That was 2011....

And what a year it was, amazing clients, fun portraits and fantastic weddings. I have been blessed to have met some fabulous people this year, from crashing through the sea for a fun portrait in Liverpool to the gentle waves of a Barbados wedding. From stately Northumberland castles to Berkshire Country houses, its been a great year. I can't thank you all enough and can't wait for next year !

So have a great Christmas and the best New Year - come on 2012, what ya got ?

Mark

Studio photo session with the Dawber family

I haven't done a lot of studio work this last year or so preferring the great British outdoors as a backdrop for clients instead, but this session was especially requested to be in s studio so we headed out to the fantastic Velocity Studios, it was a good thing really as the weather battered down with rain outside.

Jess's two amazing daughters were joined by their cousin this time, so imagine three excitable girls awestruck that the studio has a fully sprung floor for ballet dancers, and having some of Velocity's resident photographer Nicola's amazing work for inspiration - cue lots of jumping, leaping and dancing!

This session also introduced the gorgeous bundle of cool that is Seth, just check out his smile - how cute is he !?

Previous photosessions with Jess and Scotts family have been a ton of fun - at Rivington and also at the beach and this was no exception.

See the full set here :- Studio session for Dawber family

For now here are a few of my favorites from the session.

William 3rd watch me grow

Winter is definitely drawing in now, for William's 3rd Watch-me-grow session we started at his house and after a few shots with the grandparents the little man braved the outside for a quick trip to the park.

15 minutes later we were sprinting for cover as a hailstorm battered down !

Never a dull moment and little William never stopped smiling....apart from the rainy bit, he didn't like that much.

click here for the full set of images for now here are a few of my favorites.

Bartle Hall wedding of Catherine and Shaun

So, for a final wedding of 2011 I couldn't have wished for a better one. Catherine and Shaun's wedding was fabulous. Right from the start of the day at the Marriott with the bridal preparations through to the ceremony and evening celebrations at the gorgeous Bartle Hall

So many details and brilliant touches in this wedding its hard to know where to start. Catherines fabulous dress, super cute niece as a flower girl, the flowers, hand made table decorations and my personal favorite ( and the kids I'm pretty sure ) was the "sweet buffet" a table crammed with the best kind of goodies.

After the lovely ceremony and some outside pictures ( in november as well - bonus ) we had speeches and even though they protested - a first dance ( albeit the shortest one in wedding history. )

Evening guests were entertained and wowed by the close up magic of Mike from MikesMagic I watched him do the same trick over and over again and try as I might I have no idea how he did the elastic band thing.

The party went well on into the night with everyone on the dance floor.

Thank you both for being amazing. I was honoured to be your photographer.

Here are some of my favorites from the day, to see more click the link.

See the full set here :- Catherine and Shaun wedding at Bartle hall

Mo'vember

When I first saw this charity I thought it was a such a brilliant idea!

Ladies have the very worthy "race-for-life" where they wear pink and run a 5k race. The boys ? They're just not going to shave for a month. Genius idea !

This year is the first year I've entered Movember and I'm raising money by NOT shaving my top lip for a whole month.

Have a look at my Mo page and help a bro by donating what ever you can. Here's some useful stuff taken from the Movember Uk website ( Hope they don't mind me lifting it verbatim ! )

Why am I concerned about men’s health?
*1 in 9 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime
*This year 37,000 new cases of the disease will be diagnosed
*1 in 2 men will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime
*26% of men are less likely to go the doctor compared to women

I invite you to join me by registering to grow or by donating to my support of the Mo http://mobro.co/markbyrne67

If you want to go old school you can write a cheque payable to “Movember”, reference my name and Registration Number 1872272 and send it to: Movember Europe, PO Box 68600, London, EC1P 1EF

Funds raised will help make a tangible difference to the lives of others. Through the Movember Foundation and our men’s health partners, The Prostate Cancer Charity and The Institute of Cancer Research, Movember is funding world class awareness, research, educational and support programs which would otherwise not be possible. 

For more details on how the funds raised from previous campaigns have been used and the impact Movember is having please click on the links below:
About Movember 
Prostate cancer genome mapping 
Prostate Cancer Foundation research
Global Action Plan 



Take pity on my family and friends, give - so that staring at ming the merciless wasn't in vain.

  http://mobro.co/markbyrne67

Julie's family portrait at Dam House

Dam house is a lovely small tea room and gardens in Tyldsley and was the perfect place for a autumn afternoon family photo session.

Julie and her son were great fun. He loved exploring the place, running through the leaves and feeding the ducks, or eating the bread when the ducks swam off ! ( Ducks get fussy over brown bread apparently )

You can see the full set here :- Julie family portrait

Here are a few of my favorites from the session. Enjoy.

Autumn / winter print deal

As its my favourite time of the year I've decided to offer these fab discount codes for all orders in my galleries. Perfect for Christmas gifts !

the codes are :=
10PRINT11 - 10% discount on orders over £10
20PRINT11 - 20% discount on orders over £20
40PRINT11 - 40% discount on orders over £40

All you need to do is use one when at the checkout for your print order. Easy ! That's not all, I'm also introducing ( drum roll please... ) Packages. So now you can buy multiple photos and get even better prices than before.
I'm starting with 3 unbelievably great deals

10 matte prints of your choice, for only £26
60 ( yup thats sixty ) prints 30 6x4 and 30 7x5 for just £39.50
and
60 prints - 30 10x8 and 30 9x6 for £95

So head over to your gallery and grab yourself a fantastic quality print at an amazing price.

http://markbyrne.zenfolio.com/

Not got a gallery ? we need to talk ! contact me about your family portrait or wedding now.

A photo blog is dull without an image - so here's one from a quick picture I took of my youngest son Jack. He's a bit camera shy....