Summer Wedding at Nunsmere Hall Hotel, Cheshire (by Cheshire wedding photographer Jane Burkinshaw)

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Now, we've got that out of the way, back to Louise and Neil's wonderful indian summer wedding! Click on any image to see a larger version.

The venue was Nunsmere Hall Hotel and it couldn't have looked more beautiful on this sunny afternoon in early September.

Nunsmere Hall Hotel

The fair weather meant that the wedding party could mingle on the terrace and in the gardens and also that the ceremony could take place outside in the stunning grounds of the hotel. It was great to be able to take photographs in lovely natural light - any wedding photographer's dream!

The groom and best man were welcoming guests on the terrace and I took them away to the quiet of an avenue of trees to get some shots of all the men in their suits. This area overlooks the lake and is very shady and peaceful apart from the occasional motor boat! It's a favourite spot of mine for wedding images as the light is beautiful and the line of trees makes for an impressive back drop.

Meanwhile the bride had finished getting ready in the bridal suite upstairs and her extremely proud father accompanied her down the stairs, through the hotel and into the garden, where the guests and groom were eagerly awaiting her arrival! She looked stunning and I particularly like these shots in black and white as they look so classic and timeless.

If I were to ever get married again (don't tell my husband I said that!) I would want the ceremony to be outside - it was a beautiful setting with the late afternoon sunshine starting to cast long shadows across the lawn.

Drinks and canapes were served on the lawn afterwards and it was a great time to get relaxed, candid shots of everyone congratulating Louise and Neil and enjoying themselves.

I always feel guilty prising the bride and groom away from this post ceremony period but it's a good time to get some shots of them together before all the group shots and the wedding breakfast. And the newly wed couple are always very relaxed and super happy so it's easy to get candid, fun pictures of them - as shown by these of Louise and Neil.

The newly weds and their guests danced the night away but didn't require me to stay so I sneaked off to spend a lovely first weekend in our caravan. But I was itching to get to my computer to start editing the photos and start the all important album. They opted for a coffee table style photo book that could be left out and looked at, rather than being hidden away in a box. It's a really special moment when you first present the couple with their finished album and Louise and Neil both said it took them right back to that very special day. This is what it's all about, as far as I'm concerned, knowing that I've given them memories that they can re-visit and share time and again.

And so we come to the end of this blog about a picture perfect wedding in an idyllic setting, but at the considerable risk of sounding cheesy, this not the end but just the beginning of married life together for Louise and Neil!!

By Jane Burkinshaw. Share this post by clicking on one of the Share buttons on the right hand side. I'd love to hear your comments too!

In the bleak mid winter

Click to enlarge

Well, not really but the black and white images kind of suited the title! In the last few days I've been walking Ferb at the "Flashes" as they're known locally. This is shortened from the Ashton's and Neumann's Flashes, an area of reclaimed land that was heavily mined in the 18th and 19th centuries leading to serious subsidence, forming craters and the creation of lakes where the River Weaver flowed into them. Today it's a rather unique site where some seaside plants thrive due to the high salt levels and it's rich with birdlife, butterflies and dragonflies. There are several circular walks that link to the wider Northwich Woodlands and it's easy to walk to Marbury Park and the Anderton Boat Lift. From most points you are reminded of the industrial heritage of Northwich by the dramatic factories on the horizon with  pipes and chimneys pumping out steam.

As you can imagine it's a great place to walk, with a multitude of circular routes to choose from and real variety of scenery - woodland, canals, lakes, meadows and rivers. And of course it presents tons of lovely photographic opportunities. During today's walk we met many other dog walkers but also lots of people out and about with their cameras attracted by fresh snowfall, clear blue skies and the threat of a thaw within 24 hours.

I didn't end up taking many photos, as I was simply enjoying the walk, watching Ferb's highly comical run - his back legs seem so much longer than the front ones and he lollops clumsily along but somehow at high speed. When I got back and looked at my shots I decided to have a go at thinking square again - admittedly I didn't shoot them with this intention but I'll allow it as another useful exercise. (If you don't know what on earth I'm talking about you need to look back at my last two posts).

I thought the images looked a bit flat and monotone so I experimented with some black and white conversion as well as the square cropping. I like the results but am not blown away. Looking forward to more walks over the coming weeks and more photo opportunities.

I've written about the Northwich Flashes before - I was shocked to see it was 4 years ago almost to the day. Click here to read what I thought back then - apologies that the pictures aren't there - I think Blogger ate them as I couldn't have deleted them as I wouldn't even know where they go I've posted them! I'm going to root out some photos I've taken in the last 4 years and post them.

By Jane Burkinshaw. Share this post by clicking on one of the Share buttons on the right hand side. I'd love to hear your comments too!

New year, new look blog

It's been a while since my last confession post... I fell out of the blogging habit last year, largely because I spent most of my free time on a project to take and post a photograph every day during 2012. (Separate post on this is simmering away in my brain and will come to the boil soon).

I've really missed writing and have made it a resolution for 2013 to do more. I'm planning to combine all my blogs into one - it was getting confusing for me never mind anyone else. So top tips on photography and posts about recent shoots will all nestle here alongside tales of our exploits as a family.

I've given my blog a bit of a facelift - it took far longer than I expected to do a few simple changes to the background and header - but I'm pleased with the overall result. Feels a little friendlier than all that serious black and green I had before. And it seems more appropriate to feature my lovely children and dog in the header too!

Ferb, the dog, is a new addition to our family and he will no doubt be the star of the show for the foreseeable future - he's so darn cute and extremely photogenic. He even has his own Facebook page if you can't wait between posts to see his little hairy face.

Also set to feature a fair amount is our new (to us) caravan. With two successful outings under our belt (we won't mention the encounter between our gatepost and a caravan window!) we're planning holidays up and down the length of Britain this year.

I've already got a long list of ideas for blog posts and am itching to get started. With heavy snow supposedly heading our way I can forecast lots of photo opportunities and lots of time sitting in front of a roaring fire, blogging away. Hopefully they won't just languish unread in the ether somewhere - at least I know my other half reads them and points out where I've used apostrophe's (sic) in the wrong place and embellished the truth somewhat, in order to be more entertaining!

By Jane Burkinshaw. Share this post by clicking on one of the Share buttons on the right hand side. I'd love to hear your comments too!

A newborn photo shoot with Ella Rose (by Cheshire baby photographer Picture It Big)

I was delighted to be asked to photograph one week old Ella Rose - she is absolutely perfect and second time mum, Mindy, was totally chilled out, so this was the ideal newborn photo shoot.

Ella was having a feed when I arrived so having set up the first shot I put the kettle on and made us a nice cuppa. After a short while Ella fell asleep and we settled her onto a snuggly blanket and popped a matching hat on her head. I'm a bit of a knitter and take along a selection of things I've made for mum to choose from. This pink and purple blend really suited Ella's colouring.

As it turned out Ella didn't fancy a very long nap and I took the opportunity to set up the next shot whilst she had another feed and a quick nappy change. Mindy's family own the Hollies Farm Shop and we incorporated one of their branded apple boxes into the next shot, along with some beautiful sunflowers borrowed from the shop!

I decided to shoot this against a simple black background with Ella lying on super soft black velvet and I love the simplicity of the final shot. These apple boxes can be decorated with a baby's name or birth date, or simply "Made with love" etc, so watch this space as I intend to offer newborn packages incorporating the apple box, which can be used as a toy box or planter afterwards.



Mindy and Phil had been given a beautiful stripey blanket by some friends and wanted to use it in a shot, so we incorporated it into the next one with Ella's "big" brother, Ewan. Now this is where our relaxed morning shifted to a different pace, as I worked at the speed of light to capture this active toddler with his new sister! Mindy was thrilled to bits with the resulting pictures - it was very important to her to capture them both together and I like to have a happy client!

I then switched to a plain cream background. It's always nice to have a variety of shots with different props and colours. By this time Ella Rose was in a deep sleep and was very amenable to being posed.

The whole shoot took about two and a half hours and I think Mindy would agree that it was a very stress free experience, interspersed with several cups of tea, a delicious lunch brought across from the Hollies restaurant and quite a few curious visitors! I think our only complaint would have been about the heat! With baby Ella stripped naked for most of the time we had to keep the room nice and warm.

A couple of weeks later I returned to show Mindy and Phil the final photographs and to show them some options for displaying them on the walls. Mindy and I had already discussed before and during the shoot what she wanted to do and I also had some other ideas mocked up.

Mindy was a very well behaved client (!) coming back to me with her order within just a few days, so I was able to get everything turned around for her and delivered back nice and quickly. I love presenting clients with their finished, framed images - it's a magical moment, often with a few tears (of the happy variety!) and I realise all over again why I love this job!

They had chosen a number of different framed images - here are some of them.

I'm looking forward to going back to photograph Ella with her family during the next year and seeing how much she has changed.

If you'd like to see how I set up a newborn photoshoot in your home, check out A newborn photo shoot with Isabella Rose.

By Jane Burkinshaw. Share this post by clicking on one of the Share buttons on the right hand side. I'd love to hear your comments too!

Perks of the Job

Actually there are two recent shoots which could warrant this title! The reason the first qualified as a perk is a bit sexist I suppose but I don’t think the clients will mind! The owners of the gorgeous and very friendly Bez (see earlier blog) gave my name to a couple, Stacey and Lee, with four month old India. I was really looking forward to this shoot, partly because I love photographing very young babies, but also because I knew they wanted a very stylised black and white look to the photographs. Oh – and how could I forget to mention that they also have a very handsome boxer dog called Kilo! Regular followers of my blog will know that we have a boxer too and that immediately pre-supposes that we will get on well with all other boxer owners – a bit like the Porsche owners club! (Although I don’t think Porsche would thank me for that analogy!).

Stacey had a very clear idea of what she wanted – very simple images of Lee with India primarily and then anything else was a bonus. With Lee stripped to the waist holding a naked India I set about capturing some special moments between father and daughter. We worked fast as babies have a tendency to mood swings and frequent calls of nature (India only peed all over Lee once!) and I could immediately tell that we were going to have some lovely photographs. It would have been a real shame for Stacey not to be in the shots as well and so I got a few great shots of all three of them. Stacey was wearing a strapless maxi dress and the final shots are just gorgeous, with no clothes to distract from the simplicity. The final challenge was to get some shots of Kilo and then of the family altogether. I have to say that Kilo was brilliantly behaved – are we the only people with a completely bonkers boxer dog?! What could have been utter chaos – parents with baby and dog – was really easy and painless; in fact the whole shoot had been very enjoyable, not like work at all!

Back to perks of the job – it wasn’t until I got back home and looked through the pictures that I realised I had been photographing a really hunky, half naked man. I was quite impressed with my own professionalism – not being distracted on the job as it were! Anyway, I loved the pictures and by all accounts Stacey and Lee are very pleased too. India is absolutely gorgeous and it was exactly the right way to photograph her, so that her beautiful baby skin, tiny toes and fingers and big eyes are the focus of every shot. To find out about the second perk read my blog “A night with a difference”.