Charlotte was 8 days old when I met up with them to take some newborn photos.  She is the most adorable, tiny little thing, full of character already and we even managed a couple of smiles !

This is one of my favourites from the session.  I hope you like it.

Stafford Newborn Photographer

Staffordshire Wedding Photographer

I shot mum and dad’s wedding a few years ago and since then they’re been a bit busy building their gorgeous family.  They live in Dublin so booking me in to do a family shoot wasn’t going to be an easy task !!  So, when they were visiting family recently they gave me a call and we hooked up.  It was really lovely to see them again and to meet their beautiful kids.  I do love it when clients keep in touch and ask me to photograph them and their families again.

These 2 were a scream on the day and an absolute joy to work with.  We had a ball at my favourite portrait location, Shugborough, even though it was technically closed for the winter season.  That was never going to stop us !

I’ll be (properly) announcing a new portrait idea … Shugborough Mini Shoots ! … coming soon.  Contact me on 07738 286739 or by using the contact page or via email at gill@gilltaylor.co.uk today for portraits of your family !

Shugborough Portrait Photographer

As always I have absolutely no idea where the time has gone.  All I do know is it has gone fast.  Very fast.  As I sit here responding to emails, arranging shoots, following up enquiries for various jobs, eating soup (pea and ham to be precise) I just thought I’d say hi.  And to let you all know the recent (horrible) flu bug didn’t kill me after all.  Just in case you’re on facebook and wondered, etc.

I’ve already kicked off my 2013 wedding season with a beautiful wedding in York … the season continues tomorrow at a local venue, including a church ceremony and some fun portraits in the evening … oh and potentially snow, again !!  I have some beautiful weddings again this year at great venues, I promise I will play catchup here and let you see some stuff.

I’ve also had some lovely portrait shoots.  There are loads more booked in over the coming weeks and I can’t wait to share those with you … from couples to babies to families, so much variety !  My studio (haha) Shugborough opens this weekend and I shall, once again, be using it’s many backdrops to my advantage over the coming months.

Following a fabulous workshop down in Bristol recently, I am now taking on Newborn Photography … as in, first 10 days kinda thing, totally cute, scrummy hats and blankets at the ready … know anyone due soon?  Get them to give me a bell for some incredible “opening” offers !

I’m thinking about rebranding too.  I know, I love love love my brand, I really do.  Unfortunately many people in the industry loved it so much they decided to do it for their businesses, which has kinda diluted mine (and theirs, oh well) … so rather than try to go round and slap people in the shins for copying me, I thought I’d do the better thing and change mine.  Sigh.  Still, onwards and upwards … this may take a while, it’s going to be like tearing off a plaster you’re actually rather attached to (in more ways than one).

So, leave me a comment, say hi, whatever.  Let me know what you want to see … weddings?  portraits?  all the above?  You know, I have about 65 shoots to share with you … maybe more !!!!

Take care xx

“It is not a matter of whether a hard drive will fail, it is a matter of WHEN”

As a professional photographer (who also used to work in the IT industry) who cares about my client files, I do everything in my power to ensure your files are safe.  I am not, as it turns out, as careful with my personal data, photos, etc.  I only found this out when my drives went KABOOM last week.  Not literally, that would have been a little dramatic.  But when you get the black screen of death, which followed the screen which said “hey, look here, this drive is screwed” (or words to that effect) a little bit of you dies inside.  And you throw up in your mouth a little.

Thankfully I have a backup machine (aka laptop) with which I was able to access my backup drives to see what state I was in.  Well thankfully as always I had backed up all my client work.  At least, all the raws, the vast majority of the output jpegs and the vast majority of album designs.  I was faced with re-doing some work from scratch but actually I didn’t care.  I had all my clients’ work, safe, on external drives.

But absolutely ZERO personal work.  Nothing.  Holiday photos, gone.  Family photos, gone.  Personal files, gone, finance files, gone (ok so JT had the latter on his drives thankfully, as he is my accountant, but I thought I would try to inject a little bit more drama haha).

So what do you do in this instance.  I am fortunate to have an IT guy who is really switched on.  Unfortunately he needed to have the machine in front of him so he could see what was going on.  He lives in Berkshire.  So, cue JT in the snow, hurtling down the motorway to get the machine to Paul.  I don’t drive in snow.  What a husband !  Paul did his best but althought he could SEE the data, he couldn’t access it.  He installed a new SSD for running windows and programs and sent me it back.

What now.  Well, there happens to be an awesome company in Stafford (like 10 mins drive from me) who spoke to Paul and told me to bring the machine in.  Fingers crossed.  Oh, by the way, they are called DataWreck.  Their website states that they can take up to a week to get data back, so I knuckled down for the wait.

OMG.  I got a call literally at lunchtime yesterday to say … hey we can access your data, drop us your new drives around and we’ll get it all sorted for you.  They’re also screwing them in and setting the RAID volumes up.  Brilliant.

YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW RELIEVED I AM.

So what lessons have I learned …

First and foremost that I need to start treating my own data the same as I treat other people’s … it is just as important, to me.

That the above quote is so true, believe me, true as a true thing from true-tonia.

That installing SSD drives is a waste of time (apparently) and that if one of those puppies goes you might as well iss your bank account goodbye trying to retrieve data (and yes, they do go, frequently).

That all said, now that the Christmas and New Year break is over and my IT hell is coming to an end, normal service will soon be resumed.  Very soon.  With photos and EVERYTHING !!

My wedding season starts this weekend with a beautiful York wedding … what a great start to the 2013 season !!

]]> http://www.gilltaylor.co.uk/blog/the-importance-of-being-backed-up/feed/ 1 http://www.gilltaylor.co.uk/blog/sara/ http://www.gilltaylor.co.uk/blog/sara/#comments Wed, 07 Nov 2012 10:01:27 +0000 Gill Taylor http://www.gilltaylor.co.uk/blog/?p=2911 I spent this past Sunday with Sara and her beautiful family.  Looking through the images I came across this one, which I particularly love.  Sara has been running and dieting recently and has lost weight while toning up, very impressive if you ask me !  This shot shows all that hard work off to a tee, I feel.

Want to look and feel fabulous too?  Drop me a line!

Stafford Portrait Photographer

I realise you are feeling very neglected these days.  I felt the need to explain.

See, the thing is, I’ve been cheating on you with Facebook Business Page.  There, I said it.  I’m sorry, but FB is just easy, you know?

Please forgive me. Etc.

And then of course there is the “I’ve been busy” excuse … well I have … and then there was my birthday and then and … sigh …

See you soon.

Your ever-loving-very-sorry-for-neglecting-you Photographer xx

I shot Katy and Mark’s wedding last Summer and you can see more of the photos in the wedding blog post (the above shot is from their engagement shoot) … I thought it would be fun to run a series of interviews to get an idea of the story behind the love story and the wedding … I hope you enjoy it, here’s Katy’s story, in her own words …

So Katy, how did you meet Mark?

Rather un-romantically, at work … our eyes met over a paper strewn desk.  I thought ‘he’s hot’ and he, in return, just grunted and put his head back down. We didn’t start to go out until about 6 months later.

How did he propose?

We went to Florida on ‘holiday’ in May 2009, which was a holiday with a triathlon planned in the middle of it.  After the first week and the triathlon were over the weather changed to the most bad-ass rain/thunder/lightening/hail storms I have ever seen. We took to driving to Clearwater to avoid the storms.  One day, after a rain shower, we paid 50 cents for a walk down the pier off Clearwater beach.  We were watching the buzzards dry out and were planning to go back to our hotel.  He said ‘before we go, I’ve got something to ask you.. Will you marry me?’

I think to this day he says that it is the only time I have ever been speechless!

Literally… No. Idea.

What was the most stressful thing about planning your wedding?

I would have to say, the guest list … Nightmare!

What was the inspiration for your theme?

We didn’t really have a ‘theme’ I knew that hot pink was going to figure strongly… which it did. It was just really simple.

Where was your wedding and why did you choose your venues?

We initially planned to go abroad and get married on a beach, but then common sense took over and we started to look close to home.  The ceremony venue was a no-brainer.  Shugborough Estate.  We had our ‘first date’ there and I spent a lot of time there as a child.  Lots and lots of sentimentality.  We saw the mansion house and the Tower of the Winds, which we instantly fell in love with.  I think we booked it there and then.

The evening reception location wasn’t so simple (back then you couldn’t have your reception at Shugborough, this has changed since!).  We initially thought about having an ‘outside marquee’ type thing, but given the unpredictable British weather (even in July) we decided to look at the local wedding venues.  We looked at Weston Hall, The Mill at Worston, Ingestre Hall, Sandon Hall and The Swan Hotel (interestingly, Katy, that’s where I had mine! … sorry, carry on …).

All of these were very lovely, but just didn’t feel quite right.  We then decided to have a look at The Moat House in Acton Trussell. Well, I was blown away.  It was beautiful.  Again, after a little bit of negotiation over the date, we pretty much booked it there and then.

We booked both venue about 18 months before the actual wedding (back in November 2009).

Where did you get your dress and why did you choose it?

I bought my dress from a shop in Lichfield which is sadly no longer there.  It was an Amanda Wyatt dress called ‘Poppy’ It was on a sample sale rail in the store and fitted right off the hanger.  I got it for less than half the original price, which was the deciding factor.

It was an ivory dress with pink beading all over the front, side and back.  I think the reason I chose it was probably because of the unusual pink beading (followed by the price).  I loved it and got a lot of compliments on the day and since!

So who were your other memorable suppliers?

Claire Garfield, Princess Brides, for the bridesmaids dresses and mens’ suits.

Alison O’Mara for the flowers.

My lovely and talented friend Sally Dean for the cake.

Euphoria Couture for my tiara/headpiece thingy.

Vivienne Westwood for my shoes :o) (forever known as ‘The Vivs’)

Oh and some bird with a camera … Hahaha!!! Love you Gill Taylor xx

We were really lucky with our suppliers, they were all very professional and we didn’t give them many ideas, pretty much said ‘we want pink, now go!’ and the results were breathtaking.  I met some lovely people and now consider some of them to be amongst my closest friends!  I couldn’t pick out one as being a favourite because they were all ace, but I would highly recommend Claire and Alison, both very knowledgeable and friendly … and Gill of course !

What were the most memorable parts of your wedding day?  Are there any particular photographs that define these?

The whole day was amazing, but I think that amongst the most memorable parts for me was probably when we went for some photos with Gill to the mansion house.  The staff at Shugborough arranged a bus for us to take us round to the house.  The weather was beautiful and, whilst we were walking around with people visiting the house looking at us, I felt like a rock star.  At one point a lady came over with a little boy in a wheelchair, she said he has something he would like to say to you.  The little boy then said ‘you look really pretty’ … nearly made me cry on the spot. (Katy, thanks for the reminder about this, maaaaaaaaan !!!)

I guess, for me, the following photos were my favourites from the day …

Finally, what was your favourite photograph from the day, and why?

OK, so I can’t actually choose just one …

This one sums up the day and has been taken with some of my favourite people !

This one has my 2 favourite men in it ! (Dave Grohl couldn’t make it)

And this one … because I have a standy out collarbone !

To be honest, it was incredibly difficult to choose.  I love all my wedding photos.  I guess that’s what happens when you have an awesome photographer !

Katy, thank you for your story … I had a wonderful time with you all on the day … and many more since, so thank you xx

Staffordshire wedding photographer

I also love shooting portraits … families, babies, people with their pets, pets on their own, children, teenagers, boudoir, engagements … you name it, I love shooting it.  Over the years I have been very fortunate to have been chosen my so many families to record their memories … with such an abundance of photographers out there, along with the current technology that means everyone with a camera is a photographer (LOL) I do feel awfully chuffed to be the one they choose.

However, the portraits side of my business has always been a bit of a tag-on to the wedding business.  It’s not that I haven’t taken taking the photos seriously, but if I’m completely honest, I haven’t really taken the business seriously.  I don’t actively market portraits, I just take them as they come along.

I enjoy them so much I want to do more of them.  End of.

So after a small straw poll with some of my clients, I came to the conclusion that if a bride (or groom) is looking for a wedding photographer, they want to see photos of wedding, brides, details … they don’t necessarily want to see photos of babies !  It made sense, therefore, to split the websites out.  The domain name I wanted for the portrait site was available, so I snapped it up right away !  It is live but there is no content currently.  This was to be a winter project but I seem to have jumped the gun a little too early (I didn’t want to lose the domain!) … in the meantime you can still view my portrait work on my wedding site and as soon as it is all split out properly I will let you know to go check the new site … it’s gilltaylorportraits.co.uk in case you want to keep tabs !

There will be new pricing, some really fab products, lovely photos I have taken and very likely never shown, some old favourites and of course new stuff from this year !

Gill xx

So I was shooting a wedding in the south of France last Saturday and after looking at the abysmal options for flights (hand luggage allowances etc) I decided to drive and take a couple of extra days to do it in time and to get back to the office afterwards.

John decided he’d rather like to come along, so I had the added “stress” of finding somewhere I would trust to leave my dogs for a few days … eeeeek … after many recommendations for the same place (Quintessential Quarters) in they went and off we went.  It was a lovely drive down, I decided to drive the whole way, I enjoyed it that much.  I really got on well driving on the right and, apart from that illegal U-Turn in Paris that we will never speak of again, I was practically native by the time I reached Calais on the way home.

I decided to keep the professional photos for the Saturday wedding and to take some iPhone photos of the trip instead … here are a few …

So this was the trip according to Google maps … daunting at best …

Leaving Dover …

I didn’t lift a camera again until I got to the wedding … this was the ceremony in the 13th Century Church in the stunningly pretty village of Bram …

So, on the way back home, we stopped in the gorgeous City of Orleans … naturally I had to stop in and check out this church on route to our walk along the River Loire and to the pub, of course …

Orleans …

In no time at all, we were back in Calais … time flew, as did the driving … all 1900 miles in the end … Au Revoir France !

We were back too late in the evening to pick up my babies … this photo of Tess and Daddy says it all when we picked them up the next morning …

I think Millie is also glad to be home …

Thanks for checking out my blog, I hope you liked my journey … naturally I shall be blogging the wedding but in the meantime here is a sneak peek, taken on the banks of the canal just behind Dad’s house in Bram …

French Wedding Photography