Briscoe Photography - Wedding photography staffordshire

Too used to following the rules.

Briscoe Photography — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:55:21 +0000

So I had a wonderful group of young ladies in a studio for a portrait session the other day. They were 11/12 years old, a group of lovely, bubbly girls celebrating a birthday with their parents in tow. At that age you're not sure how children are. On the cusp of being a teenager but still very much a child you don't know what to expect.
After getting very giddy over make up with my wonderful make up artist and other teenage-girl type things I've never completely understood we had some fun shooting. Being young they're very inquisitive and it wasn't long before they wanted to have a go with the camera. I've no problem with that so while I took the weight of the 70-200mm 2.8 I let the girls snap off a few from each other. It immediately raised the mood of the studio and made everyone a little more comfortable but most importantly it produced a few interesting results. I let a Nikon D90 with a 14-24mm 2.8 loose around the room while I continued taking some singles as a test to see what they got. I'm sure Mum had a go too, I think she took the one at the top :)

Now don't get me wrong. I know they're not in focus, and the lighting was set up by me, and I've added a little colour but the framing is something else. I see a lot of these pano tilt/shift type photography shoots getting popular. To make the shift work the framing is always way off the rules and quite different. I enjoy them. I'm beginning to merge this style into my wedding photography but it isn't coming easy. I'm very used to framing shots in the 'correct(ish)' way but the girls, whose minds are relatively untainted from the rules of photography, have produced the little peaches above. I don't know if it was by accident or if their innocence allowed them to see something more than us photographers stuck in our ways - but I do know I have to break my mind away from the rules if I'm going to keep up with the current wedding photography trends.

I'm scared to post my images from the session now. I suppose I have to. I haven't finished viewing all 700 of them yet so when I've finished I'll see how mine match up.

Would love to hear what others think, leave a comment below :)

Thanks :D
Paul

Briscoe Photography
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Jim and Tracy - Quality Hotel - Hanley

Briscoe Photography — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 20:09:35 +0000

Hey everyone,

I've been so busy! It seems that, after getting Christmas out of the way, new couples are getting around to sorting their weddings out and I've been quite busy running around meeting a few of you over the past week. It's a great sign that wedding photography is still a priority on your minds. This is a subject that has been highly publicized recently with this recent article from rocknroll bride which went global in a day.

There's a few more things to come in the next couple of weeks, but I can't talk about them yet because they're still "A1 top secret classified".

Instead, I've finally managed to get round to uploading a few from Jim and Tracy's wedding a few weeks ago with their reception at the Quality hotel, Hanley.
I must say, the guys at the quality hotel are really friendly and deliver a great service!

Thanks guys!
Don't forget to leave a comment, follow me on Twitter or like the facebook page.

The Wedding Guide UK magazine feature.

Briscoe Photography — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 17:32:59 +0000

So this was sent to me in the post this morning. I was delighted to see what was on page 52. It's not very often I get recognized and published for my wedding photography but it was nice of TWG to place a double page article in their spring/summer edition of their magazine. Usually, the only images I get in magazines are the odd commercial or stock shoot.

The images TWG chose to use are of Emily and Anthony whose wedding I shot in August at Ringwood hall. It's a beautiful wedding venue and because it was an outdoor ceremony the images were so much easier to create. Both the bride and groom looked amazing and I'm so glad they're the couple the magazine chose to print.

I posted an iphone pic of the mag earlier but I thought I'd do a proper one for the blog :D

Music Photography

Briscoe Photography — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 14:30:25 +0000

A little stay away from the normal wedding photography stuff for this post. A bit of my music work has finally been published so I can now show some off. :D

This guy, Gurbej Brar, has a brilliant voice. We travelled to Patsull Hall in Wolverhampton, a beautiful, mansion-type venue for his latest video shoot and I snapped a few promo bits for him while we were there. Loads more yet-to-be published work coming from these guys in the near future and many many more in the not-so-distant future!

Tahnks for reading! Next blog: I've new magazine features to announce :D

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

Briscoe Photography — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 01:57:15 +0000

The new years period turned out to be quite busy for me. I thought I was going to take a nice break for a while but a few phone calls and emails here and there had me working every day from Christmas day to New years day.
Over the period I gained a few new clients, built upon already great existing relationships and sorted a few things ready for the up and coming wedding season.

Some of the assignments I've completed over the past few weeks have been the best I've ever produced showing me I'm always learning and improving. Unfortunately I can't post a lot of it due to the fact some of them are yet to be published or they have been marked as private to the client so you'll have to take my work for it. But shooting in different ways for different types of clients in different styles improves my consistency in these areas and I hope to bring these techniques into my wedding photography season to keep all of my wedding work fresh, different and unique.

In the mean time here's a wedding a few weeks ago. There's not many because I haven't had a lot of chance to upload today.
This is Craig and Teresa at the Rose and Crown Hotel, Birmingham I tried to take a little more of a traditional approach to this one, it was a lovely, cosy venue
Congratulations!

Thanks everyone! I've recently managed to work out the facebook comments box widget on here so feel free to leave a comment on here if you feel compelled :D
Paul

It's now exactly as I want it.

Briscoe Photography — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 12:39:42 +0000

I've been very fickle with my website over the past year. My web design knowledge is basic but always growing so I've been designing it, breaking it down and then redesigning it - over and over. I've done this about 3 times in 2011 but I think I've finally cracked it. I've finally got my website to the point where I can say I'm very happy and, other than drafting in a writer to help me with the text, I don't think it's going to change now for a long while.

Many nights have been spent in font of this computer looking at 1's and 0's altering tiny details and checking them over. I've neglected the blog, halted my photography and my social life has gone right out of the window. But I've always wanted a side scrolling type site and I've made it so new images can be added to it with ease so expect it to be updated with my latest work weekly.

It's done now and a new website for a new year means a new strategy and all the weddings booked for next year now get my full attention as I prepare for what is going to be my busiest year yet!

I think I might try and arrange a Christmas type shoot to keep my photography cockles warm as the temperature drops.

Take a look at the site at http://www.briscoephotography.co.uk/ I expect there to be a few bugs so it would be great if anyone spots them to email me: briscoe@briscoephotography.co.uk

Have an amazing Christmas everyone!

Vintage

Briscoe Photography — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 19:23:55 +0100

So I was hired by another photographer to shoot the church yesterday. It's something I do every now and then. I don't normally talk about these but it was a nice surprise when the bride popped out of the car - I knew I was going to have to add a few tints to my edits for this one...

I'll only show a few as I don't normally publish my work when I'm not the main photographer at an event, but this was fun :)

Emily and Anthony

Briscoe Photography — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 00:40:15 +0100

I'm well aware I haven't posted any wedding sets on here for a while now. So here we are!

This is Emily and Anthonys day at Ringwood Hall in Sheffield/Chesterfield (somewhere up north :p). It was a beautiful outdoor ceremony, something we don't get to do here that often due to the unpredictable UK weather. But on this day the sun shined and the clouds kept at bay for just long enough for them to tie the knot.

It was a brilliant day and I wish them all the luck in the future!

Don't forget to visit and like the sites!
www.briscoephotography.co.uk
www.facebook.com/briscoephotography
www.twitter.com/briscoe_photo

HD Slideshows!

Briscoe Photography — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 17:19:44 +0100

I've recently posted a few HD slideshows up to Youtube and hwere they are!
Make sure you crank it up to 720 and full screen ;)

Emily and Anthony:

Ian and Katy:

James and Lilia

Thanks for watching!
Paul

See more work at: www.briscoephotography.co.uk
The facebook at: www.facebook.com/briscoephotography
or see me on twitter: www.twitter.com/briscoe_photo

This might not have happened as much in the old days - My beautiful social network.

Briscoe Photography — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 22:17:45 +0100

So, someone tweeted this to me on my Twitter account the other day and it did ruffle me a little bit.

I think the author is trying to distinguish between facebook and Twitter as tools but the idea that you should discard the use of facebook altogether is a fallacy.

Facebook provides a physical base in the somewhat extra-physical world of the internet and allows me to communicate in a very personal way with possible customers. Something twitter does not do directly. Twitter is a good sales tool because you project information on to people. This isn't on a one to one basis like what I get out of Facebook. I care about my customers and try to make my service bend to their needs as much as possible. I'd rather interact with them on a one to one level rather than bombard hundreds with a very generic offer of sale. I know there is more to both as businesses tools but I wanted to make this paragraph as narrow minded as this guys entire article.

Sorry, I didn't mean to rant that far. That part of this post was only meant for one or two lines... now to what I was going to talk about.

It can be a little strange being 25 year old, single, wedding photographer. Out of the 100 or so weddings I've photographed I can state that the majority involve couples who are older than me or of similar age. They're rarely younger. But I'm currently at the stage in my life where old school friends are settling down and beginning their lives with someone new....and I'm not (but that's an entirely different story :). I moved away from my home town some 7 years ago - many others do as well, I'm sure. This meant I had less or lost contact with many people from my past and, like most people, it takes some sort of event to being everyone back together.

Being at the age I am, a lot of these are weddings. In the past 2 years or so I've been hired by some old friends to cover their weddings. Some of them I knew very well at school, some not so much, but with all of them I've hung around with on the playing fields or in last period maths.

Each one has been a dream to shoot - coupled with a spicy nostalgia kicker. It's amazing meeting up with these old friends and, of course, many of the guests who I also know. It's distracting, but it's great to share our experiences and see how everyone has developed from when we were young.

I wonder how often this happened to wedding photographers in the past. Especially one's who moved away from their origins. How often were they tracked down by friends of friends to shoot their old school buddies? This is why the Facebook article ruffled me a bit. I'm almost certain that without Facebook NONE of these couples would have gotten in touch. Facebook has become this beautiful tool for keeping in touch and all of the old school friends contacted me through a Facebook message to book their wedding. I'm so pleased they did because it opened me up to an experience 'old time' photographers might not have gained. I've managed to keep track of good friends I once had who grew apart for whatever reason.

I don't believe Facebook is this tool that keeps people who shouldn't keep in touch talking. It unites us globally with so many people who previously influenced our lives and allows us to give back what we can to them through our experiences and our developments. I hope that what my development, as a wedding photographer, has given them memories to cherish and their experiences and advice has enriched my life and made me feel quite humble.

I don't think twitter would have done this.

The allegory of the prime.

Briscoe Photography — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 13:08:02 +0100

When I read prime lens reviews they tend to say the same thing: Extremely sharp, great contrast, excellent flare reduction and good background separation. These things are all well and good but I always bring myself to the same conclusion... why wouldn't I buy a zoom lens?

For years now I've been in the cave. I absolutely love my 24-70. It isn't as smooth these days. I've dropped it so many times it makes a squeaking sound whenever I turn the zoom slider and it doesn't connect to the camera as well as it once did. I love staring at the puppetry of the zoom, being able to quickly change my frame with my hands rather than my body. The speed is helpful to me as a wedding photographer. I don't carry my bag around with me at a wedding so my lenses aren't always to hand. This means my detail images are taken with the same lens as my people shots, which, as I've been told for so long, isn't necessarily the best thing.

So I've stayed in the shackles, staring at the shadows, because I've got a system. I like my system, it's easy and gives me a little bit of extra time throughout the day to do something different.

Yesterday I was given an 85mm 1.8. I've noticed these beauty portraits with girls leaning over in summer and have come to the conclusion that in order to create them you need a focal length longer than 70mm and a wide aperture. I've always had a 50mm stuffed away, never used, but all these images seem to be taken with this 85mm so I thought I'd go out and see what all the fuss is about.

At first it annoyed the hell out of me. All the moving around. It's a struggle to find a good spot where you can place your subject and fit yourself in with this massive focal length sticking out of you. I also couldn't understand what difference it was going to make to the natural light that my zooms couldn't... a blinding headache.

But as I ventured out into the light my eyes began to see the usefulness of these lenses. They deal with light differently. Unlike the zooms the camera finds it easier to pick out the bit where you put the little red square. The light spreads evenly across the lens and the light parts of the frame contrast evenly with the dark unlike the zooms which tend to pick out the light bits and leave the darks black. I've put an example at the bottom. Please bare in mind it's my first shot at this type of photography... I can see the issues but I think they're pp issues... I'm useless with the sharpening tool.

My eyes are now open, I can't wait to get my hands on that 35mm everyone keeps talking about. I reckon that will make the distance issue a little easier and still pull in a nice portrait.

I'd say I'm out of the cave on this one.

End of another year.

Briscoe Photography — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 22:04:51 +0100

I know it's April, but it's the end of the financial year and a perfect time to reflect on everything that's happened. I've had a busy couple of months since the start of the year and as we're well into wedding season now it's going to stay as busy as this until the next one. Every job is as exciting as the last. I've met a ton of inspiring people from all walks of life, travelled to different countries and done things I wouldn't have imagined doing all those years ago when I started out.

After a nice break.

Briscoe Photography — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 15:53:05 +0000

I was planning on having a nice long break over the winter but it seems I'm not going to have an off season this year.

No worries, this means there's a lot of work going around inspite of the great depression we're suffering. Keep the weddings flowing people! Don't allow the bankers to make your wedding day any less magical than you deserve!

One couple who have defied the credit crunch in order to put on a great day at Ansty hall we Debbie and Adam. Congratulations to you!

Click the "more" tab for more images.

We will remember them...

Briscoe Photography — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 18:42:06 +0000

We will remember them...

It's over!

Briscoe Photography — Sun, 07 Nov 2010 20:34:28 +0000

I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while. I've been a little busy...

Strength and determination - that's what it takes.

Briscoe Photography — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 14:15:02 +0100

It's been really tough keeping up with everything internet over the summer. I'm in my second year as a wedding photographer now and I've learned a lot. The biggest lesson learned was to take on less work, or at least spread it out a little better. There were a few times this summer where the workload really hit me and left me feeling exhausted.

One particularly memorable day in August had me feeling low. James and Alice’s wedding was my third wedding in three days (something I don't think I will ever do again). I had finished a previous wedding at 7pm the evening before in Coventry and made the drive to Sheffield straight from the venue to James' house which he had kindly made available for me to stay the night.

Rushing to back up images and charge batteries that night meant I didn't get to sleep until 3am only to rise again at 8 to start another long day. So, tired and feeling sorry for myself, I pressed my suit, belted down some caffeine and prepared to make some smiles!

It's at times like these when you really start to question whether you're really up to the job. I love being around the excitement and joy of weddings, but being exposed to it three days in a row with no sleep really takes its toll on your immune system.

With this in mind, I pulled up at Alice’s parent’s house, equipment in hand, ready to catch some moments.

All that began to change when I went inside and met Alice’s family...

Lens flare!

Briscoe Photography — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 11:46:33 +0100

The current results from my ever continuing vox pop on lens flare suggests that it has a marimite relationship with the world.
Some love how it looks, some think that it completely ruins a picture. Well, I want to make it clear that I'm in the love camp.

Outtakes!

Briscoe Photography — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 14:52:49 +0100

We're in the thick of wedding season at the moment but I thought I'd take this post to reflect on one of my favourite parts of wedding photography... that little bit before the real picture is taken.

Family Portraits

Briscoe Photography — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 16:05:52 +0100

I've been getting a lot of emails recently asking me why I don't do family portraits...

The truth is I do!

The new look Staffordshire Fire and Rescue

Briscoe Photography — Wed, 26 May 2010 17:01:35 +0100

Yep, I've been comissioned to photograph the new Equality and Diversity posters for Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service.
The images are needed because the fire fighters have been issued with new, modern equipment and uniform so I did my best to give the images a more modern and technological look. Click for more!

The big city trifecta!

Briscoe Photography — Sun, 02 May 2010 15:13:24 +0100

I'm sitting on a couch in London right now after a late one last night.
I was at the new London eltro night Crumble shooting a few images of the guests :)

Hanley Fire Station

Briscoe Photography — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 10:57:18 +0100

March 27th saw the final open day at Hanley fire Station before its demolition next month.

The day was a complete success with hundreds of people touring the station, watching the demonstrations and seeing all of the old fire artifacts.
Part of the day was an exhibition from myself. A series of images taken around the station to give people a real feeling of its character and age.

It was only small but well worth it as it gathered lots of interest and I recieved very kind words from everyone. Thank you all!

I've been so busy I neglected you

Briscoe Photography — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 12:12:30 +0000

Poor blog hasn't seen a post in aaaaages!
Not to worry, because now here's an XXL one for reading pleasure.
A lot has gone on in the last month or so. I've taken a break from Weddings for March straight through to May and concentrated on portraits and portfolios.

After May, I wouldn't expect to see me posting very often because I'll be so busy it's ridiculous!

Anyway, check under the cut to see what I've been doing :)

Samii MM #804442

Briscoe Photography — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 23:41:28 +0000

Today I've been out with Samii.

I'll let the pictures do the talking :)

Kiddies

Briscoe Photography — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 19:51:35 +0000

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I've been mega busy.

Something I did do today was do some child portrait work for the Cheshires. I don't usually do this type of work but it's definitely something challenging that I love doing and I'd encourage more people to come forward if they want some family portraits done :)

here they are:

Check out the facebook page!
http://www.facebook.com/briscoephotography

Returned from leave

Briscoe Photography — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 10:37:46 +0000

I went away for a while on Holiday.
I'm back now, with a ton of piled up work.
I promise I'll get around to everyone eventually.

thanks!
Briscoe

Looking at clothes all day

Briscoe Photography — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 17:49:53 +0000

Clothing shoots always bring out the Gok wang in me.

I headed to manchester to finish off shooting the clothes at renegade marmalade. Was a tiring day, but I think we got the job done :)

January news

Briscoe Photography — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 00:28:54 +0000

It's been a busy start to the year for Briscoe photography.
First of all I've seen a new element of creativity emerge in the form of video. I've only created a few videos but it seems people enjoy the way I shoot and edit. This has meant that my videos have been popping up on a few websites including buafl.net and more recently the North Staffs YMCA front page:

This is brilliant news and very flattering. I hope to be shooting a little more video in the future for different people and I'm glad I have added another skill to work on and improve.

Also, London graphic designer Mike Willows was kind enough to design my new company logo for the website and future media. It's already been added to my new personal portraits taken by Duane from Clix photography for the website.
You can expect to see this new logo on all copyrighted images from here on in.

I hate having my photo taken and the shoot today was a sharp awakening to what I put all of my clients through. I'm not a fan of being the other side of the lens... but I guess it had to be done.

Lucy and Paul

Briscoe Photography — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 17:46:58 +0000

Lucy and Paul tie the knot at the ashes.
I stayed right into the evening. Pictures and video clicking here ---->

Keele Hall

Briscoe Photography — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 14:47:20 +0000

What a lovely place Keele hall is. Their food and the sheer atmosphere of the place is amazing. Pics under the lip :)