Blog — Steve Gerrard Photography

Arriana & Kiri

28th November 2008 · No Comments

Winter time tends to see less portrait shoots due to the cold weather but I recently met up with Funbir and Resh to photograph them with their 2 girls, Arriana & Kiri. The girls were fantastic and instantly relaxed in front of the camera. I think I may be Arriana’s new best friend!

We took some more posed shots but my favourites, as usual, were the ones where the kids forgot they were being photographed and just enjoyed being kids.

After a break for pizza we headed outside into the autumn afternoon and added some variety to the shoot.

We’re hoping to do a lot more family portrait shoots in 2009 as part of a major new project (more details here soon).

For the photographers reading this, I normally shoot most of my outdoor kids portraits with my 70-200 IS lens but the focusing broke on the day of the shoot! It’s fine now thanks to ACS who fixed and returned it in 24 hours, but most of the images above were taken with a simple little 50mm 2.5 lens.

Many thanks to Funbir, Resh and the girls for making me so welcome. I’m off to New York tomorrow for my first US wedding shoot. It’s gonna be cold but I can’t wait!
Gemma & Matt - Superstar Couple!

24th November 2008 · No Comments

I love shooting weddings. If you’d asked me 5 years ago I would have said that wedding photography was for old men with tripods who couldn’t make a living doing other kinds of photography! How things change! I get to hang out with great people on the biggest day of their lives surrounded by the people they care about the most, all having a great time. It’s such a privilege being asked to document such an important occasion for people and we never take that responsibility for granted. And along the way we’ve made some lasting friendships. Oh, and did I mention we almost always go home with cake?!

One of our favourite weddings this year has to be Gemma and Matt’s wedding at Albright Hussey Manor Hotel near Shrewsbury. The whole day was great fun and Gemma & Matt rocked it big time when we headed out for some photos around the venue. I could have blogged a ton of images here but here’s just a selection from their day…

Gemma looked stunning in her dream dress…

Kids at the wedding = Great images..

The weather held out long enough for them to make full use of the grounds for the ceremony.

Why is it that the groom always ends up holding the bouquet?!

Mirror: Check. Gorgeous light: Check. Stunning bride: Check.

SO many brides have seen these pictures and said they’re stealing this idea…

The speeches included a few “ginger” jokes.

The rings.

After dinner, we escaped away from the venue for a short walk and came back with some of my favourite wedding images EVER! People ask me how I get the sky to look like it does but it was nothing to do with me. If you believe in a higher power you can thank him… or her!

This image is now a huge bevel edge print on our studio wall. You’re famous Gemma!

And you may recognize this from our Home Page

We loved this wedding so much it now features in our main showcase album. Gemma and Matt, we can’t thank you enough for having us at the wedding. You made our job so easy and we had a great day. You make a fantastic couple and Evelyne and I wish you all the best for your future together..
Sir Elton John

20th November 2008 · 3 Comments

Certain artists need no introduction.

Last night I was honoured to photograph the legend that is Elton John at the Birmingham NIA. It’s the 2nd time I’ve seen him live but the first time I’ve photographed him and I knew I had to do a great job! Who knows when I’ll get to shoot him again..

Elton brought his massive Vegas show with him and it was spectacular! And quite decadent too. I only had one song to shoot from the front of the stage and then one song to shoot from slightly further back and to the side. I wanted to get as much variety as I could considering it was all about one man sat at a piano.

After I finished shooting I stayed for the entire show and I have to say Elton was on form. He played one of my favourite songs of all time, Tiny Dancer, and it seemed like the show was made up entirely of classic tunes, with Bennie & The Jets and Rocket Man being two more personal highlights.

Here are just a few of my favourite images from the show..
James Nachtwey - War Photographer

11th November 2008 · No Comments

It’s rare these days that I watch a film which leaves me humbled, excited, moved and full of admiration all at once but last night Evelyne and I watched a DVD which was recommended by one of my favourite photographers, Jeff Ascough.

The film is called War Photographer and is a documentary about the incredible James Nachtwey. Below is a taster of the movie but I just want to recommend that anyone with an interest in the world we live in and/or photography watch this film. Put the DVD on your Christmas list. It’s 96 minutes that will stay with you for a lifetime.
Fruit Picking With Elliott

10th November 2008 · 2 Comments

Being so busy with the business means we value our family days off more than ever and always try to find something fun to do. Now that Elliott’s able to run around a little it opens up a few more options of places to visit which is great. Clive’s Fruit Farm is a great little farm where you can pick your own fruit, meet the farm animals, play in the playground, buy fresh fruit and veg (and home-made jam) and even drive without a license!

Elliott loved running around exploring but never got to try out Clive’s Wobblejuice Cider!

Off to pick some apples…

After all that effort picking apples we stopped to enjoy the fruits of our labour

Errr… we didn’t pick all those but Elliott was happy to share!

Then it was off to introduce ourselves to the local farm animals and for Elliott to drive his first tractor…

I think he likes driving!

.. but he didn’t know how to reverse

The real tractors aren’t nearly as much fun.

Cute photo but about 2 seconds later Elliott got his finger pecked!

We finished off by checking out the pumpkins and treating Elliott to a (very messy) ladybird lollypop.

We went home with lots of apples (the people at the farm even gave us some great recipes to try), some fresh pasta sauce and plenty of great photos (of course).

Now.. where shall we go for the next day off?