I was really honoured when Artur Heller founder and owner of Camerapixo asked to do an article an interview with me last month.

This is a really top class Polish magazine and has featured some great photographers upto now, so of course I was delighted to be included as well. You can read the article here http://camerapixo.com/ The article can be found by clicking on the top left edition. Enjoy !

It seems that travel is becoming increasingly unpredictable. What with severe weather, strikes, motorway jams and now volcanic ash ! As a wedding photographer it is a constant worry particularly as I travel all over the UK. And as we all know a wedding cannot be re scheduled or delayed a few hours.

However, I am a member of a wedding photography forum called The Britpack where we volunteer to help each other out in the event of an emergency. Recently 2 members were stuck abroad and it was touch and go whether they would be home in time for their weddings. Fortunately for them and their couples about 5 or 6 photographers offered to help out. A huge relief all round ! Another member was stuck in a huge M25 traffic jam and was going to miss the start of the wedding. Again, another member who lived close to the venue agree to help out and covered the start of the wedding.

I’ve personally not been in this situation before and I hope it stays like this. However, returning from a recent skiing trip our hire car got stuck in huge traffic jam in Germany. This resulted in me missing my flight home and I had to re book flights for the following day. Fortunately I had no wedding that day but if I had I know I could have arranged cover very quickly.

So I always emphasise to my couples that they have nothing to worry about should something like this happen to me. Not only that but the replacement  will be of a very high standard, not a part timer or a student, but an established and experienced photographer. And this won’t cost a penny more. You cannot ask for more than that.

After many months of planning my new website finally went live earlier this week.

For my business its vital that I constantly evolve and not stay static for too long. So not only was a new site needed but also new, fresher images as well. During this last summer I’ve gone for a more documentary look with a slightly looser, more instinctive style. Not only that but I also process the images in a different way with some grain and harder black and whites, in a way mimicking fast 800/1600 iso film. I also add a rough black border (known in the industry as sloppy borders) to the images which, in my opinion, gives them a real documentary feel and is different to what everyone else is offering. I’ve had fantastic feedback from clients as well, some of whom want their albums presented this way.

Anyhow I’m delighted with the new site which is much easier to update than my old one and has more features and options as well. Another reason to change was that my old site didn’t do that well on google. My new one, even though its still a flash site, will do much better with the help of my SEO expert Marc Summers

Neil Palmer wedding photographer Berkshire

After an extremely busy August I have a backlog of work to process. To make matters worse, yesterday my laptop completely froze and wouldn’t re start. This means I may have lost 3 to 4 days work. So if it can be brought back to life then I can continue as before. If the hard drive cannot be recovered then I will have to restart the work all over again – which is what I’m doing right this moment, I’m preparing for the worst. I’ll know more by tomorrow or Thursday 1st Oct.

No images have been lost, so no need to panic as these are backed up twice straight after the wedding.

Hopefully by the end of the week I’ll have Ayla and Ian’s photos from Kelmarsh Hall ready. Then I’ll crack on straight away with Laura and Bastien’s photos followed by Julie and James at Sonning. So thank you for your patience – I’m just as frustrated as you are as I have some stunning images from these weddings which I want to share asap.

Congratulations to Anna and Stephen who tied the knot at Trinity Church followed by a reception at Ufton Court in Berkshire. Below are some of my favourites. You can also see the complete set by clicking on ‘links’ above then ‘client area’ where you will be asked for a password which you will all know.

Anna and Stephen – hope you’re having a great time in Greece, see you on your return !

Neil Palmer wedding photographer berkshire

Its always nice to do photograph a wedding on my doorstep. Zoe and Mark tied the knot at St Giles Church in Reading’s town centre which was followed by a quick reception at The Comfort Inn and finally an evening party at The Rivermead Centre. Luckily the weather was ideal which gave us a great opportunity to take some shots along the banks of The Thames just as the light was fading.

Below are some of my favourites but you can of course see the complete set by clicking on ‘Links’ above then ‘client area’. The password will be known to all of you.

Zoe and Mark – hope you’re having a great time in The Maldives and look forward to seeing you on your return.

neil palmer wedding photographer london    wedding photographer reading berkshire

I’ve just checked out my equipment for tomorrow’s wedding and thought this would be a good opportunity to go through how I work.

I constantly have nightmares about not having enough equipment or it malfunctioning. On top of this there’s the worry about the car breaking down, getting lost……..

When I’m actually shooting I carry as little as possible, just the camera (Canon 5d Mk II) and a small crumpler bag (top right). In this I carry equipment I might need immediately such as lenses, spare batteries, flash gun, CF cards…

Then in the larger bag I keep all my back up equipment and will leave this in the car boot or somewhere safe at the venue. Basically I have 4 spare cameras (3 canon 5d’s and 1 20d), spare flash gun, spare lens (a bog standard 28-135 which would cover me for most situations), spare camera batteries, flash gun batteries, extra CF cards. Everything is double checked thoroughly and all cameras are set exactly the same, so in the event of equipment malfunction I can just change quickly without thinking.

The smaller bag includes the Leica M8 plus zeiss lenses 21mm, 35mm and a Leica 75mm. I tend to use the Leica during the reception meal when things are less hectic and I can take relaxed candids.

Finally on the left is my i phone with all details entered – e mails, phone numbers, websites of the bride and groom, parents, venues…Likewise I enter all the venue addresses on the sat nav and also print out pages from google maps.

That’s about it ! Quite a lot to sort out, possibly overkill. But I can’t afford to take any chances and is why, in 25 years of photographing weddings, I’ve not had any disasters.

neil palmer documentary wedding photographer berkshire

Just a quick note to let you know I’m still here and to wish you all a healthy and prosperous 2009.

I have no weddings this month but have been real busy otherwise.

January is always a time for me to review the previous year and also to prepare for the new year. In business you can never afford to sit still, and despite the doom and gloom with the economy you just have to move forward regardless and stay focused.

So this month I’ve concentrated firstly on bringing my branding up to scratch, making sure my new logo is on all my products and literature. I’ve also set up a new blog for my portrait website. Trying to get all the fonts and layout the same as this has been real time consuming and a big thanks must go to my colleague Paul Glavin for helping me here.

Secondly, I’ve ordered a few display albums from some new suppliers. These, I’m really excited about. My pricing is very much a la carte so you now have the choice of some of the best traditional matted albums and digital art books. I’ve also overhauled the portrait and wedding gallery with some new wall displays and presentations.

Equipment wise, I’ve sent a few back up cameras and lenses for servicing. And I’ve decided to purchase a few of the new Canon 5D Mark II’s. These have an iso range upto 25000 so will be much better in low light. And the images will be much cleaner with less noise than usual.

Finally I’ve been trying to get my head round social networking. Gone are the days when you put an advert in a glossy magazine and waited for the phone to ring. From now on I believe social networking will have a major impact on how we find business. For this reason I’ve joined Facebook and you can see my profile here. I’ve also become a Twitterer ! Twittering is big in the US but is still relatively new here. I’m told its the next best thing since sliced bread. I’m not convinced yet but want to be ready in case it really takes off here. Twittering is basically up to the minute micro blogging. I have it set up so it is linked to my Facebook page and my blogs, saving me quite a bit of time. You can see my Twitter badge above.

On top of all this I’ve had a real busy time in the studio photographing babies, families etc…At the same time I’ve had lots of wedding enquiries and interviews to deal with. The first 3 months are the most busiest for wedding bookings.

During this coming year I’ll be posting my latest weddings as usual. I’ll also be posting general tips on wedding photography as well as articles of interest for photographers.

So lets all look forward to an exciting new year and warm weather !

Neil – Jan 09