A really happy photo session with newborn Ellie-Rose and proud parents Emma and John in Glasgow last month. Ellie-Rose proved a real performer for the camera and I think you’d agree looks a wee smasher in colour and black and white. Congratulations guys, she’s beautiful.

Contact Emma or myself for details of how to view and order the entire photo session online.

Peigi is a photographer with a keen eye and shutter finger herself and for the black and white photographs I settled on a faux vintage result with a strong contrast that I know Peigi favours in her own black and whites. I try to use unique shots of all the wedding day’s events to process into monochrome rather than just black and white conversions of the same colour shots. The result is an alternative set of photos of the day in the wonderfully emotive medium of black and white.

It was quite an original reception they had planned; rather than the usual speeches-dinner-dance, Peigi had devised activities to ensure all ages were included for the whole evening and an old fashioned social cèilidh ensued. The customary family photo slideshow was projected on the wall, there was a ‘decorate your own cupcake’ table (Something that became amusingly challenging for the less sobre participants as the night wore on) and everyone pored over people’s wedding albums which they had been invited to bring along while various sung Gaelic solos (including one by the groom!) and instrumentals were performed at an open mic until, all too soon, it was after midnight and the bride and groom eventually made their getaway in a very well decorated and can clattering car.

Thank you Pegs and Ru for a wonderful occasion and many blessings on your new adventure!

If you would like to order prints of any of the wedding photos please contact me or Ruairidh & Peigi and they can provide you access to the online print order gallery when it goes up. 

END OF SUMMER OFFER: To cheer us up as the Summer winds down I am offering 20% OFF Premium & Deluxe wedding package bookings until September 21st! Just sign up to my mailing list at the top right to qualify and email info(at)colinjcampbell.com for wedding prices.

It was a real privilege to shoot this wedding for my little sister Peigi last month. Her and Ruairidh were married in our home church in Stornoway and the wedding reception afterwards was held in the popular rural reception venue of Breasclete Community Centre on the west side of the Isle of Lewis.

I followed Peigi, my sister Mairianne, Mum and flower girl Amy as they got their hair and makeup done in the morning and then relocated to the church where guests were arriving and the Groom and Best Man were waiting patiently for the Bride to arrive. Her arrival was heralded by the bagpipes – played by Ruairidh’s dad and Peigi was the very image of relaxed joy as she came down the aisle on Dad’s arm.

After the lovely marriage service and some photos on the church steps I whisked the bridal party off to a picturesque spot by the shore in Breasclete for some portraits before getting them to the wedding reception right on time for the evening’s festivities which I will share with some of the black and white photographs in my next blog post.

For the digital processing for this wedding, taking my cue from Peigi’s classic dress and veil ensemble, I settled on a warm vintage tone for the colour photographs that brought out ivory whites, biscuit midtones and dark blue to magenta darks that suited all the settings of the day from the morning preparations through to the magical pink and blue ambiance of the reception venue.

To be continued…

If you would like to order prints of any of the wedding photos please contact me or Ruairidh & Peigi and they can provide you access to the online print order gallery when it goes up. 

END OF SUMMER OFFER: To cheer us up as the Summer winds down I am offering 20% OFF Premium & Deluxe wedding package bookings until September 21st! Just sign up to my mailing list at the top right to qualify and email info(at)colinjcampbell.com for wedding prices.

I was delighted to be able to fit in a last minute Family Session in the village of Keose with Donna and family before returning from my trip to Lewis last month. Her parents were celebrating their 40th anniversary and some portraits are always fitting way to mark the occasion. Donna & Calum’s son Coinneach stole the show though – he kept us on the move and even took some photos himself! Happy anniversary folks.

I have new rate sheets available for Family Sessions – if you are interested just drop me an email info(at)colinjcampbell(dot)com.

Photographing traditional sheep shearing in the islands has been on my list for years. This year my trip home coincided with the fank in Garynahine, my Mum’s home village, the day after my wedding shoot – so I took some of the wedding visitors over to experience it and got a few shots and fleeces in myself as well helping uncle Angus. For those not in the know, the process is as follows.

The sheep are all gathered from the moor by the men on foot with their sheep dogs. This took a couple of hours for the Garynahine fank but could take much longer in other larger districts (such as Uig where they used to take 12 hours to cover the area!) . The sheep are then penned in the fank and taken out one by one for shearing. First, three of the legs must be tied (really tight, as I learned when one of mine broke free and tried to escape mid-shearing) then you can shear from the skirts up, turning the sheep onto its other side half way through. Once shorn, the sheep is decorated with marking spray with the owner’s unique mark, the number on its ear tag is recorded and feet are checked before it is put into the sheared pen. The fleeces are sold on in bulk and the wool purchased by wholesalers and processed into coloured thread for resale or weaving into cloth – often ending up as Harris Tweed.

Thoroughly enjoying my working holiday back home on the Isle of Lewis. I was shooting my sister Peigi’s wedding last week followed by a family portrait session this week so I am getting the holiday snaps out of the way before the big wedding posts begin. Here are a few pics from my outdoor excursions so far: jumping at the Callanish Standing Stones, a chilly Dalmore Beach and blue skies at Traigh Mhòr, Tolsta. The best camera is the one you have with you so some of these are iPhone captures but certainly do the island vistas justice. We had a great time doing jump shots in front of the Callanish Stones. I think the tourists were quite nonplussed. You can see more of them on my Flickr account.