Dear John and Nina,

Our very first meeting with you instilled enough confidence in your talent and experience for us to know we would definitely be hiring you! It was very important to us that whoever we chose needed to know how to get the lighting perfect as the venue is very dark and it was mid winter. Seeing your portfolio took any of these worries away! Through our chats and planning meetings your wedding experience actually helped us shape our day and gave us ideas that we hadn’t really thought about including before.

It was lovely having two photographers; knowing that nothing would be missed. You and Nina’s style is exactly what we wanted, unobtrusive but organised, fun and relaxed but ensuring that any more formal shots were as painless and smiley as possible. For a bride, who actually doesn’t like having her photo taken, Nina made me feel relaxed and really captured the whole experience of getting ready. Every opportunity and the smallest details were remembered and can be treasured forever. Your experience and style has beautifully captured the very essence of our day and the fun and fabulous feeling we both felt all day shines through in our pictures.

We can’t stop looking through our slideshow and everyone who has viewed them has commented on how brilliant the photographs are. We wouldn’t hesitate to recommend you both and want to thank you so much for all your help, advice and giving us such wonderful memories from our wonderful day.

Many , many thanks,
Dee and Mike
X

The ceremony was emotional, fun and beautifully lit with candles and smiles.  A warm and cosy winter wedding was celebrated by all.  The weather was kind too and Steph and James took some time out down on Polhawn’s beach where I was so pleased to capture images of a couple so, so much in love.

I’ve always believed that change is good.  But I am also fearful and resistant to change.  I suspect that I am under the thumb of the Change Equation:
D is dissatisfaction with the present
V is a vision of how things could be
F is knowledge of the first practical steps, and
R is the resistance to change

Change will only occur if
D x V x F > R

Well, the Foundation Workshop Team Leaders and Mentors must have heard of this equation ‘cos on day one of my assignment I went out into the field, snapped away, came back and had my work ruthlessly critiqued.  A massive Dissatisfaction for me with my work from the day.

However, my Team Leader Sergio, helped by Mentors Daniel and Katrina and assisted by Gulnara, showed me a Vision of how things could be as the critiquing sessions went on long into the night.  Sergio has a wonderfully clear, concise and constructive way of explaining why an image “is nothing” and why I was just taking pictures.  He explained and showed us that by using our eyes, head and heart we would be making pictures – “working it, working it, working it”.

So back out into the field I went on day two with a vision in my head of how things could be and some clear plans of what I was going to do differently.  Yes, I felt better in the morning, I was looking and thinking more but the self-limiting beliefs that I couldn’t really do much better were still there.  Resistance was still there.  Then Daniel arrived on site.  Daniel with all his knowledge of the Practical Steps required for change.  And he didn’t just talk to me or look at my images, he practically shoved me closer to my subjects, he chanted relentlessly “keep shooting, keep shooting, move closer, work it, work it”.  He led me, he encouraged me, he praised me, he taught me.  ‘Training requires the presence of the Trainer’ and Daniel was so wonderfully present.  I was now making images that were new to me and I could feel my new Knowledge changing my view though my viewfinder.

At one point as I was shooting the fueling of an airplane with Daniel chanting his mantra in my ear I actually felt my Resistance collapse.  An actual physical feeling in my stomach.  I welled-up.  I knew I was changing and change felt very, very good.

So thank you Foundation Workshop for changing me and my photography.  Thank you Team Sergio and Huy and all the students and staff at FW10 who helped me in so many, many ways to move forward.

My assignment was at Granbury Airport, a small sleepy city/regional airport populated and visited by folks with a love of airplanes and a love of flying.  Everyone I met was welcoming, understanding and interested in what I was doing.  I am only posting one image from my experience here as the Workshop doesn’t want future attendees to have too much warning of what is to come!  This one image, for me, is my Pièce de Résistance. Why?

Because this is that point on day two where I was shooting and working it and my Resistance collapsed.  The image didn’t make it to my slideshow presentation at the end of the workshop but to me it was the point at which I knew I have the eyes, the head and the heart to make great photographs.

It’s going up on the wall.

The weather was kind too and we caught a romantic sunset down on the beach.  Thanks Dee and Mike for investing in Nina and I to capture so many lovely wedding memories and moments.  We had a great day too.  Here’s a few of my favourites images from your wonderful day.

The wedding ceremony was beautifully intimate and moving in Polhawn’s cosy Napoleonic Hall and Lucy was radiant in a simply gorgeous dress.  Steve had a massive grin on all through the ceremony and for the rest of the day as he married the love of his life among friends and family.

The weather was clear but very cold with a freezing wind so most folks stayed inside all day but Steve and Lucy and her bridesmaids nipped out for a few minutes as the sun was going down over Whitsand Bay.  If Lucy looks cold in the photos…she was!

Six months have passed since our wedding and we could not be happier with John’s photos that have so perfectly captured our most special day. The style which John and Nina employ makes them often invisible, yet they are still able to direct each element so smoothly, whilst capturing some of the most subtle, unstaged shots which capture the very essence of the day.

The DVD slideshow we have received is of exceptional quality, as has been each stage of the process that we have experienced with John and Nina.

The advice you gave us on our first meeting helped shape the day itself, our decision to go with you was the best decision we made in our wedding planning, you have given us the most incredible memories which we will enjoy for the rest of our lives together, thank you both so so much….