One day, three brides!

Lamphey Court  Hotel - provided the venue for the day.

If I’m honest it wasn’t my very best look. But then there is a reason why photographers are behind the lens rather than in front of it. Last Tuesday found me at the fantastic Lamphey Court Hotel for a wedding themed photo-shoot. The problem was more to do with how I’d got there – an overnight 15 hour journey from Thurso on the North Coast of Scotland – just a few miles off the most Northerly point of the UK mainland as it happens. (To see what I was doing there, check this link). Coffee and Red Bull had seen me through, but red eyes and pallid skin told the true tale.

Gabrielle - dress designed by Charlotte Balbier

Fortunately the weather was doing its best to cast a favourable light on proceedings and as the morning mist cleared the grounds of the Hotel were bathed in fantastic early spring sunshine, casting an attractive light on the impressive Georgian architecture. Unexpectedly almost too much light and heat.

Gabrielle takes a break from the intense sun-shine at the front of the hotel

Hair styling and make-up was quickly taken care of by the expert team of Seren Style (Rachel Lincoln) and The Make-up Lady (Lynne Gammage) – if you’ve attended a local wedding fayre you’ll be familiar with the quality of their work – if you’re not then check out the links to their websites.

Lisa, dress designed by Kate Sherford

The stunning wedding gowns were chosen and supplied by White Bride of Narberth (Sally White) and included designer dresses from Kate Sherford and Charlotte Balbier –a small selection of the many designs and styles Sally can supply. I borrowed Sally for the day as a photographers assistant and she provided a great help handling the Speedlite, reflector and diffusers like a pro. My only grumble is that she didn’t carry the camera bag.

Maria, in a Charlotte Balbier design

With three girls trying out their hand at modelling (and maybe getting a few ideas for the big day, when it comes) time for each shoot was fairly limited, but the team held together and we achieved some images we were all pleased with.

We all enjoyed working at Lamphey Court and agreed that it provides a fantastic venue for the perfect wedding. A mixture of country house style comfort and Georgian grandeur makes for a stunning back-drop to the big day and all of your requirements can be taken care of in-house.

Maria, in a Charlotte Balbier design

On completion of the shoot, I bumped into Raul Speek, who had just installed a number of his unique works of art on the walls of the hotel. Raul has a level of enthusiasm best described as “infectious” and his work is well worth checking out. If you can’t make it to the gallery in Solva, his pictures make for a great back-drop to a cup of coffee at Lamphey Court.

If you're interested in having some portrait, portfolio or commercial images taken by me, please feel free to get in touch to discuss your requirements - my email is adrian@framesphtoography.co.uk



Embarrassment

More beach ball than robin - it seems remarkable that anything survives outdoors in this weather.

Pembrokeshire hasn’t suffered in the recent mini-ice age to quite the same extent as the rest of the country. Sure it’s been cold with unprecedented days, weeks even of low temperatures – but very little in the way of snow. A couple of very short flurries eventually brought us an inch or so of the white stuff and added to the chaos on the roads. The village of Bosherston was temporarily cut-off on Sunday as car after car failed to make it up the hill, ending up in the ditch, 5 in all before the police closed the road. The council eventually responded with an emergency gritter – only for that to execute a slow speed slide into a stationery vehicle.

Everyone seemed to be moving around ok again by Wednesday and the same idea had passed through the minds of Pembrokeshires legion of photographers – a chance of catching a sight of the otter on the by now almost entirely frozen over Lily Ponds, abundant bird life and some stunning sunlit colours courtesy of the near solstice sun.

 The view towards the 8 Arch Bridge - the last remaining patch of open water just in front of the reed bed.

It has been said (by me) that the collective noun for a group of photographers is a “moan” – whenever we get together we moan about the lack of sunlight, the cost of kit, lack of pay etc. But I’ve decided that there is an alternative rendering – “an embarrassment”. As the photographers descended to the Lily Ponds en masse there were certainly more photographers than otters, slightly embarrassing at least.

The Nuthatch, not exactly rare, but a welcome change from the robins!

 

The light was starting to lose its strength around 3 p.m. and it was time to head back home. Not far from the Boat House, on the ice at the bottom of the nearby bank, something caught my. The otter and not another photographer in sight! This really was my moment. I stood still, removed the lens cap, and watched him slip silently back under the ice. Surely he’d have to resurface for air soon? I held my breath and waited. Then I spotted the otters footprints across the ice – seems as if he had quite a walk-about only a few moments earlier. 30 minutes of patient waiting later and it was obvious he’d given me the slip. The photographic hunt for the elusive continues…..

Deciding that only the very patient would catch a sight of the elusive animal, I walked further down the lake, to stake out a spot and try and catch some of the bird-life. The more exotic bird-life was surprisingly largely absent from view, but the robins were as tame as ever, sometimes even landing on my shoulder, or the tripod. So it was that I snapped a few more images of robins to add to my ever growing collection.

Doesn't look like the peanut will fit, but apparently a Nuthatch's beak is strong enough to crack open a Hazelnut!

A slightly more exciting visitor (a Nuthatch) was to be spotted around the Grassy Bridge, with local ‘tog Drew Buckley having found a nice vantage point to tempt out the relatively shyer birds onto a peanut-laced log. Kindly offering to share both his nuts(!) and the angle we spent half-an-hour together, not too much of it moaning about pay either.

This was an obliging little chap!

Location, location, location!

Model:  Natalie Polino, on location in Pembrokeshire.   

“The three most important things about real estate are location, location, location." – So says virtually every estate agent on earth.

From a photographic point of view the statement rings just as true. A successful shoot is a result of many individual factors coming together, with one of the key elements being location.

Model:  Natalie Polino, on location in Pembrokeshire.

So I’m pretty fortunate to live in West Wales, where stunning scenery is a stones throw from my door, in any direction. This is great for landscape photography, but great too for shooting portraits. Although the images posted here are focussed on the model in a very small part of the surroundings, it is the interaction with the location that gives the images an extra impact.

Model: Natalie Polino on location in Pembrokeshire.

 

While I love the control and comfort of working in a studio setting, there is something special about capturing an unique image outdoors. This is even truer if the location is one that has a special meaning to the client, whether it’s a site of outstanding natural beauty, or the local pub! So if you’re considering commissioning a portrait – either as part of your modelling portfolio, or to frame and hang on the living room wall, don’t write off the idea of stepping outside of the studio.

The light doesn't have to be perfect - the photographer brings his own!  Model:  Natalie Polino, on location in Pembrokeshire.

Autumn and Winter provide the opportunities to get some really atmospheric images.  Model:  Natalie Polino, on location in Pembrokeshire.

Frames Photography are very fortunate work in partnership with the fantastic Seren Style (based in Lamphey but available on a mobile basis for photo shoots) - who will make sure that on the day you look your very best, offering hair-styling, make-up and nail packages!  If you’d like more details of our studio or location portrait packages, please contact adrian@framesphotography.co.uk for more details.



Paint People!

Painted by facesunlimited

It's been a fair old while since I've blogged on here, a lot of my time recently has been spent running the surfing website, SurfTalk  If it's surf sessions and blogs you're after check the articles on the home page and the  blog section.

If you're interested in some of the other stuff going on in my life, read on...

Over the week of 23rd-27th August the 3rd Welsh International Face & Body Painting Festival was held in the stunning location of Candleston Castle, near Merthyr Mawr, South Wales.  I attended a couple of the days to document the body painting.  It seems the weather was on my side, despite the forecast threatening 50mph+ winds at the start of the week, in the end the days I attended proved to be pretty warm and sunny.  The days inbetween were a bit rougher, and for those camping on the site (most!) I'm not sure if the tired eyes were down to the overnight party or the insistent rain storms.  Probably a combination.

Alex Hansen, from Montreal

The venue is a pretty special place, not only the ruins of Candleston Castle, but even more so the huge network of sand dunes surrounding the woodland - once the largest in Europe, and still boasting the highest dune in Europe - known as the Big Dipper.  If you're a fan of old films, some scenes from Lawrence  of Arabia were filmed here.

It's not only the venue that is special - it's the people that make the event after all.  Although the painting is competitive, with work judged and marked, the atmosphere is definitely that of a festival, with most of the artists bringing along the family.  The food deserves a mention as well - how meals that tasty get served up in a kitchen so small, running off a diesel generator that wasn't 100% reliable, I'm not entirely sure.

The bodypainting itself is a pretty pain-staking business, with individual artists allowed up to six hours to complete their masterpiece.  All of this taking place in a marquee that had the properties of a steam room, pretty much a necessity for the models wearing only enough clothing to cover the essentials - and a lot of paint of course.

More painful to me, is the fact only an hour or two after the work has been completed, judged and photographs taken, it's all washed off again, but given the nature of the designs, you could understand that the models might be reluctant to go shopping down Tesco's without scrubbing it all off first.

For me, one of the best parts about the bodypainting was the 3-dimensional nature of the "canvas".  This allowed the artists (and photographer) the ability to create images that really leapt off the "page" in a way that would be hard, or impossible to achieve in the conventional 2-dimensional world of most artists. 

Painted by Phizart

Painted by aboutface and Facial Attraction

Painted by aboutface and Facial Attraction

Painted by aboutface and Facial Attraction

Painted by Cats Creations

The themes available to the artists were "In the Beginning" and "Wild Things", with a freedom to interpret the brief as individually as they saw fit.  I hope you enjoy a few of the images from the event as much as I did taking them, and if you're ever tempted by the thought of a body or face painting party, I'd recommend checking out the websites linked beneath the images.

Painted by aboutface and Facial Attraction 

Painted by Cats Creations

 

Painted by Cats Creations

Painted by Cats Creations

If your "Paint-work" is on here, and I've not credited you, please get in touch!

Newgale Beach Clean

Ominous clouds

Signifying the true start of “British Summer Time”, the wind-driven rain & sleet battered against the kitchen window-panes, early Tuesday morning. More in hope than expectation, I called Mari (from Keep Wales Tidy) to see if the beach clean at Newgale was still going ahead. Of course it was, so I set off through the flash-floods at the end of my road, the van packed with survival gear and waterproofs.

Newgale, pretty much at sea-level

Not the best opening day for the camp-site

As you drive in, you get a nice view of Newgale, nestled in the valley, rather precariously at sea-level protected from the wrath of the Atlantic by a huge shingle bank. Protected for now that is, but with the forecast rise in sea-levels, Newgale is under real threat. The day also marked the opening of the camp-site at Newgale, the flash-floods rendering the field more of a boating lake. It always amazes me how well the field dries out and becomes usable again, but with more heavy rain on the way this week I’d definitely recommend giving the site a call before setting out!

Some of the intrepid volunteers!

Sure enough, an intrepid band of volunteers was readying themselves for action in the car park near the life-guard hut. The first area to clean was around the kiln, the other side of the road from the beach. It’s a bit of a litter trap as the bits of plastic get snagged on the bracken, then shredded into increasingly small pieces in the wind. Most of the litter in this area is the light stuff that blows around easily – “domestic litter”, crisp packets, chocolate wrappers, plastic bags etc.

Having made a decent effort on this we moved to the beach. Newgale is fortunate that the beach itself is “cleaned” twice a day by the tides, with the water reaching all the way to the shingle bank. This sweeping action across the sand does tend to give the impression that the beach is litter free, but the shingle bank tends to act as a store for the litter that isn’t dragged back. As you might expect, here the majority of the litter collected was from a shipping origin, mostly broken fishing nets, fishing line and a lot of cable ties and packing straps. Perhaps more strangely a fair number of plastic plant pots had made their way down to the beach, something to bear in mind on the next trip to the Garden Centre.

Ian Meopham, National Parks Ranger at the stream, strewn with plastic litter

Mari Williams, Keep Wales Tidy.  Strong winds making the job more difficult

After 4 hours, the air temperature of 1 degree C, 30mph wind and rain squalls signalled an end to the day. With around 10 volunteers in total, we’d spent about 40 man/woman-hours on the beach and collected a decent amount of litter. The clean was fun (honestly!) with good company and it’s rewarding too, so well worth the effort. But ultimately any litter clean is only a sticking plaster on a very nasty wound.

Mari keeps smiling, between the downpours

For more information on marine litter and its effects, click this link

For details of local beach cleans in your area, click this link

Fancy winning a brand-new Santa Cruz surfboard?  Enter the SurfTalk competition!

The Shack is Back!!!!

Our Shack, in the Middle of Our Beach....

Most Des Res, Pembrokeshire style

Complete with roof decor

These images are low-resolution versions of the original for quick viewing on the web.

If you would like to purchase an image please contact adrian@framesphotography.co.uk

Pembrokeshires own Banksy, (or team of Banksy’s?) has been at it again. Back in 2008 a series of desirable beach front properties sprang into existence on a number of Pembrokshire beaches including Tenby South, Manorbier and Broad Haven. Fashioned out of driftwood, fishing net, shells and other items the shacks blended into the dunes as if they were part of the natural landscape. Providing a fun shelter for holiday-makers caught out by the rain and even a useful point to line-up against when surfing, the fun was brought to an end at the close of the tourist season. The local council branded the shacks a health & safety risk and went to considerable effort to fulfil their “duty” to the public by demolishing the shacks and removing all traces.

Umm is that right on the high tide line?

Plenty of colourful decorations

In the Bronx hanging sneakers up marks the spot of fallen gang members.  In Pembrokeshire it signifies that someone had an uncomfortable walk home

Now in 2010 the legend grows further – a new shack has grown out of the sands at one of Pembrokeshires most beautiful beaches, Barafundle. The source of and motivation for all of this creative recycling remains a mystery. Is it part of a film set, an environmental statement, or just a bit of fun? If you can shed any light on the mystery we’d like to hear from you. In a direct appeal to Pembrokeshires own Banksy: We’d love to set up an interview with you, your anonymity is guaranteed! Should you need an agent, we’d like to be first in line when your genius is recognised on a wider scale. Get in touch!

Fancy winning a brand new Santa Cruz surfboard?  Go to http://www.surftalk.co.uk/

On the 'bier

Back-lit, but not for long

These images are low-res versions of the original files for quick web viewing.

To purchase an image contact adrian@framesphotography.co.uk

Visit http://www.surftalk.co.uk for more surf images from this session!

Wednesday found some quality swell charging past the wave buoys, matched by a pretty stiff Easterly wind. The size of the swell and strength of the wind meant that Fresh was going to be out of the question, and as I was baby-sitting for the morning, there was only one option for me. Manorbier. So when the child-care arrived in the form of the Mrs. I headed for Mano at warp speed. It was a fantastic day – blue skies and sunshine, so I had high hopes. Parking up at Mano – I could see it wasn’t at its best, but there was a decent bit of size to the sets, and with the sun perfectly back-lighting the waves, chances looked good. I headed for my vantage point, set-up, waited for the set, and got one back-lit photo. I was just remarking to myself how much warmth the sun had, when the clouds came in. A temporary blip I thought, as I zipped up the jacket I’d just undone. Then things went grey, followed by a light mist. Typical! The good lighting never returned and I was left peering at the guys through the half-gloom. Time to relocate further up the cliff.

Puddles are more dangerous than landslides round here

If Clark Little had taken this picture, it would have been sunny.  And 8ft.

Obviously there had been no shortage of rain as the cliff path was pretty muddy, so I was treading carefully. Taking little baby steps where the path got narrow, I still managed to slip, executing a half-split that left my right foot dangling over the edge. I’m not saying I was near to going over, but to someone who constantly battles with vertigo it was enough to touch a little cloth.

One of the chunkier sets

Jumping off the back.  Nooooo.  Take the drop!

The other side of the puddle seemed a good place to stop, so this became my vantage point for the rest of the session. At times some real chunky sets came through, tending to break in the middle rather than peeling from the reef, catching the entire line-up out. How I laughed.

The whole line-up were caught out of position by this one.

A couple of kayakers paddled out, sensibly in the middle rather than into the line-up, until they too were caught by a set breaking in their path. Perfectly positioned to take the lip to the head, I expected (and hoped for) some canoe based carnage. But in the right hands those things are clearly unsinkable. Whereas a surfer in that position would be chewing doughnuts, one of the guys just blasted through the lip and boosted an air off the top, whereas his mate just took a quick trip in reverse all the way back to the sand, barely getting his hair wet. I’m not a fan of kayaking, but good work boys!

Kayaking is just as much fun on the sand

It looked like things would get messy

These things are unsinkable!

It was good to see Hazza back in the water after his trip to Indo, which clearly hadn’t done him any harm. Definitely the stand-out while I was there with his tight snaps, and one particularly nice fins-out re-entry.

Hazza, blasts an air with soul

Hazza, fins out

If anything, it seemed to be getting more consistent as the tide dropped, but the light was getting worse and as the film speed crept up I was starting to lose motivation, so headed back to the car. On the way I decided to fall back on the time honoured tradition of a surf photographer with nothing better to do, and took a few snaps of the dogs playing on the beach. One in particular – Carys was really entertaining, dredging the stream of the biggest pebbles she could carry, and carefully depositing them in various positions on the beach. I quite fancy adding a bit of pet photography to my portfolio, so if you have a beautiful pooch who deserves a framed print, let me know!

Carys

No need for a towel when you can spin dry