The seaside wedding
1st June 2009
Meols Hall, Southport
Had a brilliant weekend, Pete & Netta's wedding at Churchtown, Southport. Some weddings you just know are going to be good,
usually when I meet up with people before and their enthusiasm is so contagious. Pete and Netta were the perfect couple, their families
and friends were lovely with a great sense of fun and none of the cynicism that sometimes creeps into weddings.
Location really doesn't matter when there are great people around, but this time we had it all.
The chocolate wedding
1st March 2009
Worsley Court house, Manchester
Don and Helen's wedding - well what would you expect from a master chocolatier? The bridesmaids were wearing milk chocolate coloured dresses,
not just one chocolate fountain, but three, the favours were... , the cake was... mmmm, absolutely yummy.
The car was rather special too. It looked fabulous, a vintage merc. So as I set off from Helen's home to the Worsley Court house I thought we'd
get there at least 15 minutes before her, however, it seems this particular vintage merc has raced at Le Mans - and it beat us there.
Wonderful guests, many of whom are into Lindy jazz, and like dressing up, altogether a great wedding.
Snow and Elvis
Eyam Hall, 14th February 2009
A Valentine's day wedding... I went to shoot the wedding at Eyam Hall, of Julian and Nadine Bentley. Its a brilliant place, a private home (well manor house, really) and the owners have acquired a wedding licence so it can be used as a wedding venue.
Just back from Egypt, I'd heard about all the snow, and was very pleasantly surprized to find so much snow still on the ground. I've only ever done one other snowy wedding so it is quite unusual. Even more unusual was the wedding theme - Elvis! They had an Elvis impersonator for the evening entertainment! More Eyam Hall wedding photographs
Even More Nice people
10th February 2009
Just back from Egypt, more training with PTO - Photo Traing Overseas. Great time as ever, that's why we keep going back for more. The reason we have such a good time is because of all the nice people we meet, special hellos to Mark Betts from Northampton, and Mary, Penny Rowlands from somewhere down south, Julie Atkinson from Wakefield and Ken Donelly from Northern Ireland. The photography training was as diverse as ever, I have to admit being completely starstruck by Charlie Waite (v.famous landscape photographer)and very nice bloke.
After all that hard work training we had an extra week for R and R. One day we went out snorkelling on a sailing boat, lovely chill out day, walking back to the marina I managed to fall over and sprain my ankle quite badly and couldn't walk for the rest of the week, and as the hotel didn't have any crutches I had to spend 3 days in a wheelchair. I have to say it was an amazing experience, one that I wouldn't ever like to repeat
Nice people
9th January 2009
This year is shaping up very nicely - apart from the media who just can't resist bad news. One of the best things about this job is that I get to meet some excellent people - on tuesday I met Laura, a wedding planner (Little white wedding book) - she is really warm and friendly, and apart from helping people plan their weddings, she passes on the discounts she gets and is there on the day, to make sure everything runs smoothly.
Then I went to meet Helen, who is getting married in February. She's a chocolatier! Talk about dream job... anyway I did get a sample of her hand-made chocolates, and I can truly say they are utterly exquisite. She's quite passionate about creating the best possible chocolates. Even better, I'll be doing some product shots for her website: www.thecocoaemporium.co.uk and I get to eat the chocolates after! She has some great wedding favour ideas.
New year
1st January 2009
Greetings and Happy Ney Year to everyone! hope the world is feeling fit and happy and raring to go, and ready for a brave new world, which I hope is less selfish, and more considerate to the needs of everyone. I hope that the world at large takes it as a warning that we can't sustain rampant consumerism forever.
We had the pleasure of shooting the amazingly beautiful wedding of Elizabeth and Olly at Hassop Hall on the 30th December.
Here's a quick taster - photos will be on the recent weddings gallery in about a week.
Fame!
29th December 2008
It seems, if you search for "jeanette" on google, I'm on page 1 - in the world! Cool.
Versatile heroes
22nd December 2008
Big thank you to bespoke album manufacturers , Versatile albums, who have been working through the weekend to get album orders completed before christmas. Thanks also for their endless patience and beautiful albums. Merry christmas guys, you derve a good one!
Coldplay & copyright
12th December 2008
I went to see one of my favourite bands last week - Coldplay. My expectations were high, and fulfilled. However apart from the performance, I was amazed at how many people were recording the event on their mobile phones. I know "illegal" copying of music is endemic, but it made me think about how people consider copyright. Many photographers consider the copyright of their images to be sacred, however it seems that clients don't care about copyright, but they want images they can share on mobile phones, facebook etc. So I've been considering including a CD of images for all clients. I would welcome anybody's opinion on this - casual visitors, past or future brides, others photographers. Meanwhile, any past brides who would like a low-res CD of images, please let me know and I'll send one out as a christmas present!
I've also adjusted the web-site so the low-res images can be downloaded - for personal use only! If anyone wants to use them for non-personal use, please ask me first.
November blues
23rd November 2008
November seems to be all about sorting out albums - although yesterday I went on my annual trip to Oxfordshire.
Each year for about 10 years I have been invited to go and take some photographs of a family, which consists of
Anne and her husband, their 3 sons, several horses, ponies, cats, dogs... Its a bit of a trek but brilliant fun.
They are swedish, and it is their custom to have a christmas card which features a photograph of themselves - just
like the royal family. However for the last couple of years A-H thought it would cute to have a less serious photo for the christmas
card, hence the shot on the left!
The other photographs taken were a bit more serious - environmental portraiture, some inside, some outside, most of the boys, often involving
ponies. A-H has created a gallery of the photographs in the family lounge, which consists of about 100 black and white photographs and
grows each year. It would be lovely if it were open to the public - its the best showcase of my work I can imagine.
Lily the head-cruncher
20th July 2008
Gorgeous wedding at Whirlowbrook Hall yesterday - everyone was in stitches when we heard that just one day before the wedding, Craig & Debbie's daughter Lily (left), who is not yet three years old and utterly beautiful, had bitten the heads off the icing figures on the wedding cake! Really fun wedding, very informal - the wedding breakfast was a barbeque.
Ouch!
15th July 2008
I heard yesterday that Matt, who will marrying Vicky on August 31st has broken his leg in 2 places, and the cast/splint thing won't be coming off until a week before the wedding! " fabulous weddings at the weekend - watch out for them in the galleries.
Re-alignment
10th July 2008
Reading the Times I'm amazed at how the media seem so keen to talk up the idea of recession. It seems the fact that Moss Bros had record sales last month is seen as a bad sign, because apparently when times are bad men tend to dress smarter to avoid redundancy. I wonder if Moss Bros see it that way?
All change!
8th July 2008
I've made a couple of changes on the website - instead of leaving the entire selection of images in the gallery, I've tried putting album layouts in for a few featured weddings. Any feedback on this would be welcomed. So far Mike has muttered about the borders being the wrong shade of white - does "bridezilla" spring to mind? Wonder if he ever reads this?
Lifestyle photography
27th June 2008
Went to Newton to take some photographs of Jane & Ian's beautiful daughters, Caitlin & Neve. We went down to the river, found some very tasty locations. They were fantastic, and really seemed to enjoy themselves. Wandering around the village we met one of Jane's friends who lives in the Manor house, who very kindly invited us to make use of her gorgeous garden, then invited us in for a glass of champagne! So what's wrong with photography as a lifestyle choice?
Political stuff
28th June 2008
It seems one of my friends has decided to stand as a candidate in the Haltemprice & Howden By-election. She's called Grace Astley, and she's very serious about it!
Press photography with a bang
22nd June 2008
Did a couple of freelance press jobs filling in for Tony Braithwaite. I still get a buzz from it, but had a slight mishap... It was very windy today, as I arrived at a house where a presentation was happening, someone kindly opened the front door, the wind slammed the back door shut and broke the glass panel... hmmm. Not a very good way to make an entrance!
Famous or what?
20th June 2008
Why do so many people actively search for me? I'd like to think its because I'm a famous cutting edge photographer but modesty says otherwise. It is still pretty amazing how many people search for me by name., and when they've found my website, why don't they contact me? Or what are they looking for? If anyone can tell me, I'd be very grateful. Is there another famous Jeanette Dawson about? Help!!!
19th June 2008
Revolution bar, Lancaster - learning about web2 and stuff. Sounds serious. Nice Vodka bar - shame I was driving! Wonderful sunset on Bleasdale fell.
11th June 2008
Went to see Sex and the City - brilliant! Laughed till I cried - and all that gratuitous fashion…. I suppose everyone picks out the bits they relate to, but I kept picking up on the "its all about love" - a theme I first noticed with a far less glamorous writer.
Whirlow fun
8th June 2008
Did a pre-wedding shoot today, with Craig & Debbie and their children. We met at Whirlow park where the wedding will be held, they are so chilled it was excellent, got some great shots. It was almost too easy. I'd asked them to bring the children with them so they could get used to us too, so it was really just a fun family photograph session.4th June 2008
Pre wedding shoot in Manchester centre - met Dave the bridegroom for the first time. We went to quiet area near the GMex, a great location, will go back there again.3rd June 2008
Met Beccy & Sam - who booked me for their wedding next July in Cyprus!!!Old habits
29th May 2008
Wedding at the Stirk House at Gisburn- Gail looked amazing. Jim was 2nd shooter for the day. The Stirk House is looking good after a major refit, but I kept trying to go out to the front through the wrong door - old habits die hard!
The italian job
18th May 2008
Back from Italy, after an amazing week with Jerry Ghionis, world class photographer,
genius and really nice bloke. I need a month to get over it, and a second mortgage
to pay for it, but it was well worth it. I wanted to learn how to take really flattering
photographs, especially at weddings, we certainly did that and a lot of other stuff beside.
Went to Florence and Pisa on the way back - excellent.
Sheffield Wedding Photography The old site