Brian Harte the photographer

I had great fun a few weeks ago on a portrait shoot and wanted to share some of the photos.

It all started when mum phoned up to book with me after buying a voucher at a school christmas fayre. From the outset I was excited as mum (Jenny) was excited at the possibility of having a fun day out while getting some beautiful memories of their children playing.

When I arrived I thought I might be in for a tough time when I was informed the shoot would be starting a little late as the eldest daughter wasn’t quite ready yet. I thought maybe she was worrying about makeup or her hair but was told that she could well be sitting on the roof outside of her bedroom window contemplating the world and that nothing apart from Doctor Who could cause her to move any faster.

When she came downstairs I knew that colour was going to form a major part of the photographs and I went in to overtime thinking of all the possibilities. We started off near some yellow gauze in a pocket of trees around the corner from where they lived….

I then found some blue garage doors with a great texture nearby…

…where the VERY chatty youngest started drawing for me a pig in her diary. I don’t think she went anywhere without her diary all day! While we were travelling between places she read me a few lines which turned out to be quite profound (it could have been influenced by the lyrics of her older sisters songs).

We then went on to the blue bell woods…

…where more fun was had.

The sun was out and it was starting to get a little warm so they cooled off by having a water fight with dad…

Next it was off to the stables to exercise their horse. They offered to drop me back but I was having too much of a good time and opted to come along instead.

I wanted to take some original photographs of the girls and their horse so I started off with this fun shot of the horse eating grated carrot off the young girls hat!

I took the next photograph as it appealed to me as the alternative photograph of the day. I wasn’t sure if the family would buy the photograph but I wanted it in the slideshow I’d present to them. I am happy to say they loved it and bought it!

I fell over myself to get the following shot as she was actually riding out of the stables when I saw the possibility.

I’d like to thank the family for their warm welcome and their enthusiasm on the day. I felt total at home with them and hope to keep in touch.

One of the most colourful weddings I have photographed is that of Nikki & Tony.

Both as mad as hatters and down to earth I had great fun taking their photos at the very colourful Devonshire Fell, Burnsall in Skipton (Near Bolton Abbey).

I was concentrating on taking photographs of the wedding ceremony when out of the corner of my eye I saw this beautiful moment.

I love to take photographs of all the details and attention to detail that make up a wedding and when I saw the downlighter in the wardrobe when Nikki was getting ready I grabbed her shoes and went for this snazzy shot.

The Devonshire Fell is one of the Luxury Devonshire Hotels owned by the Trustees of the Chatsworth Settlement which includes the Bolton Abbey Estate in Yorkshire and the Chatsworth Estate in Derbyshire. Also in the collection of venues for weddings is the Devonshire Arms and The Cavendish Pavilion.

Nikki & Tony exclusively booked the whole hotel so that their friends and family truly let their hair down and I carried on taking photos well in to the night.

Sunday saw the glamorous Wrapit Wedding Party hosted at Rudding Park, Harrogate, where cakes and champagne was served to would be brides. Along with guest speakers from London the packed Radcliffe room was entertained with a fashion show by wedding dress designer Anita Masssarella from Leeds.

I was there taking photographs of the models wearing Anita’s dresses as they strutted their stuff and Ogden’s Jewellers of Harrogate, added some bling (according to a speaker bling is in) with some beautiful pieces.

Here is a photograph of model Emma. There are more of her to follow as I managed to get a couple of minutes before the show to shoot off a few photographs around Rudding Park Hotel.

I had the pleasure of being asked by wedding photographer Andrew Mcmillan (Keighley) to help him out on taking the wedding photography of Charlie Hodgson, the England Rugby Union star.

Andrew was having difficulty being in two places at once so I covered Charlie’s shots while Andrew photographed Charlie’s beautiful bride Daisy Hartley getting ready. Charlie and Daisy were married at Yorkshire’s Bolton Abbey next to the River Wharfe.

Here is a photograph of Charlie and Daisy as they walked back down the aisle as a married couple.

Charlie and Daisy had been planning a honeymoon at The Peebles Hydro Hotel in Scotland but had to put their honeymoon on hold after Charlie recovered from a long term knee injury and was selected for the World Cup training squad.

Recently I was wedding photographer for Helen & Peter Massey’s wedding at Nostell Priory in Wakefield. Helen had mentioned to me that they had something special planned for the first dance but I wasn’t privy to exactly what it was. So, to much excitement I had my camera ready when the music started.

Here is one page of their wedding album showing the first dance…

And here is the video posted on Youtube…

You may remember Helen and Peter from their engagement shoot photographs. Nostell Priory is a fabulous 18th century National Trust property available for weddings in Wakefield, West Yorkshire. You can either book a wedding as a civil ceremony and have access to the rooms or get married at Nostell Priory’s church and have your reception in The Riding School. Dine Services arrange weddings at Nostell Priory and their website can be visited here.

There will be more photos to follow when the retouching has been finished.

A few weeks ago I was asked to go to Runswick Bay for an engagement shoot. Being one of my favourite areas of England I jumped at the chance.

Pulling in to the bay the weather was good, in fact it was great! So in an upbeat mood I went for a little walk along the beach looking for locations where I could take Peter and Helen. I decided to challenge myself and look for locations that you might easily walk past without a glance. Having had a look around I was quietly confident that I had my locations in the bag and decided a nice cup of tea was in order.

It was then that the nice tea-shop lady informed me that the weather was about to turn quite nasty. I found it hard to believe looking outside on a glorious day however I’ve experienced this scenario in the past and my gut feeling said to go with the tea-shop lady. So I ambled up the quaint narrow passages towards Peter and Helen’s cottage. In fact I got lost and had to ring Helen to come down and find me, but hey that doesn’t sound as good!

We quickly had a look over the clothes and selected a few tops and jackets to wear and hit the beach where the weather had turned to what I can only describe as “driving rain”. Hmmm….nice.

Keeping a big smile on my face I jollied them both along and managed to get some smiles from them in the rain. Helen’s prediction that “it would pass” was fast being proved wrong so we ran to one of my locations which would provide shelter. Here I shot them on their own and together getting some cracking shots but I wanted something more….

…I wanted them to get wet. No really I had some ideas but I also wanted to know if they trusted me, which they did, and I got each of them standing in the rain while I used a flash off camera (also in the rain which is not advisable if any photographer is reading) to get a fashion look for the photos. This turned out to be Peter’s favourite photograph and for me was evidence to them that whatever the weather I will take photographs and they will be great.

We moved back to their cottage where I took some window lit photographs as we dried out.

Helen was a bridesmaid at a wedding I photographed two years ago and I love it when people come back to me as I know I must have made a good impression first time around. I’m looking forward to their wedding and I hope to make it even more fun than their engagement shoot.

Peter and Helen have two romantic cottages they rent out. One at Runswick Bay and the other at Robin Hood Bay on the North Yorkshire coast and if you would like to find out more you can visit their website here.

I’d like to share a few of the photos with you and talk about what went in to them and what they mean to me.

Last autumn I was asked to travel down to Buckingham for a family shoot. The family consisted of Mom, Dad and 3 girls (6 years to 14 years old). Mom had asked if it was possible to have photos at The National Trust Stowe Gardens. I had made a few phone calls, upped my insurance to £5million!!! (thats what they required) and arranged a permit for photography.

Here is a family shot taken about lunchtime (about a third of the way through the day). I arranged each member of the family in to a nice looking group but by this time I had got a feel for who each of them were and tried to help them express that in the photo. I don’t like my family group photos to look rigid but I also don’t want them to look a mess. You tell me but I think they have structure with room for everyone to move and express themselves within it.

Apparently some tourists were walking past while I was taking the photo and I shouted “Everybody. This is Lord and Lady Stowe!” which got them all to laugh and I captured a real warm moment.

Here are some photos of each of the girls.

When I am shooting photos I’ll only take photos where I deem the light to be good. There is not much point otherwise or you wont be able to see peoples eyes and expression. That usually means not in direct sunlight. There are always exceptions and this girls strong features and her fashion look made me feel that I could take this photo using the harshest of direct sunlight.

I don’t tend to do this with young children (although I also never say never) as the harsh light can be too dramatic on a child, I’ll save this for the teenagers and the funky adults.

Near the end of the day I took the family to an industrial estate where I wanted to have some photos that would be a departure from what we had done in the morning, I also had the feeling that the eldest girl wanted some fashion shots so I got my outdoor flash equipment and worked a few photographs there.

We ended up the day having a bit of fun back home when I persuaded the girls to sing and dance for me on the karaoke machine. It was a long day we had all enjoyed it so much it didn’t feel like it.

Here are a few more of my favorites from the day….

There are more but I’ll save them for another day. I hoped you liked them and feel free to leave a comment below.

I’d like to thank all of the family for such a fun day. I had a great time.

I recently had some fun taking photos of Rosie & Jason for their engagement photoshoot.

The day was a clear sky, low full on sunny day. With no foliage on the trees I was going to have to be inventive to get some relaxed fun shots without all the strong dramatic shadows that come with strong sunlight. They are very much in love and it seemed easy for them to get intimate in front of the camera.

I can’t wait for the wedding day…apparently they have booked the sun!

Well here are the portrait photographs as promised. I have given the girls aliases because of their age.

The weather forecast for the day was good…intermittent sun and dry all day. The previous day it had snowed quite a bit and the temperature had not risen above -1c (with wind chill about -4c). I got up early for a recce and decided the best place for some photos was on top of a hill with a large rocky outcrop. At this time of year there is not much foliage and the snow had covered a large part of the rocks making them fairly abstract.

The morning started well, and I managed to convince Nikki (the younger) to wear a sleeveless T-shirt (to be fair I had asked for a long sleeve but she didn’t have any in colour that would match the places). It was a great sign of trust from her and I knew the day was going to be great!

We began with the coldest location, on the top of the hill open to the full chill of the wind.

After about 20 minutes I could feel that the girls need to warm up so we jumped in the car, put the heaters on and drove to another location that had more shelter.

Here is a photo of Nikki with my fleece and leather jacket on while we are getting the shot ready. I just had to take it and I am glad I did as it is one of my favorite images so far this year.

We played around taking photos until our bellies started to tell us that we needed some warm soup and a crusty roll. So we headed back home. Just as we were finishing lunch it started to rain. It wasn’t forecast but it didn’t matter I had already scouted around the house and found a few places that provided perfect lighting and a simple background.

Becky had been a little reserved in the morning (probably because she was trying to forget being cold) but she really flowered later on and we got some great fashion style photos.

And thats where we stayed taking photos until the memory cards were full and the girls flagging.

Feel free to let me know your thoughts or which ones are your favorites by clicking add your comments below.

From time to time I do PR photography usually for small businesses and entrepreneurs. Last week I had the pleasure of meeting and photographing Haroon a young film producer from Yorkshire. His film “Life without you” is due for a private screening at the National Media Museum in Bradford, England and he asked me if we could get some fun shots which he could use to get some PR with.

We started the photoshoot in the famous Pictureville cinema.

During the film festivals they project cinerama films on to a curved widescreen which is an experience. A few years ago I managed to get tickets for one of my favorite films Stanley Kubrick’s 2001 A Space Odyssey and I was blown away. It was on 70mm twice as big as standard 35mm, not only is the resolution much greater but you get 10mm of sound instead of the regular 5mm….it’s like having a full orchestra in the cinema with you. Trust me, if you get the chance to experience it, take it.

After doing a few shots in the cinema using the red curtains, the rows of seats, spot lights and shooting up in to the house lights we moved out in to the main part of the museum. It has changed a lot recently for the better and provided a wealth of opportunities for Haroon’s photos.

You can see the trailer for Life Without You on youtube and if you like the look of it can register you interest in the film on Finisher Productions website www.finisherfilms.com

I must have made an impression with him as he asked if we could meet up to talk about me photographing his up-coming wedding!