Here it is! My TOP60 of 2011! (I tried to make it TOP40 but I just couldn’t cut it down any further!) Another amazing year at Jonny Draper Photography filled with awesome experience after awesome experience. Another year of meeting some of the loveliest people you could ever possibly wish to meet and another year of working at some of the best venues and with some of the best suppliers in the wedding industry. To all of my brides and grooms and to all of my wonderful wedding friends – thank you for making 2011 an absolute joy. I’m looking forward to more of the same this year!

So without further ado, my favourite images in no particular order. As with my 2010 review, I set myself a couple of simple rules so as to (hopefully!) not bore you to tears reading this blog post and instead let you just look at and enjoy the images. The rules were: Only 60 images (I worked out that I shot over 100,000 images last year so it’s been a bit of a task to cut them down again!) and only a simple line about each one. Here we go…!!!

The gorgeous Poppy at Styal Lodge modelling for our ‘Future of Vintage’ shoot as featured on English Wedding (you can see the whole shoot HERE)  We could have been in Ibiza the weather was that good!  One of my iconic images of 2011 – so much so that it is about to be hung on our lounge wall!

Katie & Colin’s Grange over Sands wedding – I love a happy and full dance floor!

Bev & Phil’s pre-wedding shoot.  Seedy?  Nah….!!!  I love the colours!  (And so did they!)

Bev & Phil’s wedding at The Ashes in Staffordshire.  Taking a few minutes out at their stunning venue…

I’ve heard rumours about photographers not allowing guests to take pictures at weddings they shoot – obviously I don’t roll like that, but even if I did, I’d have struggled to stop Lisa & Eric’s guests at Thornton Manor!!!

Kelly & Mike’s Inn at Whitewell wedding – stunning.  That’s it.

Alexis & Adam’s wedding at Mitton Hall.  Wowsers.  What a gorgeous evening for the the most gorgeous couple.  Ali & Adam REALLY loved everything about their wedding and the photography and were so keen to use their amazing venue to it’s full potential.  As with all the images in this post, I could have used hundreds of images from their wedding, so it was tough cutting it to this one.  But I’m sure you’ll agree it’s a worthy entry!

Another Mitton Hall wedding, this time Jenna & Chris’s big day (that’s not Chris on the left by the way!) – I just loved Jenna & her bridesmaid’s matching Vivienne Westwood shoes!

Ridiculous gin based behaviour at Kate & Ant’s wedding.  Love it!

Chips by the river for Carrie & Rob and their bridal party at their wedding at Oddfellows in Chester – don’t think I need to say anything else!

Chrissie off of Chrissie & Louis at their pre-wedding shoot at Tatton Park – how gorgeous?!?!

My fave shot from Charlotte Balbier’s Candy Kisses launch party at Great John Street Hotel in Manchester – a stunning collection and an honour to be involved.

Catherine from Catherine & Will arriving at church.  Who cares that it’s raining?  This is a gorgeous shot!

Awwww…Jacqui & Will at Styal Lodge – I love them so much!  They are the nicest couple in the world!!!

Vicki off of Vicki & Stuart having a race with her bridesmaids at Browsholme Hall.  As you do!

One of my all time favourite images.  The gorgeous Ruth at The Ashes in Staffordshire.  It’s just so ethereal and beautiful!

Brooklyn Bridge in New York City.  Just because it’s so iconic.

A rather special moment at Louise & Tom’s wedding in Bristol where the ‘do not climb on the cow’ sign was very much ignored…

The first shoot I did for Black White Denim in Wilmslow, Cheshire.  My favourite model who’s not a model, Ella…

Jess & Mike’s Manchester pre-wedding shoot.  Because it doesn’t get cooler than this…

Charlotte & Teddy’s (and Ellie-Belle Balbier!) Tatton Park engagement shoot.  The loveliest couple on a stunningly beautiful and colourful autumn day…

Another of my all time favourite images taken at Hannah & Jason’s Styal Lodge wedding – I LOVE a moody sky!

Big red wedding bus at Steph & Kris’s Manchester Town Hall wedding!  Love it!

I think it’s the colours that do it for me.  And the expressions on Ali & Adam’s faces!  A BRILLIANT pre-wedding shoot at Fletcher Moss Park in Didsbury…

Because people only smile like this when it’s the best day ever… Polly and Paul’s Albright Hussey Manor wedding…

Rebecca & Andrew taking 5 minutes out on the beach on their way to Lytham Hall.  Because they could.  I love a bride who loves her dress but doesn’t worry about it!

Mrs Angela Doran.  Because Emma & I love you!

One for the boys AND girls.  A sports car (Lotus Exige for anyone who’s a car geek like me!) AND a man in uniform!  What’s not to like?!  Mike from Jess & Mike outside Styal Lodge…

Lisa & Alex’s ’secret’ West Didsbury wedding!  I love this shot of them enjoying fish and chips in Frankie’s Fish Bar on Burton Road!

Leona.  Beautiful.

Laura & Simon’s Thornton Manor wedding – you can feel the atmosphere in this shot, I just love it…

Louise & Andy’s Mitton Hall wedding – Bags of attitude!

Vicky & Jamie at The Lowry Theatre – how cool is it that we were allowed to shoot in the theatre?!?!

My great friend Howard Wing getting a ‘Love Train’ going at Paula & Andy’s Barton Grange wedding – that was before the speeches had even started!  That’s how good he is!

Little Lola Fox.  Cute as you like!

Hayley & Matthew’s Blackpool pre-wedding shoot.  The wanted the glitter ball to be a feature.  So that’s what we did!  Ace!

Rachael’s portfolio shoot in Manchester.  Because we got her to sit on a wall on the 5th floor of a carpark and she was up for it…

Dawn & Phil’s Sandhole Oak Barn wedding.  We shot some gorgeous images of them after the wedding breakfast and this one of them having a few minutes to themselves is one of my faves.  What a lovely couple they are too…

Catherine & Richard.  It’s all in the look…

Emma & Pete and a couple of their hilarious mates – what’s not to like about this pic?!?!

Jess & Terry’s wedding.  Another wedding where I could have used hundreds of images for this post, but this was my fave (sorry you didn’t feature Tez!  Although you DID like it so you DID go and put a ring on it!!!)

Jordana & Ben at the windmill on the green in Lytham.  Because Jordana still has it as her profile pic on Facebook – I’m glad she loves it as much as I do!

Nicky & Graham at Styal Lodge.  I wanted to give them a different perspective to the now famous ‘platform’ at Styal Lodge – and it worked beautifully!

Louise from Louise & Andy on their pre-wedding shoot at The Inn at Whitewell.  They wanted to do something a bit different.  So they got REALLY dressed up and then we went for a walk in the country!  Cool hey?!

Tiz & Rich – once again, it’s all about the look…

Andrea & Andy’s Inn at Whitewell wedding.  Just to prove that even hotel corridors look awesome in wedding photographs…

Ashley Margolis shoot (Ricky from Hollyoaks)  Ash wanted something a little bit cooler than his usual headshot/agent card images so we spent a morning shooting some properly cool stuff around Castlefield…

Mel & Jivko’s Conwy Castle wedding.  Check that view out!

Katie & Nick’s big finish to their first dance at Albright Hussey Manor!  As choreographed by my good friend Ailsa Baker!

Tanya & Paul’s Bartle Hall wedding – I love them stealing a minute away from it all just before their first dance…

Check out that smile on Nat’s face!  Proof that rain doesn’t dampen spirits on anybody’s wedding day!

Jamie & his groomsmen at Stirk House having a little loosener before the ceremony!

Recently featured on their wedding ’sneak preview’ on my blog – I love this shot of Ali & Adam kissing under the mistletoe at The West Tower…

Another Black White Denim shoot – featuring the very lovely Charlotte.  Simple, elegant and incredibly beautiful…

Weddings are all about interactions and reactions – I love the look on Maria’s face as her and John are applauded into the room at Rookery Hall…

Sophie in a stunning gown from The White Closet at The Styal Lodge Open Evening.  Because it was such a fun evening!

Julie & Jamie’s pre-wedding shoot in Liverpool.  A ‘Friends’ moment…!!!

The gorgeous Stacey on The Vintage Wedding Dress Company shoot for The White Closet at Willow Pool in Lymm.  As featured on Love My Dress HERE!

Carly & Ian’s Manchester pre-wedding shoot.  Because they drink alcohol that is on fire.  And they’re particularly gorgeous and lovely!

This seemed a particularly appropriate image to end on!  Lucy & Ian’s friends at their Lyme Park wedding getting stuck into Jagerbombs!  Cheers!

So there it is. My 60 favourite images. Beautiful brides and grooms, wonderful moments, new friends, I loved every minute.

A huge thank you to the following people for their continued support and for contributing so much to such an incredible year:

Emma Draper

Chris & Pete Draper

Jo, Paul, Megan and ‘Bump’ Pike

Katie & Anthony Roberts

Clare Draper

Keith & Pauline Latham

Jane & Jason Thompson

Olivia Jones

Richard, Sarah, Georgie, Poppy & Franny Higham

Tom Harrington

Nikki, Rich, Jessica & Charlie Graeme

Charlotte Balbier & Ed Bedford

Sheree Reece

Howard Wing

Judith Blacklock

Jo Davies, David Bell, Charlotte, Lucy and all the girls at Black White Denim

Helen Corr & Pete Ruane

The Northwest Photographer ‘drink up’ massive

My lovely mates

And last but my no means least, all of my amazing brides and grooms!

Here’s to 2012!

xxx

So today was a very cool shoot for a bespoke wedding dress maker that was shot at a couple of locations around Manchester.  These are some of the new samples they’ve just made which we’ve shot for their website and literature.

Just for Dawn, as I know she’s dying to see something, here’s a couple of my faves…

More coming soon…!!!

x

A few images for your perusal from our recent trip to Boston & New York…

I was shooting for a magazine in Boston and Emma and I were lucky enough to turn the trip into a short break and sneak in a few days in New York on the way home (as well as a couple of days in Boston doing the touristy thing!) Of course, I had my camera with me for work and what a great opportunity to shoot some stuff just for fun while we were there!

Starting in Boston with the statue of Washington that had been turned into a Boston Bruins fan especially for their run (and victory!) in The Stanley Cup. Go Bruins!

Spot the tourists on the Duck Tour (Quack, quack!)

On to NYC…

Will Smith in Battery Park!  Shooting MiB3 – Emma and I just happened to be having lunch as he walked past!

Local basketball league near to our hotel in Soho…

We walked the Brooklyn Bridge back from Brooklyn to Manhattan…

Soho…

x

Emma and I were lucky enough to be able to turn an amazing wedding shoot in New York last October into a few days away on top of the wedding and as our excitement builds ahead of us flying out to Boston this Sunday for a magazine shoot I realised I never shared any of the none wedding images I shot whilst in NYC last year.  I’m reminded of New York as we’re lucky enough to be able to fly home from Boston next week via 3 nights in New York – which we’re VERY much looking forward to.  Even if it is currently 99 degrees in the shade…

So here’s a handful of my favourites from New York last October.  Don’t be fooled by the blue skies – the temperature was around freezing for most of our time there, so this years trip will be a bit of a contrast!

I want to be a part of it….

x

What a wonderful surprise when I opened the door to the postie yesterday and this very exciting package was handed over to me…

This is a BIG deal… the most gorgeous bride and groom, Cat & Pete, who were married at The Inn at Whitewell in December sent me this wonderful thank you.  This is a bottle of the port that they served at their wedding breakfast as the toast drink (Pete’s in the RAF and it’s tradition to toast with port) and it’s his actual squadron’s special bottle – check out the beautifully engraved bottle…

A lovely thank you card…

And the most beautifully written letter!  3 whole pages of lovely words that I can’t thank Cat & Pete enough for.  It was a true privilege to shoot Cat & Pete’s wedding and it’s a true privilege that I have become such good friends with them.

I haven’t actually posted the full blog of their wedding yet, as Cat and Pete had wanted to share their images with their immediate families before I showed them on my blog, but I’m now working on the blog post which is full of the most wonderful details and the most beautiful images – I can’t wait to share it.  Until then, here’s a little look at another image from their amazing day…

Cat & Pete – congratulations once more.  I don’t mind admitting that there wasn’t a dry eye in the house when Emma and I read your beautiful letter and thank you so much for such a meaningful gift that reminds me of such a magical day.  We can’t wait to catch up with you next time you’re ‘up north’!

Big hugs!

xxx

So at long last, when new year and Christmas seem a lifetime ago, I’ve finally put together my list of favourite images from 2010. I had intended to blog this in the first week of January, but I have to say, 2011 has got off to a flyer and I literally haven’t had the chance! But I can’t leave it any longer – here it is, my TOP 40 images from the last year. I’ve given myself a couple of rules – firstly limiting my post to 40 images (nice round number!) and also that I can’t choose more than one image from any one shoot. So it’s been tough – nobody is more critical of my work than myself, but at the same time, as a photographer you often fall in love with so many of the images you take (especially beautiful wedding images) so I’ve been really hard on myself and MADE myself choose! The list isn’t exclusively weddings – it really is a flavour of everything I did last year.

One last thing – in a rather geeky way, I worked out that I took around 75,000 photographs last year. So whittling it down to my favourite 40 was no easy task. But be thankful I haven’t made you sit through all of them!!!

So let’s start with the very beautiful Laura & Ewan’s New Year’s Eve first dance…

Cat & Pete.  The Inn at Whitewell (I got married there!  Have I mentioned that before???)  Taking five minutes out at the bar.  Love it.

Arthi & Jon’s Castlefield wedding.  LOVE the local gangsta pimping it past the bridal party…

Ahhhh – the GORGEOUS Alexis!  Her fiance, Adam, is equally gorgeous, but, rules are rules and I LOVE this one of just Alexis, which means sadly he doesn’t get a feature…

From a very cool bridal shoot I organised at Twelve Restaurant in Thornton, Lancashire.  Love the David Fielden gown from The White Closet – Amy looks soooo cool!

Self indulgent?  Me?  So obviously I didn’t take this one (the studio director did!) but I processed it!  And it reminds me of an awesome weekend in Ireland last year…

Livy off of Livy & Owen – theirs was the first wedding that I shot at one of my favourite venues in the whole world, the amazing Styal Lodge, and it was just the most beautiful day.  I love this shot from the morning of the girls fussing round Livy…

Steph & James on the beach at Lytham.  In FREEZING January last year.  But how beautiful is that scene?

Sometimes you get lucky…;0)

The most perfect snowy scene at Singleton Lodge for Emma & Karl’s wedding!  I love a bride who isn’t scared to get her feet cold!

Another Styal Lodge image – the very beautiful Poppy Higham wearing a stunning gown from Timeless Bride – and what about that Flower Design bouquet?!

NYC baby!

A very special wedding from last year – Linz & Rick (our very, very good friends) got married at The Swan at Newby Bridge and I photographed it for them.  I love this – best man Mike stepping up and delivering the best speech ever!

I love Sarah & Matt!  I had such fun with them throughout their entire wedding journey and just adore this shot of them in Fletcher Moss Park in Didsbury…

Cat & Pete’s pre-wedding shoot at The Inn at Whitewell – the stepping stones are truly an iconic part of the area and I love this moment between them…

Livy & Owen’s pre-wedding shoot.  This is when you realise just how well you’re going to get on with your bride and groom!

Doesn’t Michelle just look so perfect in this setting?  No posing, just the perfect location, the most beautiful gown – it just works beautifully…

A recent favourite of main from Cate & Mike’s pre-wedding shoot.  The shadows were too cool to walk past!

A genuine moment of reflection, calm and nerves all rolled into one on Charlotte & John’s wedding.  Gorgeous…

Danielle turned into a bridal gown model for a moment…!!!  Stunning!

Dawn & Phil at Dunham Massey.  I love how unintrusive this image is, yet at the same time has so much atmosphere and emotion…

One of my iconic images of the past year.  An image that was conceived with the input of the bride and groom which is exactly the way I love to work.  Claire and Andrew wanted something really cool and dramatic that was all about the part of the world they were in.  Claire’s stunning Ian Stuart gown was made for this kind of image…

Moments like this are what weddings are all about – Diana and Louisa and Luisa just enjoying themselves!

Ella.  Attitude.  Amazing.

Emma giving it both barrels on hers and Karl’s pre-wedding shoot – cool as!

A beautiful tender moment between Fran & Joe on their gorgeous summer wedding…

Emily backing up my ridiculous statement that Uggs were going to be big with wedding dresses this winter!  Love this shot from Gibbon Bridge!

A timeless image from Jo & Mark’s spectacular Tuscany wedding…

Karey & Kate’s pre-wedding shoot in NYC.  I won’t tell you how long we had to wait for a yellow cab to come past!  In the movies it looks like the city’s full of them!

Washington Square Park Memorial, New York City.  Another couple with creative ideas of their own that came up with this location and actually wanted this shot so badly that we left their reception at night, jumped in a cab and went and got this image.  How cool is that?!

And another couple who really understood the role of photography at their wedding.  Kirsty & Stuart had idea after idea for locations in St Andrew’s they wanted to use – music to my ears!  I love the fact that we’ve got the whole bridal party with us for this…

Laura & Ewan’s pre-wedding shoot on a miserable day.  But what a moment…

Weddings are all about moments.  And capturing those moments is so important.  This spontaneous laughter was due to the congregation setting off at the wrong time in the hymn they were singing – cue the WHOLE place falling about laughing and nobody able to get it back on track!  But Lisa and Tom will remember that moment forever…

Louise & Olly.  Confetti.  Soooooooo happy!  That’s why I love it!

Manhattan skyline in black and white.  Very cool.

Olivia at dusk wearing her art project.  See, everyone thinks that dresses that light up were invented by Big Fat Gypsy Weddings!  Olivia was designing them a year ago!

Sarah & Dan steal a moment on King Street just after they’d got married…

A very special shot from Sarah & Matt’s wedding at Sandhole Oak Barn in Cheshire.  Shot especially on the car park – just for them!

A really cool image from Steph & James’s post-wedding shoot in Northumberland!

And finally – Vicki & James sneaking a moment together on the beautiful terrace at Styal Lodge…gorgeous…

So there we have it.  40 images.  Lots of beautiful people in love.  Lots of moments never to be forgotten.  What a year.

Special mentions to those who contributed to making my 2010 a particularly special one.  Huge and sincere thanks for all the support you gave me – you all know what you did which means so much…

Emma Draper

Pete & Chris Draper

Jo, Paul & Megan Pike

Katie Draper & Anthony Roberts

Clare Draper

Keith & Pauline Latham

Jane & Jason Thompson

Olivia Jones

Jonathan Harris & Christine Ware

Ella Warhurst

Andy Cheetham & David Bell

Julia Gaffey

Bridget Pelicias

Tom Harrington

And last but certainly not least – all of my amazing brides and grooms and brides and grooms to be!

Here’s to 2011!

xxx

Always good to go and see other photographer’s speak about how they do things – today I had the pleasure of listening to American photojournalist, Rick Friedman. He was fronting a session at Calumet in Manchester on ‘getting the best out of your speedlites’ (flash guns to us ordinary folk!) and had lot’s of interesting things to say, as well as demonstrating a number of techniques.

I’m a big fan of using my canon speedlites, particularly at weddings – but in a creative way.   Dramatic skies, amazing suns, real high-fashion images can be achieved with just one little flashgun! Just like these two images I shot today with the model who was there – one flash gun, set up to the left of the model, boom – pretty cool and dramatic hey?  Especially when you consider we were on the carpark of an industrial estate in Manchester!

Lot’s of fun today and a reminder to myself that even during a massively busy wedding season, it’s still important to always be shooting different things, trying different techniques and learning constantly.  I don’t think photography is there to be mastered – it is a forever evolving discipline and it’s my job to always experiment and to understand different ways of shooting and producing stunning images.  Can’t wait for Saturday’s wedding after a little bit of mid-week inspiration!

x

After last year’s Easter trip to Polperro I think I wrote 8 separate blog posts about it! I’ve decided to just show a couple of images from this year and not go too beserk about the holiday as I’ve got too many really exciting things to blog about over the next few weeks including the full wedding stories of Steph and James and Michelle and Nick, an amazing shoot I did with my wonderful photographer friends Jonathan Harris and Christine Ware and some great images from a session at The Lowry hotel in Manchester focusing on the bridal preparation part of the wedding day – exciting!

For now though, a little bit about this years family holiday to Polperro starting with some great news – my sister, Katie and her boyfriend Ant got engaged while we were there!

To cut a long story short, Ant found a moment early in the week to ask my Dad for permission to pop the question (good lad!) and then worried himself to death for nearly two days about his plan to propose! Ant woke Kate up at about 5:30am in the morning and insisted she join him on a 15 minute hike up to the war monument on the coastal cliff path to Talland Bay. Anybody who knows where I’m talking about probably feels the same as me – It’s a beautiful walk, but I wouldn’t fancy it at that time of the morning!

The plan was to arrive at the monument in time to watch the sunrise – how romantic!

Kate apparently needed a little bit of convincing when Ant was trying to get her to wake up, but she eventually got dressed and they made their way up the path.

It worked out perfectly, they got to the monument, the sun came up, Ant dropped to one knee and revealed a beautiful engagement ring and Kate said ‘yes’!

Here’s a shot of Kate and Ant at the very spot he proposed (I wasn’t there – I was tucked up in bed! We did this a couple of days later!)

This is a shot of the view from the spot that Ant proposed – pretty spectacular hey?

And finally a couple of images from days out walking.  There were shots of us doing lots of eating and drinking as well, but you have to be over 18 to look at some of those!

This is one of the beautiful stained glass windows at the very beautiful Lansallos Church that we pop into every year.  There was an arson attack on it in 2005 and the local residents have done a wonderful job of restoring it.  Every year we’ve been back it’s been wonderful to see the ancient building slowly being restored to it’s former glory.  It’s also (and I think I mentioned this on a blog post last year but I love it so much that I’m mentioning it again) got the best headstone I’ve ever seen in the church yard.

The inscription on the gravestone records the untimely death of John Perry at the age of 24 in 1779 “unfortunately killed by a cannon ball by a person unknown,”

What a way to go!

So that’s all you’re getting Polperro wise this year – it was a fantastic week down there as always, great to see some familiar faces in Richard McGeown at the fantastic Couch’s Great House Restaurant and Pam and Dave at The Cottage the guys at Pinky Murphy’s in Fowey and loads of other places!

Keep your eye on the blog over the next few days to see some amazing new stuff I’ve been working on recently!

x

Some very exciting midweek news!  My wonderful wife Emma is now a part of Jonny Draper Photography in an official capacity!

Emma has always been hugely supportive of all things related to my business so it’s absolutely fantastic that she will now be actively involved.  Coming from an advertising and marketing background, Emma will bring a huge amount of experience to the business that will be massively beneficial to both me and the business.

Even more exciting is the impact her previous experience will have on new and existing clients.  Emma has worked in a client services role for the last eight years, where the number one priority in her job was ensuring that her clients needs were met.  This will translate beautifully into her role as Studio Director for Jonny Draper Photography.  My clients and providing them with an exceptional service and unique product are my number one concern and to have somebody working alongside me who completely understands that can only help to ensure that we always deliver what we promise.

On the announcement of her new role, Emma said:

“I’m really excited about working with Jonny.  We’ve already started talking about new ideas for the business, things that we’ll be offering our new and existing clients that will add so much to their investment, but overall, it’s a great feeling to grow Jonny Draper Photography into a family business that means so much to both of us.  I can’t wait to get started!”

Emma will be working alongside me at the Lytham Hall Wedding Fayre this Sunday (28th March, 11am-4pm) so it’s a great opportunity for you to meet her, please do come and say hello!

x

This weekend saw Emma and I sneak a trip over to Cork in Ireland for a couple of days – pretty much the last weekend of the year that I’d managed to keep the saturday free, so it seemed like a good excuse to have a weekend away (even though we’re very fortunate with weddings coming up this year in St Andrew’s, Tuscany and New York meaning we get to tie in some short breaks while I’m shooting!)

The weather was forecast to be good and I knew there would be some opportunities to shoot some beautiful Irish scenery so of course the camera came along. We carried our bags onto the plane (travelling light is something that neither of us are particularly used to but it’s so liberating! It’s great just getting off the plane and walking straight out the airport into a cab!) so I knew there wasn’t much opportunity to carry a lot of gear with me. So I travelled very light, packing my trusty 350D coupled with a 17-40 lens (great for landscapes) and that was it!

The images below tell the story of our trip…

On the saturday we piled onto the bus to the very beautiful village of Kinsale…

We got as far as our favourite pub, The Spaniard (we’ve been to Kinsale before!) and we didn’t move all day! It’s got the weirdest beer garden in the world that you think wouldn’t be very pleasant to sit in at all. It’s right on the bend of a road, but it’s great fun – all the locals driving past wave to you and literally every tourist that drives past is lost and asks you for directions (which of course we had no clue about, but we always did our best to help!)

As you can see, there was absolutely no posing whatsoever going on in these shots…

We finally left The Spaniard as it started to get dark…(the locals had convinced us to stay and watch the rugby with them! We got quite a lot of stick but had a great time!)

On our way back to the bus to Cork, the sky over the harbour was beautiful…

This is The Ivory Tower, the restaurant we went to when we arrived on friday night. Can you spot the front door?! It was as terrifying looking on the inside but the food can only be described as magnificent. We had the taster menu and were presented with some amazing dishes, from jellyfish salads, to shark, to partridge. I could not recommend it enough. If we ever go back, we’re going to do Seamus’s cooking lesson, where he takes you round the market, you choose food together and you go back and cook it at the restaurant and eat it! Sounds great!

On sunday we headed over to Blarney Castle – it was another beautiful day and spring is in bloom in this part of the world as you can see…

What a view from the top of Blarney Castle – I took this shot just after we kissed the Blarney Stone, which was quite a scary experience! You have to dangle backwards off the edge of the castle to do it!

A great weekend away in a beautiful city with some fantastic photography opportunities – what more could a photographer want?!

Back to the serious stuff after this post. Two pre-wedding shoots coming up this weekend, Sarah and Matt who are getting married at Sandhole Oak Barn and then Owen and Livy who are getting married at Styal Lodge. Really looking forward to both of those shoots!

Still to come very soon, my favourites from Jayden’s Christening and the highlights of the End Polio Now Charity event at The Castlefield Rooms!