I flew through London to Glasgow, jumped off the plane and shot a wedding the next day:

The wedding took place at the  Glengoyne Highland  whiskey  distillery and we all enjoyed the generously poured high-quality scotch!  wowsa!!

Congratulations Gerry and Jenny – thanks for bringing me to your wedding!

I had an  awesome  time visiting the clubbing scene in Glasgow and partying till 3am – at that latitude the sun rises at that hour and I got to experience my first Celtic ‘time between’ with a beautiful sunset departing Gelengoyne, and a sunrise after dancing all night through the packed clubs of Glasgow.  

Ever recognize someone the first time you meet them?

Well a highlight of my year went that way when I met my now friend Steve Yates, who was kind enough to let me stay at his home this summer in the Lake District of the United Kingdom.  He’s a wedding photographer in this legendary landscape. and if you’re daring enough to click that link you’ll see some amazing wedding images.  If you imagine me, as a scotsman, and ten years older – well – that’s Steve, a climber, adventurer, and photographer and all round nice guy!  Well, here’s a photo to end my blabbing on:

And his family with whom I stayed in the Lake District

Ever recognize something the first time you hear it?

Well it was the same when Steve had some John Martyn playing the Sunday morning I was headed for the train…We were drinking coffee in the back garden shown above.  I instantly wanted to know who it was, and he informed me – and sent me on my way with a few tracks.  I’d like to pass on his recommendation and this two disk set (available as download also) retrospective for your consideration over the weekend. The album is Sweet Little Mysteries: The Island Anthology The Amazon reviewer glows:

“Martyn has the whiskey-soaked voice of (fellow scotsman) Rod Stewart with Louie Armstrong thrown in, the spiritual intensity of Van Morrison and the jazzy folk sound of Joni Mitchell.  
I’ve never heard anything quite like it. All of his songs are melodic and interesting and some, like “one world,” “small hours” are transcendent and as beautiful as any music i’ve ever heard.”

The history on Martyn goes back through the seventies and I don’t know why he’s not more recognized than he is – cause in my perception he deserves it.  Take a listen with this player:

I’ve now used two of his songs in my slideshows, and we’ll see what else may develop in the future.

The WPJA awarded my photo from New Zealand 4th place in it’s quarterly awards:

However the judges comments went like this:

But I have to comment on this category in general. There were so many pictures of people walking away from the photographers that it puzzled me. I saw so many pictures with stunning light in other categories that I wondered what the photographers were thinking when they got to this category. All of the moments and good storytelling went away.

Who is this judge that feel’s so strongly that there’s no story from this image that they take the liberty to complain about my photo as exemplary of the category? Boy does that sting.  In my experience this goes to strengthen the stereotype that ‘photojournalistic’ images are ‘careless snapshots in black and white’ and doesn’t work toward showing how good photojournalist can transcend the basic elements of what’s happening and make an image with stronger themes. IN contrast I would love to hear Sister Wendy discuss the results.

Realistically, when you’re up there your eyes are glued to the splendor that’s enveloping you! When the couple looks at the camera the image loses it’s compelling fixation on the mountain. When you’re there, just as in the picture, it feels like you can reach out and touch it. In my picture I worked to transcend the basic experience of being dropped off on the side of a mountain by helicopter, and tried to capture gesture and pair forms that form an allegory for the wedding experience.  I was looking for body language that helped describe the awe we all felt.

It’s funny how every time I hand out the business card with this image on it, the response is – “did you photoshop the background?” Nope, I was really there – and the story of this image, doesn’t just begin when the shutter clicked. You see, it was my vision to wait until the very last minute to get the sunset on the mountain because I was in complete control of where and when the helicopter landed. In this position to get the perfect light, we’re in danger of being surrounded by clouds moving up the mountain. Here is a picture of Nigel, our pilot on the lookout for clouds coming in.

The only reason we were able to make this picture is because of Nigel’s experience, daring and willingness. He told us that on his warning we would have to be back in the chopper within 1 minute, because if a cloud covers us – we can’t take off – because the pilot flys visually. The helicopter is perched on loose stones, and Nigel got out and propped us up with extra stones before he would let us get out. The helicopter is idling with the blades spinning so we can make a quick takeoff. On the port side of the bird, there’s probably only two meters to the edge of the cliff from the rotor tips. So Nigel has made a pretty difficult landing at my request, so that I can capture this scene.

From this angle, you can see the clouds at our elevation across the valley.

Oh boy wouldn’t I have loved to had the time to get to the Tasman Peak & Ben Ohau Mountain Range side of the valley to land the couple on the west facing ridges – but that will have to wait until next time. From that side I could get more of the turquoise hues of the glacially fed Lake Pukaki also. Just plan your destination wedding at the Luxurious Mt. Cook Hermitage Hotel and I’ll be there to make unforgettable images with you!

So as a bride which would you be satisfied with a few snapshots from the top of the mountain, or would you want something that transcended your experience? something with allegorical intent?

The image of Joel and rebecca walking on Mount Dark in New Zealand places as a Gold image in the June competition by the British Professional Photographers Association + Society of Wedding and Portrait Photographers in the United Kingdom.
… Read more

I just uploaded three new events to www.Make Love Real.com for viewing and ordering prints from your wedding events!

We have everything from Rochester NY to the Scottish highlands!

I’ll update you with the stories behind all these images through the next week or two.

What will the ceremony backdrop look like?

Better than poster quality!

Hairstyling can usually produce some laughable images.

And It’s always gratifying to tease your younger brother while you tie his necktie for him.

But he did end up looking pretty handsome.

It was dimples all day for Rebecca.

A few more teaser shots while I work on the multimedia presentation…

Rebecca’s preparation

I tie Joel’s necktie for him.

Joel awaits takeoff for his mountainside wedding.

Just one more teaser post before the full set of images are available at www.MakeLoveReal.com

Here’s a quick preview of Joel and Rebecca’s wedding photos, all my new Kiwi inlaws drop your e-mail in the comments and I’ll notify you when all the pictures are available on www.MakeLoveReal.com

Make your photos as unique as your location!

Bahamas Destination beach award winning wedding photojournalist.

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Exuma

Grand Cay, Abaco
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I am proud to introduce, the redesign of www.NeilCowley.com….

Yes, thank you, thank you, please hold your applause.

The site that used to host everything, got way too big, way too confusing now hosts a simple wedding portfolio, and to introduce that I’m posting a podcast version of the main gallery here, but do check in to the www.NeilCowley.com gallery and view the fullscreen, high resolution view of this show as it will certainly knock your socks off as you view the photos in high  resolution  clarity and brilliance.

Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes to get your mobile copy of the slideshow.

We would sincerely appreciate your help in both referring us to your friends who will appreciate our services, but also communicating with the myriad of clients you may not meet or know by reviewing our work online. We must cast a broad net to reach each year’s new clients because we don’t serve the same (wedding) client twice. So while we know many of you have made financial sacrifices to hire us, your minute or two effort here will save our future clients the additional costs of more advertising.

Add our site to your favorite bookmark service:

Review our services on external sites and please click each of these links:

1. Review Make Love Real at WeddingWire.
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4. Add our site to your Favorites as a Technorati user.
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7. We Rank with North Carolina Top Wedding Sitesâ„¢

Social Network with Neil:

1. Friend Neil on Facebook: (by far the most useful and used) if you’re not already our client, send me a note to let me know why you’re friending me.
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3. Linked in: professional networking
4. Twitter: neilcowley
5. Neil’s Flickr account where many of the images here are hosted, and much of the teaching/instructional images are found for:
6. www.MakeLightReal.com – Neil’s creative journal if you’re interested in learning about the creative process or technical photo stuff.
7. Open Source Photo – a free discussion forum for beginner wedding photographers.

You can find us listed online in these directories:

• Behance – Creative Portfolios
• ASMP – American Society of Media Photographers – Neil is also an accomplished commercial and advertising photographer.
• Wedding Wire Charlotte NC Wedding Photographers
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• listed at million blog list
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• Photo.net – Neil Cowley’s profile page
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• – Photo Ring Photography Blog listings
• Boudoir South CarolinaCharleston, South Carolina’s top Boudoir and Glamour Photographer servicing Charleston, Summerville, Folly Beach, Mt. Pleasant, Isle of Palms, James Island, Moncks Corner, Goose Creek, North Charleston and surrounding areas in South Carolina.
• photographers for weddings, corporate and commercial advertising
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