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A guest at the Royal Wedding

29 April 2011 was an amazing, yet grueling day for me. As an American living near London, it seemed only fitting to take the earliest train possible in to London to see the Royal Wedding. My husband, ever supportive, agreed to make the journey with me. So we set out on the 06:20 train from Burnham-On-Crouch, Essex to London Liverpool Street station. We jumped on the tube and headed to Green Park station. We walked and walked, only to be told at the entrance to the park that we wouldn't be able to get any further than the big screen in the park and that the area nearest the Palace was full and closed. I almost believed the guy, but my husband knows better. So we walked some more. And we ended up just to the side of Buckingham Palace. Then the wait began.

Not much happened. A few cars came and went. We listened intently to the radio as events unfolded and the description of the Alexander McQueen wedding gown was revealed. We were advised that both hats and fascinators were indeed still in style! We learned of the arrivals of Elton John, the Beckhams, dignitaries, politicians, family members, friends and royals. We got a description of Westminster Abbey and the hoards of people there. We passed the time, got an official brochure and held on to our precious spot.

The band came through, but on the other side of the roundabout, so we couldn't see much. Finally, the band came back around and everyone got in to place for the arrivals!

I switch to the longer lens! Many shots done with my camera held up to get over everyones heads!

The Bride and Groom arrived on the balcony first.

The rest of the Wedding party arrive.

The long awaited kiss!

My favorite moment, just after the kiss.

Then the WWII planes and RAF fly by.

I am both honored and pleased to have been able to attend such a momentous occasion.

Wallasea Island, Essex and Vintage Spring Samples

As a photographer living in Burnham-On-Crouch, Essex, I have leaps and bounds of great locations to scout and think about. Now I'll be the first to admit, I'm no landscape photographer. This tends to be very hard to understand to my husband, who thinks any kind of photographer should be able to take great landscape photographs. The thing is, I got my degree from the Art Institute of Colorado. I studied Ansel Adams and his Zone System. I get when a landscape image is great. I don't see greatness like that in any landscape image I've ever taken. (Except maybe a couple in Santorini, Greece- and oh!- I have some nice ones from a visit to Cambridge too.) I DO however, love to work with people. Now put a living being in a landscape and I'm happy as a hamster!

Regardless of these facts, we decided to take the dogs on a little boat excursion to Wallasea Island. It was the first boat ride EVER for our 2 fearless friends, and, per usual, it was a bit of a challenge for Molson. (He's our golden retriever.) These 2 have been in cars, on planes, in parades and all sorts. They are real troupers and always up for an adventure. So we piled on the boat and went to the other side of the Crouch River. I took my Nikon D2X with my 35-80mm lens.

I don't actually think these images are  over the top thrilling, but I do love the textures! Turns out this island is mostly farm land, so there really isn't much to see. We did, however, have a wonderful walk in the sunshine and for Molson and Zuzu, that's the best!

So I thought I'd take a couple of images and show the before and after of what I can do to add a vintage touch to them. Vintage seems to be all the rage right now and I love the looks. It's not for everybody though, but I thought I'd take a stab of showing you the possibilities.

And for the finale, to keep things interesting and a little bit racy... Butterflies procreating!

Give me your thoughts on the Vintage look. Do you likey? Do you think it's a bit too trendy?

Photographing Borough Market, London

This last Saturday I had the pleasure of an adventure with friends in London's Borough Market. If you're not familiar with this part of London, it's a wonderful weekend food market under the London Bridge. Now I'm going to give you the straight up truth here. One: I love food. Two: I don't always take my camera on my adventures. So this is a little out of the box for me and I mighta, woulda, coulda took more pictures than I did, but mostly I was stuffing my face! This place might not make it in to your tourist book or things to do in London list, but it should. If you love food, the hustle and bustle of a busy market and strange and wonderful things, this is the place to go. If you see me there next time, I just might have my camera around my neck again!

Winter Wedding in Somerset, Keep it Simple Album

Ah. You remember that post a while back about the winter wedding in Somerset? Well, after a couple of revisions working with the couple, the final album arrived. It's a KISS wedding book. It's simple. It's elegant. It's virgin white. It's top grade leather. And it's on it's way to the newlyweds! This is a classic, good looking, long lasting, sturdy album and one of my best sellers. Have a looky!

Brides speak out on what they want from their photographer

I just read an interesting article on another blog about what brides want from their photographer. Seems today nearly 80% of (American) brides want a disc only package. This is up quite a bit from 6 years ago, when only about 20% were after the same thing. Seems the shift happened due to some frustration on the bride's part toward their experience with their photographer. Interesting concept, you might ask? I thought so. So a poll was done and this is what came up:

1. Brides were disappointed in how long it took to see their images. They were expecting to see them in days, not weeks! I'm glad to say, I've pretty much got that covered.  If you're on a social networking site, I'll give you several images straight away and usually have the rest up to your web gallery within a week!

2. Brides didn't like that the photographer presented so many images and didn't offer to help make the selections for the album. They want the expertise of the photographer to help them through the process. Oh good! I've got that covered too. Once your gallery is up, I predesign your first album draft. You then have the chance to view your images and make 2 full sets of changes which are included in your album price! I won't leave you hangin'!

3. Brides wanted to proof their album online. They've done the majority of their planning online and are surprised when they have to meet with their photographer so many times. After the wedding, things get busy, picking up where every day life had been put on hold. No worries. All album design approvals are done online with Faith Stone Photography. If you want to get together, I'm happy to, of course. But if life is just really busy for you, and the only time you have is your lunch break, then do it online!

This is all just part of the experience that I've been delivering for years. Now you know one of the differences between a full time professional and a weekend warrior. I strive to make your photography experience enjoyable and easy. So sit back, relax and enjoy your images!

Essex Photographer, Faith Stone Photography Products