More weather, but no roadworks!

This weekend was the first Saturday I've had off in a while, so it was nice to be able to spend it (mostly) not working and spending time with the boys.

James (16) is waiting for his exam results, hoping to do well enough to get into Lauder College to train as a mechanic. Although he's not old enough to drive he already owns two cars (paid for with his paper round), a Range Rover and a Land Rover, and he is using parts from each to build a hybrid off-road racer that he plans to compete in hill rallies and other off road events with the Scottish Off Road Club.

Callum (15) has performed in numerous shows at the Adam Smith Theatre in Kirkcaldy as a member of their drama group as well as singing and playing electric & accoustic guitar in various bands. I'd love to say he gets his musical and acting talents from me .... but being tone deaf I doubt it!

Lewis is four and like most little boys is obsessed with cars, planes, trains and everything else. I was hoping to get out to the park and take some new pictures of him but unfortunately the weather put paid to the plan again - this must be the coldest, wettest summer in years.

This is Lewis from a few weeks ago (when it wasn't raining!) ....


At least not having a wedding to do gave me some time to catch up - I normally spend Sundays backing up the pictures from the day before and starting to edit them, updating the blog, and so on. Instead I was able to read the paper and watch the MotoGP race before firing up the computer.

The first thing that arrived was a booking for 2008 from Lisa McGechie (Hello & thanks!) - a couple of weeks ago I spent a day meeting three prospective customers - two booked within a few days and now Lisa makes three from three - I feel like Lewis Hamilton :-)

Big job for the day is to finish some album designs I've been working on, all for Jorgensen albums in various shapes and sizes. One of the reasons we use Jorgensen is that they give us their own software to design the layouts, so the proof you see is exactly what you get in the finished album - as the album has to last a lifetime I think it's really important to get the design perfect. Typically a whole bunch of album orders have all appeared at the same time, so hopefully Jane & Doug, Cheryl & Paul, Denise & Alan and Charlotte & Stuart will like what they see.

Best news of the weekend for me was that the roadworks on the Forth Road Bridge are now finished for the summer - I've spent hours sitting in traffic jams over the last few months, so far I've never been late for a wedding as I have been allowing plenty of extra time and occasionally having to take the long way round via Kincardine when the traffic is particularly bad. Apparently they'll be back in the autumn :-( This year I've been using the excellent Traffic Scotland website which has up-to-date information and even a bunch of webcams to make sure I don't get caught out.

Next wedding for me is on Friday - hopefully the weather will imporve and not spoil my run of good-weather this year. Fingers crossed.

Samantha & Gavin

What's going on with the weather this year? Last weekend I was getting sunburn at Dundas Castle for Sam & Steve's wedding .... fast forward a week and it's 9 degrees, raining constantly, and just miserable, so it looks like Samantha & Gavin's wedding at Newport is going to be a soggy affair unfortunately. At least one thing is going my way - the traffic information board in Kinross was advertising 60 minute delays crossing the Forth Bridge, so I'm happy to be heading for Dundee!

St Mary's is a lovely little church situated on a hill and seems bigger on the inside than the outside. They don't get a lot of weddings so it's a big deal for them to be the venue for Samantha & Gavin, the warden and the minister couldn't have been more helpful, and there was a lovely relaxed atmosphere to the whole service. And ... it stopped raining! I haven't had a single wet wedding this year, and my luck held again.

After the wedding it was a short step across the Tay to the best hotel in Dundee - the Apex. I love the combination of contemporary design and friendly staff there, and the facilities are excellent. The meal was fabulous, my wife used to work in the meat industry so I have had more than my fair share of beef over the years, and this was as good as anything I've tasted. Kelly and her team did a great job of looking after us, and Bert Pozzi's band were on good form as always. According to Bert they've been playing together for 38 years, even longer than the Rolling Stones!

Samantha & Stephen at Dundas Castle

As you probably know we offer video services in addition to the normal photography packages that we do. Normally this is for customers who have already booked me for photography, so on the day Tracy or Brian does the filming - much as it's tempting to try it's not possible to do photography and video at the same time - and then I do the editing using our Apple Mac system. Occasionally however we are asked to do video with other photographers (yes, they do exist apparently), and Samantha & Stephen's wedding at Dundas Castle this weekend is one of those.

I'm looking forward to this for a number of reasons: they're a great couple; Dundas is a fabulous venue for a wedding; and the photographer is Gordon McGowan. If you were to write a list of the top ten greatest wedding photographers in the world there would be no question that Gordon's name would be included. His style is absolutely unique - and very different from my own - very dramatic, high fashion pictures with lots of impact, and it's fascinating to see someone with such a different approach. It's a two-camera shoot, so Brian is manning the other camera.

Normal service will be resumed next week!

Cheryl & Paul's photos online

Cheryl & Paul's wedding last week was memorable for loads of reasons, it was yet another sunny day and we got some amazing pictures throughout the day from the madness of the bridal preparations in the morning through to the evening reception. The kids were great fun and loved posing for loads of pictures, which turned out really well. The other highlight for me was the food, Andreas and his team at the Dean Park did a magnificent job and the meal we all had was one of the best I have ever had at a wedding!

I've really enjoyed editing the pictures, all 274 of them! You can view the whole collection online now here or just go to www.graemebrown.co.uk and click on 'Recent Events'. You can view pictures individually, click on each thumbnail to see the large version, or click on Slideshow and watch the lot! We like to know what you think, so feel free to post a comment on the blog.