Stewart and Gemma

Added Tuesday 28th July 2009



Stewart and Gemma will be married at the Dunchurch Hotel later this year. Here are some shots from their engagement session.

Love this one. Blurry bits of flowers and orange lens flare just add to the drama!



Ken and Glenys, Gemma's Mum and Dad, joined us as we walked around the grounds, and wanted to get in on a few shots!









bingo.





Stewart and Gemma are often found laughing together in pictures. It's ever so cute!



Some lovely grounds at the Dunchurch Hotel, complete with lake.







They even put the sun in the right place at sunset!!







A lovely moment to end the session.

Nick and Julie, more great photos!

Added Monday 27th July 2009



I enjoyed shooting Nick and Julie's engagement session so much I asked them if we could do it again! This time we went to their church for some great portraits. For the camera geeks like me among you, the indoor shots were taken at ISO 3200!! Astonishing quality.



I thought about carving "NC 4 JW" in the stone in photoshop. But someone would think they'd actually done it.



love love love this portrait of Julie. I think she's gorgeous.



God is in the details.



hugging! :-)









How happy are these two?! Despite the rain! Can't wait for the wedding on Saturday. Stay cool you two. You're amazing!!

Emmy's Christening

Added Thursday 23rd July 2009

This weekend I was delighted to be invited to the christening of Emmy, who is the lovely baby daughter of friends and customers Eamon and Jennie.





Despite my rather anglican background, I do enjoy services at the cathedral. I don't think I've ever seen a priest play guitar before!









Photographs with proud godparents, and Father John.



Eamon and Jennie, it's a pleasure to be included amongst your friends and family to witness Emmy's christening. I wish you all every happiness and many blessings together!

Andrew and Rowena engagement photos

Added Saturday 18th July 2009

This week I went to meet Andrew and Rowena at the Moor Hall Hotel for their engagement photos and a pre-wedding chat.

Here's Ro's "please love me" look!



These two are so much fun to shoot, and really had a good laugh while taking photos. It's definitely the best way to be!

















Andrew and Rowena's wedding is only on Friday! So it's not long to wait. It's going to be so much fun!

Craig and Emma's Fairytale Wedding

Added Thursday 9th July 2009

"Once in awhile, right in the middle of an ordinary life, love gives us a fairytale."

These words adorned Emma and Craig's beautiful wedding this June. When Emma first told me them at our meeting, I thought they were merely nice. But the more I pondered, the more they sank in, and began to mean something important.



You see, this delightful girl always dreamed of being a princess and having a fairytale wedding. But somewhere down the line, our hearts get full up of things like jobs and cars and mortgages and facebook. Oh to be young enough to have a brain full of "wasps and bees and humus and pizza" again! We run out of space for those dreams. We are ordinary people, living ordinary lives. But once in a while...



As much as Craig and Emma deserve to - we can't afford to live like this every day! I met with them as soon as they were back from their honeymoon, even browner than before, and all sea and sunbleached hair, padding around the house like a couple of island kids. It's very sweet to see them getting settled into their new life together. But they'll always have the 27th of June, and they'll always be that bride and groom! I know I'll never forget them.





I've always avoided that old line that goes: "after the wine has been drunk and the flowers have wilted... yadda yadda, the photos are all you have left." I think it's a really sad way to sell wedding photography. What you have left is the most awesome memory, and the knowledge that you lived out your dream. Photos are there to help you, but they should do so much more than just jog your memory.

My job is not to merely record, but to create. I need to take what you have done, and make it look pretty and professional in the photographs. And as I work with the bride and groom, I can show you just how fabulous you can look, and how you felt when you saw each other.







...and how you felt when you saw each other.



Married at last!! My warmest congratulations to this sweet couple. Craig and Emma you were a joy to work with, and I'm going to be finding lame excuses to photograph you more in future, just you wait!



And thank you too to my awesome friend and second photographer for the day, Helen Bailey. Helen and I have been shooting together occasionally, and I love the different angle she adds to a wedding. If I'm not free for your big day, give her a call!







Somerford Hall is a wonderful venue. I'm really very excited to be going back there next month actually! Loads of lovely rooms, gardens, and a pretty fancy bridal suite. More of that later!





Here is the love, people!



Like I said, Emma's a deeply beautiful girl, but I don't think she knows it like Craig does. She's the perfect example of the kind of bride I love working with. Someone who is at first unsure about photographs, and isn't all that confident in front of the lens - but is willing to give it a shot and trust me just an inch. And before you know it, she's posing her heart out and taking directions like a model.





One of my favourites this year. It has such an obvious caption I won't even mention it!





See? All I have to do now is say "erm, TV ad...brings out the godess in you...yeah baby she's got it" and Emma knows what I mean.





Up in the supercool bridal suite at Somerford Hall. Most couples are in too much of a rush to head upstairs during the reception for pictures. But I think they're so nice to have it's well worth making time for.







Checking out the exquisite ballroom just before the meal began.



And enjoying a first dance as husband and wife. Craig and Emma, you and your wedding meant a lot to me. Thankyou for making us a part of it!

Once in awhile, right in the middle of an ordinary life, love gives us a fairytale.

Carly and Carlton

Added Wednesday 1st July 2009

Wedding photography is a huge job, let me tell you! Someone asked me the other day if all my weddings must surely start to look the same to me. I can honestly say they don't! Somehow the sheer gravity of the day never eludes me. I think it's the way I work. I never want to be just an observer of events, but always like to consider the bride and groom as close friends, get to know their families, listen in to people's stories and jokes, and understand what makes the events of the day so rich and momentous.

Carlton and Carly's wedding in early June was one such enormous day! Filled with love and friendships. And I was privileged to capture just a fraction of it. After the long wait for the happy couple to return from their honeymoon and see the pictures first, I can finally show you a few of my favourites!



Carly was the model of serenity in the morning! She made everyone smile and relax as she coolly prepared for her wedding.



Bob and Dianne, Carly's sweet parents looked after everyone, and even fed Carly strawberries while her hands were busy. Here, Bob is showing young Charlotte (who, by the way, arrived with a brain full of wasps and bees and humous and pizza) photographs from their own wedding, of Charlotte's mum being a bridesmaid for Dianne years ago.



Here are the boys at St. Lawrence's in Towcester. It's a wonderful church that I've taken some of my favourite shots in. Some of those soon!





Here's Callum, checking to see if his name is in print.



One of my favourite ever father-daughter shots.



Well hello bride!









And this is one of my favourite church images.













Arriving at the oh-so-wonderful Whittlebury orangery, everyone assembled for a big group photo.





After dinner (mine was absolutely delicious by the way Carly, thank you!) the speeches were poignant, emotional, and downright funny. This is my favourite picture of Carly. I don't care what she says, I love it.





The best man Andy got to his feet and told us all that he had intended to proceed with the traditional tirade of humiliating stories about the groom. That was until he saw Carlton playing with little Callum earlier, and found a side he hadn't really noticed before. Those big arms and superhero job belie Carlton's softer side. Noone brings this out better than his gorgeous wife Carly.





"lighting up" the dance floor to Leona.





And finally, launching lanterns into the night sky over Silverstone. A picturesque end to an extremely photogenic wedding!