One of the greatest things about being a photographer, and a Barnsley Wedding Photographer especially, is being able to get together with a pal and just go shoot something/someone for fun. Even better is when that pal is one of the UK's best portrait photographers and a trainer of photographers too, and just such a fun afternoon was had this Monday with Gary Hill of http://www.gdhphotography.co.uk/

We started the day off with some business planning on a new venture (which is likely to take some considerable purchase costs!!!), and followed that up by discussing how best to integrate Gary's tuition with my own in the Business of Wedding Photography www.dg-phototraining.co.uk

Then we met with a local student Khyara (so not a 'model' as such but she is very comfortable in front of a camera), and off we went to play in a quarry. The style of this shoot is what's often referred to as Trash the Dress, where following her Wedding a Bride will put on her dress again and go out to somewhere where it may get very dirty (or worse). Today's shoot though was more of a Treasure the Dress, where the point is to show it & our bride's beauty rather than destroy her dress!!! These sorts of post-Wedding shoots are becoming more popular so if you fancy one yourself just get in touch - there are more examples here... www.dg-weddings.com in the Fun Portfolios section

The point of today's play was using Off Camera Flash (OCF) as a primary light source, and to use cross-lighting too with the Sun itself as the secondary light source. Sounds simple enough? But OMG was that Sun bright !!! To the extent we had up to 3 flashguns strapped together and firing at once to get anywhere near enough light

Here's a few examples from the day, and more (both with speedlights and natural light) have been posted HERE

If you fancy playing out to achieve something like these images, drop me or Gary an email and we can discuss matters from there

I hope you like these images and get inspired too - feel free to leave a comment :-)

After years of being asked about how I became a Wedding Photographer and if I'd run a course on it I finally caved in and did so in January 2012

To say it was well received is a HUGE understatement !!!

So after running a couple of such courses, and a couple of 1-2-1s and still having 47 people interested in me doing more I finally thought... why not

And after a month of more research and consideration I finally launched my new website today :-)

So if you have any thoughts or aspirations to become a Professional Wedding Photographer please get in touch, lets spend a day together and get you up & running in a field I love

Take a peek here http://www.dg-phototraining.co.uk/ - then I'll see you soon

Cheers

Dave

PS - I will be adding further training specific to taking photo in the field of Wedding Photography, by offering courses jointly with some of my colleagues who have specialisms in other areas; and I'll soon be offering courses too for those newer to any form of photography, but especially Landscape Photography which is my most loved non-pro shooting

I find its all too easy to get stuck into shooting what you're being paid for, and not necessarily shooting as much as you'd like for the sheer Hell of it; but being party to various Professional Photography forums means sometimes challenges are thrown out that just demand a play - and this happened today for me

So this morning, with the brief... 'Shoot someone & chocolate' I coerced my son into eating a bar of chocolate on camera - ok, well getting him to eat chocolate was hardly tricky tbh !!!

Just had a great few days away with fellow Pros discussing the Schools Photography business, and I can't help wondering why it seems everyone thinks its expensive, that they seem to not really like their children's photos, and why they buy them anyway

So if any parent would care to elaborate that'd be great :-)

Please let me know:

1 - how much you'd be happy paying for your child's School Portrait ???

2 - do you want an actual print, or would you prefer to simply download a digital image to print yourself (this could make it considerably cheaper !!!) ???

3 - do you like plain backgrounds in your photos, or do you like it when the background is part of the school - such as a library for example) ???

4 - are you happy with just one posed shot, or would you like several to choose from, including such as lying on the floor, jumping in the air, pulling silly faces ???

It'd be great to hear from you all on this one, as I'm seriously thinking of adding Schools Photography to our services for later this year, but (just like my Wedding Photography) I don't want to just copy what everyone else does :D

Thanks in advance

David

David is one of few qualified Barnsley Wedding Photographers, and is in great demand for his Wedding Photography due to his relaxed & fun approach combined with distinctive, contemporary and artistic photography
Using primarily the finest Storybook Albums from Graphistudio, the leading provider of top quality Storybook Albums, David can uniquely present you with a Wedding Story to treasure
So dive in for a look around on our dedicated Barnsley & Yorkshire Wedding Photography website,
we are sure you will enjoy the experience


Most happy to act as a Barnsley Wedding Photographer, Wakefield Wedding Photographer, Rotherham Wedding Photographer, Sheffield Wedding Photographer, Huddersfield Wedding Photographer, Doncaster Wedding Photographer, Leeds Wedding Photographer

Put simply... acting as a Barnsley and South Yorkshire Wedding Photographer or West Yorkshire Wedding Photographer virtually anywhere :-)

Isn't it funny how photos can give you a sudden 'Memory Rush', and trigger off things you had put to the back of your mind now re-awakened in vivid detail

Here's a couple of shots of my son one FAB winter's morn a couple of years ago. Taken for the sheer Hell of it, but one then found its way into a competition where it won :-)

I was minded today too of the fragile nature of such images as a fellow Pro friend of mine reported that one of her Brides, who bought their Wedding Photography images as a License Free DVD, had lost them all as her disc had corrupted !!! EEK

Thankfully, my colleague still had them backed-up herself and so was able to re-cut a DVD and save the day. I tell ALL my Brides who have a DVD to - copy it to their computer, their laptop, their mum's laptops and computers, even remoter family should house a copy. There's an old maxim in the digital era that if something doesn't exist in at least 4 copies all separate, then it doesn't 'exist' at all - meaning its so easy to lose it

So - had your own family photographed lately by a Pro ??? Thought not !!! So where are all your memories going to be, where are all your 'triggers' for the future ???

A proper family shoot needs to be done at least once a year - call/email me to start the ball rolling on your own memory bank :-)








David is one of few qualified Barnsley Wedding Photographers, and is in great demand for his Wedding Photography due to his relaxed & fun approach combined with distinctive, contemporary and artistic photography
Using primarily the finest Storybook Albums from Graphistudio, the leading provider of top quality Storybook Albums, David can uniquely present you with a Wedding Story to treasure
So dive in for a look around on our dedicated Barnsley & Yorkshire Wedding Photography website,
we are sure you will enjoy the experience


Most happy to act as a Barnsley Wedding Photographer, Wakefield Wedding Photographer, Rotherham Wedding Photographer, Sheffield Wedding Photographer, Huddersfield Wedding Photographer, Doncaster Wedding Photographer, Leeds Wedding Photographer

Put simply... acting as a Barnsley and South Yorkshire Wedding Photographer or West Yorkshire Wedding Photographer virtually anywhere :-)

A few months ago I received a desperate 'Help' phone call late one Saturday evening to see if I was available to cover a Wedding the following Thursday at Wortley Hall, near Barnsley - yep - just 5 days later !!!

What made this especially unusual was that the Wedding was being filmed by Channel 4 as part of a 3 part series of programmes looking at the lives of larger families. Lee & Emma were absolute stars and we had a ball of a time shooting their Wedding, but their FAB children stole both the day & the show too

As part of the shoot clearly had me 'in shot' on many occasions I, and my colleague Wakefield Wedding Photographer Martin Hillary who kindly stepped in to help out, both had to sign an agreement to allow us to be shown on TV. After a ridiculous amount of filming the final cut had the Wedding coverage down to some 2 minutes, and I made my second national TV appearance on Tuesday 31st Jan 2012; but only by virtue of my left arm appearing for some 0.8 seconds !!! While the back of Martin's head managed a disgusting 2.5 seconds :-(

"As seen on TV" - my newfound (arm's) fame has even prompted another and clearly jealous Pro Photographer to take a screen grab from the recent C4 programme I appeared on - so for those that missed it - here is it again

I'm thinking of writing a book about my media experiences, please contact me if you would like to register your interest at a substantial pre-release discount :D

I'm also available for talks & appearances, with a HUGE fee based on my now Celebrity status - call or email for details :D