The blog of award winning scottish photographers, Archibald Photography. Real life wedding photography stories and recommended suppliers from weddings in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Scotland and destinations overseas.
Our clients seem to produce very beautiful babies; they are very clever that way! Back in the summer of 2009, we were photographing Jenny and Jeremy’s lovely relaxed wedding day at Culcreuch Castle. Their adorable baby Jura (as gorgeous as her name) arrived this summer and Jenny brought her in to meet us on a trip up to Scotland from London. She smiled the whole time which we chatted and drank tea and Mark grabbed a few snaps.
We have had many occasions at weddings to work with the lovely Alexis Miller. Alexis has been a professional make-up and hair artist since 2001. Fifteen weeks ago, her gorgeous son Freddie entered this world and we were honoured last week to have the opportunity to capture some of his many lovely facial expressions. Freddie is quite choosy about who he displays his smiles for at this young age so they are even more special when they appear!
Jen and Graham met on a blind date, set up by a mutual friend who thought they were “too alike not to be together”. They’ve been together for 7 years now.
Jen and Graham love Whitelees Windfarm. Graham studied renewable energy engineering at Uni and Whitelees is biggest windfarm in Europe. The couple watched the windfarm being built and were glad they opened it to the public. Graham has such a massive turbine obsession, he wanted to get one as a tattoo. And Jen loves them because they look like “gentle giants”.
As Jen said “the day was absolutely soaking, and by the end we were drenched, but I loved it. Was so glad I wore the wellies! Graham’s converse were soaked through. Mark was running about all excited, lying on the ground. His enthusiasm is really infectious. The wind farm was so quiet since it was pouring, and everyone that was there was in full waterproof weather gear. We love that wind farm, but we were so glad we could introduce it to someone new.”
Another of our wedding clients organised for Mark to come and photograph their gorgeous daughter last month. This time it was the turn of the ultra cute Millie to be a mini model for the day! Millie is super smiley (despite the fact she was teething big style on the day of the shoot) and so it was easy for Mark to capture some great, timeless shots of her having fun.
Last month Mark had fun photographing the bundle of energy otherwise known as Joanna! Mark photographed Joanna’s Mum and Dad’s wedding back in 2007 – it’s great to revisit our clients as their family grows and provide them with natural family portraits. Kids seem to change on an almost weekly basis so a family portrait shoot is a great way to capture a moment in time to remember their sense of fun and energy. The images can be turned into great artwork as gifts for the adoring extended family too!
Here’s some of our favourites of the beautiful Joanna:
Mark met up with Jan and Adam not so long ago for a portrait shoot at a location in East Lothian that has great sentimental value to Jan. As she told us ” I used to go here to be alone or run, or just wander around in peace.”
Mark photographed Jan and Adam’s wedding a few weeks later at the amazing Mansfield Traquair and Jan thought that a pre-wedding portrait shoot might help her relax in their actual wedding pics. Jan says “anyone with concerns about how they will photograph should definitely try this – we had a great time.” They told us they loved their images are here are some of our favourites from the shoot:
We’ve received some lovely emails and comments in the last few days thanking us for our work. We do love what we do! Here’s a few to share with you:
From Kate and Mike whose wedding Mark photographed on Saturday:
“Just a quick note to say a massive thank you to Mark for Saturday. We’ve has so many of our friends and family say how great the photographer was and we have to agree! We had a perfect day, thank you so so much. Can’t wait to see the photos, Kate and Mike x”
From Julie and Kenny who had a recent natural light portrait session for their little baby Callum with Mark recently (Mark photographed Julie and Kenny’s wedding a while back):
“It was such a nice surprise to come home from our holidays and to get to see the fantastic photos. Mark has really done himself proud again, especially considering the mood Callum was in that day. We are delighted with the photos and can’t wait to get some of them up in our home. We will be in touch very shortly to order some of the prints……..just need to get deciding!! Thanks again to Mark for providing us with such fantastic momentos of this special time. Julie & Kenny P.S Congrats on winning yet more awards…..I’m sure you are fast running out of space for them all!”
Thanks everyone!
And while, I am on the subject, just how gorgeous is baby Callum?
The traditional idea of the baby portrait seems so tired to me. Put them on the furry rug. Snap. Sit them on your knee and force them to stare blindly towards the camera. Yawn. How boring and how uninspired. I like to think of the experience of portrait photography as a rewarding experience for parents and their baby. I believe it is so much more powerful and enduring to capture the relationship within the family. I love the interaction between a baby and mummy and daddy. Parents know all the little tricks to get their children to respond. And the emotion produced is far more real than if the stressed photographer is forcing a squeaky toy in front of them. I like my portrait sessions to be mellow and calm rather than frantic and loud. Above all I aim for images which will always have meaning no matter how much time passes.
Here are some of our favourites of the gorgeous Thomas. To book your own portrait session, please contact us on 01864 502161 or by clicking here
A lovely part of this job is when our wedding customers from years gone by return with new additions to the family to have a natural, contemporary portrait session taken of their little ones.
Mark photographed Sheilagh and Peter’s wedding in 2004 and they returned to see us recently with Peter jnr. Sheilagh emailled later to say “Peter was a wee monkey on the day but Mark managed to get some great shots!”
Here’s Peter having some fun:
We offer both portrait photoshoots in our studio and environmental portrait sessions at your home, local beach, park or place of interest. We also offer gift vouchers if you would like to give a friend or family member a gift of a photoshoot session with us. Please contact us for further information.