Lance Pilbrow Photography

Last wedding of the season, so nice to go out on a high note with my brother Avon and his wife Tomo’s big day. Everything pretty much went to plan, great weather, fun bridal party – and nice to actually know some people at a wedding for a change. You know you are taking a photo with a Japanese theme when everyone does the ‘peace’ hand sign for the group photo Other highlights had to be Tomo’s forcing the ring onto Avon’s hand with a bit of brute force, and her speech – for english as a second language, she has sure mastered the art of telling a joke. (Still not sure which Simpson character she was likening my brother to – and with a lot of people saying we share a strong resemblance this was a little concerning for me too…) Anyway, enjoy the pics! (click on them to see larger copies).

Another great Tauranga wedding! Cam and Rachel had flown all the way home from Vancouver for their special day and had organised the whole thing from abroad… No easy task! They must have done something right as the whole day went off without a hitch. Some great locations, perfect weather and a fun group made things easier on my part too, and we even nailed a sunset shot just to put the icing on the cake. Thanks guys – great day!

Wedding photography is a tricky game, there is so much out of your control. The constant challenge is to be able to come up with something creative, unique, gorgeous, etc etc… all with often very little control over some significantly determining factors. The couple choose the location, (for better or worse) the weather might not play its part, usually things run late, and then there is the biggest factor of personalities…. Needless to say, it throws it’s fair amount of curve balls at the budding wedding photog.

However, some times the planets just seem to align and you find yourself in wedding photography heaven. The location has so much potential that you could shoot there for a week and not run out of ideas, the weather is that perfect mix of cloudy with a light breeze, not to hot, not to cold – just right, the bride and groom look like they could walk straight on to the cover of a bridal magazine, and everything about the day just seems to be working out. Heck, we even got through the family photos in record time! Anyway, Rob and Dales wedding at Woodlands was such a day! Loved every moment of it.

I first met Graeme at Carey where he was making me a wicked coffee, we got to chatting (Graeme likes to chat… as all good baristas should) and I got the impression that he was the kind of guy that would give you the shirt off his back if you asked him for it. I met Sarah at a bar in Ellerslie and within about 5 minutes it felt like I was with old friends. That’s just the kind of couple these guys are. Warm, welcoming, and always with a smile on their dial. Great day in Wellington for their wedding, sun came out, wind came up, hair went all over the place (1 groomsmen included!), but good times all round.

 

Classic Jag for the car, gorgeous winery for location, super chilled out bride and groom (not to mention super easy to get along with!), this was such a fun day, Stunning weather, plenty of ‘happy tears’ shed (or was that sun-block Matt?), and two dentists flashing there perfect smiles, you couldn’t help but have a good time at this wedding. Some great wine and jazz didn’t hurt either. Thanks for a great day Matt & Rudi – you guys are awesome!

Well this wedding was always going to be fun – Blair and Kelly were the opposite of camera shy – I knew this before the day… what I didn’t know was that it was  nigh on impossible to get a photo without them both flashing their perfect smiles. Add to that some very cool locations, a gorgeous bridal party, a thorough plan for the day and some vintage planes and we couldn’t really go too far wrong. Well, the day did provide a few challenges, but regardless we came away with a few bangers. Here’s a taste…

The year is moving quickly to a close, which means wedding season has kicked into gear! Got things off to a great start with Kelly and Angus and their fantastic day at the Cathedral in Hamilton. The weather was..well.. changeable, raining one minute and crazy bright the next, but we all dodged and weaved and got some great shots in the end. A fun day with a great bunch of people. Here’s a taste…

If you like what you see – spread the word! Bookings still available for March 2012 onwards.

Cheers!

I saw a photo similar to this somewhere a while back and thought if I can convince Julia to let me take it, then, well, it would be quite fun.

Any day now…

LP

Well we had had a good run with the weather over the last few weeks. Which made me a little nervous about the wedding of Jono and Ana coming up. Would the golden run hold out till then? As it turns out… no… no it didn’t. It rained, and it rained, and then just when we thought it might stop, it rained some more. However, we weren’t going to let that put a damper on things, Ana & Jono had a good plan B option, and most importantly, some fantastic clear umbrellas! We got some gorgeous shots on the train tracks, and also learnt a thing or two about how quickly a bride in heels can move when you hear an ominous rumbling sound approaching…

PS: Loving the blue dress!

This is an idea that I had been toying with for a little while, and finally got a chance to do one on the fly for Alana’s wedding. Kinda liked the results.

LP