Straight after Isla & Stuart's wedding, I jumped on a plane to Paris to spend a week (and a lot of money!) on a workshop run by the amazing Jerry Ghionis. This guy is truely one of the best in the world, so many awards and titles to his name! I have been wanting to attend one of his workshops for years and just finally bit the bullet and booked myself on the Paris workshop even though it was sandwiched in between weddings!
On arrival in Paris on the Sunday night, I had a walk about town with 2 of my fellow workshop attendees, Marco and Michael from South Africa. What a blast, the night was fair and the Eiffel Tower was lit up like a beacon!! Unfortunately on my return to the hotel, I went to start blogging the trip and found that my laptop had blown up!
Monday morning was then spent trying to find someone to repair my laptop, which unfortunately proved to be difficult, it was totally beyond repair! So I ended up spending silly money on a rental laptop just so I could get through the workshop..... Bit of a waste of a morning too but hey...
Registration in the afternoon and straight into critiques of some of our own images (for which I just had to show some images from this blog!!) This was hardcore, no fluffing, no butt-licking, just good honest critique. Didn't go down too well with some, but hey you don't spend over £2,000 to hear "You rock!" I was very pleased with hearing what I could do to improve my images, and was happy to find myself already seeing what Jerry was about to say about others, about halfway into the critique.
There was a true international feel to this workshop - as well as others from the UK, there were photographers from as far flung as Hong Kong, South Africa, Belgium, Denmark, the States and Russia on board!
Day 2 - posing - argh that horrible word! But actually not posing, directing, in order to make beautiful look even more beautiful!! I have gone from a 100% photojournalistic/reportage style of wedding photography to recently bringing in a little contemporary modern shooting style into the couples session part of the day and this was one reason why I wanted to go on this course - I knew that Jerry was truely a master at this style of photography.
After a great session in the morning, we went out shooting in the afternoon with models. Rene and Melissa from Boston are already known to me, and it was wonderful to meet up with them again. Marco and Liz from Boston are getting married this August, what a hot and steamy couple they are! And the last model was Evgenia, originally from Russia but now living and working in Boston. All the models are photographers themselves and they were all amazingly patient with us all!
We walked about town, Jerry just stopping every so often when there was some interesting light or location. I don't want to know what he was asking Evgenia here...........
Jerry was excellent at directing the model and gave us a load of tips on getting the best out of what were already gorgeous people!
He really does love his work!
We were in Park Monceau, the light was amazing, the Parisians were enjoying the sun and we were all having a ball!
Mind you, some of the Parisians loved watching beautiful people "get it on" too!
We even did some amazing night shots using the most bizarre of light sources! We ended up at the Arc D'Trioumphe both above and underground!
There are so many amazing images to show from this time away, and Jerry has very kindly allowed us to blog these images so for me the best way to show them off is via slideshow!
Suitably appropriate music by the wonderful Caroline!
After a gorgeous wedding at Balgonie Castle, it was back to Balbirnie for a laugh and a cuddle!
One important guest of honour was Fluke the dog.
The father/daughter speech always gets me, this moment straight after dad finished his speech is just adorable!
And a romantic first dance to finish a glorious day!
With many thanks to Chris for his assistance on the day, and proving the entertainment for the kids by the look of this image!
And as for katie's girls..... wow when they turned up, I thought they were going to upstage Katie on her big day, stunning, stunning, stunning....
I love this photojournalistic image, the last moment with her dad before she walks down the aisle....
But guess what, Katie was............... an angel almost!
I love this image too, quite cool in tones compared to what I normally shoot, but I just love it.....
I mean, come on, isn't this just a beautiful young lady...........? I absolutely loved her 
Aye he's still no badlooking either............
But again, look at these lassies; aren't they just like something of a page of Vogue?!
I said at the start that they valued the photography.....this really hit home when the starter was just about to served at the wedding breakfast and Keith approached me..
And aren't these guys just the cutest?!
Enjoy Thailand guys, see you on your return.
I was told I would struggle to get a good image of young Matthew.... I think I did not too badly with this one!
My favourite image of the day!
This portfolio is going online in full tomorrow, contact the families in question for the password.
Nadine had planned a very different style of wedding.....
Her amazing dress was designed by 
After an "interesting" morning with the bride and her family (ask the bride!), she arrived in one piece, floating down the staircase of the 
I have been looking forward to shooting in this venue for years now, it really is a little hidden gem in the city of Glasgow.
And give amazing opportunities for amazing imagery!
The weather didn't play ball but so what, said the couple! They decided to still go out and have fun!
Yes that is a foot!! The architecture and art in the grounds of this venue are unusual, quirky and fun; ideal for my kinda wedding couples!
With all the drama of the morning, I am sure Nadine and James will look back on their wedding day with laughter; it all ended up fine in the end.
