Kathryn and myself will be exhibiting at the Ayrshire Wedding Show this coming Saturday and Sunday, 30th and 31st January.  The wedding show is being held at Ayr racecourse, (next to Western House Hotel) so if visiting  please feel free to drop by our stand and look at examples of our award winning photograpy and ask any questions you may have.  The weather forecast looks extremely cold, so it may also be worth locating the tea and coffee at the venue!

Happy New Year to all our clients, past, present and future.  Kathryn and myself would also like to announce that for the second year running, the charity we’ll be actively supporting in 2010 will be the Craighalbert Centre.  It is the Scottish Centre for children with motor impairments and is a very worthy case.  Their website is listed at http://www.craighalbert.org.uk/ and provides far more information than I could possibly and accurately describe.

As my own two children become more excited each day with the prospect of Santa flying through the air, it was time recently to photograph two other cheerful characters. These two boys certainly kept me smiling during the photography session and the laughter between them at various moments was comical to say the least.  Calob and Jacob, I’m sure Santa will be very kind to you both!

We’d met ‘Nutter’ the Rottweiler two years ago on first meeting his owners, Mark and Claire at Barony Castle when they were making plans for their wedding. Following that meeting we were delighted when the couple got in touch with us to ask us to photograph their big day. Not to be left out of the celebrations, Nutter made his grand appearance for one of the family group shots and was immaculately behaved especially around the bride’s wedding dress!

It seems to have been such a busy time since the last post on the blog.  Kathryn and myself attended the British Master Photographers Association Annual Awards at Newcastle where I was honoured to be presented with my Fellowship distinction qualification.  I was also awarded the Best UK Associate photography Panel of 2009, and Awards of Excellence in two other categories.

September has certainly been a double celebration for us. Paul and I are delighted, and honoured, to have been nominated for a VOWS award this year.  These Scottish Industry Awards recognise companies that offer consistent, excellent service in the wedding industry.  We would like to say a massive thanks to all of our couples who voted for us - we feel very honoured to have got this far! We would also like to extend our congratulations to all of the other nominees who have worked so hard making Scottish weddings so special up and down the country!

We are also delighted to say that Paul has been shortlisted as a finalist in three categories in the MPA National Awards being presented on October 11th in Newcastle.  The event is also being filmed for television to be broadcast at a later date (I think I’ll be hiding from the camera all night! KW). 

Two fantastic weddings were recently hosted at the Western House Hotel in Ayr.  Kirsty and Vinnie were married at St Columba church by one of the finest ministers we’ve ever known, Fraser Aitken. And following a short detour to the beach, it was then on to the reception.  Fiona and Stephen also held their reception at the Western House and, after a rainy start to the day, the sun eventually found its way onto this racecourse venue.

It so pays to leave early for any wedding as was the case on Saturday en route to Edinburgh for the fantastic wedding of Annie and James.  We first witnessed an overturned car on the other side of the road and thought, how lucky that we’re travelling in the opposite direction.  A few miles later and a mushroom cloud of smoke was seen in the distance with the cars ahead slowing down dramatically.  Fortunately, we made it through just before the emergency services blocked the road and my images taken  as we passed the burning lorry (at high speed!) made it into the Sunday Herald and on to the Scottish Television website.

Congratulations to Rebecca Ho and Iain Paton who were recently married at Dalhousie Castle situtated on the picturesque banks of the River Esk.  The wedding had a very international feeling about it with guests having travelled over from Australia and many other countries to attend.  A falcon greeted many of the guests upon arrival and the piper that is so often associated with Dalhousie Castle enthralled the guests with his stories and charms.  It was great working with you both Rebecca and Iain - thanks once again.

What a fabulous day in Rhu we had at the wedding of Lillian and Peter.  Although a cloudy day initially, the sun eventually beat through the clouds at both the West Kirk Church in Helensburgh and the Rosslea Hotel just a few miles away in Rhu.

I’ve been meaning to post this image for some time.  It was a candid image taken of some of the guests last year at a wedding held at the Roman Camp in Callander.  The bride and groom were married outside down by the river.   After examining the image from the camera I noticed an additional face that I couldn’t quite explain. The bride and groom were asked if they recognised the additional “face” as a guest that had been invited and after looking at the image for several minutes they were clueless as to who the face could possibly be.  The image has not been doctored and it is the only time that I have been puzzled by such an image.  Take a look closely at the image yourself.  We are back at the Roman Camp again later in the year so it will be interesting to see if the same face appears!  I very much doubt so.