I read some great blogs over the festive period with reviews of 2010 featuring lots of fabulous images from past weddings. 2010 was a brilliant year and I had the very great pleasure of photographing lovely people at great weddings, I thank you all for making it such a memorable year for me . 2011 promises to be even better and the phone has already begun to ring with enquiries about available dates. My new website www.stevenbarber.com will also be launched in the coming weeks and will bring together my editorial, wedding and portraiture work under one banner.

I’m not really known for my portrait work but I did have an influx of sessions before Christmas and I had a wonderful time with some great people shooting relaxed and informal pictures they will treasure forever. Christmas and New Year was not a time for me to blog this year, it was a time to spend with the people I love and snap a few memories in the process. I thought I would put together a selection of non-wedding pictures for no other reason than I like them. They also include some portrait shoots I did towards the end of the year.

I wish you a very Happy New Year and please do pay me a visit from time to time if you want to see what I’ve been up to. Even better, drop me an email!

Tags: Portrait

I shot my final wedding of 2010 yesterday at the magnificent Netherwood Hotel, Grange-Over-Sands. Lyndsey & Andrew came to see me way back in February and we immediately hit it off, I think because I share their passion for rock music, but I had also photographed Lyndsey’s cousin’s wedding three years ago. Each and every wedding I have photographed this year has been very different and this was no exception. Lyndsey chose a beautiful deep red satin strapless dress and she truly did look stunning. The subtle rock theme was present throughout the day with the table names after famous guitar legends including Jimi Hendrix, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani and Eddie Van Halen. My friend Paul Jones was the DJ for the night and the first dance was Metallica’s ‘Nothing Else Matters’. Andrew then picked up his Paul Reed-Smith guitar and joined his band ‘Far Cry’ for a set of rock numbers. The singer, James, had the best rock voice I’ve heard in ages and, needless to say, Lyndsey was on the dance floor for a considerable time.

I stayed a little longer than usual,simply because I was enjoying the night so much. It was the culmination of what I think has been my best year yet shooting weddings. I’d like to say thank you to Lyndsey and Andrew for asking me to be their photographer and for allowing me to post a few pictures from the hundreds they are yet to see. I hope you like them.

Tags: Netherwood, Grange, rock, Guitar

When I left my job as a picture editor in 2006 and became freelance I had no intention of shooting weddings. In fact, if I ever got an enquiry I used to pass them straight on to other photographers without hesitation! Why did I o this? Because despite having photographed many family and friends weddings over the years I felt it was the hardest photographic job in terms of responsibility I could undertake. I can pinpoint the wedding that changed my mind and that was the wedding of Emma & Brian who were married at Comlongan Castle in May 2008. They were, and are, a great couple and happen to be personal friends. I always say you need three things to make a wedding work, great people, great location and great weather. This wedding had all three in abundance.

Tags: Castle, Comlongan, dumfries, Scotland

Sally & Mark were married at The Samling on September 10th. It was a relaxed and informal wedding and despite the rain we managed to get into the fabulous gardens to take some portraits. It was a very friendly wedding and I found myself chatting to people as if I’d known them for years! I met up with the bride in her room as she was getting ready. Sally was very chilled and looking forward to her day. Mark was equally as calm when I popped by to see him. They made my job a real pleasure and were more than happy to make the most of the gaps in the rain. The Samling is a stunning venue for a wedding and I found some perfect locations within a few metres of the front door. Sally & Mark now have the daunting task of choosing the images for their album.

Tags: Samling

Michelle and Richie live and Southport and decided upon a Lake District Wedding at the Langdale Hotel and Country Club. It is a lovely venue for a wedding with the option of getting married outside under the gazebo if the weather is fine. Well, the sun shone and all went ahead just as Michelle and Richie hoped for with a lovely wedding ceremony in front of their family and friends. Photography was high on their priority list so after a few formal group pictures I was able to whisk them away up the Langdale Valley and to the popular beauty spot of Blea Tarn. It was a delightful quiet evening with just a few walkers out enjoying the early evening light. Michelle came prepared with here wellies, just i case! The ground was a little soft and we could not get to the shoreline but I did manage to get some lovely personal portraits of the happy couple with a backdrop of the Langdales. The cracked open a bottle of fizz, shared a few private minutes to take stock of what they had done before we decided to head back to catch up with their guests. We stopped briefly on the way back to just grab another couple of images to show the location. It was at this moment I turned as we had finished and literally grabbed a picture of them walking up the road, Michelle still wearing her wellies with her beautiful wedding dress! When I got home that night and downloaded the pictures I was determined to see how it had come out. It wasn’t staged, it was natural and it was a real moment and for me, completely sums up Michellle & Richie’s Lake District Wedding. Here it is along with a small selection of other pictures from the day.

Tags: Landgale, Blea, Tarn, Lake District Wedding