Somerset Wedding Photography, Bristol Wedding Photographer, Caroline Pilling Photography

I thought I’d just update the blog to let people know about a couple of wedding fairs I’ll be attending over the next week or so. The first one is a bit late notice for everyone but it’s tonight! Holbrook House in Wincanton are hosting an evening wedding fair tonight (Thursday 18th February 2010) between 5.30pm and 9.30pm.

Then next Sunday 28th February 2010 I will be exhibiting at the Halswell House wedding fair in Goathurst, Somerset, which will be running from 11am to 5pm.

At both fairs I will be showcasing some brand new albums from weddings I photographed last year – including one from a wedding at Halswell House itself! I do hope you’re able to make it along and say “hello!”.

Today was a very exciting day for me…I got to meet my little nephew Jack for the first time! He was born last night at 10pm, weighing in at an eye-popping 10lbs 6oz! Along with my Dad and Sarah’s parents we were his first visitors and he put up with us each taking a turn at holding him in good humour and without a single cry. I think he’s saving it all up for when he get’s home! Below is a little slideshow I put together using some of the pictures I took at the hospital this afternoon. Congratulations Sarah and Matt…and welcome little Jack!

Your Bristol & Somerset Wedding magazine has spent the last year searching the region for one couple to award the Wedding of the Year title to. I’ve been fortunate enough to have several of my couples featured in each edition of the magazine competition and now the four finalists have been announced. And I’m so excited to announce that TWO of my wedding couples from last year have made it through to the finals!!

First up is Katie & Paul whose April wedding took place at St Bartholomew’s Church in Bath, followed by a reception at Priston Mill:

The other finalists are Catherine & Jake Lewis who were married at Halswell House in July:

Both my couples would love it if you could vote for them as the overall winner will receive a romantic night away for two at Shaw Ridge in Wiltshire, worth £300! To vote for Katie and Paul please click here or to vote for Catherine and Jake please click here. Then simply click on the button that says “I want Katie & Paul to win” or ” I want Catherine & Jake to win”. The closing date for entries is 21st February 2010. Good luck to both couples!!!

I’ve always been a strong believer that you need to continually strive to better yourself as a photographer, year on year. That is why I invest heavily in my education by learning from some of the best photographers in the world. However, most of the workshops/seminars I attend focus mainly on the posed/directed side of wedding photography, and whilst I do enjoy this part of the day (in particular – directing my couples into flattering and romantic portraits), over 90% of the day I spend photographing in a documentary style. Unfortunately there aren’t many workshops out there that focus on this aspect – probably because it’s such a difficult thing to teach!

That’s why I’m so excited to be a part of MYVISION – a workshop concept put together by a group of the UK’s best wedding photographers. It’s the first workshop of it’s kind in this country and I’ll be one of the lucky few participants on it! Each participant has been assigned a team leader who will give each of us a unique photographic assignment to fulfill. The scary part is that we won’t know what the assignment will be until the morning we start it! It could be anything from documenting a day in a tattoo parlour to photographing kids in a skateboard park! We are all getting very nervous now and things kick off this Sunday – eeek!

More information about the MYVISION workshop can be seen on the dedicated website. We also have a blog that will be updated throughout the workshop to show what the participants are getting up to! Wish me luck!

Well, I can’t believe it but it’s that time again – how did this year go by so fast?!!! It’s been an incredibly busy year for me and Caroline Pilling Photography and one that has seen massive changes to my business. Once again I’ve had some fantastic weddings to photograph with some lovely couples – not a bad one amongst them! lol! I’ve managed to stay mainly local this year with weddings in Somerset, Dorset, Devon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire – the only time I ventured away from the South West was for Emma & Dan’s West Sussex wedding in October.

Next year will see me re-aligning the business to what I love to do – weddings! I’m ramping down the portrait side of my business so there will be no more boudoir or studio portraits for me! Over the past year I’ve come to realise that weddings and location portraits are what I love to do the most and so that’s what I’m going to concentrate on from now on. I have some more lovely couples booked in for their weddings next year and I’m now over 50% booked up for 2010 and am already taking bookings for 2011!

Finally I wanted to take this opportunity to wish all of my clients, friends and general blog readers a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful 2010. The studio is closing after today (Friday 18th December) and will re-open on Monday 4th January 2010, so any enquiries or orders will be dealt with now in the New Year! And I’m sorry to say I roped in my poor dog Poppy again to pose for a Christmas-style picture (please don’t report me to the RSPCA – she was rewarded with treats!).

Merry Christmas!! xx