Sunday was the Your Local Wedding Guide Wedding Fair (again).

T8 Photography was there, major sponsors again, and was great to catch up with other vendors and existing customers. There seemed to be even more photographers at the expo this time with quite a few new names that I've never seen before - so competition was HOT! :) We were showing off some of our new Acrylic Mounts and were getting heaps of great comments about them. It seems that the quality of our photography is really setting apart from the other photography vendors as we had many people comment to us that the albums and books we were showing were better than any other photographers they'd seen at the fair - so that's reassuring :)

Photo by Michael Camplin:

At the wedding expo in February this year, T8 Photography gave away one of the major prizes - an engagement photography session worth $1000. One very lucky Rachel won and was soooo excited when she came to the booth to tell us the good news! She tells me she never wins anything, but this time she cleaned up big time! So, just the other day I met with Rachel and Scott at Aspen Island (Carillon) for the photoshoot. It was a little cold, but that didn't matter and we got some great photos. It was really nice to see that both Rachel & Scott put in so much effort to make themselves look good - they turned up looking fabulous which makes my job much easier :)

See below for a slideshow of their photoshoot:

[You need flash installed to see the video - otherwise you get a "couldn't find the video" error message]

Yes, I bought one. I pre-ordered it the day it was available for pre-order in Australia. Yes, I like Apple gear and pretty much knew I would like the iPad too. It gets added to a rather large family of Apples at our place: 2 x iPhones, 1 x iPod Nano, 1 x iPod Touch, 2 x iMacs and a MacBook Pro.

I purchased it as a business tool, and so far in the few days I've had it it's been brilliant. I did a portraiture session for a young lady on Saturday and shot her surprise 21st Birthday a few hours later. I loaded up the iPad with ten great photos from the portraiture shoot for everyone at the party to see. The iPad was passed around about 100 people throughout the night, and although I was a little nervous, it was returned to me in perfect condition apart from a few finger prints. It was amazing watching people look at the photos - the screen is just gorgeous and the photos looked fantastic. Of course, some comments were along the lines of "OMG, is that an iPAD???!?!" and then usually followed by "wow, look at Priyal, she looks amazing!".

I've used it a couple of times since showing clients photos at my studio. I'm planning to load it up with heaps more photos so people can browse around to what interests them, but so far it's been great. Just last night I was describing an image, and usually would fire up the laptop and find my way to the photo and drag it onto the TV screen, but it was one of the photos I already had loaded onto the iPad. With a few pinches and pokes the image was on the screen (and full screen) and iPad handed to client for them to admire it. There's something about holding a photo in your hand too. Brilliant!

Games. Wow, does it work well as a gaming device. I tell you what, Nintendo will be worried, this thing is amazing. The graphics and speed and form factor are such a winning combination. I enjoyed a few rounds of Real Racing HD with my son. Played a bit of Small World with my wife. A full game of Civilization Revolution (at easy level), and a game or two of solitaire. Yeah - this is good.

Battery Life. Does it even have a battery? It feels like it's got some kind of wireless power feed... battery life is a total non issue. Those rounds of Real Racing HD I played last night, the battery moved from 100% down to 100%. No joke.

Problems. I'm using the iPad in the case. I quite like the case too as it has a nice feel and fits perfectly. The problem, though, is that it doesn't sit on the Dock when in the case... boo :(

Summary: buy one :)

Michael and I travelled up to the Blue Mountains in March to photograph a lovely couple get married at Echo's Boutique Hotel. Unfortunately I can't post any photos, but let me tell you, we got some absolute crackers! :) The ceremony was in the gardens, with a view to die for right over the mountains! For the photoshoot, we headed down to Leura Falls. We had a great time and got some very cool photos... we were late back to the reception because the B&G were happy for us to keep shooting - we weren't too late though. Back at the Hotel, there was a nice bar, piano and staircase for some extra photo opportunities!

Congratulations to Rachelle & Nathan. Married on the 13th of March 2010. The ceremony was at the Carillon and reception at the Hyatt. Photography by Michael Camplin - dig that 85 f/1.4 Campo! :)

More photos here: Rachelle and Nathan

Congratulations to Nicole & Will! Married on the 13th March 2010. Both the ceremony and reception was held at Olims Hotel Canberra and the photoshoot was down by the lake and at Blundells Cottage. We had planned to visit the Carillon, but there was a number of wedding parties already there and no space for us! We had a nice relaxed photoshoot around the historic cottage and by the lake and then as the sun started going down we headed back to Olims and took some more photos there (much better light too...). It was another purple themed wedding - check out those shoes! :)

More photos at Nicole and Will's page: Nicole and Will

Congratulations to Katrina & Hugh! Married on the 12th March 2010 at St Christopher's Manuka and the reception at The National Press Club. I photographed Katrina's twin sister, Camilla, last year at her wedding. It was great to see Camilla and Tim again and all the other familiar faces. Back to Treen & Hugh though - we had a great time shooting in the sculpture gardens of the National Gallery, it's amazing how many different and interesting photos you can get in such a small area! The whole bridal party were great fun too. And, oh boy, does Treen love the camera :)

More images from their wedding here: Katrina and Hugh

Congratulations to Skye and Paul, married on 6th March 2010. The ceremony was at the Amphitheatre in Commonwealth Park East, Canberra, photoshoot around Commonwealth Park and Boys Grammar School, and then the reception at The Lobby. Although it was a really hot day, we had a lot of fun on the photoshoot. I had an idea for a really cool shot in Commonwealth Park, but unfortunately that involved a helicopter which I didn't have handy - so we headed back to the Limo for some refreshments. First time I've shot at Boys Grammar - cool location indeed! Back at the reception little Groover joined us and guarded the cake :)

For more of Skye and Paul's images, see here: Skye and Paul

Congratulations to Bernadette and Max, married on the 27th of February 2010 at St Francis Xavier Church in Hall, photoshoot at the Carillon and Reconciliation Place, and then the reception at Devine Function Centre, Kamberra Winery. Now, Max is a bit into cars (I think he told me he owned 5?) and both the bridal cars were his own, so I had to make sure I got lots of photos of his pride-and-joy's. Yes, it was hard to keep up with the Clubsports between locations on the photoshoot, but I presume they didn't want to drive too fast and loose the photographer :)

More of Max and Bernadette's photos here: Bernadette & Max

[it's full swing in the Autumn part of the Wedding Season in Canberra - 15 weddings in about 8 weeks is hard work! I'll be playing catch up with the blogging too... so expect very regular posts for the next couple of weeks.]

Congrats to Helen and Russell. Married on the 6th of February 2010 at St Mary in the Valley Anglican Church. After the ceremony we headed to the shores of Lake Tuggeranong where everyone caught their breath and we had a pretty relaxing time. We headed over to the Tuggeranong Southern Cross Club for the reception (another very short drive). It's pretty unusual for me to shoot an entire wedding in the Tuggeranong area, but it's good not having much travelling time! It was also so great with so many kids around - you can get some great photos... check out the little boy below who was not impressed by having to wear those formal clothes!

More photos here: Helen & Russell