Manor House Hotel wedding Maria & Chris

Manor House Hotel wedding Maria & Chris

Chris and Maria’s wedding at the Manor House Hotel, Newlands Corner, Guildford was a relaxed and intimate occasion – just close family and friends, a civil wedding, and drinks and a meal afterwards. I’m just as happy photographing a low-key celebration like Maria & Chris’s as a big “do” in a London hotel with hundreds of guests. It’s usually easier to get to know everybody as well which always helps when taking pictures. (more…)

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Jane’s portrait session Godalming

Jane’s portrait session Godalming

Like many busy Mums, head teacher Jane is the photographer in her family – she loves photos and takes lots of her two kids, but as a result is never in the photos herself, which is a shame!

So I was very glad when she decided to remedy that, and called me to arrange a personal photo shoot just for herself. The great thing about this kind of session is that it can be done anywhere, indoors or out, and it’s usually quite uncomplicated and relaxed – at least that’s what I aim for!

My plan was to do the shoot at Jane’s home and then if we needed some extra time to go to the park – but as it turned out we found lots of places to shoot in Jane’s house and garden, so didn’t need to use the extra location. The whole session took about an hour. (more…)

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Gate Street Barn wedding photos – Caroline & James

Gate Street Barn wedding photos – Caroline & James

I don’t mind travelling to photograph weddings – but it is nice to cover one that’s local to me – and Gate Street Barn is just ten minutes drive away, in the Surrey countryside between Cranleigh and Godalming. So I was pleased to be asked to photograph Caroline and James’ Gate Street Barn wedding, especially as it’s a lovely venue, perfect for a relaxed event with everything in one location.

Caroline and James are huge Doctor Who fans, so there was definitely a Whovian theme to the wedding (check out the table name cards – and the cake) and the “guest of honour” was a life-size Tardis!

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Photo Assignment: Primary School head teacher Ralf Smits

Photo assignment: Primary School head teacher

In any job, it’s easy to get into a routine and just do things the way you’ve always done them – which is fine to some extent, but in a creative field like photography I think it’s important to keep moving forward, learning new techniques and ways of seeing, with the aim of constantly improving your skills and your work.

To that end I try to attend workshops and seminars whenever I can, to pick up ideas and methods and get out of my comfort zone a bit. I’m lucky enough to be a member of the My Vision group, an invitation-only collective of professional photographers who share with each other through an online forum and also through regular get-togethers. MV’s biggest event is the annual documentary photography workshop, where participants are given an assignment (usually a single person) and have two days in which to create a set of 30 photographs that tell that person’s story. Earlier this year about 20 of us gathered in Keswick, Cumbria for this year’s workshop…

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St Johns Wonersh Barnett Hill wedding – Wendy & John

St John’s Wonersh & Barnett Hill wedding – Wendy & John

Although I’ve been lucky enough to photograph weddings in many far-flung places from Mexico to the Middle East, the Channel Islands to Inverness, it’s really nice to photograph a very local wedding – and it doesn’t get any more local than the church of St John the Baptist in my home village of Wonersh, Surrey!

Wendy and John are stalwarts of the congregation at St. John’s (the groom John is a former churchwarden) so it was a full house in the church for their wedding ceremony, with many friends from the village filling every available pew alongside Wendy and John’s respective family members. (more…)

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Mayfair Library Wedding – Nina & Hasan

Mayfair Library Wedding – Nina and Hasan

It doesn’t matter whether a wedding is big or small, it’s all about two families coming together… and there is plenty for me to photograph! Nina and Hasan’s wedding was simple and straightforward – a civil ceremony in the Marylebone Room at the Mayfair Library register office in South Audley Street London W1, with some photos in the park afterwards.

They are planning a move overseas quite soon so having a small, intimate family wedding fitted in with their plans. (more…)

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Tour de France 2014 stage 3 London

Tour de France 2014 stage 3 London

I happened to be in central London yesterday so decided to watch the end of stage 3 of this year’s Tour de France professional cycle race. “Le Tour” has been a huge hit in the UK this year with literally millions of spectators turning out to watch, and as you might expect it was pretty crowded along the route towards the finish in central London!

I didn’t even attempt to fight my way through the crowds to the finish line on The Mall – instead I decided to head for the Embankment instead. (more…)

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Aviator Hotel Farnborough Hampshire wedding venue

Aviator Hotel Farnborough Hampshire wedding venue

If your tastes run to the ultra-modern rather than the traditional, then the Aviator Hotel in Farnborough Hampshire may just be the perfect place for your wedding celebration. From the sweeping modern lines of the exterior to the stylish but comfortable interior, it’s definitely different from most hotels and country wedding venues.

The hotel is owned by TAG Group, whose other ventures include TAG-Heuer luxury watches and sponsorship of the Williams and McLaren Formula One racing teams. They also own Farnborough Airport which is adjacent to the hotel (handy if your guests are flying in by private jet!) (more…)

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Langshott Manor Surrey wedding venue

Langshott Manor Surrey wedding venue

If your idea of a perfect wedding venue is an Elizabethan manor house set in landscaped gardens in the Surrey countryside, but still within easy reach of London, then take a look at Langshott Manor, near Horley in Surrey.

Built in the 16th century, it combines the modern amenities you would expect with traditional features such as red-brick walls, oak beams, four-poster beds, and open fires. (more…)

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Guildford family portrait – baby K

Guildford family portrait baby session

Up to now I haven’t done a huge number of baby photo shoots – but if they all go as smoothly as this one did then I’m happy to take them on! I photographed baby K’s parents’ wedding a while ago, so was very pleased when they called me to arrange a photo session with their new arrival.

The weather wasn’t really warm enough to do the shoot outdoors, so I set up a mini studio in their home office. I decided to use a black background (a little unconventional perhaps) so as to remove all distractions and make the colours “pop”. I also felt it would make a nice change from the usual white “high key” background that lots of photographers use.

Baby K was very well behaved (apart from the occasional burp) and seemed very happy and relaxed in front of the camera.

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My photos featured on Wedding Photography Select

A bit of recognition is always nice!

A  few weeks ago I was approached by the Wedding Photography Select website to feature a wedding that I have photographed as part of their “Real Weddings” series.

They also interviewed me about the way I approach photographing weddings as well.

The wedding I decided to have them show as an example was one of my favourites from last year – Harpreet and Tim’s Anglo-Sikh wedding at the Sri Guru Singh Sabha Gurdwara in Hounslow,  with a civil ceremony and reception at the very elegant Syon Park. It was colourful and happy, the couple were great to work with, the venues were eye-catching, and not only that, but the sun was shining! (more…)

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Dubai – my day as a tourist!

Last week I was in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates to photograph a wedding (of which more later!) – but in between the wedding photo shoots I had a day to myself to do a bit of sightseeing and explore this amazing modern city.

I wish I’d had time to explore the older part of town, especially the souks in Deira – but there’s only so much you can do in a day – hopefully I’ll get to shoot another wedding in Dubai soon and can explore that part of the city.

Dubai is a city that has undergone huge growth in the last few years, with the construction of some amazing modern buildings, including the famous Palm Island and of course the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa. (more…)

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Birmingham’s German Christmas Market

A couple of weeks ago I was up in Birmingham for a commercial job, and as I was at a loose end the evening before the shoot I decided to go for a wander around the City Centre.

I spent four years living in Birmingham as a student, and really enjoyed my time there, but haven’t been back for many years, so I was curious to see how the city had changed. As it happens, I didn’t get very far, because the whole of New Street and Victoria Square was jam-packed with people – the annual Christmas Market was in residence, and you could hardly move!

For the past 12 years the Market has been held in conjunction with Birmingham’s twin city Frankfurt in Germany, and most of the stalls have a German flavour – literally, with bratwurst, gluhwein, pretzels and other delicacies on sale. It’s now the largest Christmas market in the country, and well worth a visit – as long as you don’t mind crowds! (more…)

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Surrey civil partnership: Kate & Izzy (part 2)

Here are some more shots from Kate & Izzy’s civil partnership at Langshott Manor… as you’ll see there were lots of happy faces – and some fun details for me to photograph – each guest was given a “world in a jar” (a Sempervivum plant) as a memento. And check out that Dr. Who Tardis ring box! How cool is that? 🙂

Although it wasn’t a sunny day, that was quite useful when it came to doing the family group photos – an overcast day means soft natural light with no hard shadows. For the photos of Izzy and Kate in the gardens I used my flash off-camera, as the daylight was beginning to fade by that time and it was quite dark under the trees and in the yew walk. Having some “portable sunshine” is very useful sometimes! (more…)

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