A very successful photography workshop

On Saturday 16th March, wedding photographer Jamie McDine led a photography masterclass at Matravers School in Westbury. The workshop participants were a perfect mixture of ages, from 14, up to those in their 60s, and mixture of abilities - from hobby photographers, to those studying the subject for GCSE and others who had work published.

The main aim of the workshop was to get all participants to understand more about how their camera works, so that they are able to take better photographs.  So once the automatic settings were switched off, Jamie led the group through a number of hands on exercises to manually set their own ISO, aperture and shutter speed settings. The results - beautiful and more artistic compositions, with a much better exposure and consideration of light and colour.

The final exercise was to photograph a model in a studio environment - the participants had to set everything manually on their camera and apply all the skills they had learned throughout the day.

The workshop was so popular that the next one is already organised for Sunday 14th April 2013. There are a handful of places still available, so if you would like to book a place, please contact Beverley Jessop: bjessop@matravers.wilts.sch.uk
The workshop costs just £35 and runs from 10-3pm. All abilities and ages are welcome.

Wedding season 2013 has begun!

The wedding season has officially begun as Jackie photographed the beautiful wedding of Lorna and Shaun yesterday in Gastard. We're looking forward to edit their photographs in the next couple of weeks, so by the time they return from honeymoon their disc of hundreds of photos will be waiting for them on the doorstep.

We can't wait to film and photograph all the exciting weddings ahead!

Photography Workshops

After two very enjoyable and successful photography workshops in Westbury last August, we are happy to announce more opportunities to learn more about your camera and get better photos!

With more and more students owning a DSLR or bridge camera and considering the popular option of Photography GCSE or A'level, it has been a really interesting, inspiring and useful workshop for them to get hands on training, tips and techniques from a professional photographer.

In the first of the previous workshops we concentrated on portrait and model photography, teaching about how the camera works and getting them away from the 'automatic setting' to understanding the aperture and shutter, considering framing, composition and light. This was extremely popular and you can see one student directing a model on the photo below.

The second workshop was all about reportage photography and how to capture the moment, whilst once again ensuring the camera was set manually, considering the subject, depth of field, and also took in professional photoshop techniques. This was also very popular and images the students took were featured in the local press, as well as in the school magazine and online.

All of the participants have since gone into Year 10 studying Photography GCSE and have such a huge head start on their fellow students, not only in their techniques, but also in the work for their portfolio.

For our new photography workshops we will not only be passing on skills and techniques to students, but also to adults. The first workshop is on Saturday March 16th 2013 at Matravers School in Westbury. The workshop runs from 10-3pm and costs £35 per person.

There is a maximum of 8 participants per workshop to ensure we can give you as much attention, tips and techniques as possible. So far 5 of the 8 places have been booked for this first workshop, so to not miss out get in touch with Beverley Jessop: bjessop@matravers.wilts.sch.uk

We are also planning a workshop for parents and expectant parents to take better photos of their little ones. If you are interested, please get in touch with Jackie McDine: jackie@ivisualise.co.uk

The New Wiltshire Wedding Photography Website

After a busy year of photographing beautiful weddings across Wiltshire, Bath, Somerset and South Gloucestershire, we thought it was about time we updated our website.

So we asked the followers on our Facebook page whether we should simply update the gallery on the old website design or go for a new and more stylish site. The result was very clear and we are happy to announce the new look website is now online!

There is a lot more content on the website, in particular a lot more photos. On every single page of the website you'll find a slideshow of around 15-20 photos, allowing us to show a large number of different weddings and different couples we have photographed, and give a lot more of a flavour of our style of photography.

However, even with all of those added pages we had to be very ruthless in the number of photos and weddings we could add, so there are plenty more to explore on our Flickr gallery.

So please explore the new Wiltshire Wedding Photography website at: http://www.bathweddingphotography.org.uk/

Our favourite wedding venues

In 2012 we photographed and filmed more weddings than ever before, and discovered some truly beautiful venues.

Such a wide variety of venues, all with something memorable to offer for couples and beautiful backdrops for our photographs and film, across Wiltshire, Bath, Somerset and South Gloucestershire.

The most unique venue was clearly Marwell Zoo - where we filmed Nicola and Marilyn's civil partnership and even got to stroke a white rhino!

This is the highlights of their special day.

Our most popular wedding venue was Cleeve House in Seend, which is spectacular both inside and out - a real bonus when we had drizzly weather! We photographed 4 weddings here in 2012 and always love to return - the owners Barbara and Carlo are fantastic and help ensure the day runs even smoother for the happy couple.

And Cleeve House is even more special for us to photograph, as we celebrated our own wedding reception there, and also our son's first birthday - so it always brings back lots of lovely memories. It also means we know very well where all the best bits are for photos and video!

Wayne and Cheryl walk back down the aisle as husband and wife in the Great Hall at Cleeve House.

Other popular venues in 2012 included Limpley Stoke Hotel, where we'll be returning again to photograph another wedding in 2013, Kingscote Barn and Great Tythe Barn in Tetbury.

We also filmed and photographed three weddings in 2012 at the beautiful Stanton Manor, as well as two at Priston Mill near Bath. It was interesting to see how different and yet spectacular these venues looked at different times of the year. Even in late Autumn the gardens were picture perfect.

Chloe's wedding dress hangs from a tree in late Autumn at Stanton Manor.

The weather wasn't always at its best throughout 2012, but that didn't stop us producing beautiful photos and videos for every couple where we captured their special day.

There are plenty more photos of stunning wedding venues on our new website. Please take a look at Bath Wedding Photography We can't wait to return to these beautiful venues and discover more in 2013.
Jamie and Jackie

Wedding Highlights Video

Have you ever sat through a relatives or friends wedding video and wished that it wasn't filmed by an uncle in the third row, without a steady hand, seeing backs of heads and that it didn't go on for so long?

One of the best features of having your wedding video professionally produced by Jamie McDine is that you get a wedding highlights video. This is the best bits of your wedding day, beautifully shot and edited to a song of your choice. It's great to watch over and over again, and with it only being about 4 minutes long, friends and relatives will love watching it too!

We even give you a web version of the highlights film so you can add it to your Facebook timeline or email the link to friends around the world, so they can all relive your special day.

Want to see what one of our highlights films looks like? Then here is a beautiful wedding at Great Tythe Barn in Tetbury from Summer 2012.

Merry Christmas!

We wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and healthy New Year.

Charity Christmas e-card Photoshoot

Come along to West Ashton Village Hall on Saturday 15th December 2012 from 10-12am for your own professional portrait.

Wiltshire Wedding Photography will shoot a beautiful picture of you on your own or with your family, turn it into a Christmas E-Card with your personalised message and you can put a smile on the faces of friends and family with this personalised Christmas E-Card.

All of this costs only £10 and every penny of this will be donated to Railway Children to help children in the UK and abroad this Christmas.

Tea and Christmas Biscuits will be free of charge.

For more information on the Railway Children charity please visit http://www.railwaychildren.org.uk/

We're looking forward to see you!

Jamie and Jackie

Baby and family photoshoots

Since the birth of our baby boy in Summer 2011, we have taken thousands and thousands of baby photos, capturing all those moments as he develops. And one thing is for sure, over the past 15 months we have learnt lots of tricks and techniques to get great photos!

Such a lovely way to treasure those memories with your child, we now specialise in baby and family outdoor shoots at beautiful locations across the Bath and Wiltshire countryside.

So whether it is for a birthday photoshoot, or creating perfect Christmas or birthday presents for your loved ones, why not treat someone special to a baby or family photoshoot with Jackie and Jamie McDine.

Prices start at only £75 for an hours shoot. And you can even buy a voucher for the photoshoot - making the perfect present for a close friend or family.

Call us on 01225 753467 or email jackie@ivisualise.co.uk for more information.

http://www.bathweddingphotography.org.uk/

Alcohol Awareness Week

With it being Alcohol Awareness Week in Wiltshire, we thought it only fitting to share one of the films that Jamie produced with a group of young people in Salisbury earlier this year.

The film was produced during a 3 day Easter film and animation masterclass with young people at Salisbury Arts Centre and was produced for use by Wiltshire Council, to highlight the problems that alcohol can cause.

The best albums in the business

We have always given every happy couple all of their photos on a disc, together with the rights to print them as often and as big as they like. As well as all the photos they also received a digital folder of around 50 favourites, which are the photos we picked out as being the best shots of the day. These are all edited into a vintage or black and white style to make them even more spectacular.

In most cases, couples would use the photos to design their own photobook or to print their own album. Quite often they would choose one photo to print many times and use as a thank you card for their guests.

We never went the route of producing expensive albums as this wasn't the kind of thing that our couples were looking for. However, we have found recently that we are getting enquiries and requests from couples looking for not only a digital copy of all their photos, but also a high end wedding album.

So we are happy to announce that we are now an authorised professional partner of Queensberry - not just any wedding album printer, but the best in the business! And we can't wait to see our beautiful photos in print in one of their gorgeous leather bound albums and printed using the highest quality equipment and materials.

For more information please get in touch using the details on our Contact Page.

Introducing 'Bath Wedding Photography'

We are happy to introduce our brand new website Bath Wedding Photography which features a wide variety of photos from the weddings we have photographed in 2012.

This is the sister site to our existing websites Wiltshire Wedding Photography and Wiltshire Wedding Video

Please explore the site and we'd love to hear any comments or suggestions.

Something Special - Wedding Mosaic

We always give our wedding couples all of their photos on a disc, in the highest quality, together with the copyright to print them as often and as big as they like. So it means they can print giant canvasses for the living room wall, large prints to frame and give as Christmas presents, produce their own wedding album or photobook, and even use a photo to print their own thank you cards!

We also offer something a little bit special - a wedding mosaic.

After receiving their disc of photos, the happy couple choose an image they would like to be the main image and then we produce them a beautiful mosaic, made up of hundreds of photos from their special day!

The mosaics are a lovely way to remember all of your special day, and a little bit different to just a big picture of yourself. In fact, we personally love the wedding mosaic, as we actually came up with the idea when producing something special from our wedding photos for our living room wall, and here is ours!

For only £30 we produce a wedding mosaic and send it to you as a small version suitable for your computer desktop background or Facebook etc, and a large version suitable for printing a giant canvas!

If we have already photographed your wedding and you'd like a mosaic, please get in touch and we'd be happy to produce one for you in plenty of time for Christmas!

Much more than just beautiful photos

We love photographing weddings and really enjoy capturing couples special days in images that they will treasure forever. As anyone who has seen our work will know, we specialise in being a little different to the traditional, very staged and formal wedding photographers.

We capture details of your day in an artistic way, so your pictures truly tell the story of your wedding day and help you remember the smallest details that simple traditional photography would miss.

Photographs that really capture the moment and emotions that can't be faked or posed. And our whole style is very natural and about making you feel comfortable on your special day - lets face it, most people aren't used to posing and being photographed on a regular basis. Our experience as photographers and style we have developed means that we capture beautiful photos of the happy couple, and all extremely natural and relaxed. After all, we want you to enjoy your special day, not fear the photos being taken!

Of course, virtually all couples want a selection of those formal posed shots, it's only natural that you want a group shot with your parents, or family and friends you don't see on a regular basis, and we take these as well as the more artistic and creative photographs. It's your day and we photograph what you want! If you'd like, we do have ways to be a little bit more creative than just lining you up!

And edit the odd group shot into a nicely styled effect.

With us you get imaginative, creative and beautiful photography, at a very affordable price... and you always get all of your photos in the highest possible quality, with the copyright to print them as often and as big as you like. Perfect for printing your own thank you cards, photo albums, and canvasses for the wall, as well as putting on your Facebook page and emailing to family and friends around the world.

Visit http://www.wiltshireweddingphotography.org.uk for more information.

Words from our happy customers

Over the past year we have received so many lovely emails and thank you cards from the couples we have photographed. We also bumped into some familiar faces at several weddings throughout the year, where we had been recommended by couples we had photographed in 2010 and 2011!

Here are a few of the messages that the happy couples sent us:

Thank you so much for our amazing pictures. They are more than we could of ever dreamed of. I can't stop looking at them, we are showing our families tomorrow and i'm sure they will love them as much as we do. We would definitely recommend you to any one and will be in touch when the sherwin family add a little one to the clan for some family pics :) thank you so much again. Kas & John x

Thanks Jackie and Jamie
We have received the discs and from what photos we have seen so far they are amazing! Thank you so much for doing our photography you did an excellent job and we won't hesitate in recommending you to anyone. Kind regards, Jo and John

Thanks for helping to make our day extra special. You really were just brilliant and we will definitely tell everyone we know about you! Thanks again, Helen and Eddie

Thank you so much for being our photographer! These photos look absolutely amazing! You really captured the feeling of the best day of our lives! Thanks again, Dan and Ebby

Jamie, thank you so very much for capturing our very special and important day; we received the DVD’s this week and were bowled over with what you have captured. Needless to say, both Marilyn and I spent the evening enthralled, and sobbing!! (in a good way).
Marilyn asked me to tell you, that whilst she did not want the DVD in the beginning, she is now extremely happy that I persisted with the idea as she is over the moon with the results and realises how much of the day we missed by being otherwise ‘engaged’!!
We can’t thank you enough for how relaxed and easy you made the whole experience. THANK YOU!! Best regards, Nicola and Marilyn.Xxx

Civil Partnerships

Not only do we photograph and film weddings, but we have also had the pleasure of capturing civil partnerships on film and in images. Earlier this Summer Jamie filmed Nicola and Marilyn's special day at the incredible Marwell Zoo, the highlight of which was where the couple got to stroke and feed a white rhino!

And then this Autumn, we also photographed Rob and Mike's civil partnership at the beautiful Priston Mill, near Bath.

So if you are planning your civil partnership in Wiltshire, Bath or Somerset, and looking for a photographer or videographer to capture your special day, then please get in touch, we'd love to hear from you. Email: jackie@ivisualise.co.uk

A very busy 2012

It's been a year since we last took the time to post on our blog, and what a year it has been! Time has just flown by as we've enjoyed watching (and photographing!) our baby boy grow into a toddler. And we have thoroughly enjoyed a very busy year of producing beautiful wedding photography and wedding videos. We've made several new friends along the way too, as for us a wedding isn't just about taking great photos, but being a friendly and happy face on the biggest day of your lives. We finally have a little time to catch up with the blog, and will in due course post a selection of testimonials from the happy couples we filmed and photographed in 2012. And we are currently working on the official website, to add plenty of images from this year also. In the meantime, we have been keeping up to date with images, posting one from each wedding on our Facebook page and a much wider selection from each wedding on our Flickr page. We photographed and filmed almost double the amount of weddings in 2012 compared to 2011, and are already into double figures for bookings in 2013. We love our job, and in particular weddings are a real highlight. Everyone is always so friendly and so happy, they are a joy to film and photograph. We are looking forward to capturing those special moments and special days on film and in images in 2013. Jamie and Jackie McDine, Wiltshire Wedding Photography

Testimonials from our happy customers!

It has been a very busy Summer, first with the arrival of our baby boy Oscar, and then with several beautiful weddings, which we photographed and filmed. So we have finally updated the gallery of wedding photos on the official website, which you can view by CLICKING HERE.

We have also had so many nice emails and thank you cards from the happy couples that we photographed and filmed, which really makes our job even more enjoyable! So here are a few of the kind messages we have received.

Thank you so much for the brilliant job you did on the day! The photos are amazing! You put everyone at ease and everyone who came commented on how friendly and polite you were. We can't believe how many amazing pictures there are and have now put an album together of our favorites. The album has done the rounds at work and people have commented they're the best wedding photos they've seen. We've already been passing on your details to our friends and family and will continue to recommend you in future! Once again a huge thank you for capturing the most special day of our lives! Best Wishes, Angela & David

Thank you both so very much for capturing our day some amazingly, we've just finished looking through the pics and watching the DVD, Wow!!- so so amazing, you both did such a brilliant job, even Alex cried at the video!!- its just perfect, your so clever! We're so very grateful to you, you were amazing on the day and the pictures/ video have created gorgeous memories, gonna be a hard job choosing a select few for an album! Most definitely be seeing you again in the future for other events!- and have given your details to some of our engaged friends already. Thanks again, Michelle & Alex

We got your package and we are absolutely thrilled with it all, you really have done an amazing job and we both thank you so much for doing it we love it all and have heard nothing but praise from our family who have seen it all so far, everyone was very impressed. You can rest assured you will both be highly recommended by us. Although we hope never to need to use you ourselves for another wedding, if we are in need of photographers for any events then you will be our first call. Kindest regards, Ruth and Carl

Me and Matt would like to thank you for the lovely photos you took, they were great and there was so many it took us ages to get though them all, but are really pleased with them. The dvd was fantastic and brought back our wedding day its really special and great so thank you. kindest regards jenna and matt xx

We couldn't have been happier with the pictures, they are lovely. Currently in the process of sorting them into an album! Thank you so much for capturing the day so wonderfully. Jemma and Gordon

We received the wonderful video and fantastic photos! we cant thank you enough! just brilliant! thank you so much! Many thanks again Steve and Rosie x

Words from the Father of the Bride

We received such a beautiful message from a happy father of the bride this week, which he has kindly let us share with you. We're so proud to be producing photos and providing a service that makes people so happy.

"You were so good at the wedding. Some photographers rather take over and you were discreet and acted as friends. Thank you. You have been amazingly quick.

I am astonished at the quantity of pictures that you took at each of the various stages of the day. You have caught the atmosphere of the occasion, picking out beauty and style everywhere, recording friends and family so nicely and in such detail. It is lovely to see how well the pictures of Sara and Paul encapsulate their love. You have done a fantastic job. Thank you so much." Simon, Father of the Bride

What the happy couples think...

We love hearing from the happy couples who we have photographed and filmed on their wedding day, and it's always a great feeling to hear that they are delighted with the job that we've done and the memories that we have captured for them in the photos and videos. So we thought it would be nice to share a couple of the latest messages here.

Just want to say a massive thank you to Jamie and Jackie for providing a brilliant wedding DVD. It includes all of the special moments and more! We also loved the highlights feature as it captures all of the best bits. We'll definitely be recommending you to all our other engaged friends! Best wishes and thank you once again, Katie and Justin

Oh my goodness!!......What can we say about the dvd?......It is just amazing!! We love it so much and it is just the best reminder of our day and really shows the whole atmosphere of the day so well. Honestly, we cannot thank you enough. You were both amazing on the day and a lot of our guests commented on what lovely people you both are. We have already been recommending you to our friends! Keep your diary free for our first baby's Christening...lol !!

Thank you, thank you, thank you again. We have nothing but fantastic things to say about you both and the final video produced. Many Thanks. Claire and Chalky