NGM Photographic - Boudoir & Wedding Photography

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After 14 years I have now hung up my wedding shoes! I have shot many, many beautiful weddings in my time, over 400 actually, but now the time has come to move on to different things!

4 years ago I started dabbling in Boudoir photography and quickly realised I had found my niche. Weddings started to become less appealing and I recently made the decision to stop doing them altogether. My brides deserved the very best and whilst the standard of my work didnt change I felt I just wasnt putting my heart into it - time to move on!

Another very important reason was the down-turn in the economy. When the recession started to hit in 2008 I was fully booked with £2000 weddings. Come 2010 and I found I was having to work for less just to get any bookings at all. Not a situation I was happy with at all! Especially as there was a new influx of part-timer wanna-be wedding togs offering £500 packages. Of course their work was no comparison to my own but in these cash-strapped times most couples were looking for a bargain. Unfortunately they ended up, in the most cases, with inferior wedding photos, some with totally ruined coverage - what a shame.

I do look back on my years as a wedding photographer with great fondness though. I met some fantastic couples, some of whom are still friends now! I learned lots of technical tips along the way, some of which I still use now on shooting Boudoir!

Here are a few of my favourite wedding photos from the last few years, farewell weddings!

Found myself at a loose end today, my Boudoir lady postponed because of the snow so I got on the phone and got my pals round for a fun photo day! One friend, Jules, has had an awful time of late so we really wanted to cheer her up with a Boudoir shoot. Me and my sister did her make-up (not very well i'm afraid - its SOOOO hard to do make-up on someone else!) and we dressed her up in one of my new corsets. It felt good to help a friend and we also took some photos of her sweet little girls, Milly & Evie, as well as gorgeous nieces Maddy & Molly - we had a house full of pretty girls, make-up and toys!

Poor Jules was really nervous and she already knows me!!! We had a right laugh actually and Jules LOVES her photos! Here's a few:

Here are rest we took, of my little nieces and Julia's girls - so so pretty!

Whilst browsing through the 'Love My Dress' wedding blog - excellent way to pass the time gazing adoringly at all the fabulous photos, I stumbled upon this WONDERFUL bespoke wedding dress designer in Birmingham - The Couture Company - wow - makes me want to get married all over again. If any of you girls are looking for something a little bit different just visit their site - its amazing!!!!!

Look at this wonderful dress, this is such a gorgeous photo too, I cant find any links to the photographer on their site so if anyone lets me know who it is I will gladly credit! :

My next Blog bite about my fave wedding suppliers, I'll shortly pass you onto Charlene, (who writes much better than me) for her take on her exciting career. Charlene runs Love Gets Sweeter - a fabulous wedding film company - I purposely don't say 'videographer', not because thats not what she does, but because she is SOOOO different to the usual video guy you spot at weddings. Do have a look at her amazing Show Reels from some of her couples this year.

Charlene take it away babe!

Wedding Video/ Films are always a talking point of forums and blogs. Should we have one? Do we need one? Will our budget stretch? But one thing I hear over and over is how much people regret not having one AFTER the wedding and at that point it’s too late...

I got married to my gorgeous Husband, Lee, back in August 2009 at the beautiful Hillbark Hotel. We also had that ‘do we/ don’t we’ debate over video...or rather, I wanted it and he didn’t (and yes, that’s quite common too)! I hadn’t actually researched wedding videos as it was more the fact I could get my professional cameraman friends to film the day and we’ll figure out what to do with it after! My old boss had made one once and I quite liked the idea so thought ‘why not?’ I think when you grow up making mini movies when you’re young (I recently found some of me dancing with friends in my garden as well as an attempt at stop motion with my Sylvanians?!) and you just love everything about film it’s hard to not want to have such a special occasion captured! Turns out Lee was worried about having camera’s following him round like Peter Andre and making him feel uncomfortable-which is still a common fear today! He needn’t have worried as the guys did a great job at getting him relaxed in front of the camera (you only have to see our out takes so see what I mean http://vimeo.com/8745350). We even had guests saying that they’d not realised they were being filmed until they saw the final film!

The whole editing process was quite organic and I just locked myself away with all the tapes and some of our favourite tracks and came out a couple of days later with what I felt was the perfect way to relive our wedding day-don’t worry, I did sleep....and cry quite a lot! I was a little nervous to see what Lee thought as he hadn’t been keen about the whole idea but he loved watching it, over and over, and seeing something new each time-although not so happy that they’d caught his tears as he saw me walk down the aisle (my favourite shot of course)! It took quite a while after that to complete a longer version (that we now call a ‘Feature Film’) and get the DVD built with numerous extras including outtakes, speeches, ceremony and first dance. I felt immensely proud the day I got to show it off. We had two screenings, one for family and one for friends, and it had everyone in tears as it really brought back all the emotions from the day. The outtakes and messages had everyone in tears due to laughing so hard, I even recall Lee rolling around on the floor at one point! You can see our Highlights film on our ‘About Us’ page (http://www.lovegetssweeter.co.uk/about-us/)

Fast forward to Christmas and Lee had bought me something extra special. It was a website, but not just any website, one named after our First Dance ‘Love Gets Sweeter’! He said he was so proud of what I’d done with our own wedding film that he felt I should try doing the same for other couples! But where do I start?!! Well, my film had had so much interest in YAYW that I actually had a few Brides to be asking me to film their day and so, before I knew it I had 6 bookings all over the U.K (Manchester, Aviemore, Somerset, Staffordshire...) and quickly realised how much I loved filmed and editing weddings! In March 2010 I got to film my very first wedding-and what a wedding it was!

I think having been through all the emotions of my own day I could react to all the possible scenarios that could happen on someone else’s day. I even found myself helping with button holes in the morning! I really did feel privileged to have been chosen to capture Emma and Daniel’s wedding and got to work on producing their perfect wedding DVD. Having spent the day with someone and watching them so closely you do get a good idea of what they are like as a couple and I aim to reflect their styles and personalities in my films. With this being such a intimate and personal day and Emma and Daniel being quite a shy couple I needed a track to reflect them and the feelings from the day. Using suggestions from the lovely couple we finally produced this, my first ‘official’ wedding film... http://vimeo.com/10949155 I still love this film to this day and the couple have been kind enough to share some lovely words –

We have just received our photos this week – there are some lovely ones but none that really blew us away.  When Daniel looked at them, he said how glad he was that we had you to film the wedding. We cannot thank you enough for all your time and work, were are so grateful and will love watching the videos in years to come – something I already do on a regular basis!  You have captured so many details that we didn’t notice at the time! Thank you again for everything!

Since then I have had the pleasure to film so many incredible weddings and no two weddings have been the same, but I think that’s why our films are proving to be popular as each film is completely unique to the couple. I like to make sure I am putting as much love in to these films as I did my own and it’s not uncommon to find me shedding a tear reliving a ceremony or laughing out loud when trying to edit the speeches!

I now do this full time and I love every minute. I found I just couldn’t dedicate as much time as I liked when I was working around another full time job and a well timed redundancy (if ever there was one) made me take the leap and run Love Gets Sweeter full time. I’m told my passion for wedding films is what shines through in my work and it will hopefully take the company from strength to strength. I have learnt a lot since I started and still learn new things every day-including the epic task of tax returns-and I quite enjoy the challenges running a business brings. Managing my own business is a massive learning curve in itself and I’m glad all the time and effort I am putting in to it is starting to pay off. I am still as obsessed with weddings, may as much as I was when I started planning my own wedding-just ask my friends and wonderful Husband! I love hearing all my couples plans for their big day and it gets me excited for the road ahead. Building that relationship with the couple, understanding their day and their own passions helps me to create a beautiful wedding film that is a true reflection of their personalities and their wedding day... I do love my job J

We've had an incredibly busy week at My Boudoir, loads of lovely new enquiries and bookings, lots of chat about us on Facebook and lots of very pretty ladies coming for shoots!

Tanya (below) was a lovely lady in her late 40's, getting married in March and wanting to show her H2B how gorgeous she is (she really was). Poor Tanya had a very serious and debilitating respiratory condition that meant she couldnt lie flat for long periods as she stops breathing! I'm glad she didnt tell me this before the shoot as i'd have struggled to do a lot of my favourite poses otherwise. No, she gamely followed all my instructions and lay there not breathing!!! Eventually I cottoned on and she told me the problem - arghhhh!!!!!! I felt terrible!! Poor Tanya had been holding her breath for half of the shoot!!!

Anyway we managed fine in the end and she looked just wonderful - so all came good in the end!

It was just wonderful to finish off my year with a lovely Christmassy wedding at the Belle Epoque, Knutsford - just one of my all time fave venues!

I also got to work with my Boudoir Photography make-up artist Michelle Sisson - as she had been booked to do Kate's gorgeous make-up on the day. Kate looked so classic & beautiful - a real elegant bride - with stunning Jimmy Choos! Toby looked very dapper in his RAF Uniform and they both seemed so happy - sigh, I do love a romantic coupling!!

Toby & Kate's full wedding gallery is now available for private viewing by their guests - CLICK HERE - you will be asked for a password, this is the couples surname followed by their 6 digit wedding date - eg westley291109

In the meantime here's some of my fave images from their day -

Congratulations guys!

I'm getting together a few of my fave wedding suppliers with the idea of having them write something about what makes them tick - its great to get some insight 'behind the scenes' and show you all how rewarding, being involved in the wedding industry can be!

Here's my first supplier - Its Laura from the Belle Bridal Boutique in Ramsbottom:
 

Romantics often say that women plan their perfect wedding day from being little girls. I was never one of these little girls, and even now as a bride to be I do not fantasise of my ‘Big Deal’ or doodle my dream bouquet whilst at work, I’m not made that way! A wedding, for me, is actually a huge insight into that couple’s lives, their relationships and their expectations, and I am curious about this. Each detail is carefully deliberated over; there is so much time and energy invested into each and every decision. This sequence of events and decision intrigues me hugely, I think this was probably where the first seed of interest developed from, and the opportunity to be a part of these special moments was too good to turn down! Belle Bridal Boutique is born.

Just wanted to write a bit about this one-woman company! I met Charlene about 4 years ago now when she came for a Boudoir shoot. We kept in touch every now and then and then she decided to set up her own business as a wedding videographer! She worked in media and so had experience with the equipment and editing suites and just loved weddings - after planning her own. Charlene's film are that little bit different - have a look and you'll see what i mean:

http://www.lovegetssweeter.co.uk/

Now here's the main reason i'm writing this piece - this young lady has done incredible things this last year. She has taken her business from strength to strength, she networks in all the right places and attends anything wedding related she can - she's at the Tatton Hall wedding fair today! She's on Facebook and Twitter and supplies regular updates too - she thanks every last one of her Twitter followers personally and is the loveliest person to boot. You wont be suprised to hear she was shortlisted for a big industry award and has a massive growing army of devoted brides and followers - one of which is me!

This all goes to show that even in these hard times, a new wedding supplier can take off in a big way - IF you put the effort in. Charlene is passionate about what she does and it shows in her excellent eye for an emotional connection between her couples - bigging up the big C!

Charlene will shortly be writing me a biog so look back for her take on her success in 2011.

I have had a few girls now coming for shoots so they can use their images on their escort websites - each girl has been very different and with differing requirements as to the 'look' of their images. All of them came to me because they like the classy style of my images and wanted to attract a more up-market clientle. This type of photography is new to me and therefore very interesting! My latest lady was Kristina - Her Escort Photography Shoot

As Kristina's hair was quite short we suggested a retro look to her images - this was exactly what she had in mind anyway so we were straight away on the same wavelength! Notes on her shoot: Kristina has a website that clients have to pay to see her face in her private gallery, therefore I knew in advance that she would have to crop her face out of some of the images - this meant I had to be careful with posing - for instance, images where her face is in focus but her body fades out of focus, would not be suitable. She also submits her images to an online escort agency, only one small photo is allowed on the holding page therefore we had to shoot quite close and use dramatic lighting and eye-catching colour. Luckily Kristina brought some amazing colourful lingerie with her - most of it incredibly expensive, so we wanted to do it justice! Also I had to be careful not to 'over-edit' as Kristina obviously didnt want to mis-lead her clients! Fortunately she was totally gorgeous with an incredible figure - basic facial editing on skin and some 'oomph' to her hair and top lip.

Below is my favourite from her shoot:

On my Boudoir Blog today: Sarah's Boudoir Photography Shoot

A few notes about Sarah, she was a lovely girl whose boyfriend had very kindly bought her a shoot for Christmas - think she'd dropped lots of hints! Sarah had a look perfect for the 1950's pin-up style. I do these slightly differently from the trad pin-up look, I focus more on beauty than actual props and backgrounds - of course the vintage look is then acheived with the Make-Over, outfits and post-processing. Sarah had quite red blotchy skin with some spots and scarring, Michelle covered this up in her usual professional way, I smoothed this further in PS. My style of bright facial lighting also helps with a rough skin. Sarah told me she doesnt like her thighs (she a typical English pear shape - lovely!) so I posed her to minimise this and also pulled them in a bit in PS. Like 80%+ of all my girls, Sarah has a slightly hooded eye, this was evened out too by PS, or by having Sarah look down on a few shots.

I was very pleased with this shoot, my favourite shot is below:

 A bit of a rambling post here, it's late (and I've had a glass of wine!).

I just love the new Versace ad campaign for Bright Crystal - the lighting and pose is simply fabulous. It got me thinking about how it was set up, I asked on my society forum and we had a good old speculation about the light. Anyway I made my own and had a go today on a lovely lady.

Pretty isnt it? Made from a glass ball vase stuffed with Christmas tree lights!

I love the light source but I hit a few hurdles, namely, even though there are 20 lights in there, its just not bright enough with my main lights, I had to enhance this post-production. Another 'problem' was that the ball needs holding at both ends to cover up the base and the top where the wires come out - this means my lady had to use 2 hands, no problem with that but as she was over 40 i had to be careful with the low angle of light, she had to hold it high up her face to make a flattering shadow around her eyes, this meant her right arm was thrust quite awkwardly across her chest.

My other 'problem' with the image is i'm not sure it has a narrative - with the Versace ad the girl is obviously in a dreamy trance with her sparkly perfume but my lady is just holding a light! Why? Any ideas on how to overcome this?

Backstage Boudoir - What to Bring and How to Prepare!

An article about My Boudoir by Josie Westley

Achieving the lustrous hair and perfect pout of the old sirens requires the professional touch. Specialist Manchester Boudoir photographer Nicola Grimshaw-Mitchell from My Boudoir has photographed over 300 clients of all shapes and sizes to produce the sizzling glamour of the silver screen. She explains how to capture the sultry spirit of the boudoir and shares her secret essentials to attaining the perfect look.  

Enjoy the make-over

"On every shoot there is an option for clients to have their hair and make-up done by the team. I'd advise everyone to do this. Even if you're an expert with your own make-up, our team provide a very specialised service and know exactly what will work with the lighting; black and white pictures in particular may need make-up that's heavier than your usual but will create fabulous photographs.  If you can bear it, its best to leave the house with absolutely no make-up or products in your hair and let team work their magic!"

Invest in a corset

"Corsets are the most flattering lingerie and they work for every body shape; cinching in the waist and creating a voluptuous bust. Corsets also hide the mid-section which in my experience is the area that clients are most self-conscious about. You don't have to spend a fortune, Ebay has some great options from only £10. Basques are fabulous too and really give a flattering bust line. Try and avoid your normal lingerie sets, we want to create something memorable and a little bit exotic!"

Hold-ups

"Hold-ups are great for a Boudoir photo shoot because they're versatile and can be used with all your outfits as opposed to just the ones with suspenders attached. Also, they tend to have more elaborate lacy tops which really adds to the boudoir feel. Fishnet tights are just fabulous and have a real vintage feel."

Wedding items

"Its good to bring along your wedding underwear, jewellery and your shoes as they're sexy and designed to be seen. Plus, they rarely get an outing after the big day and they can be expensive items, it's a shame not to use them as much as possible! Its also a nice touch that can bring back some cherished memories. Underneath the bridal dress and flowers on a wedding day there's a woman passionately in love, its good to tap into those feelings on the shoot."

Bring a friend "For Boudoir work I have a closed set, with just me and the client. However, they can bring along a female friend for moral support if they want to as it helps them relax and have fun. The more relaxed they are, the better the results."

Personal Preparations

"We do advise girls not to have a spray tan - we want to capture that pale beautiful look of the old Hollywood screen sirens - luminous skin, soft hair and huge eyes. Some girls really worry about their spots, bruises or rashes - no need! What we can't cover with make-up we erase on the computer!"

Before and After

"Not everyone wants to do this, but I advise taking a picture before the shoot, with no hair and make-up, as it really shows a dramatic difference. Many clients have boudoir pictures done for a special occasion such as a birthday or a wedding, so it really can be the make-over of a lifetime for some. In fact, the Before and After Boudoir Gallery is the most popular section on my website. People are fascinated by how different the girls look. That's the beauty of boudoir photography; anyone can be transformed into a Hollywood goddess with clever posing, lighting, wonderful make-up and retouching. I don't think people really believe it until they see the evidence!"

Nicola Grimshaw-Mitchell is a passionate photographer with over 12 years experience of running her own studio. Beginning as a reportage wedding photographer she branched out to include Boudoir several years ago to huge success. It's now the work that fills her books. She has a wide-reaching reputation, with clients travelling from across the UK and abroad for appointments.

http://www.myboudoir.co.uk

http://www.ngmphotographic.co.uk

http://myboudoir.blog.co.uk/

We have had an amazing year with the Boudoir side of NGM Photographic. So much so that we are now down-sizing our wedding commissions to cope with the increased work-load. We will still be doing the odd select few weddings so do get in touch if you have an enquiry.

To reflect the nature of our change in business I have updated my regular main website - NGM Photographic, to incorporate more Boudoir links, of course our Boudoir Photography site stands seperate to this. I'm also going to use this Blog a bit differently, I will post anything that takes my fancy that doesnt really slot into the consumer side of Boudoir - maybe some technical info or inspiring sites I find? If anyone would like me to feature an interesting article or two on their own photography then do get in touch!

Here's to 2012!

LOL Nicola x

Some fun shots taken with my 2 gorgeous boys, my son Alfie and godson Harry. They kinda loved dressing up but still had to bribe them with sweets!

Here we have a lovely young couple getting married in my favourite church - St Helen's in Waddington and then splashed up to Eaves Hall a couple of minutes away. Such a lovely sweet couple, really laid back and lots of fun - and soooo in lurve!!! Even though we did have a very rainy day, nothing dampened their spirits - congrats to you both!

Elizabeth & Simon's full wedding gallery is now available for private viewing by their guests  - please click HERE - the gallery is password protected, please contact the couple direct for their password.

We're in the news!!! Check out the centre spread of todays Sun for a feature on the Royal Marines Wives & Girlfriends Calendar! So excited to have my Boudoir photography images featured in such a prominent way and its all for a great cause! We're also in the Daily Mail, the Dorset Echo and apparently the Daily Express too! TV coverage to follow we hope!!!!

Link to The Sun article

Link to the Daily Mail article

Link to the Dorset Echo article

Link to the Royal Marines WAGS site so you can buy your own calendar!!

and lastly - link to my Boudoir Photography site so you can get one booked yourself!

A lovely wedding ceremony at a gorgeous boutique hotel in Manchester - Great John Street Hotel.

Peter had seen our work a couple of years ago at the wedding of his good friends Clare & Mark, so it was just fantastic to see some friendly faces after all this time - and with a new addition in the form of gorgeous little flowergirl Alice!

This lovely couple had such a stylish day, with fabulous attention to design - I had lots to keep me busy! Me and Gary had some fun squashing in the tiny lift up from the bar with all the wedding guests - great photos!

First -  click HERE to see a slideshow of some of my faves from the day - and then HERE to access their full wedding gallery - you will need a password for this though - it is Peter's surname followed by their 6 digit wedding date, eg westley140511

In the meantime here's a few to wet your appetite!

We’ve decided to run our first Boudoir competition, entries must be in by the end of July so visit our Boudoir Photography website for more info and how to enter!

We’d like to give a free shoot to a worthy lady so we’re looking for lots of personality, a quirky look maybe, a girl with an amazing story!

Your free shoot will include a mini-make-up, 8 poses with 8 fully edited and re-touched images on disc. You can add things on to this though if you like:

Album - £75

Full Make-Over including hair styling and false eyelashes (definitely recommended!) - £60 Our runners up will receive vouchers too, so its definitely worth entering!

Here are more from the lovely baby Erin! It was fantastic to see one of my wedding couples again and with their gorgeous wee baby! She was an absolute dream to photograph x

If you fancy having a cute baby photoshoot then just visit our portrait site for details:

Baby Portraits Manchester