alan mason . studio . goose hill . morpeth . northumberland . england . telephone (01670) 735563 email icarus2@ukonline.co.uk

 

Whitworth Hall, near to Spennymoor in County Durham in the North East of England.
The venue is licenced to hold civil weddings.

Whitworth Hall is steeped in history too !
Bobby Shaftoe has been immortalised in local songs.
'Bonny Bobby Shaftoe' was a 17th century beau
a bit of a ladies man and basically famous for his good looks.
he once lived at Whitworth Hall.

Whitworth Hall in County Durham is a bit of a wedding photographers paradise,
it has so many picturesque areas to use for photographs
there's no way you could use all of it in one day.

One bride and groom . . . . . happy . . . .. . this is quite normal,
behind them - a serious emergency develops. . .

A bridesmaids' ring becomes entangled in the train of the wedding dress,
the extraction job is so difficult that specialist help is called in,
the brides brother appears - these things are obviously a male task.

err . . well . sometimes . .
the ultimate assistant arrives - mother in law,
these ladies are the real experts.

Meanwhile, the groom looks as if he's just noticed and is about to say'
what the heck are those people doing back there ??

The image might best be described as a 'fun picture'

Oddly enough - the bride liked the picture enough to ask for it to be included in her album.

you see it contains a little story. the best pictures often do !

anyway

on to the important things
the wedding preparations begin at the brides departure point in Newcastle,

I rush around taking pictures of details
flowers, invitations, bridesmaids, tiaras, dress fabric, nail varnish. . .

NAIL VARNISH ???

yes - nail varnish,

by a pure coincidence, the bride applies her nail varnish and uses a note pad to prevent a spill.

the note pad has upon it a drawing,
by the little bridesmaid,
of the bride and groom.

no one realised this in the rush of things, this little detail only came to light when the pictures were seen by everyone

sometimes I pick up on significant details - things that no one else seems to notice at the time. . . .

 

To the right we have the artist who created the bridal portrait on the notepad.

...

 

At Whitworth Hall, a car arrives,
guess who's here !

One Bride.
One brides father.
He'd travelled all the way from Ireland for his daughters wedding.
The main thing that I remember about this gentleman is that he was just that,
a gentleman.         and a very sincere one too.
emotion was clearly visible in the mans face as he led his daughter to her wedding,
and he performed all of his duties with great dignity.

I think that you can tell most of this by simply looking at his face.

I cunningly wear green camouflage
and hide in a plant stand,
disguised as a fig tree,
thus enabling me to get intimate pictures
of the exchanging of the rings,
without being noticed.

All they see is a rustle of leaves.
(the leaves are on the left side of the picture).

 

well - I didn't actually wear camouflage
just a suit,
but I did actually hide behind a rather large plant for quite a while The leaves are on the left.

being almost invisible seemed to make sense at the time.

the groom checks out how long the photographs are going to take. . . .

only kidding - he was quite a character.

the watch was important,
I wish I'd got the watch dial in . . . .
but this was a 'grab shot'
not carefully set up
the groom was fooling about with the pocket watch and I simply leapt across with a camera.

I'm very quick with photographs really !

about 20 minutes ought to see any posed group pictures out of the way.

or even less time if possible !

Aha .

I get the chance to take some posed pictures.

I like to take a few

but not to make a day of it,

the real priority is a pleasant day

not a photo shoot.

 

groom grabs bride

what can I say ?

 

Heading for the deer park at Whitworth Hall, you can see by the faces of the bride and groom that they are really happy.

the whole day is going really well.

Would you believe it. dear me. I had no idea, (sorry - about the puns).

well . . .whitworth hall is surrounded by a deer park.

my initial plan was as follows - easy as pie . . .
1. set camera up on tripod
2. pose bride and groom
3. obtain one deer
4. arrange one deer in an artistic position
5. press button on carefully positioned camera.

my deercatching antics reduced my assistant to laughter
at one point she suggested that I rugby tackle a deer
the darned things were running all over the place

so was I      AND THEY CAN RUN FASTER THAN I CAN

PLAN B.

1. obtain one deer.(theyre so flipping timid)
2. carefully approach one deer with bride and groom
3. quickly take one picture because it's all I'm gonna get.
4. retire to a safe distance and nurse my pride.

well - I tried.

the important thing was that the bride enjoyed herself.

and I learned a bit about deerstalking . . .. like . .. . I'm not very good at it .!

The chance positioning
of a bridesmaids bouquet at the end of a table gives me a chance of an unusual shot.

This picture wasn't set up or posed at all.

The image carries within it that elusive thing

atmosphere.

The Brides brother makes his speech.

what a nice guy .

the sort of fellow who has a permanent smile on his face.

anyway - at this point,
I pack my bags and disappear..