katycollins

<p>Hi,<br>

I used to post sometimes on the wedding forum, but am now not working and a full time Mum to 3 boys, 2 of

which LOVE football (I can't bring myself to call it soccer, sorry :)<br>

So now I have started spending my weekends photographing football instead of weddings - much more fun and

less stress! I just wanted to say Hi as I hope to chip in on some of the discussions.</p>

<p>Kate

</p>

<p>I have yet to see a fantastic photo taken during the meal and make it to the wedding album, I'm sure some will exist but I would rather eat dinner (and have a break after 4+ hrs) and have enough energy to see it through the evening.<br>

Nobody likes to have their photograph taken while they're eating, so I eat at the same time.</p>

Hi Helen,

You might want to try a site like http://www.hitched.co.uk/sbforum/forum.asp?forum_id=2

Although it's a wedding planning site, loads of photographers use it and I know a few do FYEO shoots - not sure if you'll get them done for free though.

"Interestingly enough, the 17-55 is hardly better than the kit 18-70"

Are you having a laugh?

Yikes... fortunately something like this has never happened to me but I can imagine the panic you were experiencing.

I also shoot with a D200 and a D70 as back up. This is of no help to you now and hindsight is a wonderful thing, but I always keep my D70 within grabbing distance ready to go and every night before I shoot a wedding I ALWAYS fully charge batteries for each plus a spare battery for each (those nikon batteries are excellent though and I've NEVER had to use the spare!) Parania is a good trait for wedding photographers!

If the only shots missed were the Bride walking down the aisle and the rest of the wedding photographs went well, then I'm sure the B&G will understand if you explain the camera malfunction.

With regards to your question about a full refund, if it was me personnally it would depend on

1. Did I do a good job with the wedding as a whole?

2. My expenses - travel etc.

3. How much was charged/what they recieved.

If you feel you didn't do a good enough job and the wedding was only down the road and you were'nt busy that day anyway, then maybe a full refund won't hurt and you can put it down to experience. Do you have any of the photographs online we could take a look at? and how long did it take you to find the spare battery?

Have you spoken to the couple yet? Most people are reasonable and hopefully they will be happy with the photographs that you took, if not maybe take out your expenses and refund the difference.

Hi Everyone,

A few weeks ago I posted asking for some inspiration and ideas for creative

Bride & Groom portraits, and I just wanted to say a big thankyou to everyone

who contributed.

The wedding was last Saturday and was a lot of fun! In the last 2 months here

we have had some of the heaviest rainfall recorded but the sun decided to shine

and I also shot some outdoor candids that I am proud of too.

I have put a few of my favourite portraits in my p net gallery here

http://www.photo.net/photos/katycollins

Any feedback greatfully recieved.

Thanks again for everyones advice and inspiration

Thank you everyone, lots of good advice and good examples. The WPJA also has previous years winners so plenty of inspiration there.

Cheers,

Katy

Sorry, my keyboard decided to freeze half way through, should read

"which I am really looking forward to and I want to experiment a little rather than do the usual 'safe' shots"

Cheers, Katy

Hi Everyone,

One of my favourite times on a wedding day is when the group formals are done

and I get to spend 1/2 hour or so alone with the B&G. Sometimes getting them to

relax infront of the camera and let their personalities shine can be a bit

tricky but when it happens the results can be beautiful.

I am looking for some inspiration for some more creative portraits (I'd like to

achieve 'works of art' but am far off it yet!) I have a wedding coming up in 2

weeks at a beautiful stately home which has a lake(although rather dirty!),

beautiful gardens and some interesting sculptures etc. which I am really

looking forward to and I

You are all such a talented bunch and I know some of your different/creative

portraits will be a great inspiration.

I hope it's OK for people to post examples Mary? there was a thread a while

back about creative ring shots and some of the work posted was truly stunning.

Thanks all

Hi Christi,

as you missed the feet from the bottom of the photograph, maybe a closer crop would have been better?

I'm sorry the Bride isn't happy and I hope it works out. We all learn new things from every wedding.<div></div>

Hi Aaron,

I'm pretty sure the official photographer will not be fazed with a guest with a D80 - just make sure not to snap away over his shoulder all afternoon. While s/he's doing the formals get creative, taking photographs for a friend who already has a photographer means there is no pressure so have some FUN.

Re settings it's hard to tell with an out door ceremony (time of day? weather?) Hopefully you'll be able to bounce the flash for the reception and the 50 1.8 should serve pretty well in low light situations.

Beautiful venue! I'm very far from Liverpool but I would suggest that you go to www.google.co.uk and do a search on 'wedding photographer palm house UK' hopefully this would bring up some photographers gallerys and I'm sure if you emailed them (explaining you are a cousin of the Groom who lives in the US they wouldn't mind sharing a few ideas re the venue).

have fun,

Katy

If it's your brothers wedding and you can borrow his d50, then you should be ok. I'd put the kit lens on the d70s and the 1.4 on the d50, or if you'd rather you could just shoot with the d70s and change lenses knowing you had the d50 if you needed it, and maybe buy another 2 gig memory (cheap enough now).

Do read all the relevant posts on here and also look through lots of wedding photographers websites for inspiration and ideas on posing etc.

GL and have a great time.

"If I were you, I would not invest in a new lens"

Sorry, just read your post properly and realise thats not what you were thinking! But I would still get another d70s

Hi Yannick,

You didn't mention if this is a paid job or for friends (not that it will change my advice but I'm pretty sure you'll get a few "do not do this wedding" responses).

If I were you, I would not invest in a new lens, you need another camera as an absolute minimum (and if you can stretch to it another flash).

I'm not sure how much you can afford, but my advice (for what it's worth) is to get another D70s (either new/used/rented) and another sb600 (sb800 if you can) and more memory if you need it. Have your 50 1.4 on one body and one of your other lenses on the other. The 50 1.4 takes beautiful portraits of the bride (and groom but he's not the most important ;)) so don't just leave it for low light.

Good luck and spend all week reading through the archived posts on this forum (then read them again!)

Thanks Nicola, unfortunately I had to send it off last night so can't make any changes now, I got a good deal because the deadline was so close. I'm going to post it for a critique though if you wouldn't mind taking a look

thanks,

Katy

Hi,

Having been offered a very good deal by a local wedding magazine, I'm going to

book a 1/2 page ad for 2 months. I've never done this before and was wondering

if any of you could share any advice/tips/inspiration.

As it's a 1/2page I thought it may be best to have one main image and several

smaller ones for some variety (1 b&g, 1 bride looking gorgeous, 1 flowers, 1

arty, 1 candid etc.) Hoping this would attract a wider interest, or should I

just pick my favourites and go with photos I love taking?

I'd be very grateful if any of you have examples you could share or advice as

to what worked best for you.

Thanks,

Katy

thank you for trying guys, If anyone has any UK alternatives for photobox (like smug mug) - please let me know. The parents of the team have viewed them fine so I'm not sure what the problem is.

As regards to being involved with the league - my husband is one of the managers, and the school - my Grandad was head teacher for over 20 years and my Mum taught there for over 10.. so I think I have those bases covered!

But this is TINY for football over here, our town has only 60,000 inhabitants but there are SO many football teams (Ashridge have 3 x under 10's teams)

I would guess that there are 800 football teams of all different ages that play within a 5 mile radius of my house!

I'm sure there is a market here - just not sure how to go about it!

Hi all,

I took these photographs at my sons football match last week, overall I am very

pleased (they move much faster than a bride and groom down the aisle!)

Please take a look at www.photoboxgallery.com/katycollins and click on the

Ashridge folder.

These are of my sons team and I will give the photos to all the parents, but I

was wondering if any of you are successfully making some income doing these

kind of events? Football (or 'soccer'!) is such a huge sport over here but

generally played on a Saturday which obviously is my most common wedding day.

Any thoughts/ideas/experience greatfully appreciated.