Documentary Wedding Photographer and Commercial Photographer Stuart James Photography covering Staffordshire, Birmingham, Shropshire, Manchester and the UK | Blog

Eleni and Kyri | A fantastic Greek engagement - Leicester Marriot | Greek Wedding Photographer

Eleni and Kyri are getting married next year in Birmingham and their gorgeous engagement celebration was on the 25th October. We had a fantastic time Abbey Park and thankfully we avoided the rain and then we headed to the Leicester Marriot for the ceremony and reception.

Here is just a little taster of a few of the photos from the day, more will follow later this week!

I can't wait to see Eleni and Kyri and show them their wonderful engagement photos - they really are stunning!

sj.p

Mezzotonic - Live at the Wharf10, Walsall | Canon 5D mark II

Mezzotonic are one of the country's up and coming big acts! They are an awesome band with such a fresh sound they really are going to go far...
I have known the guys from the band for some years and it was an absolute pleasure to get down to the Wharf10 in Walsall a few nights ago to watch a live set, and to capture a great set of live shots on my beloved newly acquired Canon 5DmarkII!!

I have always been a Nikon guy and also this isn't going to change I do like the Canon to work with and I love the files from it. The colours are so crisp and clean, and especially when you come up to high iso shooting the Canon files are just cleaner than those from the Nikon D3. However, at times the Nikon D3 will still be my chosen camera over the Canon, but for shoots like this gig, well I must say I'm only going to be taking the Canon with me!

I will be posting a more in-depth view on the two systems in the coming days but for the moment please sit back and enjoy looking at these stunning photos of the fantastic Mezzotonic.

Hope you enjoyed looking at this post as much as I enjoyed shooting it - and sharing it with you.

Oh and for those of you who may be interested everything was shot on a Canon 5DmarkII on either the 35mm f1.4 L, 135mm f1.2 L or 24mm f1.4 L Lenses. Oh and the focussing issue that's so often talked about with Canon cameras - this thing is sharp as anything!! Can't wait to play properly with the two systems side-by-side on Sunday's Greek Engagement! Look out Eleni and Kyri, I'm intending to have a lot of fun…

sj.p

Mezzotonic - Live at the Wharf10 | Band Photography Walsall

Here is a quick slideshow of the gig I photographed on Friday at the Wharf in Walsall.
Mezzotonic are a truly great band and are going to be huge there's no doubt about it!
I've known the guys for a few years now and they just keep going from strength to strength. Having just recorded an LP, from which comes the track in the background of the slideshow, they are getting air time on some of the regions biggest radio stations and really sounding great.
I will blog the images later today but in the meantime enjoy this brief slideshow...

sj.p

Amy and David | a great Moat House wedding | Staffordshire Wedding Photographer

Amy and David were married on the 19th September at St Thomas' Church in Walton-on-the-Hill in Staffordshire with their reception at The Moat House, Acton Trussell.
I have already posted a little taster of their wedding (which can be found here ) but as Amy and David collected their album from me on Monday evening, another stunning Bellissimo Album - which can be seen here!

The whole day was absolutely fantastic and we all had such an amazing time together - as can be clearly seen in the photos.

I also think it's safe to say that Amy and David were happy with their photos after I had this message on Tuesday morning:

"We love the album it's fantastic, thank you so much :)" - I love getting great feedback from clients!!

Here are a few more photos from the wedding, a slideshow will follow shortly.

Amy did an absolutely amazing job with the wedding stationery and the table plan too - I love it when people put their own touch on things!

The first uninvited guest of the day - the village cat!

And probably my favourite shot from the wedding - I truly love this one!

As there was another wedding on with clashing timimgs on Amy and David's day we had to make the use of the other end of the moat from where we would usually work; however, with the gorgeous autumn colours I think it was a blessing in disguise!

Absolutely the only way I will take a big-group photograph. Nice background too :o)

I couldn't quite believe it when the people in the gorgeous Narrow Boat "Hope" who were moored opposite the Moat House on the canal offered to use the barge for a photograph, what a lovely jesture. Personally my favourite thing was probably the hippy-scarfed Border Collie

This guy is a star of the future - I saw the shots he was taking and the little guy's pretty good. Think I might try and sign up his services ;o)

I was pretty stoked to be asked to be a guest during the wedding breakfast and for once I actually sat with their friends and enjoyed a nice relaxing meal - which was very good I must say!

I do love it when it comes to the speeches!!

I love how the best man seems to be contemplating how cruel to be here...

As you can see some pretty serious shapes were being thrown!!

There were a couple of faces in the crowd that I was quite familiar with including Jo seen here 'doing her thing'. Jo was a bridesmaid at one of my alltime favourite weddings (which has recently been published on a local magazine front cover too!!) Gemma and Steve Fisher who were married earlier this year. Jo is herself getting married next year and I'm seriously hoping to be a part of that wedding too...

The night was going absolutely fantastically and everyone was having a great time - then the fire-alarm went off when one of the napkins inadvertedly made contact with one of the lovely tea-lights! Cue arrival of the uninvited guests! Thankfully everything was under control before the boys even arrives but it's something a little different to look back on I guess

Hope you enjoyed looking at this post as much as I enjoyed sharing it with you.

For all the friends and family of Amy and David their photos are now live on the client area at http://stuartjamesphoto.com so head over there and get spending!

sj.p

AFB and SPAR Group Support UKAthletics | Nikon D3 vs Canon 5DmarkII | Commercial Photographer UK

The AFBlakemore are one of my commercial clients and I have been working with them on different projects both for AFB and the SPAR Group for several years. You may well have seen previous posts on my old blog with work I've previously done for the group, if not head over...there's been some good events! This morning I was tasked with photographing one of the brand new trucks which has just been sign written after the custom build by Grays Adams. The SPAR Group is a proud sponsor of UK Athletics and are one of the primary sponsors for the upcoming olympics, supporting the UK Team. The new livery is going to be appearing across trucks the length of the country but this is the first one to come out of the AFBlakemore base - and I don't know what you think but I think the design team has done an amazing job!

As some of you may know I have long been a Nikon shooter, and whilst this isn't about to change completely I have recently got my hands on a Canon 5DmarkII with three awesome prime lenses. I have only had chance to use the camera on a couple of occasions since it arrived on Friday, including photographing the awesome Mezzotonic on Friday night, and I thought this morning could be a fantastic opportunity to shoot the 5DmarkII directly alongside the D3 and I thought I'd blog the results here. Both cameras are sensational and I will be continuing to use the the Nikon D3 and Canon 5DmarkII side-by-side with each having different strengths. I must say though that the clarity on the 5DmarkII is sensational with very clear crisp colours. Especially when shooting in low light the Canon seems to excell above even the D3 at high-iso low light shooting as you will see in the shoot of Mezzotonic when I hopefully blog it later! Here are the finished files from todays shoot followed by comparison shots taken with both the Nikon D3 and the Canon 5DmarkII. Hopefully you will enjoy the post.

Here are the first of the comparison shots with the shooting info below each. I have put a few different shots here along with 100% crops of comparable areas for you to make your own conclusions. All of these shots are straight out of camera processed in CaptureOne and then resized for web in Photoshop CS4 with no editing done on them hence you'll notice certain additions that aren't there in the final files!

Nikon D3, 24-70mm f2.8 lens @ 31.0mm - f13 1/500sec @ 400iso

Nikon D3, 24-70mm f2.8 lens @ 31.0mm - f13 1/500sec @ 400iso

Nikon D3, 24-70mm f2.8 lens @ 31.0mm - f13 1/500sec @ 400iso

Canon 5DmarkII, 35mm f1.4 lens - f13 1/500sec @ 320iso

Canon 5DmarkII, 35mm f1.4 lens - f13 1/500sec @ 320iso

Canon 5DmarkII, 35mm f1.4 lens - f13 1/500sec @ 320iso

Nikon D3, 24-70mm f2.8 lens @ 36.0mm - f13 1/500sec @ 400iso

Nikon D3, 24-70mm f2.8 lens @ 36.0mm - f13 1/500sec @ 400iso

Nikon D3, 24-70mm f2.8 lens @ 36.0mm - f13 1/500sec @ 400iso

Canon 5DmarkII, 35mm f1.4 lens - f13 1/500sec @ 320iso

Canon 5DmarkII, 35mm f1.4 lens - f13 1/500sec @ 320iso

Canon 5DmarkII, 35mm f1.4 lens - f13 1/500sec @ 320iso

Nikon D3, 24-70mm f2.8 lens @ 48.0mm - f13 1/500sec @ 400iso

Nikon D3, 24-70mm f2.8 lens @ 48.0mm - f13 1/500sec @ 400iso

Nikon D3, 24-70mm f2.8 lens @ 48.0mm - f13 1/500sec @ 400iso

Canon 5DmarkII, 35mm f1.4 lens - f13 1/640sec @ 320iso

Canon 5DmarkII, 35mm f1.4 lens - f13 1/640sec @ 320iso

Canon 5DmarkII, 35mm f1.4 lens - f13 1/640sec @ 320iso

So what do I immediately think about the difference between the cameras?
The Nikon has been my main camera for the past 14 months and I simply love it. But the Canon just handles things slightly differently. The prime L lenses on the Canon are sublime, but the Nikon zoom lenses are great too. There is the obvious difference in file size with the Canon files being 26.1mb out of camera compared with 11.6mb out of the Nikon but I would just as happily enlarge from a D3 image as I would the Canon. For me one of the big differences is the tonal quality and the colour of the Canon files - on this job I absolutely love the Canon. How I may feel working on a wedding could be a very different thing though...watch this space as I will be shooting a D3 alongside the 5DmarkII on a couple of shoots later this month - exciting times!

I hope you enjoyed the post. I will hopefully hit you with an incredible set of shots from the Mezzotonic gig on Friday night at the Wharf Bar later on tonight. Stay tuned. sj.p

Rebecca and Nick | A Taster of a Lovely Wedding in Burntwood | Wedding Photographer Staffordshire

Rebecca and Nick were married on the 18th September at Christchurch Burntwood with a delightfully relaxed reception at The Old School House, Weeford.
The wedding was a wonderful sunny day and although I was on what is a traditional coverage for me it was a great day and we all certainly enjoyed ourselves. The reception is a venue I had worked already this year but I hadn't had the pleasure of working at Christchurch for some months. In that time the previous vicar David has retired and the new vicar is an absolute blast - Rebecca and Nick described her as 'the Vicar of Dibley' so I think you'll get the picture!!

Here are a few of my favourites from their day:

Rebecca and Nick should be returning from their honeymoon today and I can't wait to hear from them and show them their photos!

See you both soon. sj.p

Emma and Jon | A Wonderful Shropshire Wedding

Emma and Jon were married on Saturday at the beautiful village church in Edgmond, Shropshire with their reception at Hadley Park House.
Emma and Jon are a lovely couple and they booked me after meeting me last year at the Sandon Hall Bridal Fayre last October and I think it's safe to say from when we first met we definitely struck a chord with one another and it has made the whole experience as fantastic as ever. I distinctly remember Emma calling me up the week after the fayre and with both herself and Jon on the end of the phone (on speaker that is!!) I had a giggly, happy couple so excited to be booking me for their wedding!

The church is not a church we have worked before but it was a lovely place to work at. Hadley Park has been one of our favourite venues for years after Mark, the owner of the property, first moved their as part of The Lewis Partnership who own the Moat House. Mark took on the venue under his own name a few months after we photographed the very first wedding there a few years ago and it is always a pleasure to see Mark and work at his lovely venue.

The wedding season is starting to slow down for us now after an incredible summer and it's going to be amazing to bring forth all the ideas, new albums and products and also a big update to the galleries and the continued changes to the blog. Jon and Emma are currently in New York and are so excited to see their photos I challenge anyone else to get a comment in before they do!! 
Here are a few of my favourites from their day. Although it was only a short coverage by myself it was still a lovely wedding to be part of:

Hope you both have an amazing time on your honeymoon!

See you both soon. sj.p

Amy and David | Wedding Teaser

Amy and David were married on Saturday at St Thomas' Church in Walton-on-the-Hill with their stunning reception at The Moat House, Acton Trussell.
Amy and David are such a fantastic couple and this was reflected throughout all of their friends and family too. Everyone had such an amazing day and it was a pleasure to be a part of it with them.
I am only part way through editing their photos but I wanted to share a few of my favourites before I get ready for a day in London shooting for RJW tomorrow.

The bride and bridesmaid dresses were made by the Bride's mother Sue and I was amazed at how gorgeous they all looked. And with the fact that Sue also did most of the table arrangements and Amy did the invitations and place settings and so many little details, it really added a personal touch to their day. And even with the uninvited guests at the end of the day it truly made no difference - and I'm sure it will only provide them with more stories to tell in years to come.

This is also going to be the turning point for my derelict blog - it IS now going to be updated properly!! I have so many things to tell you all about with what has been going on over the past couple of months and now things are finally getting back to normal I can't wait to share everything; the laughter and the hard work, the long days and even longer nights, the trials and tribulations and most of all the stunning images from the past few weeks. 
So stay tuned, look out for the changes to the blog including new subscription options that will be coming in the next few days, and in the meantime, please enjoy just a couple of my favourites from Saturday's wedding:

Hope you both have an amazing time when you head to the Maldives on Friday. I can't wait to show you the rest of the photos, presented in what will be an incredible Bellissimo album :o)

See you both soon. sj.p

Katrina and Gemma | Wedding Teaser

Kat and Gem's wedding was yesterday at Walsall Registry Office and to give you a little taster here are just a couple of shots from the day... Everyone had a great time and the weather was really kind to us which definitely helped. The album is going to look stunning - I know that already and I've only just flicked through the photos!!
 Can't wait to be able to share it with you all...

It truly was a pleasure to share your special day with you both...can't wait to give you the finished album when you get back from the Dominican!!

sj.p

Kate and John | A Great August Wedding - with August weather!!

Every wedding I have photographed over the many years I've had the pleasure of working at the Moat House have all been different - and Kate and John's fabulous wedding was no exception!
After meeting Kate and John in June 07 I was very happy when they booked me to share their wedding with them. I love smaller more intimate weddings and with 36 people for the daytime the wedding last saturday certainly fit into that lovely niche category.
Starting in the late morning with the girls after Jackie Shore had finished their preparations, it was great to start sharing their story. Unfortunately the weather wasn't totally with us that day but we were all determined not to let that put a dampener on the day.
Fortunately with having such a fantastic location we were able to utilise the Colin Lewis Suite for the group photographs prior to adjoining to the fantastic bar area for the drinks reception. 
Then around 3:15 the best thing possible happened - it stopped raining!!
With this change of fortunes we armed ourselves with a spare table cloth to protect the dress from the wet ground and made the most of the stunning light and wonderful location of the Moat House...

Here are just a few photos from their lovely story. Can't wait to be able to share everything with you all - and to give Kate and John their finished album!! (After they've seen the pre-design when they get back from Bali!!)

The flowers were all created beautifully by Lynne Palfreyman from Fine Flowers in Rugeley.

Jessica David is Oldswinford provided what can only be described as a truly elegant and stunning dress for Kate. The way the dress fit perfectly and flowed throughout the day was stunning...

I loved these tops the girls had on :o)

The boys were all suited and booted by Dapper Dans in Wednesfield - I think you could say they scrubbed up ok!

I could never tire of photographing Civil Ceremonies in the Colin Lewis Suite at the Moat House - what character the place has!

It seemed that the weather was going to remain against up for the most of the day and so we made use of a couple of lovely spots inside the CLS after the groups...but as you'll see further down luck was certainly on our side that day!

The Bellini String Trio added a great touch of class both during the ceremony and also the drinks reception and were truly exquisite in their self-arranged renditions of many musical favourites, but I think the title of this one sums everything up - especially on such a gorgeous day.

Kate and John love to spend time walking through Cannock Chase which is near to their home in Hednesford along with their dogs. Infact, the place is so special to them it's where John proposed! All of the tables were named after areas within the Chase...but I think my favourite was the one called "Follow the Dog"...story of my life when I'm off with our Millie over the fields!!

John, Kate's brother, did a marvelous job of being the MC for the day - thanks for your help with organising everyone John, you certainly helped my cause!

I love photographing speeches and observing the interactions and reactions of everyone and with two best men, Dan and Chris, following the Bride's Dad John and Kate and John - yes it was the wedding of the John's!! - the expressions were priceless as you can see.

Thank you for letting me share your special day with you - I can't wait to hear from you when you get back from Honeymoon!!

sj.p