2011 – A year in photographs.

So I guess its a bit like when you were young, you would eagerly watch Blue Peter after school and at Christmas you would get the annual, or the Beano, you would get the comic and at the end of the year deep in the Christmas stocking was the Beano annual.

I hope you are equally as excited at reading this photographers post to round up the year, just like Blue Peter and the Beano some of the images you will have already seen in blog posts throughout the year, others have been saved for this round up of the year that was 2011.

OK, its nothing like Blue Peter or the Beano

If last year was exciting then this year has just been mind-blowing, as most who regularly read this blog will know I have been in business for some time but only at the end of 2010 did I make photography my full time ‘job’ – nice one Ian, going it alone in the deep depths of a recession, good move boy. All is good though and the support has been truly sensational.

Inspiration, aspiration, motivation, aggravation, isolation, celebration – I have had it all and loved it all. In life I have learned there is no place in my world for negative people, granted I have had the odd ‘blip’ and reverted back to the corporate world but largely it has all been positive and there is an awful lot to be said for looking for the positives in situations you have no control over, find solutions, smile, laugh say ‘Oh Fuck’ whenever you need to, try and do it under your breath though!

2011 has seen me hang out with great photographers at the top of their game and had a 3 page feature published in my favourite photography magazine. I have to say I have also got into a few scrapes with my mate and fellow photographer Ben Barden, him nearly giving me a heart attack me dragging me up Helvelyn as the boys skied, I photographed, more than one stomach churning moment in helicopters as well, all good fun though 😉

I have met some amazing people on this years journey, those that just get on with it, lead the way and don’t give a toss what anyone thinks, some very strong willed people that make life work for them, others that go the extra mile to help others, friends, I have met true friends, not necessarily my best friends but a group of friends that in a time of need surrounded themselves in positivity to help their friend. I was lucky to have the honour of recording what turned out to be a journey that was so much shorter than anyone expected, a tragic loss.

Rachel – wow the love of my life, a solid pillar of support and we were both ecstatic to learn that we are to become parents in 2012, I have been writing and documenting this as we go along so that blog post will make an appearance, probably in the dead of night sometime in March!

Lots of lovely weddings, babies children and dogs – I love photographing them all and the different challenges each represent – hey, of course its a sales pitch, so here goes………………

If you would like to have a chat about me photographing your wedding, baby or children, maybe the dogs – just drop an email to ian@ianwoodphotography.com, or call me on 01539 738846 | 07968 791584. You can follow on Twitter or ‘Like’ my page on Facebook, I do have Skype although it is rarely turned on 😉 there is a contact form in the top menu of this page and with my fingers and toes crossed I will have my new website live by the end of this year!

Sales pitch done – enjoy the images, please feel free to comment or ‘like’ sadly not room for every shoot, others will have been featured on their own posts though!

This post is dedicated to two great people we have have sadly had to say goodbye to locally this year, Nicky Dent whose widow Kelly has kindly allowed a couple of the wedding images to be shown in this post and the legend, or leg-end Drew Quarry, Drew was a man that everyone knew, he made it his business to know you and introduce you to others in business for the gain of everyone concerned. I had the honour of knowing them both – they are greatly missed and both taken too soon.

| personal | professional | passionate | perfect |

I just adore how the wind caught this dress, I believe it is a bespoke item by local designer Ele Horsley, this image was taken on a seminar, anticipation is the key. I am delighted that it now appears in a feature advertorial in the January issue of UK Vogue magazine called ‘Hot Shots’

Such a wonderful day for Nicky and Kelly’s wedding I spent the morning as I always do with the girls, generally being around the mayhem that is a wedding morning.

Little did we know how short the time Nicky had left with us, it was truly an honour to record and be part of  Nicky and Kelly’s special day. Nicky had been diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease some months earlier and tragically passed away less than a week after the wedding. Please, please if you are local help out the Nicky Dent Fund, or worldwide the Motor Neurones Disease Association.

Beautiful fresh tulips by Philosophy Flowers Manchester for Brian and Trudy’s wedding.

I didn’t really have all that long to take this photograph, it was taken on the reception desk at a hotel in Manchester, to the viewers left were two coach loads of Irish football fans who looked like they had had a little sniff of wine on the way over, waiting to check in. I am sure they did wonder why some long haired oik was taking pictures of red shoes on the reception desk. They were very patient though!

Arran and Sarah were married over in Yorkshire and had their reception at the very wonderful Hazlewood Castle, it has fantastic grounds where we were free to wander.

Just a sign, taken during a seminar with Californian wedding photographer Jessica Claire.

Lavender, I like lavender, it smells nice and makes me feel dreamy

Beautiful roses at Elaine and Martyn’s wedding from Kerry at the Floristry.

I was playing and kind of liked the symmetry, I like shoes as well!

This is not a Bride and again was taken on a windy cold day in Lancashire, could be the Mediterranean though, right?

I just like how the light fell on the chair, its all about the light kiddies!

This year I also ventured over the border into south west Scotland, Marie and Gaz had a dream wedding at Comlongon Castle, piper, medieval keep, suits of armour and best of all we ate Haggis, I do love Haggis!

Flowers, not just any old flowers either. If you have a keen eye you will see these are not real flowers, oh no, theses are made of leather and are really bloody cool. What a wonderful keepsake, all the buttonholes were also matching and made of the same leather. Bloody cool if you ask me!

Yep, its a frock, a very beautiful frock again I loved the way the light falls from the spotlight above. As a wedding photographer moments like this just happen and I have to be ready, 6 inches either way and the light would be gone!

Guess which way the wedding party is? This was a fantastic venue, in that it wasn’t a wedding venue but a large holiday home which the couple had hired out for them and a large proportion of their guests, all the catering prepared in the days leading up to the wedding, plenty of beer and wine and, well they were having a damn good time when I left – perfect!

I have said it many times already but it really is all about the light, oh and symmetry-ish. This image was taken on a very bright day. Bright day + black car and chrome = eek, so underexposing the highlights gave me a pleasing result, just enough reflection, really good, deep black and the Bentley marque clearly visible. Simple but effective, well I think it is anyway, these hydrangeas are from the garden of  William Wordsworth at Rydal Mount and formed a beautiful addition to the flowers from the florist. Simple English country garden beauty. Alex and Lou got married at a beautiful little venue that I have worked at on a few occasions, Marton House, near Appleby, with the reception at home in the little Eden village of Knock. A really great day and when I saw the sun-rays peeping through over the distant Lake District hills we had little time to grab the happy couple from the party, dash across the road and get this image.

Cool shoes -have I mentioned I like shoes 😉 Sarahs daughter had a matching baby pair!

Mini Cooper, what a great wedding car, parked outside Marton House. There is something about a casino table at a wedding, some take it really seriously, like they know what they are doing (and lose) and the lady that has had the most wine and is clueless about how it works often wins big – interesting 😉 As a wedding photographer you have to be able to use everyday objects and use the light to produce studio style shots, this image taken on a glass table in full daylight in the Bride’s conservatory! A Ceilidh always gets the party going and this was no exception, a group called Fiddler’s Wreck from the Harrogate area, sheer brilliance!
You can either work with disco lights or against them, often I choose to work with them and create dramatic images of a bride and groom, this also helps to disguise ‘Fire Exit’ signs and sprinkler systems while offering something different to the Bride and Groom.

I saw the sign post for the Whoop Hall where I was photographing the wedding, lots of lights on the Christmas tree and wet outside, I love this image.

 

Using the same principle as above to produce silhouettes for a local family, we got lots of great shots of the kids, both portraits and playing – I love the interaction in this image though.

Cute, cute, cute – we are getting one of them, woooohoooo, can’t wait! 5 days old, just so adorable! I often see photographs taken in woods full of Bluebells that have been trampled, I will point out that no Bluebell was trampled in the capture of this image, although there was a fair amount of feet stamping! Butter wouldn’t melt!

A young lady – living her dream! Converse, writing this post it has dawned on my that at this moment in time I own no Converse, this MUST change. although I will most likely go with laces in mine! Twins, we had a great time. Some fantastic portraits at home and then out and about – can’t just remember how this came about but I was probably goading – keep shooting, look at the fun and mischief  in their expressions! A little girl named Polly, a fishing net and Lake Windermere, don’t worry she was safe at all times and Mummy and Daddy were just out of shot, viewer left. Sadly Polly didn’t catch any fish but we did capture some wonderful images for the family. Polly again, I don’t recall the bunnies name, she was more interested in the bugs on the rock though! Mummy and Daddy got married at Comlongon Castle ^^^^^^ baby Haydon whom I photographed last year and who has become one of my signature images is now a proper little grown up, she is so adorable, her and Rachel also get on very well! This is Daisy, again I photographed her a couple of years ago when she was a baby, she will also soon have a little brother or sister and hopefully I will be able to photograph them together. I think this image says it all – just baby cuteness, Sophia was an absolute pleasure to photograph!

Little boys and stones, who needs Nintendo!

This little lady was photographed on a commission in South Manchester and really was a pleasure to work with.

I guess some photographers would photoshop the dribble out, why? Baby, new teeth and Haribo – even us adults dribble a bit where Haribo is concerned 😉 Pure love, babies as they are meant to be, looking lovingly into Mummy’s eyes, a bond that can never be broken and now recorded for evermore. Memories few have. A very happy, content little lady – her Mum and Dad are great hosts as well and the French Onion soup that was laid on for me was outstanding

 

It seems to have been a Spanial and Labrador year – I don’t mind though, gun dogs are great dogs to work with! A black lab is never going to be the easiest to photograph, I think I have nailed my technique though! Not my dog but I have this as a 30 x 20 box frame on my wall at home, I love the image that much. Another Black Labrador, who was very young and had been digging, with his nose in the garden before I arrived – I thought it summed up the character very well! Another Spanial, this time a spaniel of the Punk persuasion! Oh look, anther Spanial – this one is called Paddy and in this image is only 14 weeks old and hideously cute! C’mon guys, give me some space, I need space to look even cuter than I already do, goddam I am cute, dontcha think Twit twoooooo, this lady is really hot, my gorgeous fiancee and soon to be brilliant mummy, she stands by me and supports me all the way. I wouldn’t be doing what I do without the support and encouragement of Rachel, although she does keep quoting Only Fools and Horses…… ‘This time nest year Rodders’ James and Sarah modelled on a seminar I was hosting earlier this year at Aspire, great fun had by all and the delegates got a real treat as they were brilliant – good luck in MotoGP for the 2012 season fella, a Cumbrian team, perfect. Right, this shot did nearly kill me, camera left and deep in the valley you can see Ullswater, mountain range in the far distance is the Pennines, skier is Scott Rose, lit by a portable studio style light. When we got out of the car at Glenridding it was -12 degrees, on the top of Helvelyn it had to be under -20 with the windchill, I am in no way fit and shortly after setting off on the walk up pulled the mother of all strops and sat down. My kit was divided up and I was led up the hill, just carrying my own weight was hard enough! Massive thanks to Ben Barden and Alex for the help up the hill and the Lake District Ski Club for making the missed shots happen again quickly 😉 On the way back down I fell in a hole and nearly stayed there – be safe in the hills peeps! Windermere Airshow, Avro Vulcan booked, no way I could make it. Umm, plan needed. Using a bit of local knowledge a few bits of radio frequency gleaned form the web, Google earth and a lot of luck I had a plan. 2010 or it could have been 2009 Ben and I went out on the Lake and saw the Vuclcan close up, thing is everyone puts on their biggest lens and gets a close up as they can. I wanted different, we had a Vulcan in the Lakes, with is massive Delta wing I wanted that story, Lake district Vista with the unmistakable silhouette of the Vulcan. – Bingo, everything came together for the shot you see above, no need to see every rivet of the aeroplane, we have the Vulcan, in the Lake District. Following the principle of the previous day, I made a picnic and took Rachy to the same place in the hope of capturing the Red Arrows as I had the Vulcan, pretty happy with the result, lets face it, we know they are the Red Arrows. On the subject of the Red Arrows, they have had a tragic year. I know this blog has been seen by a couple of the guys in the team and I would like to say how valued you are and I for one am so sorry for your losses this year. Fly Free. I want my Mummy! More than one glance towards the Aga from this little one, now a beautiful chicken. The moment our lives changed forever, full story and blog post to come. Baby Wood at 20 weeks, I can’t explain the emotion when we first ‘met’ baby, as soon as the scanner locked on it did a little backflip and Rachel and I were in love with our baby, it continues to due seemingly never-ending backflips, we are around 29 weeks at the time of writing and will soon be venturing out to capture Rachel’s bump shots.

I do so hope you have got this far, if you have thank you for reading and feel free to leave a comment or hit the share button. Your support is appreciated.

Ian