Guy Collier Photography » Wedding Photographer covering Hampshire, Surrey, Berkshire, Wiltshire, Dorset, London and the UK

I was back up in Birmingham yesterday, but this time for the huge Focus on Imaging trade show rather than a wedding. I travelled up with a good friend and fellow photographer, Simon Jones, and we spent a great day in some superb talks by Martin Oliver, met with the legend that is Damien Lovegrove, lusted after some very serious kit indeed and finally looked at just about every wedding album supplier on the market.

It’s the last part of that sentence that’s key. I’ve been considering my album options for a while now and had always come back to one company. Queensberry. I made a decision to hold fire until I could really see their album options and talk to them in depth yesterday.

Once seen the decision became very, very easy. I’m now under no doubt that they are the finest photography albums in the world. The attention to detail, design, build, quality, heft, options and overall level of service is incredible.

As of now I am only supplying Queensberry albums. They’re not the cheapest, but then the best rarely is. They are, however, of such a high quality that there’s little doubt in my mind that the investment is worth every penny. Nothing else comes close.

I’m absolutely delighted to be Queensberry partner photographer and I know that my clients will be equally thrilled when they see what’s available.

We popped down to Christchurch today to see our old friends Iain and Sarah, and their 2 gorgeous kids, Amelia (2) and Harry (4 months). After some late Xmas present exchanges (the January snow storms had put paid to previous planned visits) we wandered down the coast and MY LORD IT WAS COLD – the second shot of Amelia shows you how fierce the wind was with her eyes streaming. Iain and I sensibly elected to leave our scarves in the car. We’re very clever men. Amelia and Jess had a play in the park and then we all decamped to a restaurant to warm our bodies and fill our tummies. Iain works for Shazam, the awesome iPhone app people, so if you haven’t already downloaded it do so now. It’s very, very cool….and it’s free.

Obviously I took my camera….

Jess, I know I’m biased because I’m your dad but when I look at you I think my heart might burst…you take my breath away.

We finally had a dry day at the weekend today and that meant a nightmare 2 hours for me as I built the trampoline we bought Jess for Xmas. As expected I managed to hurt myself a lot, partly due to the USELESS instructions that seem to be par for the course these days, and partly due to my inability to use the tools supplied. In typical ‘man’ fashion I therefore elected to use the tried and tested ‘make it up as you go along’ method of construction which actually seems to have worked this time. I’m as amazed as you. As you can see Nicky found an ideal way to warm her hands. I jest, of course, she held stuff and everything!

Oh, and Jess lost a tooth this morning. You might be able to tell which one

Wow – the good news keeps coming this week. After being accepted into the International Society of Professional Wedding Photographers I’ve now just found out that my application to join the Wedding Photojournalist Association has also been successful!!!

They say ‘The Wedding Photojournalist Association (WPJA) is a professional organization composed of photojournalists and wedding photographers from around the world. What sets our members apart in the industry is their candid, documentary approach – a distinctly artistic vision toward wedding photography. The Wedding Photojournalist Association puts the world’s best wedding photography at your fingertips. We offer a new perspective on wedding photography – quietly capturing the real moments as they happen for the bride and groom. It is our goal to use photography to tell the story of your wedding day, not dictate it for you.’

Once again this is an international organisation that you cannot ‘buy’ your way into (unlike many, sadly). There are strict admission criteria with only around 5% of applicants being successful. It’s another huge confirmation of the quality of my work by my peers and gives backing to my photojournalist credentials.

I’m thrilled to be members of both of these prestigious, peer-reviewed organisations. Here’s a screengrab of my listing: