PureWoman - New Home and New Team Member!

I'm sure by now you all know about PureWoman. If not, where have you been? Get yourself over to www.wearepurewoman.co.uk, so we can introduce ourselves. But not until you've read this!

A new team member has joined us: another Sam (well we like to keep things nice and simple!) Sam's full of enthusiasm and has some really creative ideas.

As soon as I met Sam she just "got it". She understood that PureWoman isn't about creating tacky top shelf images, it's all about bringing out the beauty in every woman who comes to us. And she's got some brilliant ideas to ensure that the PW feeling lasts after the shoot: including a digital diary of your make-over: a photographic record to help you recreate your looks when you get home. Genius!

Our other big news is that PureWoman's unique brand of boudoir photography has a new home! The sumptuous but welcoming Allington Manor. We just love Allington. It's a great place to come and be pampered and the perfect back drop for our shoots.

To introduce the world (well Lincolnshire!) to our new venue, we took the lovely Laina and gave her the whole PW experience, to promote a local lingerie shop. The results are in this month's Lincolnshire Pride.

But here's a sneak preview...

Fawsley Hall, Northamptonshire

Here are some pictures from the open day at Fawsley Hall, held yesterday. This was an open day rather than a wedding show, so it was a chance for people to see the venue as it would be laid out for a wedding - without the hustle and bustle of a wedding show.

I was asked by the venue director to come along and take some pictures - and here are some of the results. You can see more at our recent work gallery:- Fawsley Hall Pictures.

Recent Wedding: Phill and Vicky, Petwood Hotel, Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire

We have just uploaded the pictures for Phill and Vicky. They were married in Horncastle and held their reception at the Petwood Hotel, in Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire. Use the link below to see the gallery.

Phill and Vicky's Wedding Pictures.

Today we are off to take pictures for Zoe and David, who will be getting married in Arnold and their reception is at the Priest House, Castle Donington. Tomorrow (Sunday 26th) we will be at the Nottigham Belfry Wedding Show and I will be down at Fawsley Hall, Northamptonshire taking some pictures, as they have an open day - so a busy weekend in store.

Don't forget to become a fan of our Facebook page!

PhotoBooth by PureLight - Brooksby Hall, Leicestershire

PhotoBooth is a great new way to liven up your wedding reception. This is of course in addition to your main photographs. We have just started to offer this service, which can booked entirely separate to your main wedding photographs or it can be added as an extra service. Here are a few pictures from the wedding reception of Chris and Suzi, which was held at Brooksby Hall Leicestershire. You can see all of the pictures and prints can be ordered from the client gallery, just select PhotoBooth.

Wedding Photography at Woodborough Hall

Jade and I photographed at Woodborough Hall back in the summer. They have recently refurbished the house and they are making it available for weddings. It is a very nice venue, with plenty of character and lovely grounds.

Here is a link to a sample album we have recently produced for them:-

Woodborough Hall Sample Album.

PureLight is now on Facebook!

You may have noticed we have added a Facebook share button on our recent work gallery. This means you can add a link to that page to your own Facebook profile - which makes it easier for you to find it and to share with your friends.

For those who use Facebook, we have also created a PureLight group. This group is for all our clients and their friends and family. This is open to invited members only - but we have no issue with genuine requests to join, just ask using the buttons on Facebook.

One of the neat features is we will create a date for when we are due to publish the pictures for each wedding and we will adjust this date so that it is always accurate. This means if you want to track when the pictures will be live for a certain wedding then the PureLight Group is the place to go. You will also find other interesting information that will only be made available to this group, which we will grow and develop over time.

Best wishes, Glen

Czech Me Out!

Hello! I've just returned from Prague (see what I did there?... Prague?... "Czech me out"?.. comedy genius I know)

Yes, a week ago I was whisked off to Prague by the very romantic Andrew for a week of Jazz, goulash and Staropramen. Prague is one of my absolute favourite places so I broke my "no cameras on holiday" rule, just this once! As I know we all love looking at other people's holiday snaps, I thought I'd share some with you...

Prague is just wonderful to get lost in and seems to have more amazing churches per mile than anywhere else on the planet.







However, it's crowning glory is St Vitus' Cathedral. Although you have to climb some VERY steep steps to reach it, it's well worth the effort and the day we finally made it there, we were treated to a spectacular light display:





Prague's other claims to fame are the Charles Bridge, the most beautiful and romantic bridge this side of the Trent and the amazing Jazz scene. If you like your live Jazz then treat yourself to a trip to one of Prague's achingly cool cellar clubs where you'll find everything from fusion to the more traditional stuff. And, oh look, here's the bridge with some Jazz on it:







And finally (yes I know I'm beginning to sound like a Letz travel guide!) the other thing Prague does well is puppets. Their marionette (posh puppets) theatre is world renowned and where we saw the puppet Don Giovanni (you've not seen opera until you've seen puppet opera). A word of caution however: an afternoon of Staropramen combined with an over zealous appreciation of puppet opera can result in buying and then having to fit a 20" Jester puppet into your luggage. He is very lovely though!

Sam (now sponsored by the Czech Tourist Board)

What would you take if your house was on fire?

I recently supplied an album and some pictures to a client, John and his sister Jill, following their lifestyle portrait shoot at Hexgreave Hall Country Estate - and their response to me was he now knew the answer to that well known question: "what one item would you take with you if your house was on fire", the answer being his album of their pictures at Hexgreave Hall. I have to say I was quite humbled.

When John first approached me for some photographs, he said that he wanted some natural pictures of his younger sister Jill, who has downs. His comment was that she has such lovely expressions but whenever he takes a picture she always pulls a 'camera face'.



You can see their album layout by clicking here.

Lincolnshire Wedding Photography

Sticking on the subject of geography, one of our most popular counties is Lincolnshire. Whilst we are based in Nottinghamshire, we are on the border with Lincolnshire. For some strange reason, Sleaford has been a popular location for us this year - perhaps there is something in the air that way!

Some of our favourite venues in Lincolnshire are Branston Hall, near Lincoln, Belton Woods, near Grantham, The Petwood Hotel, near Woodhall Spa, Stoke Rochford Hall, near Grantham, Harlaxton Manor , near Grantham and Allington Manor, also near Grantham.

Stoke Rochford Wedding Photography

I have just uploaded the images for Jason and Caroline's wedding to our recent work pages. This is the third wedding this year we have photographed at Stoke Rochford, which is just south of Grantham. The other two weddings are Robert & Zoe and Ellie & Andrew.

There was a major fire a few years ago at Stoke Rochford and this meant the main hall was completely gutted. Major restoration work followed along with plenty of scaffolding and the main hall was out of use until this summer. It has been beautifully restored and I am sure looks much better now than it did before the fire. There are lovely grounds at Stoke Rochford and inside is equally grand, as you can see from our pictures.

We would certainly recommend Stoke Rochford as a good venue for wedding photography.

Nottinghamshire Wedding Photography

Increasingly our weddings have taken us further afield and over the past 12 months we have photographed weddings in Hampshire, London, Shropshire, North Wales, Herefordshire, Warwickshire, Northamptonshire, Birmingham and Lichfield. Travel is less of an issue when you are providing all-day photography.

We do, of course, though photograph many weddings in our home county of Nottinghamshire. Venues include Colwick Hall, Bestwood Lodge, Holme Pierrepont Hall and Norwood Park.

Wedding photography has changed so much over the past few years and using a local photographer is less important than finding the right photographer for you - well it is if our experience is anything to go by.

Autumn Offers

We have just developed a number of great offers:-

Firstly, you can now find Gifts with Love... on our We Love... pages a great range of gift ideas, ranging from a PureLifestyle portrait shoot, to a PureWoman Experience, a PureLifestyle baby shoot and we have just introduced Pure Photography - private tuition for the budding photographer.

These are great gift ideas for Christmas, Valentines Day, anniversaries and also birthdays. You can purchase them all here - on-line using our client gallery. We will send you a beautifully framed voucher for you to present as your gift. You can also see these simply by putting www.wearepurelight.co.uk/gifts into your browser.

We have just started a great autumn offer for all reprint orders. This is a busy time for reprint orders and to help avoid the mad December rush we have introduced 25% off all reprint prices, which will be valid on all orders placed before 10th December 2008.

We have also taken the opportunity to make all our portrait and engagement shoot prices the same as for wedding- which is amazing value for portrait clients.

And lastly, we have just negotiated a fantastic deal with our professional lab, who are offering a buy-one-get-one free deal on selected canvass wraps. If you buy a 16x12 canvass wrap (price £165) then you get a 12x10 canvass wrap completely free. You can purchase this direct from our client galleries, which have been updated and so all these offers apply from now onwards.

With best wishes, Glen