The Dhoon, Kirkcudbright

With views like this can you be in any doubt how beautiful South West Scotland is?

So what have we been up to since my last post?

If you have been following my facebook page Fiona McKean Photography you will know that I have been photographing some very gorgeous babies.   This has kept me mostly indoors but at the tail end of last year on a very frosty Sunday afternoon I had the privilege of photographing the amazing MacKay family in the beautiful surroundings of Mabie Forrest.  Despite being a little chilly we had a fantastic afternoon and here are just a few of my favourite images from the day.

If you would like to see more of my work check out my website at Fiona McKean Photography or if you would like more information about a family session just drop me an email to fiona@fionamckeanphotography.com or phone 07540 349455.

Thanks Fiona x

Just in case I haven’t made it obvious I love Christmas, the hustle and bustle of the run up to the big day, the mania that is Christmas Day and then the calm of Boxing Day.  I love giving presents, receiving them but most of all I love having a day with my family together!!

But before I get any more sentimental the real reason for my post to-day is to celebrate the last day of November and launch the run up to Christmas……

For the next 4 days only I am offering a £50 gift certificate for £25!

The gift certificate will include the photo session and credit towards anything purchased from the session.  The number of certificates you can buy is not limited so you could even do all your Christmas Shopping in one place……..

So if you are struggling for a gift idea or maybe you aren’t quite so enthusiastic about the hustle and bustle of December as I am,  just give me a phone on 07540 349455 or email fiona@fionamckeanphotography.com.

If you would like to see more examples of my work check out my website at www.fionamckeanphotography.com 

I am off now to try to persuade Darren to let me put the Tree up, wish me luck!!

Fiona x

p.s. Give the perfect gift this Christmas – A Memory!

I am looking for some gorgeous babies aged between 6 and 8 months old to model for me.  The images will be used to help promote an exciting new session for my business on printed materials as well as social media sites.   Here is the a bit more information…

This is a great opportunity to get some beautiful images of your baby as well as being  perfectly timed to make Christmas Presents for family and friends.

If you would like to see more examples of my work you can find my website at Fiona McKean Photography 

Please feel free to share this post if you know someone who may be interested in helping me out.

Thanks for reading.

Fiona x

But I have learned that without the (real) three P’s things never quite work out as you would hope.  Take my wedding for example it only turned out to be the amazing day is was because of my mum.  She organised everything!!

In my defence there wasn’t the wealth of information or choice open to me that Brides today have, for advice I had one or two quarterly magazines to look through for inspiration, a handful of venues, only one or two dress shops within reasonable driving distance, you get the picture.  Now you have, wedding shows, several Bridal magazines, regular blog writers who specialise in this area, the good old internet and good old fashioned word of mouth not to mention the countless wedding services.

Now here in lies a potential problem, where to start?  Just out of curiosity I typed into google search the phrase ‘wedding advice Scotland’ and it returned about 71,000,000 results so I narrowed it down to ‘wedding advice Dumfries’ and I got about 1,110,000 results.  Brides today are bombarded with information so how on earth do you make a decision?????

So where do you start?  Well the obvious statement is with you, do you dream of recreating Lady Mary’s wedding from Downton Abbey or is that in fact your worse nightmare.  From there you can find the resources to compliment your personal style.  An example of a more traditional styled blogger would be, Love My Dress or for something a  bit more alternative look at Rock n Roll Bride.

For me the two biggies are firstly speak to someone who has recently got married and get their recommendations and secondly speak face to face with the suppliers you are interested in working with.  This is particularly important for your photographer as like no other supplier for your wedding day, they will be with you from the very start right through every emotional step to late on into the evening so you have to like them!

To get to that point you have to like their style of photography, which leads me nicely onto my images…..

Just a wee reminder that if you book your 2013 wedding photography before the end of October I will hold the 2012 prices, for more information my website is Fiona McKean Photography or give me a phone on 07540 349455

Fiona x

When I describe it as new that’s not strictly speaking true as this stunning venue has been around for a long time but has, only recently, decided to allow couples the privilege of marrying here.  So here it is (Drum roll please….)

Welcome Drumlanrig Castle as a wedding venue!

Can you imagine this most special of days taking place in one of Scotland’s finest Castle’s, celebrating with your friends and family in the absolutely stunning gardens.   A real life wedding dream come true!!

Before I show you any more images let me tell you a bit about the day of our shoot.  It took place in early September and in the run up to it the weather had been, at best, rubbish!  But on the day the sun was shining and it was very mild all of which made for some stunning images.  We had a gorgeous couple Emma and Stuart, a stunning dress kindly supplied by Freckles Bridal, Dumfries, A kilt from Anderson’s Kilts, beautiful flowers supplied by Memories, Thornhill, a stunning Rolls Royce from White Heather Wedding Cars and make-up by the very talented Emma Ali.  And of course the staff at the Castle who worked tirelessly throughout the day.  Well enough from me after all as they say a picture paints a thousand words….

I think you will agree this is a stunning location and a very special place for a very special occasion!

P.S. If you decide to book your 2013 wedding photography during October then I will hold my 2012 prices, for more information and more images have a look at Fiona McKean Photography

We were lucky enough to be invited to document their growth from birth until they left with their new owners.

This is how quickly they grew from this…

Into this…

Please say hello to Baxter, Brodie, Miesha and of course, Mia.

If you are interested in having your pet photographed then you can contact us through our website www.fionamckeanphotography.com

Fast forward a few years to now and I have some presents bought and my cards ordered!! So to continue the theme of staying organised I have decided to hold 2 days of mini shoots, the first on Thursday 18th October and the second on Wednesday 24th October.  The session’s will be designed to give you a choice of amazing images to offer as christmas presents, whether it’s a family print or a beautiful table top acrylic for Granny or even very personal Christmas cards.

I have added a flyer below with a bit more detail but before that I will include some images that will give you an idea of what to expect.

As always thanks for taking the time to read this post and if you know of anyone who would be interested in this very special offer please let them know.

Thanks Fiona x

Although I do remember one of them very well and that was the day I photographed the lovely D’Arcy family.  I met Cheryl when I was looking for a new brand for my business and when she asked me to photograph her family I jumped at the chance.

As with most of my lifestyle shoots I started off at their home which sits in the beautiful Dumfriesshire countryside with the added bonus of a beautiful garden with amazing views so we didn’t have to go far to capture some amazing imagery.

One thing I always suggest when photographing young children is, if they have a favourite bear,  include him or her in the photograph and Ross’s bear was no exception….

The views from the garden are amazing…

And they have the best tree ever, great for climbing and a built-in seat!

But the best bit had to be the small field adjacent to the house that had been allowed to grow wild!!

If you would like to know more about a lifestyle shoot head over to my website at fionamckeanphotography.com or drop me an email at fiona@fionamckeanphotography.com and I will give you a call for a chat.

Thanks for taking the time to read my wee blog and especially to Simon, Cheryl, Ross and Ben for allowing me the privilege of photographing them.

Fiona x

Can I start by taking you back to Saturday 6th September 1997 it was a pretty windy and wet early autumnal day.  It was the day of Princess Diana’s funeral and also my wedding day!!!  Thinking back I really can’t remember an awful lot about the day apart from crying at Elton John singing Candle in the Wind and my Mum raging at a houseful of guests to get out of our living room so I could get ready (my dress was so big she didn’t think I would get down the stairs without doing myself a mischief…)  The rest of my memories mostly come from looking at my wedding album.

Wedding photography 15 years ago was a little different to what it is today firstly it was shot on film which meant photographers had a limited number of roll’s of film.   Many photographers today will take in the region of 1000 images at a wedding that equates to over 27 rolls of film……

The other main difference is that, when using film, in order to view the images they have to be printed off where as today we can use iPad, Computer screens or even television screens the choice is endless!

The one thing that hasn’t changed is the importance of your choice of photographer and the importance of your wedding album.  15 years down the line I would like to thank Mr Clifford Staley of Castle Douglas who provided us with our wedding images that we still enjoy to this day.

The following images of a very fresh faced Bride and Groom are courtesy of Clifford Staley, Castle Douglas and the chocolates and flowers are courtesy of my wonderful Husband.

Thanks for taking the time to read my post today.

Fiona x

PS the second reason for being late – well it is traditional after all….