Gower Wedding Photography – Lisa and Richard, The King Arthur Hotel

After rain and clouds persisted all last week, we were keeping a close eye on the forecast for Sunday. We needn’t have worried because as I drove towards Swansea early Sunday morning the weather turned out to be absolutely stunning. I arrived at Lisa’s parents’ house on Mumbles Road at 9.30am and found everyone in their matching dressing gowns having their finishing touches applied to their makeup and hair.

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Wedding Photographer, Bridgend. Jade & Dave Evans

It was over to Blackwood this weekend for the wedding of Jade & Dave Evans. I met Karl in Cwmbran early and we left for Jade’s house in Pontllanfraith. The girls were all in good form when we got there and we soon realized what sort of day it would be when the bridesmaids Megan and Helen, after every photograph insisted that we took a second one, in the same pose, only this time they would all pull funny faces! Obviously they were more relaxed than I was the morning of my wedding a few weeks ago in Caerleon.

We met the videographers for the day Kristian (Jade’s Brother) and Andrew. I have to say they were a pleasure to work with and we hardly noticed that they were there.Once we got what we wanted at Jade’s it was over to meet Dave and the boys to take a few quick shots before we all left for the church.

The ceremony was to be held at The Life Centre in Pontllanfraith. I have to say the ceremony was amazing. The Tab Life Centre is a very modern and lively church and the whole ceremony was uplifting, touching, thought provoking and humorous throughout. With sermons from Pastors Sarah Trinder, Carl Hickling and Jeff Evans, who is actually Dave’s father, it was obvious that everyone in the room enjoyed it immensely.

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Flash Freeze Mob – Cwmbran

Kapow had a break from the wedding photography this week and went to cover a ‘Flash Freeze Mob’ in Cwmbran town centre. Bacically a Flash Mob is a large group of people that with prior planning, meet in a public place, perform an unusual act and then quickly disperse. If you have ever seen the T-Mobile adverts where the public suddenly start dancing in a train station then you’ll know what I mean.

Organised by a ‘secret group’ on Facebook dozens of people suddenly ‘froze’ at exactly 1pm on Wednesday in Gwent Square in Cwmbran. You can imagine how unusual this would have looked to the members of the public that hadn’t been previously warned of the event.

To see the video of the freeze and the reactions of the public, click the link below.

Flash Mob – Cwmbran, June ’10 – Kapow Photography

Wedding Photographer Porthcawl

Sat 26th June Kapow was fortunate to spend the day at Rest Bay in Porthcawl as the photographer for the wedding of Mary and Dave. With the weather being as fantastic as it has been so far this summer its always great to be shooting a wedding that is near the beach! With the sun bursting down and the surf up the only thing that could of added to the occasion would of been a traditional split screen vw campervan, a convertible beetle and some beach boys music! Fortunatley for Mary and Dave  www.lovebugweddings.com showed up in Hawaiian shirts with some good vibrations and set the tone for the whole day!

It was pretty cool to be shooting some classic vdubs in the sunshine, and I managed to get a particular shot which I was more than happy with. With the camera low to the ground I attempted to capture the large VW badge with the sun shining down from above, and it was pretty awesome to see the guests arriving in style to Bridgend registry office in the classic split screen camper and wasn’t long before everyone was enjoying the sunshine back at Rest Bay at the wedding venue overlooking Rest Bay beach and Royal Porthcawl Golf Club.

Haidee & Richard James – Kapow Wedding Photography, Fonmon Castle, Cardiff, South Wales

Only one wedding this weekend and with Saturday being a total washout it was all fingers crossed for Haidee and Richard on Sunday at Fonmon Castle in Barry, just outside of Cardiff, South Wales. There must have been more than one pair of digits crossed because luckily the day turned out to be absolutely stunning. So stunning in fact that by the end of it I was regretting not applying my usual factor 20 before I left the studio.
Myself and Luciano got to Haidee’s house at 10.30 in plenty of time to get some photographs of the bride having her makeup applied. The house had a surprisingly calm atmosphere without any of the last minute panic that accompanies the usual bridal preparations.
I’ve heard the same couldn’t be said for the groom and best man’s preparations. Apparently the house was a scene of chaos from the word go and I was glad they decided to meet me at Fonmon for their pre-ceremony shots.

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Margam Park Wedding Photography

Saturday May 15th 2010 was the fantastic wedding of Jenny and Chris from Swansea. The day started early for us at 8.30am in Killay for the hair and makeup shots which was literally just around the corner from the church. Chris and the best man on the other hand were getting ready in Loughour. This meant that for Jenny and Chris the flexibility of having two photographers from Kapow came into play with the tight timings and the fact that Loughour can be a 15 minute drive away from the church and that’s if there’s no traffic! Once we’d done the hair and makeup shots we usually “borrow” the brides shoes and take them outside into the sunlight and try to capture some light on the shoes and get creative with the photography. These all important wedding details along with the wedding dress are one of the most important aspects of the day and we feel must be documented through the lens in the same way as the reportage photography and traditional family group shots. Getting some creative shoe shots can also play an important part in the album creation as it really does tell a story, especially if you decide to go for the storybook layout option instead of the more traditional look to your album. With the sun shining and a great mosaic tiled table in the garden that we found meant that Jenny’s shoe shots looked spectacular.  Once we did this, along with documenting the wedding dress, it was then time to split up and get some photos of the boys getting ready also. Dave remained in Killay and was on hand for the wedding car to arrive at 11.30am at Jenny’s house while I made my way ahead of the boys to the church to have a quick word with the vicar and get some cool candid shots of guests arriving at the church.

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Kapow Event Photography – Gwent Squash Cup Final

Just a quick post this evening as it’s late and I’m getting ready for Jenny & Chris’s wedding tomorrow. Kapow were asked to photograph the Gwent Squash Cup final and presentation at the Glan-yr-Afon Sports club in Cwmbran. Congratulations to Pontypool who beat Bedwellty/Newbridge in the final. Also congratulations to all the other trophy winners on the night.

p.s.

I played squash for Pontypool for about 15 years and didn’t get close to winning the cup. Two months after I defect to Cwmbran they lift the trophy!! Perhaps I was a bad omen!

For all the photographs from the night click here

Wedding Photographer Swansea

This week we were at a Morgans Hotel wedding for the marriage of Liz and Rob who called us up looking for a wedding photographer in Swansea. Morgans Hotel is one of very few five star hotels around and as a wedding venue it certainly is spectacular. The wedding ceremony took place late into the afternoon at 4.30pm upstairs at Morgans which is situated down at SA1 near Swansea maritime quarter. The setting provided me with a luxury backdrop for the photography all day. From the moment I unzipped the camera bag and started taking photos of the Bride getting ready in one of the plush hotel rooms I knew that my job would be made easier by the stunning interior design, colours and lighting that make Morgans the luxurious boutique hotel that it is. The staircase inside the building made for some stunning shots, and as soon as the ceremony was over all the guests were assembled for a large group photo and confetti shot on the main steps of the Hotel. With the weather in Wales being as unpredictable as it is and light rain on the day we were limited to shots in and just outside the Hotel, Fortunately when you have a stunning venue at hand interior wedding photography can have the same impact as wedding photos that are taken with a leafy green outdoor backdrop. The orange bar area and candle lights helped my nikon d700 come alive and gave me some very ambient natural photographs with the low light that was available. Although I travel far and wide as a South Wales wedding photographer Its always good to shoot a wedding right on your doorstep and with this venue being only a mile or two from my house it meant that I was able to pop home during the wedding breakfast in order to make up a canvas print of one of the photographs I’d just taken, when I got back to the wedding afterwards both Liz and Rob and the wedding party had a lovely surprise and were amazed that I was actually able to make up a canvas print within the 20 minutes or so break that I had while they were all having their meal. That’s always a nice feeling giving the Bride and groom a surprise canvas print of a photo taken only an hour earlier! On this occasion I’d come across a cracker of a photograph when backing up my images at home and just thought why not?! Sometimes its worth the cost just to see the smile on their faces; after all it is their special day!

Learning Photoshop with Online Tutorials

Corporate photography swansea

Friday night was party night for the staff of Gladiator Insurance.  It was the annual Gladiator awards 2010 and Kapow photography were asked to cover the event through corporate photography at the Marriot hotel in Swansea. The event kicked off at around 6.30pm and from the moment the staff started arriving at 6.30pm looking very glitzy in formal evening wear I knew we were in for an action packed night full of fun which is very much the way that Admiral group employees are used to!

I wasn’t disappointed and it wasn’t long before the party got into full swing with a magician entertaining the staff and having them in laughter from the very start. In terms of the photography the evening started at the bar with the lighting pretty good, I started picking people out with a reportage and candid photography style and documented the whole evening as they started to unwind from all that hard work that they usually put in at the office. With my 24 – 70mm f2.8 nikon lens and nikon speedlight flash with diffuser mounted onto my d700 I started firing off on a manual mode setting of F4 and shutter speed of 125 with the iso set to auto and occasionally switching to f2.8 for those special out of focus and creamy background blur photographs that this fantastic lens seems to deliver . The lighting was pretty good at the start and the iso didn’t seem to want to creep much over 500. I got some great shots of some card tricks from the magician but his quickness of hand in cutting and mixing the pack was way too fast for my shutter speed and camera to stop the shot so I could figure out how the trick was done!! The evening swiftly moved on to a three course dinner followed by the awards themselves and that’s where the entertainment went up a few levels with the Swansea staff putting on a special “Gladiators got talent” show which included a gladiator staff band and video presentation which left everyone in tears of laughter. At 11.30pm with the award presentation all photographed and documented the work of kapow photography was done for the night, but what a great night it was! We’ll be popping the DVD of images down to the gladiator offices at SA1 this week.

• Recent Posts

  • Gower Wedding Photography – Lisa and Richard, The King Arthur Hotel
  • Wedding Photographer, Bridgend. Jade & Dave Evans
  • Flash Freeze Mob – Cwmbran
  • Wedding Photographer Porthcawl
  • Haidee & Richard James – Kapow Wedding Photography, Fonmon Castle, Cardiff, South Wales

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