Bryanna

I've been desperate to get out and take some photographs since the snow fell in Manchester this week but have been unable to until today. So before it went dark this afternoon, I grabbed one of my neighbours to come for a walk and have some photos taken. The light wasn't the best and I hadn't brought any flash gear, but got some good shots anyway.













Thanks to Bryanna for being a willing and freezing model for half hour or so. Hope you like the pics.

Dee and Paul

This was my final wedding of the year, and what a way to finish it off. Dee and Paul got married in the Castlefield Rooms in Central Manchester last week. The whole event was held at the venue with the wedding happening at 4pm. By the time it came round to doing the formal shots, the sun had set leaving us to do the portraits around Castlefield in the dark. The couple were absolute stars, with Dee proving the perfectly fearless bride, marching high heeled across the cobbled streets in the freezing cold and dark, not afraid to get her dress on the ground in order to get the shots they wanted. And it paid off, we got some amazing portrait shots which I am really proud of. A few can be seen below. These two had to have been the most chilled out people I’ve ever photographed. They were so relaxed throughout the entire day and were up for almost anything photography wise. Top stuff. The 3 tiered wedding pork pie was a fantastic idea. Congratulations guys!























My special thanks goes out to Audrey who was my assistant for the day. Audrey was invaluable in everything to do with photographing this occasion; coming visiting the venue twice prior to the wedding to help find locations, suss out how to light areas and pose the couple. The portrait shoot wouldnt have gone even half as smoothly without your help Audrey so a big BIG THANKS for everything.

Lisa and Martin

This was where my illusions of being a good weather charm were rained on from a great height (ho ho!). Lisa and Martin tied the knot at the Royal Toby Hotel in Castleton, Rochdale. Fantastic venue this is, the wedding moved from the function room, to the beautiful Italian restaurant downstairs, and back to the function room seamlessly. The couple had the genius idea of having the DJ bring karaoke gear along which really made the night special. Some highlights below.

















Congratulations to the pair of you, you make a fantastic couple. Thanks for letting me capture this day for you and I wish you all the best for the future.

Gemma and Ian

My second wedding in a row at the Bolholt in Bury, this time in a different suite. For some reason I always talk about the weather on this blog (typical Brit), but we again had some great luck. It had lashed it down all week, long causing much worry all round. But come the morning of the big day it was nothing but glorious sunshine, most surprising for October time! I had a great day here with Gemma and Ian and had some fun capturing their special day. Some highlights below.

















Congratulations to you both! Will be taking you up on that night out when your album arrives!

Emma and Simon

Emma and Simon got married at the Bolholt Hotel in Bury last month. Fantastic venue this, perfect set-up for weddings with top class co-ordinators making sure everything is perfect on the day. It was lashing it down for almost the full week leading up to this day and had me worried we weren't going to get good use of the fantastic exterior of the venue. But as luck would have it, it stayed dry for long enough to get some good shots of the happy couple. Highlights below...

FACES OF ECCLES

Last week I held an open photoshoot at Eccles Community Gallery. The idea was to photograph as many people as possible in one day, then display the photographs in the gallery for everyone to see.

I realise I didn't post any information about this on this blog and there were 3 very good reasons:

1) I have been busy wedding wise recently and have lots of work to do (photos to appear soon)

2) I don't even know if anyone actually reads this blog - 2 followers? LAME!

3) I forgot

Now I'm under no illusions about this... Rankin Live it definately wasn't! To prove it, take a look at my state of the art studio set-up below...



A sheet of black fabric from Dunelm nailed to a wall. I forgot an attachment to my light stand so the flash and brolly were strapped on using masking tape! The brolley was actually broke. In the room, I had the choice of either bright flourescent strip lighting or pitch black darkness, no natural light at all so I chose pitch black darkness and a 60 watt lightbulb in a desk lamp for a model light.

Despite all this I had a really good day and met & photographed many wonderful and weird people. Some photos below.










Took photos of over a hundred people on the day, all of which will be displayed from tomorrow (Satuday 19th Sep) for 4 weeks. If you can get yourself down there please come down and have a gander. The art gallery itself is a great little place, made from an empty shop front in Eccles precinct. It is the personal passion of a lovely lady named Karen Illingworth who runs it on her own with no funding, relying on donations and the help of volunteers. I've made her a little website to help with promoting the place, check it out if you get time at www.ecclesgallery.moonfruit.com

Thanks to Salford Online for running numerous articles promoting the events, the most recent one can be seen by clicking here.

Oh and special thanks goes out to Roxanne, Sharon and Charlotte! My glamourous assistants on the day worked wonders - fluttering eyelids, flashing pretty smiles, handing out flyers and frog-marching people to the gallery. The event wouldn't have been what it was without yous!

All Saints Church

I had the pleasure of being invited over to All Saints church in Whitefield, Manchester this morning to take some photos. I've been past this church countless times and have been in awe of the architecture every time. Have wanted to photograph it for ages but have never gotten around to sorting it out until now.

As I was snapping the outside, I was approached by an elderly gent who informed me that the church is a 'Waterloo church', meaning that it is one of a hundred and odd churches that were built to celebrate the battle of Waterloo. He also told me that the architect who designed this church also designed the houses of parliament! I was given a leaflet with some more history once I got inside, but I cant be bothered typing it all up on here for you.



















Weather today was of a typical summer day in Manchester, so decided to greyscale the outdoor shots. The inside was every bit as nice as I imagined it to be, hope I get to shoot a wedding in there sometime. I didn't really go very well prepared so I intend to go back to re-shoot the inside of the church with some proper lighting gear.