Welcome to see the second part of the fashion look book shoot for The Corner Theatre. Thank you to the venue United Six Studio’s, make up artist Vibeke Dahl, and our models Jenny and Emma. You can see the first batch of images in this post: Corner Theatre Fashion Look Book and if I manage to learn how to attach video to posts I will show you the behind the scenes video I shot on set…

I have some pretty cool projects coming up, but it’s all to fresh for me to spill the beans just yet. I can tell you though that it is another collaboration with The Corner Theatre aimed at all you photography enthusiasts out there…

I’m also in the process of re-buildning my website (and have been the last two years at least!). My problem is that I can’t completely make up mind and stick to a concept for my brand, Cecelina Photography. I know what I want it to mean to people, my clients, but how to fully convey that in a visual way? I am also a fast consumer if images (do a shoot, be overly excited over the images, loose interest in the images, move on to the next shoot) so one day I feel like doing a grungy and cool street wear shoot and the next day I want to do a vintage bridal shoot with pastel colours.  I find this to be one of the most difficult thing for a photographer – to create your own style – and then stick to it!

Exciting things to come for sure! My new website will reflect more of my personality and incorporate my wedding photography with the fashion in a way I haven’t seen any other photographer do yet anywhere on the web. If only the week had 9 days instead of 7…!

All images in this post have been shot with Canon 5D Mark II + Canon 24-70mm f2.8 L USM as well as one soft box from Elinchrome.T-shirt Designer Fashion Shoot – Tee Designs Look Book – The Corner Theatre Designer

I’ll let you have a look at this fashion look book in a minute, but first I got to say: Ah, I can’t wait for the weekend! Not because I feel the stress of work (you rarely do that when your job also is your hobby), but rather for the fact that on Saturday I will go skiing for the first time in over 10 years! I have mentally prepared to look like a fool in the slopes and I feel quite calm now that I have realised I probably will fall and injure myself – why worry about the inevitable? A proper update to follow that, but now to the good stuff – my fashion look book shoot collaboration with London designer The Corner Theatre .

This is only the first part of the images we shot in a studio in central London, Piccadilly Circus. The Corner Theatre is a cool up-and-coming brand with iconic prints with quite a playful approach. I especially like the way they can be worn in a stylish fashion outfit (like the images below) or with a pair of jeans! Make sure you also check out their Facebook page: The Corner Theatre On Facebook, like it and be updated with new cool designs. They do both men’s and women’s tees, though we only shot female models, so don’t miss out on that on their website.  I’m really happy with the photos I must say, that wall paper is just mesmerising… For you photography nerds (like me) you can see that I’ve magnified the effect of the pattern by shooting from a low angle. Enjoy!

The Corner Theatre Fashion Lookbook – London Fashion PhotographyEight Ball Design T-shirt – Look Books LondonFashion-able Fashion Look Book For The Corner TheatreUK Look Book Photographers

Behind the scenes images from the mini fashion shoot from yesterday! We shot in the club/restaurant called Grace on Picadilly and though we only were there for a couple of hours, we managed to get some pretty cool stuff on camera! As excited as I become when photographing, I have already edited all the images, but will keep them to myself for a day or two just to tease (must give you an incentive to come back, right?).

The collaboration was between the club, the creative people on set and the T-shirt designer The Corner Theatre. I was lucky enough to have my intern on set (on her last day!), but was sad to say goodbye now  that she’s going home to Sweden. I’ve realised how much easier everything is having an assistant. I might try to find someone permanently…

I also filmed a bit on my Canon 5D Mark II and have made a little behind the scenes video. Don’t know if I will actually put it online as my film editing skills are not coming close to my still photography editing. Could be embarrassing..? It’s fun to discover the full potential of your camera though.

Photography Assistant London – Make Up Artists London – Fashion Photography Shoots – The Corner Theatre

I’d like to take a moment to introduce my intern who have been staying with me for one week already. Her name is Anja and have travelled to London from Sweden to spend some time with me and learning about my business. She wasn’t a great fan of being photographed, but I snapped some quick shots when we were out on a portrait shoot last Friday. And doesn’t she look gorgeous! Below is a little description and some words from herself about the internship!

“My name is Anja Falck and I’m an eighteen-year-old girl from Stockholm, Sweden. I live at home with my mom, dad and my two little sisters. This fall, I started my senior year at the high school Young Business Creatives where I attend the Business Creative program. It is a specially designed social and economic program with focus on entrepreneurship, business and media. I chose this school for its focus on innovation and I believe that this program suits me very well because I’m a very ambitious. We work a lot with projects but also do individual tasks and the balance between these suits me well because I’m good at working both with others and by myself. I’m very innovative and creative. I like to see solutions both to problems and situations that provides a more effective work and/or completion. In addition I feel that this school provides a good insight of what the world of work has to offer and I really feel urged to give myself into. My spare time I spend with friends, otherwise I study, practice football and other sports. I love to always have something to do.

I have plans to move to London sometime in the future and saw my internship as an opportunity and a step in the right direction. My interest in photography has always existed and grown over time. Therefore, I think that my internship at Cecelina Photography is a great way to get an insight into what it is like working as a self emloyed photographer.” – Anja

At the portrait shoot where Anja shot video with my Canon 5D Mark II. Looking forward to showing you the result! (Editing video is fun!)

Tagged: canon 5d, intern photographer, internship london photographer, photo assisting, uk photography internship ]]> http://cecelinaphotography.wordpress.com/2012/02/15/the-intern-at-cecelina-photography/feed/ 0 London Photography Internship cecelinaphotography Intern London Photographer London Photography Internship http://cecelinaphotography.wordpress.com/2012/02/11/portrait-photographer-london-winter-portraits/ http://cecelinaphotography.wordpress.com/2012/02/11/portrait-photographer-london-winter-portraits/#comments Sat, 11 Feb 2012 18:37:18 +0000 cecelinaphotography http://cecelinaphotography.wordpress.com/?p=2183 ]]>

Winter Portrait Photographer – Portrait Photography London

This Friday I headed up to Hampstead for a portrait shoot with my Intern Anja and model-for-the-day Emma to shoot some winter portraits in the newly fallen snow. Emma wanted natural and relaxed images she could give to her mother. We were lucky enough to find clear skies and un-trampled snow in a cosy winter landscape. The sun was low in the sky and as I love backlit portraits I was overjoyed! We spent about an hour and a half in North London and these are some of the resulting images. Let me know in the comments field which set of images you like the best!

My lovely intern Anja from Sweden shot behind the scenes images and video (!), which we will put together to showcase more of what actually goes on on a winter portrait session. It will show me goofing around, helping Emma with posing and hopefully it will come across how much fun we all are having shooting portraits.

Although Emma is beautiful, her personality is more so and that’s what I want the images to show off! I work regularly with people and couples who don’t particularly love being in front of the camera, but a London portrait session is a great way to have some stunning portraits of yourself, while also having a super great time in a very relaxed environment. I had so much fun, hoping this year will bring me tons of portrait shoots!

All images shot using Canon 5D Mark II or Canon 50D + Canon 50mm USM L f1.4For quotes and availability for London portrait photography, please email your enquiry to info@cecelinaphotography.com

Hi there Internet!

I feel I’ve been quite absent from the blog and everything lately. It has to do with me currently re-locating and trying to find a new home here in London. When starting to look I had a bit of a shock, when realising how incredible expensive renting a property has become just in the last year. And although trying to sort out the bad places before taking the time to view them, I have a few horror stories of places with mould up and down the walls… I’ve had to put quite a lot of effort into this house hunting so posts on the blog have become quite irregular, but now is the time to change that! The last two nights I’ve dreamt about shooting weddings, just to wake up and be so disappointed that I didn’t actually have the amazing images I took. (I think it’s time to arrange some shoots). I am working on a few different projects and taking on quite various photography jobs. This Friday I photographed a Bat Mitzvah in West Hampstead, a first for me!

The Intern

This week I can proudly present the Cecelina Photography Intern! Her name is Anja and will be with me for two weeks, learning about my business, marketing, photography, Photoshop and all other things I’ve learnt to run a photography business. She will document, follow me on shoots and even guest blog here. In the meantime I thought I would take the opportunity to talk about my different websites as I know people have found it confusing at times… (I apologise for the rather un-stylish image, threw it together in Photoshop just to illustrate).

My site and blog www.CecelinaPhotography.com (on which you read right now) I will post fashion shoots, behind the scenes images, wedding photography stories, retouch projects and personal things from my life. You can also find a selection of my wedding portfolio, fashion portfolio and retouching portfolio. At the bottom of this page you can sign up for email alerts whenever I post something new, find my Facebook Page and follow me on Twitter. You can also search and find old posts by category, like fashion, behind the scenes, weddings and Photoshop/retouch. If you want to make my day, please post a comment in the box below and let me know what you think, what you’d like to read about or anything else that comes to mind!

On www.WeddingsByCecelina.com I have collected my wedding photography portfolio, wedding collections and prices, questions about wedding photography coverage and a little about me. Visit the site here: Weddings By Cecelina.

♥

All crystal clear? Then I’ll leave you to do some more flat hunting and I’ll be happy to introduce you properly to my intern in the next blog post!

Here are the edited images from the Bridal Jewellery Photography Shoot I worked on with make up artist Gurvinder Hunjan last weekend. Thank you beautiful model Nicole for your excellent work! We did the shots in a simple studio style with plain background and natural pose. Would love to do a more editorial jewellery shoot, will put something together for this summer (honestly I can’t wait for flowers to bloom and sunshine and being able to do outdoor shoots without freezing til near death).

I’ve got quite a lot on my plate right now, doing a couple of shoots and meeting bridal couples as well as doing pre wedding shoots and all admin, papers, letters, emails… In the process of printing wedding albums and coffee books too, so sitting up late editing and planning my photography year. I have a good feeling about 2012…

Bridal Photography London – Jewellery Fashion Shoot London – UK Wedding Photographer

I love Mondays! I had a very busy weekend meeting with two lovely bridal couples and also managed to squeeze in a bridal jewellery fashion shoot in South London with two models and an incredible amount of bridal jewellery to choose from! There were mainly wedding jewellery head pieces and head bands, but also a few hair clips (that’s what you call them right? My wedding jewellery lingo is not completely up to date!). We did several shots using my portable studio lights Elinchrom D-lite 4, two soft boxes, and used the wall as a backdrop. I’m planning to write a little ‘before and after’ post of shots edited and how they look coming straight from the camera, to show some examples on how ‘retouching’ is so much much more than what people generally think (as in re-shaping bodies), stay stunned for that one!

So here are the behind the scenes images I took while talented Make Up Artist Gurvinder Hunjan did the bridal hair and make up on the models. We had an intense photo session lasting only 4 hours and now I’m just on to editing the final images to send them off to the client!

All images are shot using natural light and my Canon 5D Mark II + Canon 50mm f1.4 L USM

 Bridal Jewellery Fashion Shoot London – Make Up Artist Weddings – Bridal Make Up – Wedding Jewellery – Photography London UK

Questions To Ask Your Wedding Photographer – And Why Not To Listen To Some Wedding Blogs

Ok, all brides have one. And every wedding photographer knows about it. It’s The List. The list of “100 things you have to ask your wedding photographer unless you want your wedding to be a disaster!”. I’m not saying you should’t ask your potential wedding photographer things like “Do you have insurance?” or “Have you any experience in shooting in dark churches?”, especially if your wedding ceremony is taking place in a particularly dark church. I am saying though, that I think there are far too many brides out there who become too stressed from every single list they have to make sure they have ticked off and checked. Today there’s so much wedding stuff out there on the web you get confused just by a simple search, I am in the wedding industry myself, but I get confused too. In this post I will tell you exactly what is important when you are deciding on a wedding photographer and hopefully make you a little bit more relaxed around the subject.

I recently went to the SWPP convention in London and  listened to several brilliant photographers and marketers. One of them was Khara Plicanic, a Nebraska based wedding photographer (and I can greatly recommend going to one of her seminars if you have the possibility). She talked about the book and study “Paradox of choice” by phycologist Berry Schwartz, who claims that if you eliminate consumer choices you greatly reduce stress and anxiety for the shoppers. She likened it with you going to the supermarket and choosing between 200 different chocolate bars. When finally making your choice (which one is the best one? What if I change my mind later?) you will feel regret that you might have made the wrong choice but also have incredible expectations of the product chosen, due to the reject over so many others (I spent so much time choosing this, it’s better be the best chocolate I’ve ever tasted). In many respects, the wedding industry (and wedding photographers uk included) does the same to it’s brides. Though we think choice is the same as freedom, it can actually cripple your success in actually making a choice in the first place.

So all  those articles “Things your wedding photographer never tells you” or “100 most important things when it comes to your wedding photography” complete with checklist, might give the brides (I say brides as they traditionally are making most decisions about the wedding) information overload, create a seemingly difficult task (there’s so much choice and so many things I need to know in order to choose my wedding photographer) and make them put off the decision (classic procrastination). I am saying; I am your wedding photographer, you shouldn’t have to worry about all those questions. You pay me good money to deal your wedding in a professional manner and deliver an exceptional product, I should tell YOU what you need to know about wedding photography!

How To Choose Your Wedding Photographer

I feel that one of the most important thing when it comes to choosing a wedding photographer is chemistry. Chemistry between you and the images you see on the website, when you see the photographer’s images and get that feeling of anticipation and longing for you own day. But also chemistry between you and the wedding photographer himself or herself. Many couples oversee the importance of really clicking with this person (stranger) that will be very close to you all day with a big, sometimes intimidating camera, during one of the most emotional days of your life. You need to trust that photographer to be respectful of your space (to know when NOT to take that picture, yes that happens), respectful of the moment (if you can’t move like a ninja during the ceremony, you should stand still on a spot carefully chosen to not take the focus off the bride and groom) and professional enough to tell you what you need to know (without you spending hours and hours on internet looking for lists of what to ask your wedding photographer).

Don’t let the planning of your wedding stress you out, your photographer is there to help you. For me the wedding photography starts long before the wedding, with helping the couple plan their coverage, timings for group photos, find locations, help with wedding vendor contacts, discuss inspiration and give tips on posing if they’re not very comfortably in front of the camera already. I realise this is not every photographer’s cup of tea (some just want to show up, snap away and deliver the wedding photos later), but it is something that I want to be incorporated in my brand and wedding experience for my clients.

Who’s Responsibility Is It?

I always make sure that when a bride and groom has booked me to be their wedding photographer, the responsibility is taken off their hands. They only need to be there on the day of the engagement shoot and the wedding day and the rest is taken care of by me. This is why I tell you not to listen to all those wedding blogs (at least not to the extent that it makes you worried or stressed) and make sure you choose your wedding photographer because you like the photos and you like the wedding photographer himself or herself.

If you tell me that you absolutely love light and colourful and bright early summer day images but in reality you are getting married at 6pm in the deepest darkest winter, I will let you know that your images probably won’t look exactly that way you imagined. Light is every photographer’s best friend and the lack of it calls for more of a challenge. Instead we can come up with a plan to bring in additional light or you might even consider having the ceremony earlier during the day? Also many wedding blogs and wedding photographer’s portfolios feature staged wedding shoots that sometimes can take hours to set up with lights, wardrobe and locations. Usually those shoots take place at a day other than the wedding day, something many photographers fail to mention to their wedding couples.

So Should I Ignore All Those Lists Then?

For me it is more important than being handed a list of important shots to be taken (shoes, bride’s flowers, details of the dress, groom with best man, first kiss and so on) to get to know your personalities a bit more (because you trust me enough now to know that I will get all those shots for you anyway, right?). If the wedding ring is a heirloom from your grandmother or that the wedding cake is made by your favourite aunt who’s obsessed with the colour pink, then that is more important for me to know as I can incorporate those details in the storytelling and reportage way of the day. Finally, I will of course answer all of your 100 or 200 questions if it makes you feel more comfortable! I just ask you  not to focus heavily upon information overload wedding blogs but instead go for your gut feeling!

Hope you have been a little bit helped by this text, if you like my photography, why not check out my special wedding photography website Weddings By Cecelina, with my full portfolio, wedding collections and other goodies. Or visit my Facebook page and ‘like’ and let me know what you think!

xxx

Wedding Photography Tips For Couples – Reportage Wedding Photographer – Questions To Ask Your Wedding Photographer – Wedding Blogs

Central London Wedding Photographer – Wedding Photography Questions – Wedding Photographers UK

Marylebone Town Hall Wedding – Civil Ceremony Registry Office – Wedding Photographer Central London

David and Charlotte, the groom and bride, got married at the Marylebone Town Hall in Central London in front of their family and friends. Charlotte wore a green wedding dress that stood out beautifully against her red hair. After the ceremony the wedding guests were whisked off in buses to the reception venue, the Dickens Inn in St Katherine’s Docks, right underneath the wintry lights from Tower Bridge. I followed the bridal couple in order to arrive early at the venue to catch some images of the guests arriving and having champagne. Unfortunately for us the London Mayor was having a big fireworks display and all the streets of London were packed with cars, so we ended up arriving just after the first guests found their way to the reception. First time I’ve spent half an hour in traffic during the middle of a wedding! When arriving at the wedding venue, the bridal couple and I went outside for some relaxed couples pictures underneath the well lit Tower Bridge (great to be just in the middle of central London and near some of London’s most iconic sights!). We stayed out for less than 15 min, this was a November wedding so it was dark and cold outside, even though it was unusually warm for an evening in London in winter.

After some drinks and after they had admired the candlelit reception room and the decorations (just look at that wedding cake made out of cheese!) the guests sat down for the reception dinner. After the speeches and toasts the guests chatted, celebrated and laughed. As this was partly a Danish wedding in London, I felt quite at home as my own language and culture is very similar to the Danes. All David and Charlottes friends were so lovely and relaxed so I got many candid photos as well as more posed portraits that they willingly lined up for! It was a great day and evening and I want to thank David and Charlotte for letting me be part of their day. All the best and may you have a beautiful life together!

November Wedding London – UK Wedding Photographer – Wedding Photography Prices – Wedding Photographer Central London – Dickens Inn Wedding Venue – Tower Bridge Wedding Images

David & Charlotte’s Beautiful November Wedding In Central London

As I do a lot of my wedding photography around London and also abroad and in other parts of the UK, so it is sometimes nice to shoot a central london wedding, right among some of the most famous London Sights, as this is my favourite city. This beautiful wedding took place in November 2011 between Charlotte and David, the wedding ceremony in Marylebone Town Hall and the reception venue was Dicken’s Inn in St Katherine’s Dock. Charlotte’s Danish family flew down for the festivities and brought some nordic energy to the wedding (and some tasty looking danish pastry).

The couple got ready at the Guoman Hotel in St Katherine’s Dock and spent the morning with their friends decorating the reception room with cakes, flowers and table decorations. The theme was Charles Dickens (of course!) and David had spent hours searching out quotes from the books that marked out the table settings for their guests. As November generally is a dark month in London, it was nice to be able to visit the reception before darkness took over, allowing me to photograph the reception in natural light (and then returning in the afternoon after the ceremony to the venue lit by candlelight.

The ceremony took place at Marylebone Town Hall in central London. I love the images of the groom looking out of the window on the wedding guests outside the town hall and awaits the arrival of his bride. And the candid photographs of the wedding guests getting out of the transport in Marylebone. Though prime wedding season tends to be May to September, during the light summer months (and when you can trust the weather a little more) there’s something really charming about a fall and winter wedding as this one. As a central London wedding photographer shooting weddings during the winter, I have the benefit of being able to use lights from the city and the London sights as a backdrop for the couple’s pictures (you’ll see in the next post with the second part of the wedding!)

It was very nice to be able to catch some images of the groom getting ready with his best man. Sometimes this is looked over as the wedding photographer mainly spends time with the bride and her morning preparations. However, if the bride and groom are getting ready near to each other (in this case in the same hotel, but on different floors so they wouldn’t run into each other) it is a great idea to have the wedding photographer go between the rooms to get both perspectives. It tells the story of the day in a true reportage style.  I can also reveal that I only spent about 5 minutes with the groom and best man to get these relaxed shots, so it doesn’t have to take much time from the bride!

Central London Wedding Photographer – Wedding Portrait Photographers – Dicken’s Inn Wedding Venue  - Groom’s Wedding Images – Wedding Photography Blog London – Wedding In London – Candid Wedding Photos – Wedding At St Katherine’s Dock – Bridal Photos

As every photography blog around this time is filled with posts looking back on the past year, I feel I should do the same! But instead of writing a long post about what I have done, I will instead show you a colourful collage of some of my favourite images and moments from the past year. I have had an amazing year, worked really hard I must say, but have made so much progress, more than I ever expected. It has been so fun to form a company, brand, identity and found that people can take so much joy in what I do (and as do I!). Naturally I have big plans for 2012, but not to rush ourselves now…

I can show you some fun facts about my year!

• In July 2010 I had 331 views on this blog, but in July 2011 that number of views had risen to 1257!
• In 2011 alone, my blog was viewed about 20.000 times (incredible!)
• I wrote 78 posts and my most busy day was August 3rd with 584 views
• My most popular post in 2011 was Jewellery Fashion Shoot In Richmond
• 2011 was THE year for Cecelina Photography Facebook ‘likes’, now up to 360!

 

That’s some stats, now what about the other things?

What can we look forward to in 2012 with Cecelina Photography?

If you have been patient enough to read through all this, congratulations! With my Facebook people’s help I want to reach 500 ‘likes’ on my Facebook Fan Page. You can also help if you want! Invite all your friends to my page, because as soon as I reach 500, I will give away five free photoshoots! Ain’t that fantastic!

xxx

Image by Louise Björling

The real mission with this post is to wish you all a very merry Christmas and to thank all my clients from the past year who has helped me making my passion – my career. I have met so many couples in love, talented make up artists, models, stylists, designers and fellow photographers and I wish I will manage to keep in contact with you all. Also thanks to my family and friends (and strangers) who has spread the word about my business, recommended me, followed my blog and ‘liked’ my posts on Facebook. You are an exceptional force of marketing!

A warm GOD JUL to you all!

xx

Tagged: cecelina photography, christmas, photographer, photography, Sweden, swedish winter ]]> http://cecelinaphotography.wordpress.com/2011/12/24/merry-christmas-from-a-not-so-wintry-sweden/feed/ 3 Cecelina Tornberg Photographer cecelinaphotography Cecelina Tornberg Photographer Cecelina http://cecelinaphotography.wordpress.com/2011/12/21/more-burlesque-fashion-with-hotcake-kitty/ http://cecelinaphotography.wordpress.com/2011/12/21/more-burlesque-fashion-with-hotcake-kitty/#comments Wed, 21 Dec 2011 21:22:06 +0000 cecelinaphotography http://cecelinaphotography.wordpress.com/?p=1903 ]]> Vintage Burlesque Fashion Shoot – Madame Jojo’s – London Photographer

Thought I should show some more of the images from the vintage fashion shoot with burlesque dancer Hotcake Kitty as an almost-Christmas-treat. We spent a half day at  the legendary venue Madame Jojo’s in Soho to shoot some promo pics for her tour and I adore the result. Clothes and accessories from Paperdress vintage shop in Shoreditch!

Paperdress vintage fashion

I hope you haven’t missed that I have a special website dedicated to my wedding photography? It is called Weddings By Cecelina and can be found on this link: WeddingsByCecelina or by clicking on the image above. Here I collect my wedding photography portfolio, prices and collections and general information about my wedding coverage as well as testimonials from brides and grooms.

I am such an incredible fan of wedding photography, both shooting and all the resulting images. I love vividly coloured candid photos and classic wedding photography in black and white. When shooting a wedding I work really hard to blend in with the guests to allow them to be relaxed around a big camera and allow me to catch candid images. Recently I got one of the best compliments a wedding photographer can get from one of the guests at the wedding. She told me she was surprised that she didn’t even notice me during the ceremony! And that’s exactly what I strive for. To be respectful and as invisible as possible, while at the same time capture all the most important moments of the day.

Wedding Photography Special Offer

If you are a bride or groom planning your wedding for next year, you will be happy to hear I have a special wedding photography offer rolling right now. It is valid until the first of February for full day wedding collections for 2012, where you will receive a whole 10% discount off the total price of your order. And yes, you will get the same 10% off all photo books and albums! See www.weddingsbycecelina.com and email me to see if I’m available at your date next year!