Artis Studios Blog

April Photography Course

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 14:20:00 -0400

After the great success of our last photography course we have decided to run another beginners photography course on April 18th, 2010. The course will be identical to the last one, so those of you who could not make it have a second chance.

This is not a heavily technical course but a course that will look at what makes a good photo. We will be showing techniques that make the difference between a normal photograph and something really special. It is mainly aimed at those who have a Digital SLR camera, but are not confident shooting off automatic, or are not getting the results they want. Hannah and Kat will provide one to one assistance to get you started.

The course will feature a short amount of theory around the basics, and then move onto work in our studio as well as on location with a model. We will also be covering the post processing of images (Photoshop) and working with each person individually to make sure they get results that they are looking for.

Artis School of Photography:

-   A one day course (18th April).

-   10am - 6pm (lunch included).

-   Both Hannah and Kat on hand to give individual help, with ongoing advice after the day.

-   Based at our Sunninghill studio.

-  £170

We currently only have three spaces left, so book early to avoid disappointment!

Beautiful Berystede Interiors

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 11:03:00 -0500

The Berystede Hotel is just down the road from us and as prefered photographers we photograph there quite a bit. Often due to good weather and an interesting looking exterior we tend to do most photographs outside. At last weeks wedding, although the weather was brilliant for March, it was still a bit cold so for the couple photos I took Charlotte and Matthew indoors.

It was lovely to use different areas of the Berystede - the lighting and the architecture was beautiful. It also made a great background for the natural, documentary style shots that we take throughout the day. In particular there were some great shots when the bridesmaids were waiting for the bride or when Charlotte and her dad were walking down the stairs.

Such a lovely couple, and I could tell that everyone there had a brilliant time!

Kat

A Wedding in a barn...

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 12:27:00 -0500

We started our 2010 Wedding season with a special wedding for a fellow local business owner. The wedding ceremony was taking place at Winkfield Church and then the whole reception hosted at the brides parents farmhouse.

The day was made possible from the brides experience in events management and the amazing effort from friends and family to turn the barn into a fantastic reception venue. We visited the unfinished barn in January where there were almost whole walls missing so were amazed by the end results! The family's home provided a beautiful setting for the wedding and created a wonderful environment.

We thoroughly enjoyed the whole day and it got our wedding season off to a fantastic start! Here are just a few of our favourite photographs from in and around the barn!

Kat

Fun active boys!

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 07:58:00 -0500

I love the diversity my job brings - every day really is very different. Many shoots that we do are for children and they are often babies and toddlers so that parents can capture their age before they get much older.

Although we love these shoots, it's great fun to work with older children too. They can interact a lot more and love the games we come up with.

I recently had a shoot with 2 brothers, 8 and 11 years old and they had a fantastic time playing various games and generally interacting with each other. They were brilliant at following instructions and you can tell from the smiles that they enjoyed themselves!

Here is a selection of some of my favourites.

Hannah

All new to 2010 - Artis Studios Cherubs baby club

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 15:43:00 -0500

We are proud to present this year our new and improved 'Cherubs' baby club. The scheme is still aimed at families who have just had a baby and all shoots still have that 'Artis' style, but now we have a few new features:

3 Shoots to space your babies progression: The first shoot is for baby's from one week old up until 4 months*. This is a 'newborn' style shoot with lots of soft lighting and dark backgrounds.
Added Location shoot: We have now made the third shoot a location shoot. This will give a real contrast between the three shoots. The first an artistic, 'soulful' shoot, the second a fun, bright studio shoot and the last a natural location shoot. We will pre-arrange where the shoot will take place, this can be at a park or at your home. This shoot will also last longer and be more appealing to your child's limited attention span!
New packages: At the viewing session we now have new packages exclusive to cherubs club members. These include 4 for 3 offers on prints and buy 2 get another free on frames and canvases.
New exclusive products: We have a range of new products that are only available to cherubs club members and various upgrade options from the original package. These include a beautiful designer album including around 15 photos from each shoot, and a lovely mini montage (pictured in banner).

If your baby is under 4 months call us to find out more information. The scheme normally costs £65 but for being a fan of our blog, it will cost you £55. This covers all three shoots plus a leather 3 image folder presented at the end containing one photograph from each shoot. If you are expecting we can add a pregnancy shoot on for only £20 (shoots normally cost £50).

Call us today on 01344 870033 or email hannah@artisstudios.com for more information.

*babies up to 6 months may be excepted - contact us for more details.

Hannah

January Sale

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 14:35:00 -0500

We are back for a new year and what better way to start the year off than with a sale! We are offering 25% off all frames and canvases bought before January 31st. We are also offering 15% off prints, accent blocks and studio canvases. This offer applies to past customers, both wedding and portraits, and future customers. This is a great time to book a shoot and as long as your viewing is in January you can take advantage of these great deals.

We have lots of new products and packages for 2010, which I am sure we will be dedicating a few blog posts too as we get the new samples in. We have lots of great packages for our cherubs baby club customers. If you have a baby under 4 months old, the cherubs baby club offers you three shoots throughout your babies first year and a lovely three image folder at the end for £65. This makes a great gift for new parents, and we can personalise gift vouchers for you.

Our new years resolution is to try and write a new blog post every week, as we have loads to tell you - just not enough time to write it!

A Christmas Blog

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 12:55:00 -0500

23rd December and we have officially finished for Christmas. All pick ups have been made and despite the recent bad weather it looks like everyone was able to get their photos in time.

It has been a really busy but wonderful year for us. The end of the year is always hectic and this year was no exception. Several wedding couples wanted their album in time to show people at Christmas and family photos make excellent presents, so portraits are always busy too.

We have had a lot of fun with the snowy weather. Hannah was out on a location portrait shoot in Windlesham just as the snow started to fall, so that was great timing to get some brilliant photos. The next day we also arranged for one of our cherubs boys, now on his walking shoot, to have some photos in the snow. Here are some photos from these shoots, as well as a few Christmas card shoots we have done recently.

We hope you all have a great Christmas and New Years and looking forward to a great 2010!

Kat and Hannah

Sir Cliff Richard

Sat, 12 Dec 2009 10:37:00 -0500

We recently had the great pleasure of having celebrity London photographer Alan Olley requesting to use our studio for an afternoon. He needed to do some photos for Sir Cliff Richard and he lives very locally to our studio and has a very busy schedule. We were only too happy to accomodate them.

It was really great to meet Cliff - he was lovely guy and very easy to talk to. It was also great watching him work as he knows exactly what he is doing and what he wants. He did some PR photos, but also did some shots for his new album that he's looking forward to bringing out.

Alan was kind enough to send us over some of the photos from the shoot (you can see our stool in one of the photos!). Hopefully he will be back with other celebrity friends another time!

Up and coming actress and male dancer...

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 03:18:00 -0500

We run a popular model scheme aimed at individuals starting out in the industry and are building their portfolio. I had the pleasure of working with a couple both in performing arts who wanted their own set of model photos. We took a couple of hours with a variety of outfits and ended the shoot by going to a local park to try some more 'urban' shots!

I had great fun with the couple who were both completely natural in front of the camera and gave 100% to every shot I set up. Because of this we got some fantastic photos and they both show immense potential for their future.

Hannah

Forever on the Dance Floor...

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 10:53:00 -0400

London weddings give us a great opportunity to experiment with a more urban setting so were incredibly excited about a Civil Partnership we had lined up at Soho House, London.

Having shot at other Soho House Group hotels we were looking forward to a stylish setting and were not disappointed. The majority of the day was spent up on the stylish, open air roof deck of Soho House and we were granted fantastic weather to complement the setting.

The highlight of the day was definitely the entrance the brides made into the ceremony. After being inspired from an American wedding on You Tube, Dawn and Karen rallied their own dancers to create their own dancing entrance to the wedding. What started as a normal ceremony erupted into music and dancing by the wedding party, followed by the two brides. Search for JK Wedding Dance on Youtube to really appreciate the effect!

A lot of fun and some wicked photos - we particularly loved the sunglasses!

Kat

Venue from the movies!

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:56:00 -0400

It was a great experience to shoot at the famous Stoke Park Country Club in Buckinghamshire a few weeks ago for a beautiful wedding.

This venue has been in lots of films including Wimbledon, Bride & Prejudice and Layer Cake. Layer Cake's dramatic ending with Daniel Craig and Sienna Miller was filmed on the mansion steps, where we did some big group shots and got lots of great casual photos.

There were so many beautiful places to take advantage of! As well as the great columns on the steps, the fountain and the stunning interiors, we also took a ride on a 6 seater golf buggy down to the lake and took some family photos. Simon and Fee had 5 kids, so it was great to do some natural photos in such a beautiful setting.

Kat

A Wedding on the Green

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 05:54:00 -0400

We photographed a great wedding at Pennyhill Park hotel earlier this month with fantastic photographic weather - a slight breeze and moody clouds!

I was aware that golf was important to the wedding day as the groom is a pro golfer. We took this opportunity to take the bridal party down to the green to test out the couples skills.

Despite being a pro golfer, Cliff needed a few too many attempts to putt the ball. He was adamant that it was due to the borrowed clubs! Nonetheless we got some wonderful shots and had a lot of fun.

Once the rest of the wedding party went back to the house, we spent a bit longer with just the bride and groom to get some lovely shots around the grounds. Brilliant day!

Hannah

Wedding at the University

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 12:39:00 -0400

I have driven past the Royal Holloway in Egham many a time and have often thought it would be a brilliant venue for a wedding. I was proved right a few weeks ago when I had a great wedding with a really chilled out couple who were up for exploring the grounds to get the best out of the venue.

The sky was perfect and there was also a slight breeze that was great for getting blowing dress photos! There were so many great locations that we really enjoyed using them all. The columns inside were great for some groomsmen shots and made a fantastic backdrop for all the casual guest photos.

The bride and groom shots came out particularly well, and I have included a few of my favourites to show you.

Kat

Boys v Girls

Sat, 12 Sep 2009 13:04:00 -0400

My wedding at The Royal Berkshire a few weeks ago started at the grooms flat with all the groomsmen where I found out that the evenings entertainment was a dance off between the bride & bridesmaids and the groom & groomsmen. The guys casually mentioned that they had no specific plan at that stage and they would see what the alcohol brought out. I knew that it was set to be an interesting day!

I then met up with the bride and bridesmaids to find them practicing for their dance off with choreographed dance routines. Although we hadn't been hired into the evening so I wouldn't get to see it, I had a pretty good idea at that point who was going to win.

It was boys v girls when we set up the confetti shot, boys on one side, girls on the other all throwing as much confetti as they could. Later the competitiveness continued with a spur of the moment catwalk competition, with each member strutting their best moves!

Ben and Sarah had such good fun with their friends, it really came through in the photos. Excellent day!

Hannah

My sisters wedding

Sun, 06 Sep 2009 15:02:00 -0400

It was great to experience the other side of a wedding recently when I was chief bridesmaid for my sister Beckie's big day.

8am found me at her house taking part in the morning preperations this time without a camera (it took some getting used to!). The wedding ceremony took place at St Nicholas Church in Hurst with the reception at Cantley Manor, Wokingham.

Although I am biased, the bride looked amazing! The groom (now brother in law) scrubbed up pretty well too. The day was great fun and the photos definitely showed off Rob and Beckies personalities (check out the car photo!).

Kat and her assistant took care of most of the photography as I was supposed to be off duty, but couldn't resist taken a few of the bride and groom shots.

A brilliant day - thanks Becky!
Hannah