A grandad's 70th birthday - extended family portrait shoot

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of joining a woman called Jane and her family (three generations of it) at a local hotel, where they were celebrating her father's 70th birthday.  They called me in to do a group portrait of their 25-strong gathering - a group ranging in age from 3 weeks to 70 years old, including 13 grandchildren!  We spent just over an hour working through a large number of different configurations, and I took individual portraits of Jane and her siblings, their children and father, as well as couples, family groups, and the group as a whole.  It was good fun and it left me with a huge number of photos to edit, as they went off to enjoy a big cake.  These are a few of my favourites from the day (I have not included photos of everyone, as that would just be too many pictures).  I feel the pictures of Grandad with small groups of his grandchildren sitting in the alcove are particularly successful.

Hope it was a brilliant 70th birthday - what a beautiful family!

The birthday boy

Daughter and mother

A favourite picture of one of his four sons

Another son

Youngest of the group at only 3 weeks - welcome to the world Roisin!

I really love this one - a hint of the self-consciousness that comes with teenage years, but there's a quiet bravery in those eyes

Beautiful eyes - one of many lovely granddaughters

Can you see the family resemblance between siblings and cousins?  Something that is great fun about family shoots.  Again, I love this one - a very open and relaxed smile (especially considering I was looming above him with my camera!)

Beautifully unselfconscious - lovely to see

I love the way little people prepare for a photo

Sisters

Proud grandad

I felt these smaller group shots of grandad and grandchildren worked particularly well - love the leaves on the ground

Three generations of boys - this series seemed to also work nicely with low saturation

Lovely family group

Little Roisin

Proud father and siblings

Nice in black and white

13 grandchildren - I have not photoshopped this picture as I enjoy the different expressions - it captures a genuine moment and shows the kids as they are (I could still edit this however to reduce the glare of the white shirts a little)

The whole family (with white shirts edited to reduce glare in the centre of the picture).  I will also now be working on putting together a version of this using the 30 I took of the same group to create one final shot where everyone looks perfect!- but again, I enjoy keeping a copy as is, at it shows the life of the moment.

www.mimsaxl.com

Kelly & Carl - wedding photography - part ii: reception & group photos

As promised, here is part ii of some favourites from Kelly & Carl's lovely wedding, including photos of the reception.

Click here to see part i.

Vintage bouquet

Father of the bride

Bride with her sister & mother

Parents of the groom

Parents of the bride

The groom's very nice cufflinks

Bike antics

I love this series!

Mwah!

My favourite shot of the day

Sisters

Congratulations Kelly & Carl! a stolen moment on the steps of Queens, with my standing in the bus lane, risking life and limb :)

www.mimsaxl.com

Kelly & Carl - wedding photography - part i: arrivals, ceremony & walking to the reception

Congratulations to Kelly & Carl, who had a lovely wedding in Oxford in mid-August!

I joined them as photographer for the morning, snapping arrivals, ceremony and walk to the reception, the party enjoying the champagne reception, and taking some more posed group shots, before leaving them as they headed off for a feast at Oxford Malmaison.

Kelly looked absolutely stunning (as you can see below!), and it was a real joy photographing this evidently ecstatic couple.

Some of my favourites from the day, in two parts...  See part ii here.

Groom & best man arrive looking dapper!

Carl greets arriving guests

Kelly, the bride, arrives

Stunning!

Inside, David, the best man, comments on the time and lack of bride

The couple during the ceremony

Signing the register

Presenting Mr & Mrs Jennings-Robinson

Sharing a joke en route to the champagne reception

A few stolen shots on the way to the reception

Arriving at the reception

Congratulations Kelly & Carl - here's to a many very happy years together!

www.mimsaxl.com