Once again happy new year to everyone and may it be a prosperous one.

OK, a lot to blog this month so I thought I’d start off with my recent success in the 3rd Quarter competition of the WPJA (Wedding Photojournalist Association)

I gained 2 successes both in the ‘Ceremony’ category with a 7th and 12th placing. Apparently there were nearly 14 thousand entries so I was pretty please to get not only one but two. The first image below was from Serena and Ivan’s hindu wedding ceremony in Northants which came 7th. The second image is from Suzie and Lars wedding at Syon Park which came 12th.

JUDGES COMMENTS: Nice to see some other kinds of weddings rather than traditional caucasian American weddings. I realize wedding photographers take the jobs given to them, but it is important for building even a diverse body of work to take advantage of all the different kinds of cultures.

I don’t do a lot of Hindu or Asian wedding photography but when I do its something I really enjoy. The ceremony itself with the rich colours, warm candlelight and interesting rituals is a photographers dream. Not only that but Serena and Ivan had a really cool priest who made it so much fun and informal.

These were taken the day before the legal ceremony (the images from this will be coming soon so please bear with me) at Serena’s parents’ home in Northants. A number of close family managed to squeeze into the small marquee out the back and it was a real interesting cultural mix with some of Ivan’s family from Serbia in attendance. Here are some favourite images from the evening and of course the complete set is available here. Please contact Serena or Ivan for the password.

Watch this space for Part 2 from Kelmarsh Hall, coming soon !

Retko mi se ukaze pocast da fotografisem Indijsku ili bilo koju drugu Azijsku Svadbu, iako ja uzivam jako mnogo dok ih radim. Maticna sluzba sa bogatstvom boja,to prelepo sarenilo, upaljene svece i ambijent sa egzoticnim obcajima, san su svakog Profesionalnog Fotografa. Povrh svega, Serena i Ivan su imali mnogo dobrog Popa koji je svojim salama i neformalnoscu doprineo celom uzitku.
Ove fotke su snimljene na dan pre svadbe, (ostale slike ce biti gotove uskoro, molim vas strpite se), kod Serenine kuce u Severnoj Engleskoj. Mali broj uske familije je uspeo da se ugura u tesan Sator kroz zadnji ulaz, i u tako malom prostoru kulturna mesavina Serenine i Ivanove familije je dosla do velikog izrazaja.
Molim vas pogledajte moje omiljene fotografije sa te veceri, a naravno i ostatak cele kolekcije. Javite se Sereni i Ivanu da biste dobili lozinku.
Ocekujte nastavak, drugi deo iz Kelmars Dvora, uskoro!

Hindu wedding photographer berkshire

I was pleased to get an award, 18th place, for this image in the recent WPJA 2nd quarter judging.

This was taken at Praveen and Harmeets wedding I photographed in July this year. It took place over 3 days and this particular image was taken on day 1 at Praveen’s parents home straight after the Henna ceremony. This was extremely difficult to take as I was crammed up against a wall and couldn’t get the camera to my eye. I therefore had to guess, manually focusing.

Fortunately it worked out OK and was well worth the effort.

Canon 5D mark ll, EF24mm 1.4L USM

shot at 1600 iso @ f2, 1/500th

Neil Palmer wedding photographer Berkshire

Congratulations to Praveen and Harmeet who got married at Slough Sikh Temple which was followed by a reception and Bahai ceremony at Harmeet’s home in the evening. This was preceded by a Henna Mehndi ceremony 2 days before at Praveen’s home. All very colourful with lots happening, enough to keep me busy. Anyhow a fantastic experience with lots of fun, laughter and tears. Some of my favourites can be seen below and course the complete set from the 3 days can be seen by clicking on ‘Links’ above then ‘client area’. The password you should all know.

Many thanks Praveen and Harmeet for such a wonderful experience and for making me so welcome.

Neil Palmer Asian and Sikh wedding photographer in Berkshire