Doncaster Wedding Photographer I Wedding PhotograYorkshire Portraits Doncaster Photography I Contemporary & Artistic Wedding & Portraits , Yorkshire & the UK » 1. Wedding Photography

Would Ya?! – Pre Wedding Photography Shoot {Anoushka & Chris}

Phil Shillitoe — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 08:12:16 +0000

‘WOULD YA?’ is what Chris’s T-Shirt said on his first date with Anoushka! We created his marriage proposal using a chalk board, lots of fun, smiles, and the beautiful county backdrop of the Priest House Hotel, near Castle Donnington. Anoushka and Chris tie the knot at the Priest House Hotel in the middle of December for their wedding. That seems like such a long way away, but it’ll be here before we all know it! We were joined on the pre-wedding photography shoot by Chris’s cute little son Charlie. My chalkboard came into use when he fell over on a gravel track. Luckily his little hands landed on the chalk board, preventing any grazes or tears!!

A selection of some of my favourite photos from the pre-wedding shoot can be seen below:-

The Priest House Hotel
Kings Mills,

Castle Donington,

Derbyshire DE74 2RR

T: 0845 072 7502
thepriesthouse@handpicked.co.uk

Doncaster Portrait Photographer {Sarah & John}

Phil Shillitoe — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 20:48:29 +0000

Autumn is my favourite time of year. The rustic colours just scream, ‘photograph me!’. I decided to use the autumnal backdrop of a small but beautiful wood in Cantley, Doncaster to photograph Sarah & John. The portrait session meant a lot to me, as Sarah & John were my first EVER wedding clients!!!! They are clearly just as much in love now, as they were back when I was their wedding photographer……and I’m just as happy, as in no small measure to them, I now have the best job in the world!!

Some of my favourite photos from the shoot, can be seen below:-

Cherish The Dress Doncaster Wedding Photography {Johanna & Nigel}

Phil Shillitoe — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 13:12:28 +0000

When Johanna ran out during the speeches of her wedding reception, I presumed that it was just emotions……little were we all to know, that she would spend the evening reception of her wedding day in hospital. A nightmare that all brides cant even start to imagine. Luckily, Johanna made a full recover, and they were able to fly off on honeymoon a couple of days later! I arranged a Cherish The Dress session to complete their wedding photography, a few weeks after their return from honeymoon. The location for the post wedding session, was the picturesque hamlet of Wiseton, a few miles outside Bawtry, Doncaster. I had been the wedding photographer a couple of months earlier at Johanna & Nigel’s big day, and despite the unforeseen problems mentioned on the day, Johanna and Nigel were an absolute pleasure to work with. I small selection of some of my favourite photos from the Cherish The Dress session can be seen below.

Photography

Kings Croft Hotel Pontefract Wedding Photographer {Courtenay & Andy}

Phil Shillitoe — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 15:21:19 +0000

Courtenay & Andy booked me over a year a go to be their wedding photographer at the Kings Croft Hotel, near Pontefract in West Yorkshire. It wasn’t until a week before their big day, that we met up at Cusworth Hall to photograph their pre-wedding shoot and to discuss the finer details of their wedding day. The wedding service and reception was held on a beautiful sunny day at the Kings Croft Hotel. They are such a lovely couple; friendly, happy, and clearly blissfully in love with one another! They wanted as informal wedding photography as possible, which suits my style perfectly, for example, the group photos took approximately 5 minutes, and the ‘formal’ photos of the couple themselves, took around 10 minutes. They put their trust in me to document their day naturally and un-posed as possible.

Courtenay was so so nervous, and really wasn’t looking forward to being photographed. As you can see from the selection of photos of the Kings Croft Hotel wedding below, she looked absolutely stunning , and had nothing to worry about! Andy scrubbed up rather well too!!

Thank you for allowing me to watch your day unfold and document it through my lens. I’m honored to have experienced such a perfect day and I wish you both only the best in your lives together.

A selection of my personal favourite photos from the wedding can be seen below:-

Kings Croft Hotel

Wakefield Road
Pontefract
West Yorkshire, WF8 4HA
Tel: 01977 600550
bookings@kingscrofthotel.com

Hellaby Hall Wedding Photographer {Lisa & Matt}

Phil Shillitoe — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 23:18:51 +0000

Lisa & Matt recently tied the knot at Hatfield Church on the outskirts of Doncaster, followed by the wedding breakfast at Hellaby Hall. My good friend Paul Wilson, the vicar of Hatfield, carried out the beautiful service, before Lisa and Matt and the wedding congregation headed off to Hellably Hall. Hellaby is such a fantastic setting for a wedding, with beautiful gardens, historic buildings and fantastic staff!

I’ve known both Lisa & Matt for a number of years, and it was an honour when they approached me last year and asked me to photograph their wedding. As the photographs below show, the day was full of love and laughter all the way (and sunshine!!)

Enjoy married life and one another, and thank you for letting me be a part of your wedding!

A selection of some of my favourite photos from the wedding are attached below:-

Hellaby Hall

Hellaby Hall
Old Hellaby Lane
Hellaby
Rotherham, S66 8SN
Tel: +44 (0) 1709 702 701
Fax: +44 (0) 1709 700 979
sales@hellabyhallhotel.co.uk

The Mansion, Rounday Park, Leeds Wedding Photographer – {Kate & Gavin}

Phil Shillitoe — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 16:37:07 +0000

Situated at the edge of Roundhay Park, on the outskirts of Leeds, is the magnificent ‘Mansion‘. With stunning architectural details, The Mansion affords superb views of the 700 acres of sprawling landscaped Yorkshire parkland, lakes and woodland. Kate and Gavin were a couple who came to me early in their engagement, over a year before their wedding. Needless to say, I’d been looking forward photographing their big day for some time!.

Kate and Gav are such a great couple; easy going, blissfully in love, and very photogenic to boot! The wedding was one of the most beautiful, intimate affairs I’ve ever photographed. The beautiful backdrop of The Mansion and Roundhay Park made for some incredible photography, and I have to say, reception venue and grounds are up there with my favorites to date. It was so hard just to choose which photos to include in the blog!

The Mansion
Mansion Lane, Roundhay Park,
Leeds
West Yorkshire
LS8 2HH
0345 450 4545
events@dineinthemansion.co.uk

Doncaster Wedding Photographer Yorkshire Portraits

Best £100 you’ll ever spend! {if you are a photography geek that is!}

Phil Shillitoe — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 11:01:56 +0000

2 questions that I get asked at least once a week, are ‘what camera should I buy, and what lens do you use?’

You only have to look in any of the numerous photography publications out there, to see that the choice can often be bewildering to the first time buyer. Compact, bridge Camera or SLR? Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Olympus, Panasonic or Sony? 8MP or 30MP? I could go on, but I think you get the picture. Neither bridge cameras or high end compacts can match the SLR in terms of flexibility and image quality. For a wedding or portrait photographer, quality should be the be all and end all.

I’ll try and tackle the mega-pixel question first. It’s believed by many, that the higher the mega-pixel, the better the camera. If you pop into your local electrical store and ask them which camera they recommend, more likely than not, they’ll try and sell you what ever they have on offer/a camera that’s about to be discontinued/ or one that they have too many left in stock and can’t shift. Although there are exceptions, you will probably know as much about photography as they do! Mega-pixels are, in my opinion, the last thing that you should be considering. My 6 year old Nikon D70 SLR only has 6mp, but the quality of the images that it produces still knocks the socks off of any 14+MP compact. I havent used it in over 4 years, but I’d turn to that rather than a 2010 high end compact every time, if the need ever arose. It all comes down to the quality of the glass on the front of the camera which captures the image.

This brings me onto probably the best bargain that anybody interested in progressing their photography should invest in – the humble 50mm prime lens. If you go down the SLR route, this should be your first port of call. It will blow the socks off the kit lens that comes with the camera. The f1.8 lens will set you back around £100. Until the pound began it’s never ending downward spiral, you could have bagged one for around £65. £100, however, still represents a bargain in my eyes. Faster 1.4 and f 1.2 pro- level variants are also available , however, these cost considerably more. The 50mm doubles up as fantastic portrait lens along with being a great everyday lenses.

The greatest thing about this lens is that f/1.8 (or better still, f1.4 if your budget allows). That super-low number means two things that are important in a practical way:

1) You have a very shallow Depth of Field (DOF), which means that your subject will be in sharp focus and everything else will be deliciously out of focus.
2) You can shoot in very low light conditions without a flash, giving your photos a very natural look.

My Nikon prime lenses, the 35 1.4 50mm 1.4 and 85mm 1.4 are 3 pieces of glass that i couldn’t live without (or at least make a living without!)

Using a zoom lens is great, however, they can sometimes make a photographer lazy – a prime lens, on the other hand, makes you think more about your composition. Traditionally, prime lenses have been optically superior to zoom lenses. They are also lighter to walk around with, and due to their wide mazimum apertures, allow in far more light which allows you to carry on shooting without resorting to flash – well after zoom lens have given up the ghost.

Mount Pleasant Wedding Photography { Gemma & Adam }

Phil Shillitoe — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 16:10:02 +0000

Snow, snow and more snow formed the backdrop to Gemma and Adam’s wedding reception which I photographed at Mount Pleasant, Doncaster . The wedding ceremony took place at one of my favourite churches, St Lawrence’s Church, Hatfield, Doncaster. Architecturally the church is impressive and provided a fantastic setting for their wedding photography. The church also has an interesting history filled with intrigue, which added to the atmosphere of the big day .

The Reverend Paul Wilson carried out the wedding service. I have always found his services to be full of humour and love and this occasion was no exception, he made the ceremony personal and memorable for the bride and groom. Paul is also a great photographer in his own right.

As Gemma & Adam walked down the aisle as husband and wife, they were met with one of the heaviest blizzards in living memory, as they left the church! The reception was held at the Mount Pleasant Hotel, a journey which ordinarily takes only 10 minutes, took 45 minutes due to the weather. On arrival at Mount Pleasant everyone was served wine and cocktails which soon warmed up the wedding party!

Gemma & Adam were fantastic clients to work with, and both looked truly beautiful throughout the day. Thank you for letting me photograph and capture your big day, a short collection of my favourite photos can be found below.

Mount Pleasant Hotel

Great North Road (A638), Doncaster, South Yorkshire, DN11 0HW,

Telephone: 01302 868696