 23:05:02 +0000

You can see the Campsies from nearly all of Glasgow and it is a spot Louise & Donald adore. Not far from here is where the pair will be getting married in May. It was more then serendipitous that the sun shone splendidly for their photos. Add the beautiful location, a little dance by the waterfall, The Owl & The Pussy Cat - a retro shop, to rummage in unhurriedly, tea and scones and two very warm and friendly people and it equals a delightful afternoon.

Tinderbox Tenderness

admin — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 21:09:14 +0000

This the second of my “First Love” blogs and it features a second son! Actually this is twin of Alistair (Dear Green Place), Ethan and his squeeze Emma. It is nearly a year since this pair from Glasgow started courting in South Africa. They were on a school trip and their eyes met across the dusty plains.

It was a rather wet and nippy day when we did this shoot so we had to get inside and we ended up in Tinderbox having cake and hot chocolate. Ruby, Ethan’s little sister, had to tag along and she managed to sidle her way into a few shots. Ethan & Emma were in turns tender and mischievous with each other and gave me a nice set of images.

In The Hotseat At Whimsical Wonderland Weddings

admin — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 21:34:25 +0000

As a vendor at Whimsical Wonderland Weddings I get to sit in the Hotseat and tell you about all things wedding!

Here it is.

MAMMOTH LOVE

admin — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 00:30:40 +0000

Claire is French and Kai is Californian, they met and fell in love in the romantic city of Glasgow. I did not have to lead Claire & Kai at all. They just naturally gave me lots of romance. We encountered an elephant (life-size toy!) and that turned out to be a snuggly place to express your love. Some bananas in pyjamas got in on their act. A non-descript lane framed their hugs appealingly. A painting on a wall mirrored their affection and Claire brought along a heart gift that added a splash of colour and stated the obvious. My work was done.

Dear Green Palace.

admin — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 15:52:50 +0000

This is the opening “First Love” blog and pictures I am presenting. As the mother of two teenage boys who are in the midst of their first proper girlfriend thing, I feel I am in a privileged position to be up close and in their faces with my camera! Thankfully my boys are used to it and the girls have been great and a real bonus for me is that the sessions were amazingly natural. I got affection, shyness, larking about, kisses and cuddles with no direction from me.

Alistair and Hazell suggested locations as we drove along and we ended up at The People’s Palace on Glasgow Green.

I asked Alistair if he and Hazell had a special song and this, to my surprised delight was what he came up with:

The Ink Spots- I don’t want to set the world on fire.

SMILES AT GLENBERVIE

admin — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 22:19:19 +0000

Leigh and Craig are an incredibly sweet and down to earth couple and it was fitting, that their nuptials were a true family affair. The day started at Leigh’s Auntie Susan’s hairdressing salon called fittingly Love Dodds. All the women folk were beautified here and provided with bacon, champagne, black pudding and marshmallow treats made by Leigh’s little cousin. Then it was back to Leigh’s family home to prise her dad Robert away from the sport’s channel and for everyone to get into their glad rags.

The sun shone on Glenbervie House as Leigh and Craig were married. The guests were a happy bunch who bantered away with me particularly the Grandpas. Grandpa John had a wee compact camera he was snapping away with and he was telling me if I needed any advice he was more than happy to help me. Grandpa Rab was feigning grumpiness at being photographed but you could tell he loved it especially with his grandchildren and he was proud as punch to be grandfather of the bride. The rest of the day was punctuated by folk smiling, I do sometimes get the odd grumpy one but none to be seen here. Two particularly smiley people were Craig and Leigh’s mums, Anne and Jackie – from ear to ear!

Dress - The Enchanted Room, designed by Alfred Sung

Car Company - Classic Wedding Cars and Events, Kilsyth

Flowers - Yvonne Aitken @ Amaryllis Flowers

Make Up Artist – Sam

Hairdresser - Susan and the team at Love Dodds

Venue - Glenbervie House Hotel, Larbert

Cake – Hazel (Leigh’s mum’s friend who had been making wedding cakes for over twenty years. Leigh’s wedding cake was her last one).

Lisa Devlin Treasure Found @ Photography Farm

admin — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 23:49:45 +0000

I came away from Lisa Devlin’s Photography Farm with a big bag of gems. I have attended a few workshop and seminars in the last while, some very good and some not. The most I have come away, and been very pleased with, is a few gems to add to my photography chest. Photography Farm was a three-day course; shooting, postproduction and using social media to promote your business. The holy trinity of wedding photography. When wedding photographer Lisa Devlin was publicizing Photography Farm she said she would hold nothing back and she didn’t.

Lisa had sourced the most brilliant location; Photography Farm is a farmhouse in Surrey dating back to the 1600s. An inspired choice with the most glorious grounds, in recent years it had been used as a recording studio so it has the kind of facilities rock stars enjoy like a swimming pool and jacuzzi and I for one enjoyed a four poster crib. The sun was shining so the scene was set for Lisa to do her thing.

The first of two styled photo shoots involved real couple Rob & Heather who were a little shy, happy, warm and gorgeous. They love camping so Lisa and her team, Jayne & Hannah created a wonderfully retro caravan scene in a field with magical extras. This was their engagement shoot and I was impressed with Lisa’s lightness of touch as she worked with Rob & Heather, no mad contortionist posing just a sweet-tempered naturalness. I think I learnt a ton simply watching but all eight of us students got to do it our way, Rob & Heather were graciously patient.

Kat Williams, the creator of Rock ’n Roll Bride, the exciting and punchy wedding blog, was the model for our second shoot. In dreamy sunlight, a Candy Anthony dress was the centrepiece and around that was created a Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz theme, complete with red sparkly shoes, rainbow hair and a Toto. We had some utterly charming sets to photograph Kat in. More enchanting photographs to take – how much more did Lisa Devlin have to offer?

That night everybody sat at a huge round table , for the first of the delish meals that were served up to us, and chatted. Just hanging out together was so pleasurable just by itself even without the common link of photography. My fellow undergrads were a lovely bunch. We are all at slightly different places with our photography but I am sure we will become good work sustenance for, and buddies to each other. Especially now I newly twitter;)

The next day Lisa went through good work practise in postproduction. How can we diminish time on the computer and produce quality work? Lisa tells us how she does it and as her work speaks so well for her I absolutely prize what she told us. Then Kat Williams gave us fabulous advice about social media and how to submit our work to blogs. Another day of priceless content, I can honestly say, that every single thing Lisa and Kat covered was valuable to me.

The idea of living and breathing Photography Farm was inspired, what better way to consolidate what you have learnt? Hang out with like-minded and creative photographers and be in the presence of wedding royalty like Lisa and Kat. Not to mention a real couple like Rob & Heather who are the best gauge of whether what you are doing is right.

So like I said I came away with a big bag of gems.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Credit where credit is due!

Models

Kat Williams: Rock n Roll Bride http://www.rocknrollbride.com/

Heather and Rob

Guest Speaker

Kat Williams: Rock n Roll Bride http://www.rocknrollbride.com/

Credits

Photography: Lisa Devlin http://devlinphotos.co.uk/

Video: FX Films: http://www.fxfilms.co.uk/

Event Co-ordinator: Jayne Sacco http://www.saccophotography.co.uk/

Styling, Flowers & Cakes: The Tea Set http://www.the-tea-set.co.uk/

Wedding Dress: Candy Anthony http://www.candyanthony.com/

Make up and hair: Elbie van Eeden http://www.elbievaneeden.com/#home

Shoes: Irregular Choice http://www.irregularchoice.com/

Caravan: Hazy Days Caravan Hire http://www.festivalcaravanhire.co.uk/

Paper pompoms: Paperpoms UK http://www.paperpoms.co.uk/

Location: Photography Farm http://devlinphotos.co.uk/2011/07/28/photography-farm/

Goodie Bags

Folio Albums http://folioalbums.com/

Bob Books http://www.bobbooks.co.uk/

Wewow http://www.wewow.co.uk/

Photoshelter http://www.photoshelter.com/

Photo Professional http://www.photopromagazine.com/

Queensbury Albums http://www.queensberry.com/

My fellow undergrads, lovelies one and all; Holly, Sara, Lee, Zoe, Eve & Kathryn

Jasmine Star Struck!

admin — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 23:09:29 +0000

I will fully admit I was anxious. Anxious about meeting everybody involved. I was attending a workshop about photography and branding. Sounds mundane – eh? Well, try the other end of the spectrum – it was almost like getting an intravenous injection of inspiration.

Jasmine Star, an American photographer who is the ‘star’ of the wedding photography world, gave the workshop. She is a top photographer, has got her brand totally sussed and her website and blog are entertaining and brilliant. So she was here, in the UK to give us the benefit of her experience.

Kat Williams the creator of the wedding blog Rock’n Roll Bride, a tour de force blog about all the ingredients that make a whopping great wedding, orchestrated the day. She has hot pink hair and has been known to sport electric blue lipstick. I was expecting when I met her to be confronted by someone playing air guitar and singing replies to my questions in a punk rock fashion! Of course she is a regular girl who is simply a stylish, original and creative catalyst.

There were twenty of us photographers attending the workshop. Kat had started a Facebook group so we got a chance to talk and look at each other’s work. This was one of the reasons to be anxious; they were all so sorted and good. I was delighted to find a bunch of very approachable folk; I could talk photography as much as I wanted and not a glazed expression in sight.

So what about this Jasmine Star? Her husband JD accompanied her and I have to say he is a big part of the experience, he is convivial and utterly helpful. She is giving the talk but she is bolstered and supported by him the whole way. Cool, isn’t it, the subject is weddings and they are a living example of the perfect alliance. Jasmine essentially goes through her history as a photographer, relates her experience and communicates, very well I thought, how it relates to how we run our own businesses. She talks nineteen to the dozen, she never seems lost for words and you are hung on her every word. Best of all, she is enthused by her subject and she seems genuinely concerned that what she says helps us along. I think if we were to achieve a little success based on what she had demonstrated, she would be chuffed.

We were treated to the most beautiful venue, furniture, flowers, and cakes, a talented make up artist and hairdresser to set us up for a photo shoot. Our models were Rachel and Dan, a real couple who were actually married in February and were getting the ultimate photography experience having Jasmine Star photograph them …. and twenty of us!

I know this is fickle of me on a day of ultimate experiences, but food played a big part for me. We had the most gorgeous fodder. For breakfast and lunch we had lots of little unusual dishes, my ideal way of feeding as I can have a bit of everything. I reckon a happy tummy is conducive to learning. After the workshop, we all went for dinner (more lovely food!). An inspired idea to enhance the day. Jasmine and JD made sure they got around everyone one for a natter and we chatted at length amongst ourselves. It was a grand evening on top of a grand day.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Venue: One Marylebone http://www.onemarylebone.com/ (Alicia)

Flowers: Pollen Nation http://www.pollen-nation.co.uk/

Cakes: Restoration Cake http://www.restorationcake.co.uk/ (mini cakes)

The Art of Cake http://janetmohapibanks.com/(large ‘rose’ cake)

Furniture (chairs/tables/screen/sofas): Great Hirehttp://www.greathire.co.uk/ 

Caterers: The Recipe http://www.the-recipe.co.uk/ 

Hair: Severin Hubert of The Hepburn Collectionhttp://www.hepburncollection.com/

Make Up: Elbie Van Eeden http://elbiehairandmakeup.wordpress.com/

Behind the Scenes Video: Richard Wakefield of FX Filmshttp://www.fxfilms.co.uk/ 

Organiser/general dogs body: Kat Williams of Rock n Roll Bridewww.rocknrollbride.com

Models: Rachel & Dan