New Forest Wedding Photography Encore Session Lynsey and Steven

It's been another busy summer here at Murakami Photography, but we are back, and have many exciting blog entries to make! Knowing where to begin is the hard part, lol. We have been blessed to photograph some amazing portrait sessions and weddings this summer, so I think it's time to share :)

To get the ball rolling again, I wanted to blog a lovely couple we met at Lisa and Simon's Bournemouth wedding in April 2008. Lynsey and Steven are an amazing couple, not just because they are from Scotland ;) They married just a few months ago, and while we weren't able to photograph their wedding, we had talked about getting together for a post wedding Encore session whenever they had the time. They were down recently to visit Lisa and Simon, as well as baby Ruby (Congrats again to Lisa and Simon on the newest family member!)

An Encore photo shoot is our take on the 'Trash the Dress, Rock the Frock, Cherish the Dress' type photo sessions. Rather than trashing any dresses, we approach this as a fun way to create lasting memories of the newlyweds in their wedding outfits. To us it's about cool photos in a location that perhaps wasn't possible on the wedding day, either due to distance (Scotland to the New Forest on a wedding day is a bit prohibitive, lol) or perhaps lack of time available on the wedding day to do an extended photo session. The end result is a collection of images that are cherished and displayed so children and future generations will be able to see you were fun and occasionally a little cool ;)

Lyns loved the images we took of Claire and Darrell in the New Forest near Rhinefield House so we planned to use that location. The area is a beautiful part of the New Forest and we know it well from previous wedding photography at Rhinefield House Hotel. We are often commissioned to photograph in the same venues but never see things the same way, the weather, the light and the couple are always different and bring something unique that inspires us. Once I saw Steven in his kilt, I knew this session would be different. It was going to be much more dramatic and mystical. We could not plan to have such a fantastic sunset so when we noticed the sky was starting to colour up we headed out onto the moorland to take full advantage.

Thank you to Lynsey and Steven for being so wonderful and easy to photograph. Also a huge thanks to Lisa and Simon for allowing to us to meet up at her house and providing a place for Lynsey to change into her wedding gown. It was great to see everyone all together again and David and I to meet Ruby for the first time :)

So, with no more delays, here is a selection from Lynsey and Steven's New Forest post wedding Encore session! Hope you enjoy!

New Forest Wedding Encore Session with Claire and Darrell

Claire and Darrell were such fun on their wedding we asked if they would be interested in an Encore Post Wedding Session. One of the locations they suggested for the session was one of their (and our!) favourite places, The New Forest!

Other photographers, particularly in the US have variously called these sessions Trash the Dress (no really, though we could never imagine doing anything that would cause damage!) or Cherish The Dress or Romance The Dress.

Well to us it's not about the dress (trashing it or otherwise!). It's about creating some beautiful images that perhaps were not possible on the wedding day and having total fun with the photography. I'm sure if Claire and Darrell had their wedding ceremony within the New Forest we would have gone out for some forest wedding photographs!

Putting Claire on the Redwood tree stump was Darrells idea and it worked really well, to the extend that an older couple out for a walk in the forest came up and asked if we mind they take some pictures of Claire. If you can go out and create photographs that make people smile as they walk past it makes everyone smile.

Teri processed some of the images to make them look more unusual, on the day of the session we knew that Darrell's wellies and Claire wearing heavy boots under her beautiful pink wedding dress would make for some fun post wedding images. The first image below has a daguerreotype style treatment we (well me mostly!) have titled 'Russian Peasants' as it looks like they are returning from a hard day working in the fields :)

Claire and Darrell's wedding photographs are also on the blog, Wedding at Lillibrooke Manor

Thanks for Claire and Darrell for being so much fun, the session was a blast and we got to try out some new ideas, thanks guys! :)