A walk in the Park

September is a wonderful time for 'environmental portraiture'. Great light and, with all the recent rain we still have saturated colours. Autumn is on its way, but a recent shoot in Richmond Park was very leafy and green on a perfect late summer's day.

Gorgeous girls!

Two beautiful Angolan sisters and their parents were the subjects of a recent shoot in London. I've photographed the elder sister before, and was delighted to meet the new arrival! Three sets of stunning clothes and two photogenic girls resulted in some lovely informal and formal pictures for the album.

A hectic month....

Weddings, parties, portraits - a busy month. But I managed to get some time to myself and my camera while in the Outer Hebrides a few weeks ago.

The Callanish Stones on Lewis have been photographed numerous times by better landscape photographers than me, but they are impossible to visit without trying to record them. I've only had a brief flick through my photos from this trip, but they are truely majestic - and unlike Stonehenge you can walk right up to them. Worth the trip.

"They are absolutely beautiful, I am thrilled..."

Another beautiful Queensberry Album delivered to its home, together with two digital copies for parents.
The digital copies - 7" x 5" - are faithful replicas of the Feature Album, covered in the same 'Baby Blue' Leather. Each one even features the flip pages which I designed to tell the story of the ceremony on one spread. Delivered in their own soft bags they are the perfect gift for parents.

There is nothing to beat Queensberry's quality. Expensive? Yes. But you get what you pay for. I guess I could offer my clients cheaper covers, mass market binding systems and standard size images and layouts. But I don't give my clients average quality work so why put it in an average quality album?

Close ups of the Baby Blue Leather cover - really soft and feely - embossed with my clients' names and wedding date; the Feature Album pages to show the page mounting of the photos (ivory mat on grey page); the first page, which has all the key details of the wedding day; the edges of the album pages, beautifully finished to last a lifetime of handling.

And also in my camera bag.....

It was INCREDIBLY hot on Saturday, and in south London - Dulwich to be precise - the heat was on and over 32 degrees by the time the suited and booted men of the bridal party had begun to gather at the church. The Best Man was mopping his brow almost as much as the nervous Bridegroom!

The humidity inside the chapel was very high and the beautiful orders of service were put to good use as fans by the guests.

It was not surprising to find that my camera bag was raided for a number of crucial items as the day wore on: water for the bride and groom after the ceremony, pain-killers (for dehydration headaches), sun tan cream, and last but not least plasters to cushion hot and swollen bruised feet!

The wedding was wonderful - an eclectic mix of Japanese, Scottish and English with guests from around the world converging on Dulwich College for the celebrations. The heat of the day turned into a balmy evening with a cool breeze and guests taking a break from dancing spilled out into the floodlit College grounds.

A photo of me!

The problem with being the photographer is that there are never any pictures of oneself. I know I should get one of my photographer colleagues to take one - I just haven't got round to it yet......

Just occasionally, very occasionally, when we're out I allow someone to take a photo of me. I have three looks – ‘bag lady’ which is the walking the dogs look, ‘working’ look which is smart – suit or jacket and trousers, and glamorous.

This is me with elder daughter at her Leavers Ball at Wellington College on Friday. You decide.

Fun in the evening sun!

Wow - we've really had a wonderful few weeks of sunshine. It's made shooting during the day a bit challenging, but the early mornings and evenings are fabulous.

Just at the end of our pre-wedding shoot, we saw this old tree, just picked out in the setting sun. The light lasted for about 5 minutes like this - just enough for Kitty and James to make their way through the undergrowth and get in position.

The sun has been so bright that even shooting as late as 8.30pm in and amongst trees hasn't been a problem!

Latest Publicity - Wedding Venues & Services

Tilly and Christian's perfect summer tea party is featured in the latest edition of Wedding Venues and Services. Tilly is a professional Lady Golfer, so not surprisingly the tables had a golfing theme!


The wedding took place at the exclusive Buckinghamshire venue of Poundon House - in the open air. Tilly planned her wedding in only eight weeks, although I was aware of the date for a little longer, as I had photographed Christian's sister's wedding four years previously at Woburn!
Christian and Tilly can be seen further down in my posts under 'Capturing Perfect Moments'. That image not only headlines the magazine article, but will feature on the front cover of their album - currently in the final stages of production.

Latest Queensberry Album

I've just said 'goodbye' to my latest Queensberry Album. Absolutely gorgeous. Cover in Twilight Silk (the most vivid deep blue - stunning), ivory mats and delicate mist to surround the photos.

Hand-made to order for me in New Zealand - mine for a brief moment then - whoosh! - out the door, and on its way by courier to Chantal and Mark. Their wedding was in Shrewsbury Castle and was a wonderful day of laughter - even the formal groups were fun. This shot made the album!

Singing sensations!

A wonderful evening in Dulwich with Helen Hampton's Popchoir. (Yes - she's my sister!) The admiring audience of family and friends enjoyed an end of term concert at which the choir performed a sensational set of numbers - some with six part harmonies!

Only available in South London at present, it's for anyone who likes to sing but hasn't found where to do it before.

The choir is a bunch of people, who spend an hour and a half every week getting that feelgood factor one only gets from singing and making new friends in the process. If you'd like to know more check out http://www.popchoir.com/

Fun in Manchester

The Spring weather makes everything much more fun. Just returned from my second pre-wedding meeting of the week - this one was with Wendy and Wayne in Manchester.

After discussing the details of their day (Scarborough in August), we went out and about and found some great locations for their pre-wedding shoot. I think they enjoyed it as much as I did. Here's one of the shots to be going on with.

Really looking forward to your wedding, guys!

Antigone - shooting theatrical productions

I can't believe we're nearly at the end of March. I've been very busy in this 'quiet' time of the year, not just shooting portraits but also indulging - pro bono - in one of my passions, photographing theatrical productions.

I hadn't seen the production before, and - just like a wedding - all the shots were taken without setting anything up, just as the rehearsal happened.

In the old days of film, ISO 800 was about as high as you could go and get anything usable. You had to use a tripod and so the angles you could shoot a production from were severely limited if you didn't want to miss anything. The new digital cameras have changed all that. Some of the shots were taken at ISO's well over 1600 as the stage lighting wasn't available at the start of the rehearsal; I also had help from the image stabiliser on my EF zoom lens.