Happy Christmas

Seasonal Greetings to everyone reading this!

What a great couple of months the run up to Christmas has been.

I've met so many lovely people; Mums, Dads, kids and dogs. It's been brilliant fun and has finished off a very enjoyable year for the business.

I've set up a new website with a more artistic, non-commercial scope. I find myself being drawn more and more to the photojournalism style of photography. It doesn't require the patience of nature and landscape photography as it's about capturing moments and patterns as they appear before me so that every picture either tells a story or is pleasing aesthetically in itself. What it does require is being in the right place at the right time, keeping my eyes open all the time and complete mastery of the camera. These are exciting challenges and are of course, very important skills for my style of wedding photography.


You can check out snapsbyandy.com here.

More Kids for Christmas...

It's a busy time of year as people catch on to the idea that relatives love pictures of their little ones for Christmas. Either framed or mounted prints make good gifts and I make sure the mounts I use or of a good enough quality to hopefully reflect the quality of the pictures.


This week saw little Isla visit the studio - a great wee star who had fun in the studio and let me take beautiful photos which captured her personality,




Joel and Eloise also made a return visit - Last year the photos were a surprise session for Dad's Christmas - this year Dad was in on the act. Joel's great fun - full of beans and Eloise gradually let me see her beautiful smile.

Andy

Variety is the spice of life

I've had a very varied week this week.

A couple of pet sessions, documentary photography of a rock band in rehearsal and beautiful, identical twins. At the same time I've been designing a few wedding albums from the late summer so it's kept me busy!

I've also launched limelightimages.co.uk as a home for my rock music photography business.

What a great week!!

Here are a few examples...

Andy

Sunday's sessions

Sunday brought 2 families to the studio both with similar aged kids.

Patience is the primary virtue for these sessions. It's very hard to get kids this age to pose traditionally so instead they run round and play and I do my best to capture them while they're at it!

Andy

New Advert

I've decided to take the plunge and advertise in Best Scottish Weddings Magazine. I was in 2 minds about this as my bookings for 2008 are going along very well (10 booked so far) but I decided to give it a go. There are so many avenues for advertising, marketing and promotion for free that it takes a lot to persuade me to part with cash!

Here's the ad anyway. I decided to keep it simple and to let my brides speak for themselves.

Thanks to Michelle for allowing me to use her beautiful picture, to Steven and Claire for going 'hands free' in the old Merc and to Trudi for the lovely quote.

Andy

Chloe

Chloe came in with her Mum for another photo session. I have already photographed Chloe shortly after she was born. Chloe's signed up for my "YearOne" package of 4 photo sessions through Baby's first year.

I love seeing the wee ones growing up.






Andy

Holiday Snaps

After the wedding season subsided we had a week in Mallorca to relax.

On previous holidays I've taken ever more kit until it was getting silly. This year I decided to take one compact camera.

Here are a few of the results. You'll notice there aren't many beaches - we don't do beaches!

Andy

Sam Craig 16th May 1921 - 4th October 2007

My Dad passed away peacefully on 4th October after a long illness.

Dad was born in Balornock, Glasgow to a family of 5 girls who must have spoiled him rotten as the new baby. He was later joined in the family by his wee brother Joe. From these days Dad was very sporting and fit, playing tennis and football and winning trophies in both disciplines. At the outbreak of WWII Dad joined the navy as a pilot and trained in Orkney and Canada before being posted to HMS Emperor. His ship acted as a fleet escort across the N Atlantic and Dad saw service in raids on the Tirpitz in Norway and on D-day. After VE day the ship sailed to the Far East.

On demob, Dad went into teacher training at Aberdeen and was posted back in Glasgow as a PE teacher. Over the next 15 years Dad continued teaching and was both a coach and referee for schools football in and around Glasgow. He played hockey and tennis to a very good standard.

In the early 1960's he met my Mum and married (aged 40) in 1961. Graham was born in 1963 and I followed in 1966. I have great memories of childhood holidays all over Europe with school parties and as family holidays. I particularly remember our weekends in Gairloch, Wester Ross where I gained my love of the outdoors. Dad made sure we were kept fit with weekly swimming sessions and Badminton coaching. Dad was a great DIY man, a perfectionist who liked to take his time with a project and from whom I learned many basic skills and swear words (but not his patience)

When Mum died in 1995, Dad kept up his golf and his friends offered great support. He had 11 years on his own mostly in his wee flat cooking for himself and watching as much sport as possible. He travelled to visit relatives in Luxembourg and Australia. He got a new lease of life when his granddaughter (my niece) Gail came along in 1999.

He was always there for me and I often talked through issues in my life with him and took a lot of comfort from his advice. It was a great irony and regret that as my photography business grew Dad's eyesight failed and he never really saw what I was doing. Nonetheless he took a great interest in the growth of the business and, I hope, was proud of what I was achieving.

The dementia started to encroach in late 2006 and he became more confused. After a fall outside on Christmas Day 2006, he went into hospital where he steadily declined as the dementia took hold. From May he was in a care home and he was comfortable and safe but unaware of his surroundings. When the stroke took him on 4th October it was a release for him from what had become a poor quality of life.

Rest in Peace

Andrew

Dogs and Their Owners

Laura and Jenny came into the studio with Keira and Alfie.

It was meant to be a one-eyed-hound.com session for the dogs, but I spent a bit of time with the girls too. I'm happy to be flexible with my guests in the studio and it was good fun today.

Great to meet Kirsteen, Laura, Jenny and of course Alfie and Keira.

Andy

Clare & Kathryn

Great fun photographing these two beautiful girls. More changes of outfit than you would think possible! Clare and Kathryn were so easy to work with and so relaxed in front of the camera. Someone should be paying these girls to model their clothes...

Andy