Ann and David - Ballycotton Cliffs Wedding Couple Shoot / August 9, 2022 by Jan

I am coming right out of the gates with this statement, no beating around the bush, no nothing; I love the photos from this wedding couple shoot!

This post will just focus on the couple photo shoot part of the whole wedding day. The remaining wedding photos of the ceremony and all the celebrations will be posted soon.

The location was Ballycotton, the ceremony took place in the unique Sea Church, and for the couple portrait session we headed off towards the cliff walk. I pride myself in my meticulous preparation for photo shoots, to which regular readers will probably roll their eyes to already, but, importantly, preparation is so important to have these shoots go so seamlessly! And seamlessly it went.

I double checked the location the day of the wedding, just to make sure that the grass was still green after the heatwave we had, that everything looks good, isn’t vandalized or something horrific and that the sea levels are in the right height. Basically, double check that something drastic didn’t happen since the last time I was location scouting. The plan is always, drive the bride as far as possible and have her walk as little as possible! The bride will thank you, the newly dubbed husband will thank you, everyone will be happier!

As part of the wedding portrait photo shoot, I thought it would be interesting to use the life boat in the photos. On an overcast day like that, with not too much colour in the background, I thought it would be a great accent to visually play with. Its highly saturated red and blue hull would be a great addition of colour. It really added something unique to these photos. Plus, it’s such an iconic piece in County Cork that everyone will immediately know where your wedding took place!

It was great to take these following couple photos too, without the life boat. Not all of the couple photos had to have that boat in them. Here I managed to get some really lovely light-hearted but also very intimate moments between the two.

“Here I managed to get some really lovely light-hearted but also very intimate moments between the two.”

And this is where I really have to take a moment and thank the two, Ann and David, for being such a great couple. Not everyone feels comfortable in front of the camera, which is totally understandable. Plus on your wedding day, when you’re feeling so emotional and nervous. I have gotten married this year, and I didn’t recognise the nervous mess I became on that day. I have so much more respect for couples now and a much deeper understanding of what they are going through. Although it’s all positive, it is life changing day after all! I think this understanding is really translating well into my photos.

Ann and David were great. We naturally ended up flying through these shots quite quickly.

Of course we had to include the Ballycotton lighthouse in the background too! I think it’s actually illegal not to.

More photos will follow!

If you would like to book me to photograph your wedding or are interested in a couple portrait photo shoot, you can contact me here. I look forward to meeting you!

Incoming - Baby Shower Photography / July 18, 2022 by Jan

“You don’t run your own wedding decoration company?!”

Wow, look at these decorations! The details, the amount of effort, the time, the love, the abundance. I couldn’t believe this wasn’t done by professionals.

The ice blocks for the prosecco were my favourite. Turns out they were hand made by putting individual flowers with water into a balloon and letting it freeze slowly. I love how they look and will definitely use that decoration trick in the future sometime.

So what is this all about? Well, Alex contacted me out of the blue. I have photographed her and her family before, a mixture of a family portrait shoot and photographing the christening of her daughter (see blog post here).

But today it was all about her friend who was being surprised with a baby shower! I was looking forward to photographing this one. I mean, if the last get together was anything to go by, then I knew it was going to look and be a great one. I mean Alex made such a big effort last time already, what would they be able to achieve as a group? But wow, they blew me away!

Photo shoots like these don’t feel like work at all. I’m surrounded by lovely people, the place looks great and I just get to have a lot of fun with everyone else. Although I do feel really lucky because I seem to say that about almost all photo shoots I have. You are all a lovely bunch! So, thanks for that.

I have done a lot of family portrait photo shoots lately and mixing it up with a baby shower photo shoot was a lot of fun, something different. So if you would like to book me for a baby shower photo shoot, or you’ve missed the boat and would rather like a newborn baby photographer, like the photos I took here, then contact me for a booking!

Thanks to all you lovely people!

Boys Allowed - Family Portrait Photo Shoot / June 16, 2022 by Jan

When someone contacts me about photographing their child’s communion or christening or birthday, I always automatically assume they are talking about their daughters. I’m not sure why but people tend to contact me more to photograph their daughters rather than their sons. So it was a pleasant surprise to hear that it was actually young Ryan who was the centre of attention that day! And boy, did he really grab that concept of being the focal point.

A lot of people tend to feel a bit nervous about getting their photo taken, and I don’t blame them! Even I feel nervous too sometimes when I’m invited to a wedding and I see the photographer, out of the corner of my eye, pointing the camera in my general direction. But Ryan loved having his photo taken. I took my time with him and taught him some poses, which he was only too eager to learn. I used the different locations in Fitzgerald’s Park to suit the pose, and just like that, I managed to get one portrait shot after the other.

We even faked this little scene with the father, where we got him to do some fun touch ups on Ryan’s collar and tie. This was not just a fun little interaction to photograph, but also a great way to get the father involved into the portrait photo shoot.

Quick break from the serious stuff to have some fun!

Then back to do some family group photos. The three of them made this shoot so easy, that we were done in a surprisingly short amount of time, which they appreciated as they needed to get to the church for the communion. I’ve said it before and I’ll stick to saying it again, but this is why I love being prepared and doing some location scouting beforehand. This family photo shoot took place in Fitzgerald’s, one of my favourite spots (also see this family portrait shoot I recently did there), and I’ve been there hundreds of times. But still I insist on arriving early and doing a location scouting. You never know what the light is like on that day, how the flowers are doing, have the roses started blooming yet, is a family having a picnic in your favourite spot? All these things can be quickly checked with a location scouting and will prevent a situation from becoming an issue.

As I’m writing this blog, it’s raining outside, so a big shout out to the sun for appearing on this day! At the moment it feels like the summer is not really coming so I’m just appreciating that it did make an appearance on one of my shooting days! Haha!

Oh and lastly, just wanted to share their review that the mother, Sinead, left me as it’s just too sweet not to include (testimonials for other shoots can also be found here):

“Jannik recently did a photoshoot for our son’s First Communion. We met him down in Fitzgerald’s Park where he picked out some amazing spots for photographs. He made our son feel like he was the most important person in the world that day, which he was. He was very professional and courteous and even had a sneak peak photograph to us later that afternoon. We are thrilled with all the photos we got on the day and really glad Jannik was available to capture our sons special day. I’d highly recommend Jannik.”

Over and out, thanks for reading!