Matthias & Kerstin

I was contacted recently to do a portrait session with a couple from Germany. This was the 4th time they had visited Ireland over a 15 year period and it was to be a pretty special trip for them both, more on that later.

One of the requirements was to find somewhere that was romantic and we all know that we are not short of a place or five here in the west of Ireland. The other reason for this request was that Kerstin did not know anything about the portrait session as it was a surprise present for their 25th wedding anniversary they had celebrated just before coming to Ireland.

Here are a selection of images taken.










































































Now this last one is really special to me especially in light of what Matthias & Kerstin did after the session. The last shot of the day was taken on the bridge as you can see below.














However a little while after these were done I had a surprise email from them both with a couple of photo's attached. As part of their wedding anniversary celebrations, they had a party with family and had the images printed to show everyone their fantastic time here in Ireland. One of the images taken at the party was them holding one of the shots and you can see the result in the last image shown.














I just hope that my wife and I will be in love as much are you are after 25 years of marriage!!! More images are on my web site - www.mikepatterson.com

Back down to earth

I was supporting another Galway photographer very recently and what a wedding it was - gorgeous bride, doting father, happy groom and fantastic weather, even if it was slightly chilly but hey, it wasn't raining.

On the way from the church service to the reception, the father was involved in a car accident with some family members from the UK he was transporting. I wont go into great detail as to what happened but I am glad to say that all is well except for some cuts and bruises and a broken leg.

By the time we get to the hotel, we go outside and take pictures before heading inside to finish off. At this point the bride is still unaware of the preceding events as her sisters, who were bridesmaids, did not want her to know until the pictures had been done. So you can imagine how shitty everyone felt, the bride was in bits as her mom had died 4 years previosuly in similar circumstances.

It's at times like this that you realise just how important people are to you, how important it is to say I love you to the people closest and to appreciate everything we have. So, what am I trying to say. Well, her dad was 2 cars behind us on the way to the hotel and therefore it could have happened to us.