Deck Chairs

Deck Chairs, a photo by Dan Baillie on Flickr.

I was born and raised in Southend and despite living beside the sea never really spent a lot of time there! A couple of times a year we would attend the airshow or perhaps spend a few pennies in the arcades.

I returned to Essex a few years ago to photograph my sisters wedding. The days leading up to the wedding were blisteringly hot and I enjoyed re-visiting the promenade and taking some candid photos, this was one of my favourites.

Dickie Wood

Dickie Wood, a photo by Dan Baillie on Flickr.

This was a magical moment as I left home one morning. I lack the dedication of the true landscape photographer. I have tried on occasion to get up at sunrise with the specific purpose of taking landscape photographs. More often than not when I have done so, it has either been raining or a very disappointing sky. So I am much more an opportunist landscape photographer and when this scene came my way I had to stop the car very quickly and capture it! It is still one of my favourite landscape shots and it came runner up for a Kodak award in a competition during 2010.

Do you believe in magic?

Do you believe in magic?, a photo by Dan Baillie on Flickr.

We went along to the woods for this photo-shoot. The little girl really didn't want her picture taken and despite the best efforts of her mum, photographs were hard to come by. The little girl loves fairies and we began to play saying that we could see them amongst the trees. For a few moments she relaxed and I caught a few pictures. I had some fun with this in photoshop and added in one of the fairies that we thought we saw.

Portraits in the woods are magical, the light is very evenly distributed and there are frequent pools of light caused by the sun breaking through the foliage.

Getting Married in Scotland

Jo and Martin, originally uploaded by Dan Baillie.

It is fantastic to be a wedding photographer in Wigtownshire some of the very best weddings take place in Scotland amongst the backdrop of historic castles, grand manses and character filled churches.

It is a stirring to see splashes of tartan and hear the skirl of the pipes.
The great thing about Scotland is that the landscape is often breathtakingly beautiful at any time of year from the vibrant greens of Spring and Summer to the golden browns of Autumn and Winter.

Anyone considering getting married in Scotland should follow this link this link for legal information on getting married in Scotland

There are some great reception venues in and around Newton Stewart for more information check out the following:-

Creebridge House Hotel, Newton Stewart
Kirroughtree House, Newton Stewart
North West Castle, Stranraer
Knockinaam Lodge, Port Patrick
Corsewell Lighthouse, Stranraer
Threave Gardens, Castle Douglas

Wednesdays child

Wednesdays child, originally uploaded by Dan Baillie.

This shot was taken at a recent wedding, the little girl really didn't want her picture taken, but her mum really wanted her to, she refused to look at the camera, and in the end I had to take a couple of pictures of her when she wasn't looking.

This was one of the out takes but there was something about it and I prefer it to the 'official' shot.

It's Guinness Time

It's Guinness Time, originally uploaded by Dan Baillie.

I wanted to produce a low-fi image that was reminiscent of a primitive analogue camera such as the Holga. I wanted to produce an image that conveyed all of the importance and atmosphere of the moment without the reliance on megapixels or pin sharp detail.

This was a candid shot that I took in the Bladnoch Inn, near Wigtown. I decided that I could use my small Canon Ixus to take this shot for several reasones, firstly it is relatively discreet, sencondly it has reasonable image stabilizing which helps and lastly due to the small sensor it is lower quality than from my Nikon DSLR's. I disabled the flash to make use of the available light. However this resulted in a slow shutter speed having to be used and despite the image stabilization a bit of motion blur. No problem, this helped add to the atmosphere.

The resulting image was then processed in photoshop and slight sepia tint was added in post production with some grain to make it look like a "real" photo :-)

Together

Together, originally uploaded by Dan Baillie.

This portrait was one of several taken on a recent privately commissioned shoot. The models here are Solway Star and Kate. I particularly love the moment captured here, there is a strong connection between the girl and horse and it makes for a lovely image. Ironically this shot was a grab shot which I took just as I was starting to put my camera equipment away after the formal shoot. Which just goes to show that some of the best pictures can not be planned!

The photograph was taken using natural light and Nikon DSLR with 70-200mm f2.8 lens.

I was recently awarded a distinction from the Royal Photographic Society which was a proud moment for me, and has encouraged me to try some new techniques and styles of photography.