Family Portrait Photography Somerset | Anna & Pete

I had the pleasure last week of photographing Anna and Pete, whose wedding I shot a few years ago on the Dorset coast, this time doing a family portrait shoot for them. This was a rather unique shoot because it wasn't just Mum and Dad, but also their 6 month old adorable baby girl (who behaved beautifully it has to be said!), Welly (the 18 month old black labrador, behaved well most of the time!) and Sammy (Anna's palomino horse). Getting great shots of all of them was the aim, before the clouds opened up! We kept things very relaxed, nothing very formal. They have a lovely cottage in the countryside and we used the garden and fields to get some outdoor shots while we could. Here are the results...

If you've enjoyed looking at these photographs and would like your own family shoot, then feel free to get in touch with me by clicking here.

Wedding Industry Experts 2012 Awards

I have been nominated for The 2012 Wedding Industry Awards and need your help! This is a chance for anyone who quite likes, loves or adores my photography to cast your vote. 

The way this works is on the number of total votes in a category, and here's the thing: you can vote once per day. This means for the two weeks you can vote everyday if you're really feeling the love! And do feel free to spread the word to family, friends and co-workers if you think I'm worthy. With all the other competition I will need all the help I can get to compete with the big fish. 

This will be Simon Biffen Photography's first year as a full time business and I would love to kick things off with some bling! Seriously though, it would be awesome. Since leaving teaching to take my passion for pictures to the next level I can safely say it has been a roller coaster ride, but I am absolutely loving it. 

There we go, I'm done :) Don't forget to cast your vote each day you lovely people... 

Voting commences on the 13th August and runs till the 31st August.

A Thousand to One

How many photographs do you need to tell the story of your wedding? 

 

A thousand? 

A hundred? 

Ten? 

...One?

Could you pick just one picture? Is that even possible?

And what sort of picture would it be? Would you choose a person? A moment? A detail?

Can you imagine if wedding photographers didn't give you hundreds of images, but instead had to chose just one? 

That one image would have to be mindbogglingly good wouldn't it?!

You bet.

So, where am I going with this?

Well, I think the old saying 'less is more' is fitting here. Think about this: would you rather see ten OK pictures of you having your hair done, or one exceptional picture? Six average pictures of you walking down the aisle, or one that's spectacular?

Quality not quantity, in other words.

The world is full of average-to-appalling digital photographs, and you certainly don't want to receive any like this from your wedding photographer.

You don't walk into an Apple store and see old tatty iPods and iPhones, packaging on the floor or day-glo sale signs. That is because a sense of quality resounds through everything they do, from the chirpy, 'How are you today?' to the last play with the latest iPad before you leave. You are happy in the knowledge that you are being provided for, looked after and that the product is completely worth investing in.

I think that wedding photography should be the same: you should love the photographer's work, have a good connection with them and be shown that they care about you and your day.

Every wedding I shoot has my complete and utter attention. I want the end result to be genuine happiness from the Bride and Groom at seeing their day captured just how they envisaged, and sometimes a little better.  I want my couples to value each and every photograph I give them. Each will have it's place.

Deciding on what makes the final disc is a long process for me. I need time to consider and think carefully about the story of the day and including relevant pictures and culling the chaff. But it is completely worth it. This is obviously all pointless if you don't have great photographs to choose from to start with! 

The title of this blog is 'a thousand to one'.

These are odds that you could bet on and retire happy but if i rejig it a little and swap a word... you get 'one in a thousand'. This saying could relate to your photographer, your dress, your other half... but essentially it means that you've chosen something or someone so special that it isn't going to be matched easily. 

I'm aware of how many thousands of photographers there are to chose from, but I'm safe in the knowledge that none of them are exactly like me, or have my unique passion for wedding photography, and of course none can beat me at welly wanging - and if you think you can then head to the World Welly Boot Throwing in my home town of Wellington in and challenge me!

If you would like to find out more about what makes me stand out pay me a visit at Somerset wedding photographer.