Richard and Beth are live!

For all you guests at Richard at Beth's wedding, you will be thrilled to hear their online album is now live!!
Go to the website and type in your super-secret passcode to view them. They should all appear in a slideshow. Until then, here's a few to whet your appetite.

Richard and Beth - you guys were a dream couple for me. You had fun, you let go and here's you in all your splendour!





I just love this one! Beth's like: What ARE you laughing at?!?!

The Temple is an amazing building - I could have happily shot there all day. Absolutely beautiful. I had a golden opportunity to use these pillars and didn't pass up on it!!

Coming Soon - Richard and Beth!

Occasionally, you meet people who you instantly click with. Richard and Beth for me were those kind of people.
I first met them on a chilly day at the Elsecar Heritage Centre for their engagement photoshoot and was honoured when they asked me to photograph their wedding.
It was a multiple destination wedding and I was lucky enough to be accompanied by an absolutely fabulous (and super seasoned) photographer Mark Pearson, who has a studio in Leeds. Check out his website for some super-hot wedding photography - he is awwfff the hooooookkkkk! :-)
Richard and Beth were married at a church in Sheffield, before going on to the most amazing temple I have ever seen. Absolutely gorgeous.
Richard and Beth are young, happy and in love. I wish them all the very best. I had an absolute ball photographing their big day as they were such fun (you will understand what I mean when you see some of the shots!)
They married on October 11 and their online album is due to go live for them any day now...but for those guests who had asked, here is a sneaky peek of what's to come.

Dolly featured in Wedding Ideas, November 2008

I have been so lucky to secure the help of two fabulous mentors in my pursuit of photography. Both are very successful photographers and both are extremely unselfish in helping me learn and develop. They pass on their skills with flair and finesse, they advise, cajole, encourage and sit through hours of discussion on photography and anything related to photography with unfailing patience.
This month, I am honoured to feature alongside one of them in Wedding Ideas magazine. We pitched a feature on Trash The Dress to the editor - and to our surprise they used it on a full page!
I am so excited, it is such a coup to be featured in this magazine!
Check out the main image, the Sarah Jessica Parker look-a-like! That shot was taken by Dave Sander - more funky stuff from him can be found on www.1clickphotography.co.uk.

Crazy presents and anniversaries!

So, the Hyde household is no stranger to crazy presents. One year, James made me a mini ski slope in a show box because he had paid for me to have snow boarding lessons. Another birthday and he made a lion's cave (complete with little lion figurines) because he was taking me to see my first West End show, The Lion King.
Every year he makes iit his mission to find me some comedy socks - and he excelled this year. BUT, I have to say, both our gifts were overshadowed by what our families and friends did for our one year, paper, anniversary.
My best friend and cousin Joanna bought us the biggest monster box of loo roll in the most garish colours of pink and orange I have ever seen. How she quite managed to find so many that were so eye-ball popping is beyond me and, as a result, we won't need to buy loo roll for, oh, at least the next decade.
And my mum and sister went to town by creating us our very own lucky dip. Filled with everything and everything paper related. My sister even made us some origami birds.
Thanks to both our families for making our first anniversary so special and to those who are interested we will be doing a one year anniversary show live on Galaxy radio tomorrow morning.
On a side note, happy anniversary to my nannan and grandad who celebrated 56 years this week. I only hope James and I can be so lucky.

Dolly featured on global website!

As I write this, I am in Sydney recovering from the Bridge Walk (lucky me!) but I just had to share my fabulous news.

I have been selected to appear on a global website that supports and promotes Trash The Dress wedding photography!

To see my post, visit http://www.trashthedress.eu/. Thanks so much to the team at TTD for making this possible! Yey! PS. For those who don't know my full name it's the one dated Sept 21, Nicola Lambert Hyde!

Dolly's Sparkle Boudoir

At the end of every shoot, I like to spend ten minutes to wind down, chill out.
I don't put my camera down. Instead, I have a bit of fun with my subject, trying something different.
I check I have the shot they want, and then we try for something so opposite, so completely zany, that occasionally, we end up with something really special.
These funky boudoirs, with Dolly Sparkle added, were the last shots taken in Sunday's session. They were fun, playful, not usually what traditional boudoirs are about. They screamed out for some wicked colour processing and I just love, love, love them!
As always, dear blog readers, would love to hear your thoughts! And watch this space for some exciting news about Dolly Photography coming soon!

Boudoir Photography - Phase Two!

I created the 'Good Golly, Miss Dolly' part of my business specifically for boudoir photography. I knew most women would be more comfortable being photographed by a woman. I knew the style I would like if I wanted some shots doing.
As my photography style develops, it's very hard to keep focussed on that aim. I want to try new things. I want to experiment with poses, colour techniques and have a go at different lighting options.
As always, however, the best things come when you go back to basics.
These tasteful nudes are undoubtedly my favourites of the boudoir session and serve to remind me - sometimes, you don't need a hook to draw people in.
Sometimes, the simplest route is the best.

Boudoir Bridals - Phase one, whipped!

One of my most favourite things in the world to photograph is boudoir photography. It's fun, it's a laugh, it's a chance to coo jealously over someone's sexy undies (better than my Spongebob Squarepant boy boxers) and - above all - it's the moment where you can give a woman a confidence boost as she realises, "wow, I don't have to be a twiglet to look like a girl in a magazine. I just have to have the faith to work it!!!"
My boudoir session on Sunday was such fun - here is the first set, going for a vampish gothic look. More will follow... I'm all about bringing the boudoir photography to Yorkshire. And I am even thinking of running fun sessions as hen parties too!

Introducing - Richard and Beth! Ta-da!

Funky and kitsch - that's me!

A few weeks ago I had the absolute pleasure of meeting vintage wedding planner Tiffany Grant-Riley. If you want a chic, vintage inspired wedding, this is your girl.
She is planning her own art-deco themed do and is an expert in anything retro from the 1920s to the 1960s. Her ideas boards are so inspirational.
I am honoured that she carried a piece about MY blog on HER blog...and so I am returning the favour and sharing the blog love.
She very kindly describes my photography style as funky and kitsch. Check it out at www.grantrileyweddings.blogspot.com.

Vote for Mum!

GMTV are running a competition called 'Fab at 50' to cooincide with Madonna's birthday. They were looking for some uber-glamorous 50-somethings to go on their website vote.
My sister Keeley entered my mum with a photo I took the other week - come on guys, go on to the website and vote for her. She has five stars at the moment - let's keep her that way!! Voting is here: http://your.gm.tv/ClipDetails.aspx?clipid=55030&cid=109&scid=59

G-L-A-M-O-R-O-U-S!

When I decided to take up photography last year, Danielle was one of the first people I called on to 'model' for me. I mean, look at her - she's not exactly been hit by the ugly stick!
She was 18 at the beginning of this month (I feel old) and so I asked her to model for me again. It's always great to try new things with Danielle because she's not camera-shy.
We went to the uber-glamorous location of (drumroll, please!) Barnsley Bus Station for these shots.



One thing, however, which didn't go to plan was my idea to have Danielle surrounded by bubbles! I had bought a bubble gun but didn't bring batteries (what an idiot!!) Needless to say it was so windy that she only had to HOLD the bubbles before they all started blowing back in her eye...
Here's an outtake shot - I didn't manage to get a proper one because by this point she had bubble soap in her eye! Whoops!

Dolly does burlesque!

For a few months I have been learning how to burlesque dance to keep fit. I go with my mum and aunt-in-laws to the class in Wombwell and we have an absolute scream.
Today, eeeek, was our first show day where we performed our routines in front of an audience. Thankfully my workmates didn't crash the party as threatened. I was starting to get a little worried for a moment there. I am happy dancing in my little class but, let's face it, I have no rhythm and no style.
Here I am in my most burlesque-y outfit I own - as taken by my lovely husband James.

And then especially for Justin Timberlake and his 'Sexy Back' (take note, James, the lyrics are NOT hairy back!) here I am being 'street!' Oh yes, I AM Legend!
Word.

And my mum - flirty and in her 50s!

My mum is BOUND to kill me when she sees this but I just have to say - she's 51! Can you believe it?! I always joked I get my youthful looks from her and I think she looks great. (But of course, I would say that!)
This weekend, she asked me to take some shots of her. For my mum, this is a big leap. She HATES her photograph taking. We have very few where she isn't hiding from the camera.
But, it emerges, she has a plan. She is 'with the programme' and has joined Facebook! Alas, she was without a profile picture. So I took these for her...and yes, I have warned her about picking up random men on the internet :-) Now, mum. You know the rules. Don't go taking sweeties from strangers!
And playing with lens flare again...


And here, playing with lens flare....

My sister - the glamazon!

Okay - let's set the record straight. At school my sister Keeley was always the trendy, popular one. I was the bookish nerd who worked in the school library vountarily (oh, I wish I was kidding!)
I vividly remember us leaving the house to walk to the bus stop - she always made sure she was a good few paces ahead of me to keep her street cred. She used to hustle to the back of the school bus and someone ALWAYS saved her a seat. I always got sat with the freakish kids who nobody spoke to...well, nobody other than me because I felt sorry for them and - let's face it - I was pretty freakish too!
It took me years to realise that there was a reason she was popular. Not just that she was funny, that she was a little crazy, and not just that she was always the centre of every party...but something much more basic than that. She was pretty. And as we all know, when you are a teenager in secondary school, that's some mucho grando street cred right there.
We talk about those days sometimes and laugh (I remember her flicking a cig end at me, and she always denies it.) But now, over a decade later, I can still look at my sister and understand why she is still popular.
It isn't just that she is pretty - because she clearly is. But it is because she is a good person - and that shines through.
On a side note, the above photo was experimenting with lens flare. I am not sure I like it - I will let my blog stalkers decide!

The Real Thing!

Okay, so after sharing the funny out-takes from my family day out, here are the 'real ones.'
This is my cousin Chloe, 15. I think the most hilarious comment of the day came from her mum who said she didn't look like herself on any of the photos...it took a while to realise she didn't look herself because in these photos she's actually smiling!
She will most likely come after me for portraying her as anything other than an angst-ridden teen but I just can't help it because look how pretty she is!!
She has no fear - she was up this climbing frame like a limber little thing and left me hanging on for dear life, hoping I didn't drop my camera.

The Out-Takes...

With every photoshoot, there are inevitably out-takes. You have blinkers, lens flares and camera shake to contend with...normally these out-takes are thrown into the vault of 'never-to-be-seen again' to protect the dignity of your subject...
HOWEVER, if those subjects are your family, well, I guess those rules go out of the window! The thing you need to understand about my family is this. We are LOUD (for all of you who knows us, I can see you nodding yes!)
We meet at the grandparents every Saturday and the decibel level rises and rises as we compete to be heard. There are usually about seven conversations going on at once...my grandad is selectively deaf. He tunes us out when he wants to but you can bet he will hear you the moment a swear word slips out! My nannan usually sits at the top of the room, laughing at the same conversations we have every week...and my husband James. Well, he is the one who is the most screwy because, let's face it, he joined my family by CHOICE! He is usually a quiet type but on Saturdays he will join in, cracking the odd dirty joke that makes my Uncle David laugh.
This week, we went to Hillborough Park to do some shots of my cousin Chloe. She's 15 and is pictured above, laughing at the rest of the family who was chasing a squirrel up a tree so it wouldn't get eaten by a dog.
I thought Chloe would be a great subject to practice some new techniques on...
But my family being my family all came along to watch...and while I was hard at work, here is what they were up to...
What has to be my absolute favourite - my mum and my sister, Keeley, doing the rodeo...

Keeley strutting through the park, mocking Auntie Charlotte's jacket by singing 'Daddy, Daddy Cool....'

My Auntie Charlotte (call me, Choz) doing her most glam pose to jump in shot...

And my husband James, trying to be a Gladiator on the 'Hang Tough' event. He's 6ft 2. This is a kids playground...his feet were scraping the floor...

Mary and Dunstan (the story so far!)

As promised, here are some more of Mary and Dunstan's e-session shots which were taken in the uber-glamorous Hillsborough Park.
Dunstan is a solicitor and Mary is a journalist so we decided to go for an super funky magazine style format to their shoot.
I always like to try something different in photos - see how it works. I particularly like the scuffy surroundings, I think it makes their fancy clothes just pop!

Mary and Dunstan - e-session!

Despite having footballs kicked at our heads by some irritating youths, our park shoot turned out some cutsie images.
Here is the first, showing Mary in all her vamped out glory.
More to follow over the next few days - see you later blog-stalkers!

First magazine appearance!

I feel thrilled to bits today, as I have just got my copy of Wedding Professional* and I am in it!
I wrote a feature on the trend for vintage weddings and my photography of the lovely Victoria Moy from the English Tea Party was featured.
It all came after a visit to Luella's Boudoir, in London, a gorgeous shop filled with everything wedding related. There, I met several vintage wedding experts, it was a great time!
Also in the piece was specialist vintage wedding planner Tiffany Grant-Riley from Grant-Riley Weddings! She has some absolutely gorgeous 'inspiration' boards for brides so be sure to check out her blog http://grantrileyweddings.blogspot.com/.
(*Wedding Professional is a business to business magazine for everyone working in the wedding industry.)