Many years ago, if someone wanted to buy a home, they would register with all the local Estate Agents in the area. Two or three times a week a piece of A4 would be posted to them from the agents that usually contained a black and white photocopy picture of the front of the house and some room dimensions typed up on the back. The prospective buyer would then choose whether to view the property or not based on this piece of paper.
Nowadays, things have changed considerably. Buyers do not register with agent anymore, they don’t walk past and look in Agent’s windows like they used to – everything is now done online. With websites like Rightmove and Zoopla a buyer can look at every property in their price range that is for sale, in the area they are looking for. Now it is MORE important to stand out amongst the crowd and that is where Professional Property Photography comes into its own.
Your property is probably the most expensive asset that you will ever own. Why wouldn’t you want to show it off to its best online? Professional photographers are artists. They are people who harnessed their passion for taking pictures and transformed it into their career. Like other artists that use different mediums, they place a heavy emphasis on their artistic integrity. At 241Photography we are Plymouth based professional property photographers and take photos of houses for a living. We have the knowledge and talent to effectively capture your home’s most striking features.
While you may presume that you possess the skills required to make your crowded bedroom look stunning, the truth is that only a professional property photographer knows exactly what angles, lighting setup, and in some cases, staging is necessary to make your property stand out. In fact, listings that used our photographs were shown to receive a 139% increase in clicks, compared to similar listings within the same postal code. Furthermore, homes that showcase our professional photos in their listings can actually increase the selling price. Recently an estate agent told me they had sold a local property for nearly £20000 over the asking price. The vendor stated it was all down to our “fantastic images” that contributed to four buyers wanting the property.
Another estate agent ear marked three properties a few years ago before we took professional photos for them. The agent took his own photos and then analysed the click thorough rate online for 7 days. After that time, he withdrew the listing and contracted 241Photography to take images of the same properties. Once we had processed and enhanced them to look their best online, we gave them to the agent to upload to the listings. The agent then analysed the listings again for 7 days and what he saw astounded him. The properties had over three times the amount of website traffic and click through rate but more importantly the user stayed looking at images for longer. All three properties were sold, using our professional photographs, within 14 days at full asking price.
Contact us at 241Photography for all of your Devon, Cornwall and Plymouth property photography needs.
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Plymouth Wedding Photographer | Bruce Benson of 241Photography
Wedding | St Mary's Church, Plympton
Wedding Venue | Boringdon Park, Plympton, Plymouth
What a wonderful day we had photographing the wedding of Laura and Rob on 29th June 2013
I asked my friend and fellow photographer Paul Keppel to give me a hand for the day. He kindly drove all the way from Falmouth to help me out, thanks Paul.
I met Laura at her parent’s house just before noon. She was in the process of getting her makeup done and then on to her hair. I took photos of the preparation and she looked fabulous. She was accompanied by three bridesmaids, Amy, Emily and Kerri as well as two page boys, Oscar and Joseph. We had some fun photographing the page boys in the garden as well as some images of the bridesmaids getting their hair and makeup done. Laura's Dad, Steve also kept me fed and watered with some cheese sandwiches and nibbles, cheers Mr Sample ;)
While this was going on, Paul met up with the lads at Rob's parents house. Judging by the photos, they had lots of laughs and the odd beer, not Paul though, very professional as he is. Rob had two best men, his brother Mark and best mate Darren, as well as three ushers, Sean, Aaron and James. After the boys got ready and had the odd picture taken, they left for the church.
The ceremony was at 2:30pm at St Mary's Church in Plympton, Plymouth. This is one the oldest churches in the area, the present building has been standing for over 700 years. It is a magnificent church and is a great venue for any wedding. The service lastest about 45 minutes and then the couple signed the register in the vestry, towards the back of the church.
When the ceremony had finished we had the opportunity of photographing some of the smaller family group shots in and around the church grounds. the light was wonderful with just a little cloud cover to break up the afternoon sun - perfect.
The bride and groom left the church in a silver Mercedes and travelled to the reception venue at Boringdon Park . This is a fantastic place to have the reception, with numerous locations for photography with stunning backdrops overlooking Plymouth and out towards the sea. They also have a historic brick Triumphal Arch, which we just had to photograph Laura and Rob under. It was great fun especially as we had to get there by golf buggy!!! We just got back in time for wedding breakfast.
After the sit down meal, there were the speeches. Steve was first to go and you can see from the photos he was pleased to finish his. Then it was Rob's turn. Finally it was the double act of Mark and Darren. Their speech was one of the funniest and if not the bluest best men speeches I have ever had the pleasure to hear, both Paul and myself could not stop laughing, which makes taking photos a little difficult. They finished off with a powerpoint slide show for the lovely couple with the obligatory baby photos for all to see. Great speech guys.
While the venue was setting up for the evening disco, the sun was beginning to set. This gave me a great opportunity to take some more photos out on the golf course. You could see all the way across Plymouth and out to sea, fantastic in the twilight. Then back inside for the cake cutting and first dance.
This was a fabulous wedding and a fabulous couple, thank you Mr and Mrs Tunley for allowing me to capture your day.
Here are 100 of my favourite images for you all to see.
Plymouth Wedding Photographer | 241Photography
Wedding | Maryfield Church, Antony
Wedding Venue | Torpoint Mosquito Sailing Club
On the 15th June I had the pleasure of shooting this wedding at Maryfield Church near Torpoint.
The weather just stayed dry for a fantastic day for Kerry-Ann and her new husband, Ian Frost.
I met the bride at her mother’s house just before noon. She was in the process of getting her makeup done and then on to her hair. I took photos of the preparation and she looked fabulous. After getting her dress on and the final finishing touches, we headed off to the church for the 3:30 service, which was beautiful.
After the ceremony and signing of the registers, we came outside into the church gardens for some wonderful and informal group shots. The guests then made their way to the sailing club for the evening reception, which then gave us an hour with Kerri-Ann and Ian to do some more intimate shots around the church.
When we had finished, the bride and groom left the church in Ian’s dad BMW Z3 convertible. They had a little drive around which allowed me enough time to get to the Torpoint Mosquito Sailing Club ahead of them, so I could photograph their arrival.
As Ian works on the ferries, I just had to take a picture of them with the Torpoint Crossing in the background.
Thank you Mr and Mrs Frost for allowing me to capture your day!!
Plymouth Wedding Photographer | 241Photography
Wedding | St Mary’s Church – Tamerton Foliot
Wedding Venue | Crownhill Fort
Last year I had the pleasure of working with another wedding photographer, Michael Crowe, who asked me to help him with Gwen and Adrian’s wedding.
I met Adrian at the Future Inn in Plymouth and photographed himself and the groomsmen getting ready. It all got a bit frantic as the hotel had issues with their running water. Eventually everyone was showered and shaved, just in time for a coach to pick them and some other guests up to take them to the church.
After following them and photographing the guys getting off the coach, I returned to meet up with Michael, who was at Gwen’s house. We photographer the bride and bridesmaids finishing off their final touches before 2 Silver Mercedes turned up to take them to St Mary’s Church in Tamerton Foliot.
After the service, the bride and groom were whisked away in an old vintage car to Crownhill Fort which is a perfect setting for any wedding. The fort has many tunnels and passageways, tucked away for intimate photo opportunities.
Here are just a few images from the day.
If you are considering a Plymouth Wedding at Crownhill Fort or any other venue, then please do not hesitate in contacting me.
I was going through some of my weddings from last year and realised I have not uploaded many images, so I have decided to go through them one by one and rectify that.
This was a lovely sunny day last August and I was asked to help out the lovely Julie Morrish, a fellow tog and friend. We had already shot one or 2 of Vicky's family the previous year so it was nice to see some of our previous couples.
The wedding took place at St Stephen's Church in Saltash, and the wedding breakfast was at St Mellion Golf Course. We had great fun driving down onto the greens for so fantastic image opportunities (Finlay got a bit bored in the end and wanted to play his DS). Here are just a small sample.
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Plymouth Portrait Photographer | 241Photography
Here is baby Moray at 6 weeks old. Mummy said he always has a sleep fater his lunch. We booked him in just after midday for his portraits and he took 4 hours to go to sleep!! He is such a cutie.
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Plymouth Wedding Photographer | 241Photography
I was asked by some of the parents at the DAE Dance school to take images of their children as they were doing their exams today. My own daughter Katie was also doing her 2nd Rainbow exam and had to do a dance and mime for "Madam"
Here are the images taken.
Plymouth Wedding Photography | Plymouth Portrait Photography
I have been very lazy over the last 7 months when it has come to blog posting. I previously did everything using a wordpress blog www.241Photographyblog.co.uk but before Christmas, my main page host Zenfolio added a blog feature. As I prefer to keep everything under one roof, this is where the future posts will come from.
The wedding season has just started and I'm already on number 3. I will endeavour to upload more posts as the season goes on. As well as those, I will be also shooting portrait sessions and concentrating on Newborn and Maternity shoots this year.
Here is an image from wedding number 1, 2013 the lovely Rosel and Andrew Sneath.
I had the pleasure of helping shoot Hayley and Dan’s Wedding blessing in July. This day had been planned for a while and was one of the best locations I have photographed to date.
Hayley and Dan had their blessing on Lusty Glaze Beach in Newquay, Cornwall. Now for all of you who do not know this beach, click on the link and have a look. It is a spectacular horse-shoe shaped cove with white sand and clear blue sea. The sensible way down to the beach is via about 150 steps, down the cliff. There is another way, via a zip wire, which Hayley and Dan’s bridesmaids did after the ceremony.
The ceremony consisted of a sand ritual which was fantastic to photograph. Afterwards, a steel band from Bath played on their kettle drums, which gave a Caribbean feel to the afternoon. After the wedding breakfast, their was sand castle being made by the children and young at heart. For those with a little more energy, beach volleyball was the flavour of the day.
At 9pm, the sun started to set over the horizon and Hayley and Dan were happy to have some images taken as the sea lapped over their feet. Fantastic images for a fantastic couple. Click on the images to see them full size.
Another image taken at Teresa and David’s wedding.
All the men had a miniture bottle of Jack Daniels as their favours. I could not resist from having a little play and lining them up for this cheeky little photo.
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This is one of my images from Teresa and David’s wedding taken in December. I was shooting with the lovely Julie Morrish and we had a cracking day. Lots of fantastic images and a very happy bride and groom.
Taken with my 1DS2 and a 135L f2
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Yesterday, I finally managed to get out with my camera and try out my new Haida 10 stop filter. I will write a review on this filter in the next week of 2 but first impressions are very good.
Here is a picture I took at Salcombe. The weather wasnt that great, very cold but at least it stayed dry for a while. This image was taken at ISO100, at f11 and for 25 seconds.
I have tweaked the contrast and converted it mono in CS5.
Hope you like it?
Regards
Bruce
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“What i like about photographs is that they capture a moment that’s gone forever, impossible to reproduce.”
]]>“A photographer went to a socialite party in New York. As he entered the front door, the host said ‘I love your pictures – they’re wonderful; you must have a fantastic camera.’ He said nothing until dinner was finished, then: ‘That was a wonderful dinner; you must have a terrific stove.”
]]>I have been playing around with my site again. This time I have updated my portrait portfolio.
Please have a look here when passing through.
Enjoy and thank you.
I have just been updating my website www.241photography.co.uk and added a new set of wedding portfolio images.
These were taken form a couple of wedding I have attended over the summer. Both couples look fantastic and everybody who attended certainly had fun.
Sarah and Joe’s wedding ceremony was at the Plymouth Cathedral and the wedding reception was at Boringdon Park. The weather was great and little bit of cloud cover added to the moodiness of the outside group images.
Rachael and Jon’s wedding was exclusively set at Elfordleigh Hotel, Golf and Country Club. This venue has some stunning scenary and this certainly helps nwhen taking pictures. We took the bride and groom down onto the golf course after the ceremony in a buggy. This led to some unique and intimate images which the couple absolutely love.
I have added a slideshow of the new porfolio images below, I hope you like them as much I did taking them. Thank you.
]]>My good friend Andrew Rowe has lent me his Samyang 85mm 1.4 lens to try out over the Christmas and New Year holidays. Now, for those who don’t know, this lens is completely manual, the aperture and focus all have to be done by me. I have played around with some old school M42 lenses in the past but nothing like this.
My lens is not really a Samyang but a Falcon branded one instead. They are the same lens (like Vivitar, Rokinon, Polar, etc.) and they’re all made in Korea by Samyang. The full name of mine is Falcon 85mm f/1.4 Aspherical IF. I have to say, what a catch! This lens is spectacular for the price, under £250 and will be so useful for portraits and street photography.
Pros:
- Excellent build, feels very professional. I can’t say the same of the lens cap and hood, what a shame.
- Stunning sharpness at the center already at f/1.4. The corners are already very very good and sharpness increases dramatically at f/2.2.
- Excellent manual focus performance. Just like any manual focus should be. Perfect damping and has a very long throw for critical sharpness.
- Beautiful creamy bokeh at widest apertures. By f/2.8 the highlights stop being circular due to the non-circular blades.
- Great colours. The UMC coating does the job very well.
- Very well controlled CAs. They are easily visible at f/1.4 but by f/2 most of it disappears.
Cons:
- The lens cap is rubbish, if you press it with one finger it bends a little.
- The lens hood feels very cheap and could not be put or taken off the lens with the cap on.
- Very poor flare performance. The lens hood helps a bit but you should avoid having the sun near the frame.
- Focusing can be a pain if you use the lens wide open because of the low depth of field. I use a 1DS Mk2 and I got about 25% of keepers at f/1.4. At f/2.8 the keeper percentage jumped to between 60% to 70%. The long throw of the focusing ring and the somewhat stiffness feel doesn’t allow for quick focus. This lens is meant to waste a lot of time to compose and focus. Not really a problem to me but can keep others away of it because of this.
Bottom line:
The price is unbeatable. The sharpness and bokeh is nothing short of fantastic. The build quality doesn’t match the pro Canon L Glass but it’s a lot better than any currently made lens in the £200 to £300 price range. The only drawback I see is that it is a manual focus lens. I think Samyang deserves to be loudly applauded for this accomplishment. If you don’t mind manual focusing, this lens should be in your bag already and you should beat yourself hard if you still don’t have it.
Here are a couple of images I took yesterday while in the neighbours. Harrison is just over 4 months old and is a happy little chappie. Just took a couple of quick images to while he and his Dad, Struan, were looking at each other. ISO3200, 1/320 sec, f1.4.
Happy New Year to everyone, hope you have a great 2012
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