My Motocross Boots
Finally, after months of covid lockdowns and restrictions, Lee & Gemma were finally able to go ahead with their wedding.
A beautiful wedding with close family and friends at St.Mary's Limavady and then off to the White Horse Hotel in Campsie.
As the image above might suggest, Lee...not Gemma is mad about motocross so when I saw his boots I had to throw them in my car for this shot. Dirt and all!!
A really fun day with plenty of laughter and beautiful storytelling moments.
Here are a few of my favourite stills from their day
Cake:- Yummy Mummy Cakes
Cars:- C4 Wedding Cars Hire
Ceremony:- St. Mary's Chapel - Limavady - White Horse Hotel
Hair - Danielle Hunt
Makeup - Lusty Beauty - Amanda McMichael
Reception:- White Horse Hotel, Campsie
Suits:- Black Tie
NOW TAKING BOOKING FOR 2022-2024 - I'd love to HERE FROM YOU!
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Congratulations!!
To say the last 14 months have been strange is an understatement, it's been very difficult and frustrating for students like Scott who've worked so hard during this pandemic to ensure they achieve their goals. Sadly covid has restricted the level of celebration for students like Scott, my own daughter included.
In an effort not to let the moment pass Scott's mum Pamela give me a call and we organised this session to capture these memories of his achievement.
Achievement:
Business Information Technology Graduate (2.1 classification) 👏🎉
I'd like to wish you all the success in the world Scott, A very down to earth young man who's made himself and his family very proud!
Here are a few of my favourite stills from the session
NOW TAKING BOOKING FOR 2022-2024 - I'd love to HERE FROM YOU!
Relaxed and laid Back
After rescheduling their day multiple times due to the COVID 19 restrictions, Sarah and Mitchell said "That's it no more". They just wanted to get married!
They are such a loving & kind couple, who are mad about their dogs. Nala and Lola. Two beautiful greyhounds which they rescued.
I have to applaud Sarah's parents who made the long journey from Singapore to be at their daughter's side on her special day. After speaking with them, they didn't have it easy getting into the country and had many steps to achieve before being allowed to attend Sarah & Mitchell's wedding day.
Sarah & Mitchell had planned to have their full wedding day at the Ballyscullion Park in Bellaghy but sadly due to the current Covid 19 restrictions, they both felt it didn't make sense to go ahead with the venue. Thankfully, this didn't stop their celebrations and thanks to the family & the beautiful weather they were able to organise an outdoor gathering back at the house. A small gathering of family and friends attended and welcomed the happy couple on arrival. The confetti was everywhere but nobody cared. With the restrictions slightly relaxed from Monday it allowed people to socialise and come together to enjoy their special day. Sometimes less is more and ultimately they both got what they wanted, and are now Husband and wife!
Congratulations to you both and thank you for having me be a part of your special day.
Here are a few of my favourite stills from their day
Ceremony:- St. Mary's Chapel - Limavady
NOW TAKING BOOKING FOR 2022-2024 - I'd love to HERE FROM YOU!
Leighinmohr House Hotel Reception
A Beautiful Covid-19 Wedding at St Mary's Limavady
Despite the bad weather & the restrictions imposed due to Covid-19, one thing is for sure, love can overcome any adversity.
It's always a pleasure to photograph my friends and family.
Kevin & Lauren are a fantastic couple, obviously very much in love and so they didn't want to let these restrictions dash their plans too much. They scaled down the wedding to work within the guidelines and had a smaller, close family and friends celebration at St Mary's and then at the reception at the Leighnmohr House Hotel.
Due to the restrictions, a lot of the special moments were captured from a distance but despite that, you can still get a real sense of the love and joy on their special day.
Here are a few of my favourite stills from their day
Suits:- CityMan
Hair & MakeUp Vanity Hairdressing and Makeup Salon - Linda Leighton
Ceremony:- St. Mary's Chapel - Limavady
Reception:- Leighinmohr House Hotel
NOW TAKING BOOKING FOR 2022 - I'd love to HERE FROM YOU!
Took a little drive over to Portballintrae today - I checked the tide times beforehand as I wanted to be sure the tide was coming in, On one occasion I was too busy checking the camera and got hit by a wave. Soaked the trousers and filtered into my walking boots, Lovely!. It didn't dampen the day though (no pun intended) as it was just nice to be out and about.
A rare occasion of beautiful sunny weather in Autumn helped bring this photoshoot together. You may recognise this little fellow Jake from my blog last week. I captured his 1st Holy Communion photos but due to the less that kind weather that day, we didn't get any decent images captured outside. After a quick email, we arranged this shoot to make up for the previous sessions time restrictions.
Jake was great, we had a great laugh. He was telling me how to play Fortnite on the PlayStation. All while striking a pose!
It always warms my heart to see a child smiling and having fun.
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I had the privilege of photographing Jakes 1st Holy Communion at Christ The King Church in Limavady last week. I do have to say he looked quite dapper in that beautiful little suit. Very Smart.
Due to the current restrictions, we had to wait on several other families to leave the alter area within the Church before we could capture some lovely family portraits.
The weather didn't play fair so we captured a few images inside and managed to get a few outside before they had to leave for their dinner booking
Designed by Irish architect Michael Shanahan and erected between 1779-83. It was built in memory of the Lord Bishop of Derry's (commonly known as The Earl Bishop) elder brother George, 2nd Earl of Bristol, who died a bachelor in 1775.
George was a Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, a highly esteemed viceregal position with very considerable power, patronage and influence.
Going by my research the Mausoleum was depicted on the Tomb of the Julii which currently survives in the Vatican Necropolis beneath St. Peter's Basilica.
You can see the top section of the mausoleum is missing, this is due to the great storm of 1839, the remaining sections from the top of the Mausoleum now lay at its foot in the hope of one day being restored.
Happy Viewing
As a photographer, I'm always looking at things differently and this little fisherman's hut was no different.
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Cole McCullough has signed with the ASA United Husqvarna team for the 2020 season
Cole will have plenty of backing from family and friends as he moves forward with the team to contest the British Youth Championship 2020 & Mx National Series
I wish you all the best of luck in the coming season Cole, you'll be a credit to the team
Big thank you to Philip McCullough and my good buddy Desmond Loughery for the opportunity to take these pictures for Cole, and to Cole himself who was sick and still turned up to get these done. That's just dedication from the outset. Hats off to you young man.
Meet Emily. Emily is my first newborn photo shoot and I really loved it, not just because she's my niece but it was great to capture lovely memories she can look back on in years to come.
The Thought Process
Emily is three weeks old here and I know its best to get them in between 5-10 days old but I wanted to create a special bespoke prop of my own to start my newborn photography journey and so I made this beautiful bespoke baby photography prop bed below.
Luckily, I have the best mother in the world who can knit amazingly, so she made me this lovely little blanket. Thanks, mum!
The Build Up
Its funny though because you can read all the articles and blogs of the day about Newborn Photography but it doesn't really prepare you for the real thing, the hands-on bit is a little more...REAL!. It was a great learning curve though and I've taken away points for improvement in the future. I will get this wrapping technique down...eventually!. In my defense, Emily didn't really help, with the stretching of the legs and swinging of the arms!. Such a little character.
Caring for Baby
Now I don't personally like a lot of heat but our tiny little precious newborn babies need nice warm cozy environments to allow us togs to capture beautiful photos and help us recreate the images from our mind without them being wrapped up in their normal baby clothes. To be honest, the heat was in the upper levels of what I can comfortably cope with (I think this is why hot beach holidays are not my cup of tea) but I held it together and was thankful for the opportunity.
Siblings
I know for a fact this one will be spoilt rotten. She had one of her bigger brothers with her during the shoot and Zac asked if I would take a few shots of him holding her. I could see straight away that he has such a connection with her already. it was really lovely to watch and capture the memories.
Final thoughts
I have taken a lot away from this shoot and thoroughly enjoyed editing the photos. I'll confess to having a love for the fine art, moody & dramatic style. It just draws me in.
Well, you've made it this far in my blog so thank you very much. If you would like to enquire about a sitting, please drop me a message via the contacts link below.
And as always, Happy Viewing!
]]>Back in July my "Better Half" put one of my landscape photos forward to the Northern Ireland Hospice to be considered for their upcoming 2017 Calendar. Due to the calibre of local photographers in my area I didn't hold much hope of being selected therefore, when the Hospice contacted me to say my image had been selected I was shocked but also very happy, not just because my image had been selected but the fact I could help the charity continue to raise much needed funds to continue their hard work, which is simply amazing.
The Northern Ireland Hospice provide specialist support and care for child and adults with life-limiting illness. Over the years the Northern Ireland Hospice have been working hard to provide a solid network of support workers and facilities throughout Northern Ireland for the patients and their families. 90% of the care and support provided by the hospice is done within the comfort of patients homes, which is only possible due to the large network of their community teams.
Located on a receding cliff face, 120ft above the Downhill Beach & NI Railway line to Derry/Londonderry, sits the magnificent "Mussenden Temple" on our beautiful Northern Ireland Coast line. The temple, originally a library, was built back in the 1700's and formed part of Frederick Augustus Hervey's estate. The temples design is said to have been inspired by the Temple of Vesta in Tivola, Near Rome. Frederick attempted to purchase the Temple of Vesta and bring it back to the Downhill however, Pope Pius VI would not agreed to his request.
To get your copy of the 2017 NI Hospice Calendar, just call to your local NI hospice Store listed below