A few weeks ago I had the awesome privilege of shooting the wedding of Luci and Mark over in Leeds.

There was no bridal prep, so it was straight to Leeds Town Hall to get down to business.
Mark and a few guests soon arrived, so we had a nosey round the place to check out the room and take a few snaps.  Time soon ticked on, so everyone was ushered into the room before the Bridal Party arrived.
Pretty soon the door opened and the happy couple's two little girls made their way down the aisle before the bride.  I don't think Mark stopped smiling all the way through!
The registrars got down to business, readings were read, vows were spoken and rings were exchanged. 
And of course - kisses were kissed.

The happy couple walked out man and wife.

The day had been raining on and off all morning, so we all huddled under the canopy for a few snaps before making our way down to the reception venue.

The rest of the day was held at The Tetley.  A massive 30's art deco building that originally headquartered Tetley's Brewery.
The drinks were soon flowing, the smiles were still beaming and the kids were soon off on an Easter Treasure Hunt.
After dinner and speeches, the evening guests soon arrived, cakes were cut and the happy couple led the way onto the dancefloor.

Oh, and I kept dragging them outside for a few photos along the way.

A perfect day.  Congratulations Mark and Luci - you guys were awesome!

Here are a few snaps from their day. 

I've been enjoying a bit of time off recently.  A bit of time to catch up on personal work, a bit of family time and finally do all those pesky jobs round the house that I haven't done since... Well, since I was last supposed to do it!

It's also given me an excuse to get out on the Harley more too!

A few weeks ago we had a pretty awesome day at the coast where I took a few snaps.
The day started early and after a few meeting places along the way, 50+ Harleys rolled into the car park of the Marrowbone & Cleaver pub in Kirmington.  A proper cool, down-to-Earth British pub owned by Motorcycle record holder, TV personality and all round daredevil speed demon Guy Martin and run by his sister, Sally.
The pub has a fair bit of history, dating back to 1871, and the decor inside is like a tribute to the past.  Walls are dedicated to the local history, with a good mix of WW2 dedications to the 166 Bomber Squadron that was based in the area and memorabilia from Guy's exploits.
After wolfing down an awesome breakfast, we were back on the road.
Next stop was Grimsby, for a Custom Bike show hosted by the Warlocks MC.  Plenty of cool bikes, trikes and a few hot rods were on display.
After a few hours of laughing, looking and chatting away, we were off again.
Next stop, Cleethorpes - where fish & chips in the sunshine finished the day in style.

Of course, the ride home is always part of the fun too!

Here are a few snaps.

While we were down in Leicester, we decided to have a little explore.  We had initially planned to go visit Ashby de la Zouch Castle, but the weather was a bit too grim for that!

Our first stop was the New Walk Museum where we went to have a nosey at the dino bones and the Egyptian mummies.  Freddie was a bit scared of the Egyptian bit, but enjoyed looking at some of the animals - especially the owl.  His favourite bit was playing with the gemstones in the gift shop!  For more info on the museum, click HERE.

After the museum we drove up to Notts, had some scran at the very nice Badger Box and then went to have a nosey round an old Church built in 1356 (the site is older though, the present church replaces an older one on the same site).
The church was pretty cool, a few nice old details left and lots of gravestones from the 17th and 18th Centuries in the yard. The coolest bit though, was the old Hall and the gatehouse to the rear.  Built in the mid 1300s, it was once home to Mary Chaworth, who was the lover of the poet Lord Byron. Lord Byron's uncle actually killed (the then) Lord Chaworth in a duel in the gardens of the house. Very cool place with a lot of history - the home of some very powerful families in Nottingham.  Wouldn't mind a revisit to get into the grounds!

Here are a few snaps.

I love lazy Sundays.  A lie in, a late breakfast and a generally relaxing day.  But today we decided to liven things up a bit and go and jump around the local skatepark!

I had some new gear to test, so grabbed a camera and took it along with my two youngest boys to grab some snaps.  I took a fisheye lens to get some crazy angles going on. 

Alfie enjoyed a little bit of skating - he's not been out on his board a great deal, so is still finding his feet.  He considered dropping into one of the ramps, but settled for posing for photos at the top!
Freddie enjoyed a few tries on the board, but was happier playing with his ball for a bit before heading over to the slide.

A bit of fun with my boys.  A perfect Sunday.

Some snaps of my skater boys.

(P.S.  Last pic is when we got home - I still annoyed him with the camera even while taking his shoes off!)

I thought I'd put a blog post together to show what I get up to in my spare time. 

I have a strong fascination with all things broken and abandoned.  I love rusty steel and twisted metal, broken stones and mossy rocks, shattered glass and age old bottles, broken clocks and worn-out watches.  I love to stand in a place where men and women once toiled and bled, the industry long since gone and their efforts forgotten.  I love the feel of walking down a hospital corridor where cries of joy and tears of sadness would never be heard again, just the eerie silence of something forgotten - maybe the occasional patter of dripping water from the now broken ceilings.  I love to sit in a chair where someone once spent the majority of their daily grind, see the random bits of graffiti carved into the desks, wondering who the initials 'JB' belonged to or whether 'Steve' still loved 'Alice'.  The sadness of some of these places can bring a tear to your eye, the thoughts of someone's job gone as another steelworks or mill closed their doors.  Some of the sights can be breathtaking too - the grandeur of the details in the building, the size of the doorways, the handwritten signs and the craftwork in the smallest window. 

So, here are a few snaps of some of the places that I've visited.  Abandoned mills, steelworks, factories, potteries, hospitals, asylums, collieries, churches, mortuaries, houses and mansions.  Broken RAF bases, trainyards, garages, farms and barns.  Lost cemeteries and junkyards.

I try to see the beauty in the broken.  The splendour of the past in the grime of the present.

Have a nosey through - someone you know, knew or loved could have once walked these halls, drove these cars, sat in these chairs and watched these clocks, just waiting for the weekend... 

We thought we'd make the New Year a little different this year, so we headed up to the Lakes for a few days.

We booked a little log cabin through Airbnb and used it as a base to have a little travel around the area.  We stayed at Lowick Green, just 5 minutes away from Coniston Water, so we spent most of our time exploring around the lake.
The weather was a bit grey and cold, so we had to restrict the walks a little bit due to the little monster.  He's usually a good little rambler, but the cold was going straight through to his bones.

Our nights were spent chilling out in the cabin.  We played poker and Pictionary, watched Rom-Coms and scary movies, cooked microwave TV dinners, ate lots of snacks and chocolate and drank a bit of booze.  (Well, we did - the kids just got hyper on hot chocolate and fizzy pop!)

It was a perfect way to welcome in the New Year.  It was also nice to have some time off work and get in some special family time.

Happy New Year folks, here's a few snaps from our trip.

P.S.  If you want a bit of money off an Airbnb booking, just clicky HERE. 

I spent my birthday this year photographing the wedding of Laura and Chris, in a pretty cool little converted chapel restaurant in the middle of Derby.

We started the day with some bridal prep at the couple's home in Ashbourne before moving on down to Masa Restaurant in Derby centre for the vows and evening do.

Bridal prep was a complete laugh - a house full of women drinking Prosecco.  With willy straws.  Need I say more!
Pretty soon the Limo turned up for the girls, so it was a fight through traffic to get down and parked up at the restaurant.  In typical fashion, the car park I had planned to use had been roped off for work, but a stroke of luck got me the very last on-street parking spot!

The restaurant itself is a pretty cool place.  A converted Chapel that dates back to the 1800s.  For more info on Masa, click HERE.

Chris was waiting patiently inside and pretty soon the Bridal Party made their entrance.  One of the Bridesmaid's first jobs raised a few laughs - the placing of a phone book at the end of the aisle for Laura to stand on.  Probably the best use of a phonebook in years - I have no idea where they managed to find one!
Pretty soon the vows were done, kisses were kissed and confetti was thrown.  The room was soon converted back to normal, drinks were flowing and food was served.
The wedding had a pretty cool travel-theme.  Paper planes made out of maps were soon zooming around - mostly over the balcony into the lower bar area!

After the speeches had been said, the DJ kicked the beats up and the party got underway.  The Bride and Groom get extra points from me for doing the dance from Pulp Fiction as their first dance.  One of my favourite movies.

It was a pretty awesome day.

Did I mention it was my birthday?  Well so did the Groom.  In his speech.  And the Bride.  And the Bridesmaids.  And the DJ...

Thanks for having me guys - it was a blast.

Here are a few images from their day. 
(Make up by Peach Berry Hair and Make Up.)

A few weeks ago I had the lovely pleasure of photographing the wedding of Kandi and Viv.

I met the couple at their hotel in the heart of Doncaster before we moved on up to the register office. 
After the vows, we were unceremoniously rushed out of the wedding room after about 3 minutes worth of photos, so we went down in to Elmfield Park to shoot some group shots and a few portraits.
After that - it was time to get on board the Wyre Lady!

The Wyre Lady is a riverboat that runs functions and parties round the Doncaster/Sprotbrough area.  For more info, click HERE.

The boat was soon comically nicknamed 'The Lesboat', but we really should have nicknamed it 'The Partyboat'.  Because that's what this wedding was - a party from start to finish.

A special mention has got to be made about the duelling speeches - one a poem and the other a song.  It was proper comedy genius.

And I'm not even gonna mention the cake cutting speech...

When I got home from the wedding at the end of the night, my face was still hurting from laughing!

Thanks for having me guys - it was awesome!

Here's a few pictures from their day.

We went for a drive over the Moors and stopped to take a few shots looking down over Marsden way.  The weather was lovely.  Then awful.  Then lovely again.  We got rain, snow, sleet and hail.  The wind never stopped blowing - nearly had me over at one point!  Anyway - here's a few snaps. 

It's the last day of the kid's Easter break, so we popped out for a little walk round Worsbrough Mill.  If you've never been, get yourself through for a visit - it's a nice little walk round. 
The Mill itself is a 17th Century Water Mill that is still working to grind grain into flour - you can watch it at work and buy some to take home (which I never have, as I'm a tight Yorkshireman). 
There's streams, trees, flowers, wildlife and a big reservoir offering long walks round.  We didn't take the pushchair today though, so Little Mr Short Legs was running wild and free (mainly wild) and our walk was a shorter one.  Oh, and there's a cafe too.  With cakes - which we were forced to sample.
Little Mr Crazy Pants found every muddy puddle available to jump in, fed some ducks and said "quack quack" about seventeen thousand times.  It's still quite cute though.
As usual, I had a camera bag over my shoulder, and this time I took a fisheye lens with me to get some crazy angle shots.  Well, not really crazy, but a bit different to the norm. 
Anyway, here's some snaps.  And if you want more info on the mill - click here.