Bijal & Ankith | Indian Reception | London

I'm way behind on blogging some stuff ! Bijal & Ankith, whose wedding at Crewe Hall I recently blogged, had a massive, Indian, reception at Wandsworth Town Hall the week after their wedding. They were very relaxed, even though the preparations had been completely manic ... well, there were over 500 guests attending !!! It was fab to hang out with them again and I was assisted by my friend and fellow photographer, Yvonne, whose spare bed I used for the night (she lives very near, super handy !)

As always, a few favourites from the evening ...

Bijal looking gorgeous as ever ...

Kit's 2 brothers, recently married themselves, shared in the celebrations ...

The cake cutting was followed by a beautiful, heart-felt speech by the brothers' father ...

Bijal's cousin was a singer in the band ... man, these guys ROCKED !

This lady's hair caught our eye ... beautiful detail ...

Then it was time for some dancing ...

I was knackered just WATCHING these 2 girls !!!

Even the little ones knew how to get down ...

Sunny Sunday ...

Hi guys ... just a very quick blog post to say that I hope you are all enjoying this WONDERFUL sunshine over our May Bank Holiday ! I know we are ... here's a quick shot of my friend Kim, sat in the sun today.

Have fun !

Product News | Funky Finao Digital

I have been waiting with excitement and baited breath for a week or so since I found out my new album from Finao had shipped from the States ... to say it was worth the wait would be a complete understatement ! These albums are truly unique, they come in a wide range of VERY different leather options, which can be mixed and matched on each album. The printing is bang on, the colours are true to what I envisaged when designing on my screen and the quality is, well, see for yourself ...

Gorgeous wrapping ... I love this attention to detail ...

The quality is just fantastic ...

For the photographers ... Finao Linkie ... this cover is patina and opaline :)

Totally Tess

I haven't posted any recent shots of my baby, Tess, aka Mrs Lady Pants (don't ask). I decided to do some product photography of my albums today and Tess patiently sat and watched while I set up my lights and got on with it. She looked so cute and cosy just waiting for me on the sofa that I couldn't resist turning my camera her direction and taking a couple of shots. It's hard to believe that she is almost 10 months old ! I know ! She turns 1 in July and John is already nervous about my plans for her party LOL.

So here she is, beautiful as ever ...





For the photographers: 1D IIN, 70-200 @ 130mm (bottom) and 200mm (top), both at 2.8, of course :)

Jayne & Lyndon | Wedding | Sandon Hall, Staffordshire

I got a tweet a couple of weeks ago from my friend, and local photographer, Steve Sutton, asking if I wanted to come second shoot with him at Sandon Hall. I haven't been a second shooter for years and thought it would be fun, so of course I said yes !

Steve covered the morning's bridal preparations, so I met up with him at Sandon Church and we took it from there. Jayne's big secret was her dress ... Lyndon was in for a big surprise when she arrived in all her red glory ! Stunning !!!

The sun was very kind to us so, as I was only the second, I was able to play around with catching some flare, something I love doing.

A few favourites from the day ... thanks for having me, Steve, it was a lot of fun :)

Faye & Adam | Pre Wedding Shoot | Sutton Park

Faye & Adam booked me not that long ago for their wedding at the end of June, at The Botanical Gardens in Birmingham. We decided to meet down in Sutton Park, Sutton Coldfield, not far from where Faye grew up. I love shooting in the park, there are so many opportunities. The weather was very kind to us, but that also brought out loads of others who were picnic'ing, biking, hiking and walking their dogs ... the challenge was finding private spots for those intimate moments :)

I am really looking forward to the wedding, this shoot was fun and relaxed and they are a great couple , a joy to work with ... here, as always, are a few of my favourites :)

See you soon, guys !

Tried to contact me recently and thought I was being rude?

Sigh.

It seems one of my email addresses ... the one used for my enquiries and contact forms ... has been switched off for a little while :( If you have tried to enquire about wedding or portrait photography, well, it will look as though I have been on vacation on Mars !!!!

I hope you read this and decide to contact me again ... for all future enquiries, the problem has now been sorted, so drop me a line and I will get back to you ... honest.

Tyler & Colleen | Portraits

I recently shot a gorgeous boudoir for Kelly (check the archives!) and she was so delighted with the results that she asked me to do some portraits of her gorgeous kids, Tyler and Colleen ... we met up this morning in Stafford, along with Kelly and dad, Chris. Colleen is a total natural in front of the camera, but Tyler took a little while to warm up to the idea ... once he was in the zone, wow !

I think you will agree that they are both absolutely gorgeous ! Colleen is a very grown up little lady (aged 9) and Tyler is "nearly 6" LOL

Here are a couple of favourites from the session ... enjoy, and comments welcome as always :)

Colleen looking very sweet in the glorious sunshine ...

Tyler looking very cool indeed in front of some graffiti ...

Kim & Anthony | Environmental Portraits

Kim and I first met a few weeks after she got married in 2004 ... we were both in college having fun in the darkroom and studio at Stafford College. We soon became firm friends and have remained so ever since ... let's face it, we both LOVE photography !!!

So when Kim asked if I would shoot some environmental portraits of her and her husband Anthony, well, nerves set in ... to shoot a client is one thing, to shoot another photographer *eek*! LOL

We headed off into Shropshire, to a beautiful ruined castle, for the shoot. Close by, there were a generous amount of helicopters as there is a training school nearby, however, none of them would come close enough for me to include in the shoot, much to my annoyance :)

But still, we had a wonderful time, the guys soon settled into the shoot (as did I, thank goodness haha) and so here, as always, are a few of my faves ... enjoy !

And, of course, no session would be complete without this little shot :)

Coco | Take 2

Man, I just love this little dog ... she is due for her first ever clipping, and I can't wait to see those photos !! but in the meantime she's a walking rug LOL

This one is for Dawn and Chris ... enjoy !!

Coco

In this day and age of multiple communication sites (Facebook, Twitter, Blogs) one wonders if they really are just a waste of time, or if they have their uses. I am in the "useful" camp ... I love communicating with people from all over the world, hearing little snippets of others' lives, looking at beautiful photography, etc ...

Following John's heart attack in December I got an email from a friend who I hadn't seen for 5 years ... Dawn lived in the same apartment block as me when I lived in Strathaven in Scotland and we were firm friends right up til I moved to England, then life took over for both of us. The usual sentiments of "we must keep in touch" got taken over by our jobs and various "stuff" ... you all know how it goes. And so my heart lifted when we started communicating again. She had seen my blog post and immediately got in touch.

Last week, Dawn, her husband Chris and their little puppy, Coco, came for a visit. It was as if we had never had the 5 year gap, we sat up the first night til 3am just chatting, catching up, accompanied by some good wine :) Coco and Tess became chums over the few days they were here, too.

Dawn and Chris were rather camera shy (both are suffering from illnesses just now and didn't feel very photogenic) so I kept the camera trained on the doggies for the duration ... this is a fave one of Coco ... I swear, she DOES have eyes in there somewhere LOL

I hope you all had a great bank holiday, regardless of the weather !!