With the weather turning for the worse, we jumped up at the first sign of a non-rainy day, threw our big coats on and jumped in the car to have a little trip to look at the local Wentworth follies.  I talked about the follies on THIS blog post a while back, but hadn't really had a chance to check them out until now.
I love autumn.  The colours, the leaves - everything is a photographer's dream. 

The first stop was Hoober Stand.

Hoober Stand is a pyramidal tower that stands just shy of a hundred feet on a little hill at roughly 157 metres above sea level.  Construction was completed in 1748 and was to commemorate the quashing of the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion.
And it looks awesome. 
I love pyramids and angled buildings.  Shooting this from the side reminds me of one of my favourite buildings in New York - the Flatiron Building.  The setting where it sits is also quite nice.  My kids love the woods and there was a nice little bit of woodland here for them to go crazy in.

Next stop - Needle's Eye.

The Needle is just down the road from Hoober.  A quick 150 yard walk up the footpath from the roadside brings you right to it.  It looks pretty bizarre, a sandstone pyramid just sitting at the top of a little rise on it's own. 
I do love a pyramid though!
The story behind this one is a little vague.  It was apparently built in the mid-18th Century for the Marquis of Rockingham to win a bet that he could drive a horse and carriage through the eye of a needle.  Measurements confirm that it would have been possible - so that brings a little bit of merit to the story.  Rich folk have far too much time and money on their hands if you ask me!
There's also a little part that made my missus get a good case of the goosebumps - along one side of the pyramid are a grouping of musketball holes at head and torso height, suggesting that this may once have been a site of an execution by firing squad.

Next stop - Keppel's Column. 
On the way we happened across a field of Highland cows, so obviously had to stop for a few snaps.  A snorting big shaggy cow is a pretty awesome sight when it's a foot away from you.  I'm glad there was a gate in the way!


The Column is a 115 foot tower built to commemorate the the acquittal of the court-martialled Admiral Augustus Keppel after the Battle of Ushant.
The tower sits on another hill, not quite as high as Hoober, but still a pretty good viewpoint.
The tower is in a bit of a sorry state.  Not open to the public anymore, but it still stands tall and impressive on the rise. 
This one is basically 'park at the side and take a photo'.  The kids didn't even get out of the car.


And that's the follies!  Here are a couple of snaps.

Gear used:  Fujifilm X70 with the WCLX70 fitted.

A few weeks ago I had the awesome privilege of shooting the wedding of Rebecca and Jamie at the beautiful Wentbridge House Hotel.  This was a super cool wedding for me, as I've known Bex for about 30 years (my God that makes us sound old!) We lived in the same village and went to school together when we were kids.  There were also a fair few old school friends at the wedding too - which always makes for a fun day. 

The entire day was held at the hotel.  We started off with the usual Bridal prep, and, as usual - there were far too many people squeezed into the room!  It was all good fun though - with plenty of kids to keep us all on our toes.  Rebecca didn't really have chance to show any nerves - as a hairdresser, she was pretty busy getting everyone else ready.  And there were a fair few hairs to do!

I also managed to get some Groom prep too, as the fellas were just down the hall.  The lads' prep was easy though - we basically had a bottle of beer while they put their shirts and ties on.  Although Jamie did spend a good 15 minutes blow drying his hair!  ;-) 

Pretty soon is was time for business, so we got downstairs for the vows.

Jamie was looking a bit nervous at the front, but the nerves soon turned to smiles as Rebecca came down the aisle with her Dad.  And I have to say - she was looking radiant.
We got down to business, and pretty soon the vows had been said, rings were on fingers and kisses were kissed.  There was a fair bit of smiling and laughing going on too!
There was also a beautiful ring presentation for little Betsie. 

The deed was done - time to get out into the sunshine for some photos! 
The blue skies were a breath of fresh air - it had been throwing it down all day up until that point!

It was soon time to head in for food and speeches.  Rebecca's Dad's speech pulled at the heart strings, Jamie's raised a few chuckles and the Best Man's brought some proper laugh out loud moments!

The rest of the evening was good old family fun, laughter and love.  We jumped back inside for cake cutting and first dance, followed by all the girls on the dancefloor.  Then it was back outside for more laughs and a bit of a sparkler walk. 

And then more laughs.

A pretty awesome day.  Thanks for having me guys - you were amazing!


Here are a few pics from their day.