Here are the spoils of my latest wedding.  A really great day in the magnificently autumnal England of the Cotswolds.  The wedding and reception were held in Cripps Barn deep in the Gloucestershire countryside.  The approach was an almost stroboscopic effect of rusts, yellows and greens and the grounds themselves provided a great, leafy, gold and red backdrop to the day.  This was the first country wedding I’ve shot at this time of year and I kept checking the skies but the weather held out right until the chinese lanterns at the end.  It did mean that the wedding breakfast was really tricky though.  I still refuse to fall back on flash though and really made my Canon 5D Mark II work for its money.  Cranking the ISO up to 6,400 and opening it right up to f1.4.  But the camera’s so good that the noise translates into grain and gives a very classic filmic effect.  (I did try it on 12,800 ISO but that was one step too far.)  I wouldn’t have it any other way.  One key thing the flash would have done is overpower the fairy lights hanging overhead, so that instead of the bright bokeh there would have been rows of naked bulbs dangling listlessly from the awning.  Simple choice.

I’m delighted with the results, helped in no small part by John and Sophie and the fact that the black tie affair gave the whole thing a very romantic fifties feel.  Enjoy..

This is just a quick blog to maintain my web profile while I work through a new batch of wedding photographs from last Friday in the Cotswolds.  Pictured here is Holly Thoburn, the very lovely and talented artist currently exhibiting as one half of the Metropolis show at the Sesame Gallery  gallery on Uppet St, London N1.  We grabbed these photos during one lunch hour this week while curious onlookers drifted through the gallery trying not to get in the way, and mostly getting in the way.

http://www.sesameart.com/

http://www.campbarbossa.com/

This is Daisy Von Starr.  I’m pretty sure it’s a pseudonym but it’s always possible she was christened with her own personal burlesque name.  This shoot was a two-pronged commission; Daisy wanted to get some photos that she was happy with for herself, but also build up her confidence in front of the camera with a view to kickstarting a career in plus size modelling.  That shouldn’t be any problem at all.  This was her first real photo shoot and she was sweet and charming throughout, and took direction brilliantly.  For the look of the shoot I decided to go with a high key/bleached-out look which I got simply by over-exposing by a couple of stops (again, this was all natural light — I’m not a fan of elaborate set-ups).  This worked really well with Daisy’s alabaster skin and gorgeous blueblack hair.  We’re both really happy with the results and hopefully this should give her confidence to go on and model from here..

And in a secret, annexed, 2001-esque part of the London Underground system…

Here are a few choice photos from a recent photoshoot for an old friend of mine.  I’m really happy with the feel of these photos.  It’s a very different experience photographing a friend.  With someone you know there’s a pre-existing ease, as friends, but along with that there’s sometimes a heightened self-consciousness in front of the camera.  For me, the point of a photographer during the shoot is to facilitate and direct but at the same time remain low key and non-intrusive.  It’s harder to fade into the background when there’s a mutual history.  The great thing about the shoot in this case was capturing the warmth and fun Katie exudes naturally.  In fact most of the outtakes or extra shots are of Katie laughing, which really worked for the photos.

We had planned to finish the shoot along the river by Chiswick Mall but the light wasn’t right, so we finished with a few impromptu shots at Chiswick House instead (the top photo and the two below)..

And finally…

(Btw., this is Katie’s boyfriend, Jamie, who turned up for the final part of the shoot — just in case you thought we’d pressganged some random passerby into holding hands and gazing lovingly into Katie’s eyes…)

Taking a break from editing and posting the results from London Fashion Week, here is a shoot I did on Friday.  The theme for the shoot was for a kind of romantic English in the vein of the Bronte sisters / Thomas Hardy, etc., but we ended up taking in Little Red Riding Hood, with something of an enchanted forest feel as well.  I’m made up with the results and the whole thing was easily one of my favourite photoshoots to date.  However, I would still cast Julie Christie, if she’d just reply to my letters.  And phone calls.  And texts.  Or simply answer her door.  Front or back…

Nick

Front…

And back…

Here are the results of my latest wedding shoot.  Gemma, the bride, was an old school friend of my girlfriend’s.  They hadn’t seen each other since they were 12 and living in Cyprus and sneaking out after dark to cycle down to the beach together.  We met Gemma at Belfast airport and it was as if they’d never been apart…

The weather the day before had been beautiful, so, obviously, come the day, the weather swung wildly from dark and lowering with intermittent squalls of rain to overbright, blank, white skies that made it look as if the world just stopped suddenly and was waiting to be filled in.

That is the photograher’s lot of course and it wouldn’t be as much fun without that unpredictable element.  Halfway down there’s a shot with one of the bride’s young nieces tearing through the frame, and it’s twice the shot for it.  It was a great day, too.  Gemma and David the bride and groom were great.  Funny and relaxed and a pleasure to be around.  I’m also very pleased with the results.  (As are Gemma and David — which is probably the most important thing anyway…)  And really, I will have learnt so much more from a tough day than if everything had gone off seamlessly.  All that would have happened if I’d cheated the tough day is that hitches would have come after me with a series of improbable accidents and near-death experiences like some kind of rudderless horror franchise.  Final Destination IV: The Wedding Photographer.

Anyway, I’m rambling now.  Please stay follow these photos through to the end, if only for possibly the most inspired first dance, ever…

The extraordinary Bafta-topped wedding cake that the catering staff decided to cut up before asking anyone whether or not we’d done the ceremonial cutting of the cake photo had been taken.  It hadn’t.  Which was why it was entirely intact…

Possibly the best first dance at a wedding, ever.  Michael Jackson’s Thriler………………….

TESTIMONIAL

We were thrilled with the pictures Nick Tucker took of our wedding. Nick was introduced to us by a mutual friend and as we lived in Northern Ireland we didn’t meet him until two days before the wedding. Effectively, this meant that we were all dealing with an unknown quantity. Having seen Nick’s work we were sure that we had made the right choice and were very excited to see the results. Nick was very thoughtful and considerate throughout all his dealings with us, in fact he is such a lovely person it was an utter pleasure to have him around. He was very professional and organised and at the same time unobtrusive. The photographs we received from him were exactly what we wanted and we have a wonderful record of our wedding day. Nick captured the spirit and atmosphere perfectly as well as giving us very beautiful and artistic pictures which we will be proud to hang on our walls. The only problem is we can’t choose!

- David Quinn & Gemma Mae Halligan

I’m just now posting the photographs from my first official assisting job, working for Angus Mill at Sir Laurence Oliver’s grand old house, Notley Abbey.  I mean that’s where the wedding was.  Not that Angus works out of an oversized studio converted from an opulent manor where Marilyn Monroe once cavorted with a frosty bottle of some kind of very fine wine in her luminous hand.  Angus works out of a very handsome house in Camden.  It’s possible radiant starlets have cavorted there, I keep forgetting to ask.  Amy Winehouse did used to live just round the corner though, if that’s any good..

The day seemed to go very smoothly.  The fact that Angus is incredibly easy going probably helped smooth over any bumps that came up.  Having recently shot my first solo wedding as the main photographer (photos to follow once the bride and groom are back from their seven week honeymoon….) I know that it’s not a naturally smooth day, but the weather was good and the bride and groom were really relaxed and seemed completely at ease with the day.  I shot supplementary photos so I don’t have any classic ceremony or confetti shots, but I’m pleased with what I did get.

Here’s a few of those:

http://www.nicktuckerphotography.com/

http://weddings.angusmill.co.uk/home.html

http://www.notleyabbey.co.uk/

Yesterday I took my neice to Hampton Court Palace and nearby Bushey Park for a photoshoot and general uncle-niece day out.  Or, probably more accurately, she took me.  She’s a semi regular there.  Knows the secrets of Hampton Court maze and the exact whereabouts of every drinks kiosk.  It was the first time I’d been for about 30 years.

We set out under low flat grey skies and arrived 15 minutes later beneath the kind of brilliant sun that all photographer’s hate.  It turns out Hampton Court Palace is incredibly picturesque but strangely unphotogenic.  I was expecting more wending lanes of sculpted hedgerows — a kind of maze writ large.  But instead there are lots of wide open spaces and gated off gardens plucked and preened into oddly uninvolving and sterile little enclaves.  It made photography difficult.  Or at least it wasn’t giving me what I’d pictured in my head.  But I think, in the end, that was probably a good thing.  It made me engage more with Daisy as the subject rather than slotting her into a pre-existing photo opportunity.  Here are the results.

]]> http://nicktuckerphotography.wordpress.com/2009/08/10/hampton-court-palace-childrens-photography/feed/ 0 nicktucker Daisy-&-Ming-Ming sleep-wb vintage-ice-cream dig-your-own-hole the-long-grass Daisy-Slide-Tone-DEF http://nicktuckerphotography.wordpress.com/2009/06/17/shooting-sraw-at-kenwood-house-highgate-canon-5d-mark-ii/ http://nicktuckerphotography.wordpress.com/2009/06/17/shooting-sraw-at-kenwood-house-highgate-canon-5d-mark-ii/#comments Wed, 17 Jun 2009 10:06:30 +0000 Nick Tucker http://nicktuckerphotography.wordpress.com/?p=24 ]]>

So Sunday June 14th will have to go down in the annals of history as the day I first shot sRAW.  Mostly because it was the day I first shot with sRAW.

Ever since I upgraded to the new 5D Mark II my computer has been groaning under the weight of the TIFF files it generates.  I think if my Mac was standing on a less sturdy table it would be like playing Buckeroo — nervously uploading one last 20MB file before the whole thing collapses and crashes to the ground.  So on Sunday I shot on sRAW 1, which generates a file size of 9.9MB and a resolution of 3861×2574 as opposed to the full RAW file which weighs in at 21MB and 5616×3744 (there’s also an sRAW 2, which is 5.2MB and 2784×1856 in case you’re interested).

There was no visible degradation of colour or tonal range whatsoever, but obviously the magnification when going in close on Photoshop you’ll see pixilation earlier than you will with the full RAW files.  However that shouldn’t be a problem for professional printers these days, what with their whizzy algorithms and whatnot.  I will try and get back to you about that, though.

The only downside with sRAW seems to be file handling software.  Aperture 2.2 still seems to think sRAW means ’small mid-grey thumbnail that won’t open.’ but Lightroom 2.3 was fine with it.  It’s very possible you can download an update for Aperture, but as I’ve switched allegiances to Lightroom lately like some kind of quizling fifth columnist I’m afraid I wouldn’t know.

The shoot itself was great.  I worked with Sara Winter, a young upcoming actress I’ve shot a couple of times before, and her boyfriend James who’s also an actor but this was pretty much his first time in front of a stills camera.  This was also my first shoot working with my girlfriend, Sara Vaughan, who, rather luckily happens to be a professional (and amazing) makeup artist.  Sara also worked as art director on the shoot — being responsible for the wardrobe choices and having a very useful say in the set-ups as well.

The location was fantastic: Kenwood House in Highgate.  Being an East and now South West London denizen I’ve never really explored this area of North London.  The nearest I’d got before Sunday was catching a night bus from the soulless, concrete, Southern Fried Chicken-heavy Archway.  I had no idea that just up the road lies pretty much where I want to live now.

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/nav.12783

Kenwood House is an amazing spot with rolling fields that look out across London, a lake foregrounded by a vast, sloping, picnic lawn and just basically the ideal setting for a very English shoot.

Sara and I wanted to work with a couple because we’ve got our first wedding coming up next month in Ireland, and felt we needed the experience of shooting a couple.  The experience was invaluable.  I’m not sure Belfast really goes in for rolling hills much, but it was great to think about mood and composition and bringing out the connection between two people.

More to view at http://www.flickr.com/photos/medicatewithcoffee/

and

http://www.nicktuckerphotography.com/