Studio diary of Fareham, Hampshire based photographer – Mike French
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Hi my name is Mike French, and I'm a Fareham - Hampshire based photographer, and the owner of Meonshore Studios, a family run business. I'm passionate about my photography, and running the studio and I like to think this shows in the way I interact with my clients and of course in the images I create.
I adore shooting weddings, and I'm always looking to capture those special moments as well as document the day as it unfolds - my style is a fusion of contemporary, classical & documentary photography. However I also love portraits showing families growing together and of course my commercial work.
All the images you see below are mine, I hope you enjoy them and that this blog gives you some insight into what we do and how I work.
Meonshore Studios is based in Fareham, Hampshire and covers clients all over the UK and beyond. Weddings are typically photographed in Hampshire, West Sussex, Berkshire, Surrey and Dorset although we have been asked to cover weddings across the UK and indeed Europe.
Our portraits are most likely to be taken in Hampshire in the studio or on location and of course we travel anywhere for our commercial clients.
We are an award winning studio, and recommended by many venues, wedding planners and vendors and agencies.
This blog is the diary of the studio and contains a mixture of the work that we do - we have dedicated websites for our different types of photography.
Continuing some post which show some of the products which we sell this box frame arrived at the studio this week. It features one of our client’s children who we have photographed many times with this particular image from a white background contemporary portrait session being selected to go into a box frame made of black wood.
With no glass, and the print almost flush this presents a modern look to a wall portrait.
A very quick thank you to everyone that stopped at the stand earlier today at the MacDonald Botley Park wedding show – organised by de Mellow Productions. It was great to speak with everyone and to talk to you about the albums and prints on the stand as well as our photographic style and album designs, and to find out a little bit about your own weddings.
We did have a very big response, and ran out of brochures and showreel DVD’s right at the end of the day, we hope that you find the information useful and of course that once you have worked through your show bags that you give us a call. We are taking appointments to meet up in the studio and spend much more time talking about your wedding plans and how we can work with you on the day to create some timeless and elegant wedding photographs, and hope to hear from you soon.
For anyone that we didn’t get to speak to, or if you couldn’t make the show, then please do call the studio on 01329 310314 or contact us via this blog or the website to make an appointment or to ask any questions.
Finally a quick iPhone shot of the stand as a refresher for you, and for me so I can set it up in a similar way when we go to the De Vere Grand Harbour wedding show on the 21st February.
After the disappointment of todays show at the Solent Hotel being cancelled we will be exhibiting as planned at the MacDonald Botely Park Hotel this coming Sunday the 17th January 2010. Once again this is a de Mellow wedding exhibition and promises to be an excellent show. With many shows being cancelled today because of the weather this one could be very busy and we look forward to seeing you all at the show.
We will be on a large feature stand in the atrium and will have display albums, large prints, canvas wraps, pre-wedding shoot information, and lots of our recent images for you to view, as well as the opportunity to talk with us about your wedding plans and your photographic needs. We will also be scheduling appointments for you to come to the studio and talk in more detail about your day as the next 4-5 weeks will be busy with many couples booking their 2010 wedding photographer.
We are also taking bookings for 2011, and would love to speak to any couples or brides looking to secure a quality wedding photographer early for those key 2011 dates.
Hope to see you there.
I have just heard from Yvonne De Mellow the organiser of the wedding show planned for the 10th January at the Solent Hotel in Whitely, Hampshire has been cancelled by the hotel. We were expecting to exhibit at the show but apparently the hotel car park is dangerous due to the current snow, ice and freezing weather and they cannot guarantee the safety of the exhibitors and visitors.
Obviously we are extremely disappointed with this news as we have been preparing for the show for some time, and were looking forward to meeting couples and brides looking to book their wedding photographer for 2010 and 2011 weddings.
There is some good news which is that we will be at the MacDonald Botley Park Hotel on the 17th for their wedding show and hopefully the weather will have improved or indeed that the car park be made safe. If you were planning to come to the Solent Hotel show and can make the 17th then please do come and see us there. Alternatively please take a look around this blog and our website and if you’d like to make an appointment to come to the studio and see us in person, along with our display albums canvas wraps and framed prints, to talk specifically about your wedding then we would be delighted to see you here and I’ll make sure you can get safely up the drive.
Late this afternoon I braved the snow and delivered a wall portrait out to one of our local clients. This lovely framed set of three prints presented as a triptych work really well and the frame keys in nicely with some of the other wall art and the feel of the room in which it will hang. The images were taken just before Christmas at one of our contemporary studio portrait sessions, and I love these images of the little girl and many others from her time in front of the camera.
The prints are made on a heavyweight fine art paper, mounted under a museum quality mount complete with fillets matched to the bronze frame. The glass is UV conservation glass to protect the prints from fading due to the damaging rays in sunlight.
We kick off our winter wedding fair attendance with the Solent Hotel show next Sunday – 10th January 2010. Situated at Whitely just off junction 9 of the M27 (Fareham West) this is one of the De Mellow Promotions shows, which are always high quality and very well attended by suppliers and couples. We were unable to attend this fair in September as we had a wedding on the same day (20th) up in Surrey and of course this had to take priority. We have returned though and will be on the same stand as previous times up on the Mezzanine floor between the doors to the stairs – we should be fairly obvious as you enter that area.
On the stand will be our display albums created from real weddings at venues in Hampshire and Surrey, our pre-wedding shoot products and images, and some large prints to showcase some of our signature images. We will also have plenty of information to take away and look at once you have finished with the hustle and bustle of the show. Of course this is a good opportunity to meet me, and to begin to let us know a little bit about you plans for your wedding. We will be able to supply prices, and give availability for both 2010 and 2011 weddings.
We are also ordering new sample canvas wraps, and albums and I’m hoping some of these will be ready for Sunday, but if not then the Macdonald Botley Park show the following week.
If you can’t make it, or can’t be doing with coming to the show but would like to meet up with us to talk about your wedding plans and see some of our work then please contact us through the website/email or by calling on 01329 310314.
We have now entered the peak wedding enquiry months of January and February which will see many of the remaining key dates of 2010 booked up, and early bookings for the very popular dates of the following year as well.
I’m looking forward to meeting some of you there.
Our first ever New Years Eve wedding was yesterday at the All Saints Church in Botley and then the reception at the lovely Rhinefield House Hotel in Brockenhurst, New Forest. On a cold but otherwise dry day I started at the church to capture the guests arriving. I had plenty of time to re-familiarise myself with the church which I hadn’t been to for a couple of years before Scott and his groomsmen arrived and they were ushered into the church before Rosie arrived.
A lovely service took place in a church still festooned with Christmas flowers and decorations and I managed with the video team from Hampshire Wedding Videos to get some good angles of the ceremony and signing.
After a few photographs in-front of the church, and the confetti we all made our way down to Rhinefield House in the New Forest for the reception. The guests were greeted by resident toastmaster Michael Judd up the red carpet and into the drinks reception and once Rosie and Scott had made it up the driveway in their stunning wedding car and with a drink in their hands we quickly made our way to the rear of the house for the last of the winter light and a short formal photographs session before we needed to return inside for the receiving line and the wedding breakfast.
With dinner complete the speeches took place completed by Rosie who also wished Scott a happy birthday and presented him with a cake and his birthday present, and I wrapped up some of the family groups in one of the rooms having lost the light on this winters day some time ago. It was straight into the evening reception with the first dance, and whilst that was taking place casino tables from Viva Las Vegas and a chocolate fountain were setup in the great hall.
Here are some of the images from the day… for the guests at the wedding the full online gallery will be available here from the 16th January.
Rosie looks stunning in her wedding gown
Currently all of our wedding packages include a pre-wedding shoot. This shoot is also available to couples who are getting married abroad, and also those who have selected another photographer (or not chosen yet) and who would like some photographs to celebrate their engagement as a separate portrait session.
The session creates a series of traditional and contemporary images with some natural and relaxed images ideally suited to show the couple together. For our wedding couples we like to use the venue that the majority of the photographs are going to be taken, and more specifically the family groups and posed shots – if there are any, as it gives us chance to work out the best areas – and those the couple like most – saving time on the day and freeing up the couple to relax with their guests.
These images are used on our online gallery cards presented to the wedding guests to allow them to view the images from the wedding day, can be used as the centre-piece for a signing board (or signing mat), or in a bespoke guest signing book. However, every couple also receive a framed fine art image of their choice presented in one of our large 14×11″ desk frames. The heavyweight fine art paper and museum quality mount are set off in the high quality frame which for 2010 come in a dark mahogany or black and is valued at £100 if purchased separately.
Today whilst out we delivered the pre-wedding shoot framed print for Rosie and Scott who are getting married on New Years Eve and a photograph of the finished product can be seen below. The print is black and white and shows them seated on the large fountain at Rhinefield House which makes a majestic backdrop. It is finished in the dark mahogany frame with UV conservation glass to protect the print from the damaging rays of the sun.
The framed print below is held as a display sample in the studio and comes from the pre-wedding shoot of Sally and Mark – who also selected this image for their own desk frame. It is presented as a platinum toned print again in a dark mahogany frame and Sally and Mark proudly displayed theirs in the entrance to their marquee on their wedding day for all the guests to see.
Wishing all of our blog vistors a very Happy Christmas, and a wonderful 2010.
With the exception of the wedding we are covering between Christmas and New Year, and any expected deliveries by couriers, and postal services, the studio is now closed until the 4th January 2010. We have two sets of portraits to deliver locally tomorrow and will be checking email on the 24th, and the 28th-30th for any wedding enquiries, the phone will be on voicemail if we can’t reach it for the duration – do leave a message if you would like us to get back to you.
Otherwise we will be back online on the first Monday of 2010, no doubt with a few blog updates from the back end of the year we didn’t get time to complete before Christmas and of course images from the wedding !
We had a collection this afternoon at the studio of one of the lovely wedding albums which arrived a few days ago.
Kirsty and Marco’s wedding was at St Matthews in Otterbourne and then onto The Potters Heron in Ampfield, Hampshire back in July. It was a lovely wedding, and the album is full of images with happy guests and both the bride and groom smiling in almost every photograph, and one of my favourite images of the year from the first dance.
I had a great day, and it has been a pleasure to deal with Kirsty and Marco and their families to create their albums and wall portraits.
Here are some images of their album. A 10″ square contemporary matted album handmade in Australia. Covered in a Vanilla premium leather with white leaves and prints sourced from one of the top print labs in the world – also in Australia.
Coming very soon…. images from the PHT 2009 winter ball held at the Portsmouth Guildhall. Until then one image to keep you going !
It is getting close to Christmas and lots of our clients are buying framed products from both studio portraits and also our location portrait sessions. Making excellent presents for family members, and also great as a present for themselves !
Today saw us deliver another two childrens portraits desk frames which I captured some images of before they were collected. The first is from a contemporary studio portrait session and features a triptych of images and the little girls name in the pink banner (removed for privacy reasons), and the second from a location portrait session at the beach of two sisters.
Both feature images presented on a heavyweight fine art paper, and museum quality mounts. The desk frames (one medium and one large) are black and light wood respectively have UV conservation glass to protect the prints. The frames come with a high quality strut to support them.
We just received another large box of finished wedding albums from our suppliers in Australia. These were sent on the final day before the manufacturer stopped accepting orders with a guarantee for delivery prior to Christmas and they are the last ones we expect before the new year.
Having unpacked them and checked them through our quality assurance process I thought it would be good to get a photograph of them in a short stack to give an ideal of the different types of finish and sizes that our albums come in. Here we have two 10″ square albums and a 15×12″ panoramic both in a contemporary matted style. There is a vanilla leather, distressed mocha leather and a wood covered album with a distressed leather spine.
I’ll look to show some more details of each of these once they have been collected by the couple they belong to !
HMS Warrior was the venue for yesterdays Hampshire wedding, and I was looking forward to photographing Debs and Ian’s wedding, and black tie party in the evening. It had been a while since I had worked on HMS Warrior and I was relishing the opportunity to get some lovely images in the Captain’s cabin for the ceremony, the ward room for dinner and Ian’s speech and then on the gun deck for dinner and dancing.
Debs looked stunning in a burgundy dress and after an emotional ceremony the close group of family and friends enjoyed some champagne before venturing up on deck for a group photograph and some family groups before heading back down in to the warmth while Debs, Ian and I walked around the Warrior to get some lovely images of them together. I left them and photographed the intimate dining area in the ward room dressed for Christmas with the tree and decorations up and then covered Ian’s speech before everyone settled down to dinner.
Later in the day extended friends and family joined the wedding party for an amazing black tie party and were welcomed on board by some sea shanty singers who entertained the tables while dinner was prepared and served along with a table magician and balloon modeller who was happily making sabres, pirate hats and of course puppies, cats and flowers for the ladies. After a warming dinner from County Caterers a Rolling Stones tribute band started their set and the deck erupted into dancing.
With the exception of about 20 minutes after the ceremony the entire wedding was photographed in a documentary style, and here are some of the images from the day. Guests and family should have a small card with details of the full gallery and password – the full set of images should be online by the 21st December.
The Captain's cabin was the location for this HMS Warrior wedding ceremony
Earlier today we covered a business seminar event at the Regus offices in Whitely for AQ Networking for Business. Capturing images of the seminars and speakers, the exhibition area and some of the networking taking place. These images are planned to be used on the website and for promotional purposes for future events.
Whilst there I had the opportunity to talk to several businesses about their corporate PR and commercial photography requirements and I’m looking forward to potentially working on some exciting projects with them next year including some food photography, product photography and some corporate PR photography.
I was also asked to take a corporate PR image for West Country Catering as they have just won an award and needed an image for publication in the local paper and county magazine, which of course I was only to happy to work with them on.
Here are a few images from the day, including the PR image for the caterers.
Networking in the atrium of the Regus office
by Mike French
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