This outdoor country summer wedding at Wadhurst Castle was just beautiful. The day started with the bridal party getting ready in one of the large stately bedrooms with breathtaking views over the Surrey countryside. The bride wanted a very relaxed day - her and the groom had an 18 month old toddler so they were keen to avoid too much formality.
This beautiful family are really good friends of mine. Best friends actually! But they live in Wolverhampton. So imagine my delight when they told me they were going to make the three hour trip to have me capture some special memories for them!
I met Anthony and Rachel a year before their wedding for their engagement shoot at Virginia Water lake and left that session feeling so uplifted, such was their infectious happiness. We had so much fun doing their engagement shoot that I was so excited to be doing their wedding photography at Wasing Park.
One of the wonderful things about a wedding is that it brings people from different families, and often different cultures and countries together. It’s amazing the journeys family and friends take in order to be there for their loved one’s special day. David and Fabrizio’s small yet perfectly formed wedding a few weeks ago was no exception…
When I met Grace to talk about her plans for their day, her words were; “It’s a really low key wedding at our local church and then a small marquee in my parents’ garden.” She was totally relaxed about the whole thing and while I knew it would be beautiful, I was expecting low key, no frills, just as she’d said. So when I arrived at her parents’ beautiful cottage down a country lane in the Surrey Hills, I was blown away by the gorgeousness of it all…
I’ve had a variety of assignments recently, which I love. Something I hadn’t done much of, despite my marketing and communications background, is product photography. So it was brilliant to have the opportunity to do that for Sussex based bespoke furniture designer, Suffolk Designs.
Located in the Surrey Hills, which are classified as ‘An Area of Outstanding Beauty’, Box Hill has sweeping views across the North Downs. Instead of the clear day promised by weather forecasters, Melissa, Josh and I were met with thick fog creating a clean white background, void of even the slightest detail! We may as well have been in a studio. Not to be deterred, we headed into the woods instead…
One of the questions I get asked quite a lot is, when is the best time to do baby photography. Honestly, it depends on what kind of pictures you are looking for. If you want sleeping newborn posed photographs, then the first two weeks are best. If you want smiles and something a little more interactive, when they are that little bit older is better...
I have actually known Kate for a very long time so I was thrilled when she asked me to work on some photography with her to help her launch her new career. It is so much more than a simple career change - for Kate, her journey into Yoga is about so much more - it's a complete lifestyle change...
Richard Hams is a fitness instructor and personal trainer who runs bootcamp sessions at Epsom College in Surrey. Having previously done a photoshoot in the gym, it was time to head outside for our second shoot to generate imagery to support his online profile and marketing activity for his business...
I was delighted to be asked back to do some more photography for new business, The Little Tents. This time the shoot was to generate imagery to promote their wedding packages and show how The Little Tents can provide a fun little haven for children at these special events. The venue was Nonsuch Mansion and the tents were set up in all their glory complete with their new vintage lace and an abundance of activities for children...
Professional photos make fantastic gifts, especially for doting grandparents! My clients - two sisters - booked a mini session to get an image of their three children together for a canvas for their parents for Christmas. The children were aged five years, three years, and 5 months. The older two were clearly very excited which made for fantastic photography as they were happy to beam away in front of the camera. The little one was far more interested in what her brother and cousin were doing!
One of the reasons I love engagement photography is because the people you are photographing are always so full of excitement and happiness, and it really shows in the photos. It’s really uplifting hearing people chat excitedly about their plans for their big day and the future. This gorgeous pair were no exception. They’ll be getting married in Ireland in the bride’s home country this summer...
Quite a departure from my usual assignments, I was excited to have a new challenge. Richard Hams, Hams Fitness, is a fitness instructor who runs his business from Epsom College. Not your stereotypical personal trainer (there were no fluorescent trainers or Lycra in sight), Richard’s style is a bit more grungy and his attitude to life and fitness is everything in moderation.
More and more people are buying my photography services as a present. It’s such a thoughtful and incredibly generous gift. This wedding reception at The Warren is a perfect example. The couple had got hitched on their own in Las Vegas a few months before. So, naturally, they wanted a big party in the UK to celebrate with their nearest and dearest, including their two children. The best man and his wife, hired me to photograph their special night.
I’ve written before about the weather - I’m British and therefore have an innate preoccupation with it(!), even more so now I’m a photographer! In the Winter months it becomes more of a gamble. So on a rainy day in November, my client and I were checking the hourly forecast in an attempt to find a dry spell. She has two young children so we weren’t sure how much any of them would enjoy a shoot in the sopping rain...! In the end, she decided to go for it. And I'm glad she did!
While the resulting images are obviously most important thing on any shoot, it’s equally important to me that people enjoy their sessions. They need to be fun. Not only is it reflected in the finished photographs but it also means they mean something to the family. The three year old on this family shoot was fascinated by the photography and was helping me change the lens and wanted to see the pictures. We had such fun thinking of things we could shout out instead of “cheese!”, finding spots to sit in without prickly brambles, and exploring the common that she went home and drew a picture of our session. And it's a masterpiece...
I was delighted to be invited to photograph this lovely couple's legal wedding ceremony at London's Southwark Registry Office this Autumn. Their big event was to be in South Africa, the bride's family home, a couple of weeks later. A simple affair, in front of close family and friends, all of whom were buzzing with excitement about the forthcoming South African adventure, it was an intimate, happy day. Not to mention, an incredibly stylish one!
So I've written before about how newborns call the shots when it comes to photography. My recent shoot was no exception! Meet Jack, 'Jack the lad' as his parents and I now call him after his cheekiness on his recent newborn photo shoot. At exactly one week old, he had his own ideas about how our session would go...
"When you realise you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible" - When Harry Met Sally
For me, engagement photography is about love. Real love. The squidgy, spontaneous kind where you can't get enough of each other, can't hug each other tightly enough. The type that makes you beam from ear to ear. That's exactly what I think of when I recall this session at Virginia Water Lake with this lovely pair.
Children's parties are always so much fun to photograph. From bouncy castles to magicians to entertainers, every party I've been to has been different (so far anyway!). The most recent was no exception. Hosted at the birthday girl's home, her party was a sleepover. But no ordinary sleepover; they had hired The Little Tents who transformed the lounge into a glamourous campsite...
I love doing newborn photography, mainly because the arrival of a little one is such a miracle, each and every time. New life is a truly awesome thing and I always feel so privileged to capture babies during their first few days. And never more so than on my recent shoot with little Iona who was just 5lbs 5oz and the smallest baby I'd ever held, let alone photographed.
You can't predict the British weather - we all know that. So for my latest engagement shoot in August, we had just had a bout of rain so I thought the best we could hope for was a dry day. Our location was to be the meadows in The Happy Valley which, despite it being the end of Summer, still had long grass and a few meadow flowers. Well, it did the week before our shoot. We arrived just in time to see the tractor trundling along to the next field having just mown all the grass....
I always talk about how fast time flies when you're having fun. Since having my little ones it's flown even faster. So I couldn't quite believe it when my baby boy's first birthday came shooting round. Already on his feet and clumsily toddling around, curious about everything and determined to carry things twice his size, soft play was clearly the best option.
After a week of the weather forecasting rain (and me planning umbrella and welly shots in July...), the sun changed its mind and came out in all its glory for our photo shoot at Mayfield Lavender farm last week. This family come to the fields every year to mark their little girl's birthday with some photos of her holding a balloon for each year of her age. This year, she is three and so clutching her three balloons, we headed into the rows to find a spot clear of other visitors.
