Leanne and Dave at The Worsley Marriott, Worsley, Salford

So after leaving Hilary and Carl's fantastic bash (see previous post), I had to head home, download the images taken to my computer and back them up, clear the memory cards, charge the camera batteries and get to bed so I was bright and fresh for Leanne and Dave’s wedding the very next day. So up I got and headed over to the Marriott Hotel in Worsley. It was a beautiful day, sun shining all day long. Leanne and her bridesmaids looked amazing and were amazingly calm and serene as they made their preparations for the event. Dave is a top lad and his best man and ushers were all round good blokes on the day. The couple wrote and read their own vows on the day, which made the service itself really personal to them. The Marriott at Worley is a great venue for a wedding with lovely rooms and grounds, which were great for getting some special shots.

























I must give a special thanks to the Toastmaster, Stephen, who was simply a legend on the day. He organised everyone throughout the whole event, which aided me no end in being able to just concentrate on getting some great photos for the couple. I cannot recommend this man highly enough. He comes as part of the wedding package at the Marriott but if you want him at your wedding then get in touch and I’ll pass his details to you.

Congratulations to Leanne and Dave!

Nicola and Simon

My first wedding of 2010 was the marriage of Nicola and Simon in March. The whole ceremony was held at the Holiday Inn, Bolton Centre. I’d been looking forward to doing this wedding for 3 reasons: 1) I’d not done a wedding in a while and been itching to get back into it; 2) the venue is very special to me as it is where my own wedding reception was held; 3) Simon did a great job of teaching me how to drive and I wanted to return the favour!

The main function room at the Holiday Inn has to be seen to be believed. The hotel was built next to the site of a disused church, and rather than knock down the church, they chose to build onto it and use it as a function room. The weather in the week leading up to the day was a bit dodgy but couldn’t have been better on the day (ok, it could have been a touch warmer but we’ll not mention that). Some highlights below…















Congratulations to the pair of you. I really enjoyed shooting your big day and I hope you love the pictures!

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.