I don't shoot many weddings, but when I do I really enjoy them, not least because it's a pleasure to see so many people enjoying themselves. And I think this shot is a good example. Admittedly, the flower girl does seem to be going in a different direction to the bride, but she's clearly having fun as she 'helps' her with her dress :-)

I spent most of yesterday post-processing the images I shot for a friend's wedding and really liked this one: the youngest son of the bride, flanked by his two older brothers.

Chromasia HQ, in the run up to Christmas, has become rather hectic, not least because preparing for Santa when you have four children who are six and under is a bit of a logistical nightmare ;-) Our eldest two are helping out, but the young ones are starting to get a bit excited, ... to say the least. Luckily for us they're all moderately good sleepers, so Christmas Day shouldn't start too early, but I expect that the rest of the day may be a bit frantic.

Anyway, what with buying and wrapping presents, food shopping, and about ten million other things, I haven't had time to take any photographs (and definitely won't tomorrow) so am posting another from the wedding I shot on Friday. This is one of the young guests who decided to get his own back :-)

As for Christmas: if it's a holiday you celebrate, then have a good one; if you don't, but have some time off, enjoy it; and if it's business as usual then I hope you enjoy that too :-)

And I should add this to the bottom of the comments page, but forgot to add it again, so here it is for the third time ...

If you're interested we have 150 signed and numbered calendars for sale. Full details are available on our store page:

http://www.chromasia.com/store.php

I haven't really said much about the wedding photography that I do so thought I'd say a few words about it today. First of all, I don't shoot many weddings – one every few months or so – and for me, that's ideal. Weddings are celebrations, but even with the best will in the world I don't think I could be enthusiastic about photographing them if I was doing one each weekend – it would be take all the fun out of it. At the moment, I can go along and enjoy the event with everyone else, come home, do the post-processing, then get on with something else. When another one comes along it's enjoyable again because I can get caught up in the moment rather than thinking "here we go again". I probably could have put that better, but I guess you get the idea.

As for this one: I've gone for a fairly muted feel, both in terms of contrast and colour, and as always, I'd be interested to hear your thoughts.

I put three wedding shots up a couple of weeks ago, and now have a few more to share with you. This one was taken towards the end of the day, with the hat and flowers placed on a tablecloth, while tomorrow's was taken a bit earlier in the day.

The reason I'm posting them now is that I've just finished doing the first round of post-production for the bride and groom's preview gallery, and really liked both this one and tomorrow's.

This is another wedding shot, but not of the one I was photographing. As I was waiting for the party to arrive at the venue another group came out to have their photographs taken. They had an official photographer, but also took quite a shots of each other – of which this was one. I couldn't resist grabbing a quick shot.

One of the things I like best about photographing weddings, other than the fact that they're wonderful events to take part in, is that each shot is a challenge. Take this one for example. Getting a decent shot of a pair of shoes isn't difficult, at least not normally: but when you're shooting in a hotel bedroom; on an already cluttered bedspread; and need to use flash because there isn't anywhere near enough available light, it's a different story entirely.

This is probably the last shot from Kate and Thomas's wedding that I'll be putting up and was taken not long after the ceremony, just before they were whisked off to the reception.

I spent today photographing the wedding of Kate and Thomas , and had a thoroughly enjoyable day. I don't photograph many weddings, but when I do, it's always a pleasure.

As for this one: it was taken towards the end of the event and is a shot of Kate with a cup of coffee at the end of the meal.

I don't have too much to say about this one other than to tell you it was converted to black and white using the Channel Mixer (with a bias towards the blue channel), then slightly toned using the Curves tool.

If you're interested, the original is here:

.../archives/a_moments_thought.php

On a totally unrelated matter: I don't think I've ever seen a photograph of me that I'm especially fond of, but Libby likes one that Craig posted recently so I thought I'd post the link.

As promised, here's something a bit different, and I don't have much to say about this one other than that I hope that it tells its own story.

I spoke to a friend of mine recently whose son recently completed a photography degree. When I asked her what sort of photography he wanted to do her immediate response was "not weddings or portraits!". And this seems to be something of a theme with (aspiring) photographers, that these two areas of photography are a bit beneath those "serious" about their work, that they aren't "art", and so on. And I do know that there are a lot of atrociously bad wedding and portrait photographers, who seem driven by money rather than aesthetics, but I do think that maybe there's more to it than that.

I can't pretend to be an expert on weddings – I haven't shot all that many – but those that I have done I've really enjoyed – after all, they are a celebration, and working with a hundred or so people who are clearly enjoying themselves really isn't all that onerous :-)

On which note: here's today's shot, one of the 300 or so I shot at a wedding last Sunday. And it isn't the best photograph I took that day, but as emblematic shots go, I'm pleased with how it turned out.

I've been going through the shots I took of my friends' wedding a couple of weeks ago as they're back from honeymoon in a couple of days and I needed to sort out a preview gallery for them. And while I was doing it I came across this shot, and I'm not sure that I can explain it, but I find this a very relaxing image to look at. It's unlikely that it will be incorporated into the wedding album, but there's something about it that works for me.

I've put this shot up because a) it's somewhat different from my usual stuff, and b) it was right on the edge of my abilities to produce. Some of my favourite shots on chromasia were technically quite easy: take a non-moving object, under near ideal lighting, and spend a couple of minutes thinking about the composition - easy ;-) This shot, on the other hand, was taken at 1/30s (but should have been faster), at ISO 1600 (which wasn't ideal), and the original was in portrait format when I should have gone for a landscape shot. But, I think, it just about works (mind you, I'm a bit biased, as it's of our daughters at the wedding I shot last weekend).

I guess the biggest mistake I made with this shot, though it's just about rectified by cropping it square, was with the composition. Because this was of our daughters I focussed on them, but what makes this photograph is the reaction of those around them rather than our children themselves, and in this sense I think a landscape shot would probably have captured more of the scene.

Anyway, let me know what you think as I often find it difficult to be objective about the shots I take of our children.

This was taken from much the same spot as my previous two entries but facing in the opposite direction, and may well be the last of the wedding shots that I put up (there may be one more, I'm not sure yet). On the whole I'm not quite so happy with this one as the previous few but, IMO, it does do a reasonable job of capturing some of the flavour of this event.

On a side note: I'd like to thank everyone who visits chromasia for their time and consistently thoughtful comments. I don't know how many of you have checked out Daily Dose of Imagery today (21st October) but Sam seems to have attracted a particularly spiteful and aptly named troll (chemical imbalance). Fortunately, other than the usual spam (which is mostly automatic), I haven't had to contend with that sort of intrusion on chromasia. And I don't really know why I'm mentioning it here other than to say that it saddens me to see someone's efforts and feelings so totally disregarded.

While this was taken on the morning of the wedding, these aren't the wedding rings. In fact, I'm not sure who's they were. I would guess that they probably belonged to one of the bridesmaids. Anyway, the composition caught my eye, and as I'm still working through the rest of the shots I'd put this one up in the interim.

As most of you know I was away this weekend photographing a friend's wedding, and as photographic experiences go it was simultaneously the most fun and the most stressful time I've had in a long while. I've come back with 376 RAW images, totalling just about 3GB, and I'm pretty much happy with the way they turned out. I've also had the chance to go through them with the bride and groom, and they both liked them ... which was a huge relief ;-)

Anyway, my admiration for those who do this sort of work has increased tremendously, it isn't easy, particularly if you shoot for any length of time. I started at around 12.30pm at the bride's house and shot pretty much continuously until 9pm, and I expected to be a bit stressed by the end of it, but I hadn't expected to be quite so physically worn out – my right arm, wrist and fingers were all aching. A quick wander around shooting shots for chromasia is not quite the same as eight and a half hours shooting, to say the least.

As for this shot: it was taken at the bride's house about an hour before the ceremony and is of one of the bridesmaids getting ready. Had I not known the bride and groom I think my experience might well have been quite different, but being introduced to everyone as a friend meant that everyone I photographed seemed quite at ease with my presence. Maybe it would have been that way anyway, but I managed to get quite a few shots that have the same relaxed intimacy as this one.

So, to conclude, thanks to my friends for allowing me to chronicle their day, and thanks to everyone who agreed that I could use their photograph on chromasia.