Randall Photography Blog ~ wedding photography and portrait photography by Stewart Randall ~ Based in Yorkshire covering the UK and abroad » Engagement

Michelle & Matthew Pre-wedding Photos – Hoylandswaine, South Yorkshire

Stewart Randall — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 14:46:52 +0000

A couple of weeks back I decided to explore my village for possible portrait locations and I was pleasantly surprised with my findings – I guess you don’t notice them when you see them every day. So when Michelle told me that she was incredibly camera shy I thought it would be ideal to stay in our quiet village for her and Matthew’s pre-wedding shoot – I did however forget there was a cricket match on! :-)

Fortunately this wasn’t an issue and it was great to see Michelle relax and for their personalities to come out in the shoot. The last image in the series below is my favourite.

Please feel free to leave a comment.

Helene & Matthew Pre-wedding Shoot – Cannon Hall, South Yorkshire

Stewart Randall — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 14:01:41 +0000

Later this year I’ll have the pleasure of photographing Helene & Matthew’s wedding at Chatsworth House in Derbyshire. I’ve photographed at Chatsworth on a number of occasions and it’s an amazing place with so many choices for stunning photography.

For their pre-wedding shoot we went for a walk around the grounds of Cannon Hall in the brilliant sunshine.

Here are some of my favourites. Please feel free to leave a comment.

Hamsa & Tim Pre-wedding Photos – Swinton Park, North Yorkshire

Stewart Randall — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 07:12:15 +0000

Swinton Park is an outstanding wedding venue. The luxury castle hotel is located in Masham, North Yorkshire and if you haven’t been there, then you should go. The interior decoration in lavish, the food is first class and with 200 acres of grounds to explore there is plenty to do. Further more the Black Sheep brewery is just down the road – so what better excuse do you need?

Hamsa and Tim are getting married at Swinton Park with a civil ceremony later this month. I met up with them for a pre-wedding shoot where we took the opportunity to scout for locations and grab some fun images. The weather was changing fast which allowed me to shoot in to the sun for some lens flare before the clouds moved in to create more dramatic images. The find of the day had to be the green iron gate which will be the perfect backdrop to contrast against Hamsa’s wedding dress.

As a wedding photographer, Swinton Park has all of the qualities that a bride and groom would like in a venue – great architecture, beautiful interior and stunning backdrops. Can’t wait to get back there.

Steph & Rob Pre-wedding Photos – Kew Gardens, Surrey

Stewart Randall — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 13:36:57 +0000

I met Steph and Rob at Kew Gardens for their pre-wedding shoot a few weeks back – apologies for delay in posting guys… crazy season!

Kew Gardens is another fantastic place for photos as there are so many different backdrops to use. Would you like a jungle location? No problem. Eastern Pagoda? Yep, got one of those too. There are literally thousands of places to take photos from the Temparate House, the Palm House, the Orangery and of course Kew Palace itself. I think a return visit is in order.

Steph runs her own florist business and along with Rob will be creating all of the wedding flower arrangements the day before. Expect the flowers to be nothing short of amazing! I get the feeling Steph and Rob will be raising the bar with regards to wedding flowers and attention to detail – although they should pay more attention when eating ice creams ;) (see last image below). Look out for their wedding images towards the end of September.

Below are some of my favourites images from the day. Friends and family can view all the images on our gallery which is at www.randallweddings.co.uk/store. Please ask Steph or Rob for the password or get in contact with us at the studio.

And don’t be shy… please feel free to leave a comment.

Sarah & Paul Pre-wedding Photos – Victoria Baths, Manchester

Stewart Randall — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 14:03:13 +0000

If you follow me on Twitter you may remember that back in May I spent a day with Sarah and Paul at the Victoria Baths in Manchester for their pre-wedding shoot. I know it’s be a long time coming but hopefully it’s worth the wait.

Being able to shoot at the Victoria Baths was a real privilege and somewhat of a major coup. The public are granted limited access to the baths on set days and it certainly isn’t available as a photo shoot location without special permission. Fortunately Sarah did all of the PR for the baths during the BBC programme Restoration so was able to make special arrangements for us to have exclusive and complete access for the day! It’s such an amazing place and I could have literally spent an entire week there. While we were shooting they were actually filling one of the pools which was rather exciting – I knew I should have taken my swimmers.

Did you know… The album cover and accompanying video for “Now Voyager” by the Bee Gees’ Barry Gibb were both shot at the Baths whilst they were still in use.

Not satisfied with the privilege of shooting at the Victoria Baths I am also thrilled to have permission to use a track from one of my favourite bands – I AM KLOOT. It turns out that Paul is working with the band on some artwork and as we got talking he offered to ask if I could use some of their music on the site. I’m dead chuffed they said yes. These guys are fantastic and I know it won’t be long before everyone in the country has heard of them. If you want to see them before they reach Wembley (a matter of time) make sure you grab a ticket to their next gig before they sell out – check their site for up and coming dates – Official I AM KLOOT website.

You can also buy their highly recommended album from iTunes.

Leave a comment with your thoughts on the images, slideshow and music.

Now for the images…

And the slideshow…

Music: “Proof” by I AM KLOOT. Available on iTunes.

Sarah & Matthew Pre-wedding Shoot – Sheffield, South Yorkshire

Stewart Randall — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 08:02:06 +0000

I met Sarah & Matthew’s in Sheffield for their pre-wedding shoot on what turned out to be a gorgeous June evening – you can’t beat quality evening sunlight. Both Sarah and Matthew are very confident in front of the camera and it wasn’t long before we were fooling around and creating some fun images. That said, Matthew used to be a professional wrestler and is a master of the ‘mean and moody look’. In fact there were several occasions when I thought I had seriously upset him and it was a matter of time before I found myself upside down in some sort of head hold ;-)

Joking aside, the shoot was loads of fun and I’m really looking forward to the wedding which will be at Whirlowbrook Hall later this month.

Friends and family can view all the images on our gallery which is at www.randallweddings.co.uk/store. Please ask Sarah or Matthew for the password or get in contact with us at the studio.

Helen & Ian Pre-wedding Photos – Yorkshire Sculpture Park

Stewart Randall — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 09:19:01 +0000

Here are some images from Helen and Ian’s pre-wedding shoot taken at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. If you’re a regular reader you will know that I frequently visit The YSP and as such I thought I knew all the best locations… that was until this shoot with Helen and Ian. Check out the last two images. How cool in this location!

Friends and family can view all the images on our gallery which is at www.randallweddings.co.uk/store. Please ask Helen or Ian for the password or get in contact with us at the studio.

Georgie & George Pre-wedding – Four Seasons Hotel, Hampshire

Stewart Randall — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 12:23:56 +0000

As Georgie and George live in Australia is wasn’t until last week that I got to meet them in person. We met at the Four Seasons Hotel in Hampshire for a catch-up, to scout locations and a quick pre-wedding shoot. It was a *hot* day and the gardens and hotel looked amazing in the midday sun. Hopefully we’ll be blessed with a similar day in a couple of weeks.

Update: George & Georgie’s wedding photos at the Four Seasons Hotel, Hampshire can now be viewed

Silver & Gen pre-wedding shoot – Sheffield

Stewart Randall — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 08:58:22 +0000

This is the second time I’ve used Sheffield as a backdrop for a pre-wedding session and again it turned out to be a fantastic shoot. Silver and Gen have bags of personality and as you can see from the images they weren’t shy about having a bit of fun – after all that is what the pre-wedding shoot is about. Come the wedding day they’ll have loads of confidence and we’ll be working together to capture amazing images from the moment I arrive.

Silver and Gen’s day is going to be a little different to the usual wedding I shoot. In addition to a church wedding there will be several traditional Chinese wedding ceremonies taking place throughout the day and a large banquet with more courses than I can remember. Oh, and did I also mention Silver has several outfit changes during the day!

I hope you all enjoy the images. Please feel free to leave a comment at the bottom of the post.

Clare & Mike Pre-wedding Shoot – Holmfirth, Yorkshire

Stewart Randall — Mon, 18 May 2009 09:48:48 +0000

Clare & Mike are getting married at Wethele Manor in Warwickshire later this year – a new venue for me and somewhere I’m very much looking forward to shooting. As they have family up north I thought it would be nice to shoot their pre-wedding session in Holmfirth. For those who don’t know Holmfirth it is a beautiful village in West Yorkshire well known as the backdrop for the TV series The Last of the Summer Wine.

You will be glad to know that I resisted all temptation to reenact the classic Nora Batty and Compo scenes :-)

For the photographers… I thought I’d share the last image which has a new graphic filter applied that I’ve be working on. It’s not suitable for all images, but I think it works well with this photo.