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Bath Wedding Photography - Beckford’s Tower and Museum
When Tamsin and Nick contacted me and said they were getting married at Beckford Tower and museum near Bath, I’ll be honest I’m not a stranger to Bath but I had to google this one! Beckford’s Tower was built between 1826 and 1827, and was once home to writer, collector and owner of enslaved people - William Beckford. This stunning unique listed building is set in amazing grounds with it’s own atmospheric cemetery with it’s absolutely beautiful views across the City of Bath and surrounding countryside! This was the perfect venue for our lovely couple Tamsin and Nick. It was such a joy to witness them exchanging vows surrounded by their little ones, family and friends.
Woz and I met up with Tamsin & Nick prior to their wedding day and also went for a scout about at their chosen venue before their big day. We were blown away by its uniqueness - Woz and I had the opportunity to climb to the top of the tower but Woz isn’t a great lover of heights so I went up and left him behind (don’t ask him about climbing into cable cars…)!! It was very much worth the effort though as the room at the top is picturesque and the views have to be seen to be believed. After the ceremony the gorgeous newly weds climbed the (long) spiral staircase to take some lovely pics! The weather was so idyllic that we just had to have a stroll in the atmospheric grounds amongst the wildflowers and erm…gravestones! Love a bit of quirkiness!
Wishing these two lovelies the happiest of futures with their little family. It was a really beautiful happy occasion and I feel so lucky to have been there to capture their special wedding day.
Intimate Somerset Wedding
I had the HUGE privilege of photographing Callum & Nina’s beautiful intimate wedding earlier last month.
Oh boy did the sun beat down on as we all made our way to Weston Super Mare registry office! I love the expressions on Nina & Callum as they are just about to walk into the ceremony room to take their vows in front of their nearest and dearest - excitement mixed with nerves. The details of their day - with a sweet mix of Scottish and Finnish touches were just perfect. Nina’s beautiful wedding dress was bought from Macy’s in New York back in 1989 and was originally worn by her Finnish mum for her wedding day and their wedding cake was cut using a pretty sizeable sword. A wonderful tradition that has been used by Callum’s side of the family for generations. Love it!
It’s no secret that I love my job as a photographer but what makes it so special is the people that I meet on the way.
Poole Guildhall - Dorset Wedding Photographer
Well…Woz and I have truly found our sea legs! When our happy couple June and Phil told us that they had booked the reception part of their wedding day before anything else, we wondered what they had in store and having experienced the wonderful cruise around Poole Harbour, we now totally understand why.
The sun shone for their intimate wedding ceremony, which was held in Poole’s Guildhall, a lovely light and airy room with fabulous glass chandeliers. Outside of the building a pair of winding iron staircases run to the room provided some great photo opportunities especially for group shots.
Following the ceremony, we moved on to The Bakers Arms in Lytchett Minster for the wedding breakfast, an attractive pub which served some delicious food and with some verdant willow trees in the garden forming a great backdrop for some pictures of our gorgeous newlyweds.
Once everyone was full and had had a few drinks, we were all off to the harbour to board the Solent Scene! The boat sailed us along the stunning Dorset Jurassic coast past Brownsea Island, Swanage and the famous ‘Old Harry Rocks’. June and Phil stood on deck and pointed out local landmarks of their home turf which we really enjoyed.
With totally calm seas, the bluest of skies and absolutely beautiful light it proved to be a perfect evening.
Pennard House - Somerset Wedding Photographer
I had the absolute pleasure of photographing the beautiful intimate wedding of Fiona and Steve at Pennard House last month. Their ceremony took place in the gardens of this stunning Grade II Listed Manor House in the heart of Somerset with the sun gloriously shining. The house itself is nestled by beautiful woodlands, apple orchards and 130 acres of meadows. Fiona and Steve made a joint effort in making their own wedding cake which I must say looked absolutely gorgeous…the gold matched Charlie’s (the wedding coordinator at Pennard House) amazing boots! Myself and the newly weds took a short wonderful walk and chat in the beautiful grounds whilst the guests enjoyed some champers and canapés…it was a sweet and relaxed occasion with lots of laughs and love for these two.
Batch Country House - Somerset Wedding Photographer
We had the complete joy of photographing and meeting, Emily and Jake at the Batch Country House prior to their beautiful wedding last month. Couldn’t of asked for bluer skies if we tried! The newly weds looked incredible, with Emily in her stunning 14andsixpence bridal dress and Jake in his immaculate ‘military ones’. Molly the Pup (or not so puppy like anymore!) made a swift appearance during the ceremony and made her presence certainly well known to the guests especially during the exchanging of vows. Molly most definitely had her part to play in the days celebrations. Photographing these two were so much fun and we loved capturing their quirky sides as well as their more serious sides. Their wedding day was eventful with not only finding time to feed the horses, pose on a gate and have a wedding cupcake smash, there was also time to rescue some cute moorhen chicks from the pond! All in a days work!
Bath Guildhall - Bath Wedding Photographer
Bath is such a beautiful city and it was lovely to be invited to take the photographs for Daisy and Steven’s wedding day right in the centre of the historic city in the Guildhall - a fabulous 17th Century building in the very centre of Bath.
Steven nervously waited for guests outside, while Daisy got ready in a side room, having entered unseen through a side door in the market!
The venue provides a character filled room, which I think was probably a court-room, for ceremonies, which is filled with light, gorgeous wooden furniture and paintings. This is where having two photographers really starts to shine - with Em following the bride and Woz at the front to the side, we’re able to capture the entrance from all angles, showing the nerves outside the door and that first look shared by the couple.
After the confetti, we had an interlude in Parade Gardens with champers and canapés - an opportunity to mingle and snap some candid pictures of the fun! A couple of quick formals, then back to the Guildhall for the food and dancing! Another amazing period room, with a high ceiling and opulent chandeliers!
As you can see - a great time was had by all and the venue is really lovely and worth a look if you’re planning to get married in the area.
Somerset Photography - a family shoot at The Quackery
It’s not often that you discover a quite stunning large formal garden literally on your doorstep, but that's just what happened in April this year when we were contacted by the owner of the house who had some guests who had requested a family shoot. It’s so close we could almost see it if it weren’t for a small hill in the way, and yet it’s so tucked away that there’s no way you’d know it existed if you didn’t go down the tiny secluded road to the entrance. Also, the name - The Quackery -is fab!
As you can see, the perfectly maintained gardens are expansive, featuring streams, ponds, an island and many cute bridges. I’m just glad I don’t have to mow the grass!
The Martin Parr Foundation
This is another post for the photo nerds out there…
It genuinely is a privilege to be able to visit the Martin Parr Foundation in Bristol and meet the great man himself. He’s something of a hero of ours - one who’s portfolio of work I, Woz, didn’t really ‘get’ at first. His photographs break all the rules and sometimes appear to be quite harsh in their commentary on people and life in general.
However, having spent more time with the images and gotten to know the man himself, I realise that he loves his subjects and his images are full of amazing humour. The rules he breaks in composition are there to be broken - I can spot a Parr (or Parr inspired!) image a mile away!
If you join the Foundation, you can visit and be shown around by Parr himself. Membership is actually a very modest price and if you are near enough to Bristol to take advantage of the talks and facilities it’s really a bargain!
Parr is now focussing on collecting and promoting British photographers and he’s really working hard to make the foundation quite something - the quantity of rare books, prints and ephemera is really quite astonishing. He also finds new photographers and very generously promotes their work. Quite a guy! During our visit, he even jokingly asked to be a second shooter on one of our weddings! Imagine that - we show up with probably the most famous British Magnum Photographers alive! Maybe one day!
We couldn’t resist buying some books while there - a couple which Parr signed for us and a book by a new British artist called Rene Magic called “Flags for countries that don’t exist but bodies that do”.
Here’s a few iPhone snaps from the visit. In the second shot he’s showing us David Bailey’s Box of Pinups - signed and original…worth many thousands of pounds and I’m well jealous!!
Sports Team, Yard Act, Snapped Ankles and Wet Leg
We’re both massive fans of live music and especially if the band don’t mind you sneaking in a camera! This year we’ve seen quite a few zeitgeist-y bands, some in quite small venues, which is always exciting, sweaty and atmospheric. The following gallery is a random selection from the bands mentioned above - gigs are always nightmarish to photograph…the light is terrible, everyone is moving and people are always in the way, but that’s all part of the fun!
Instant Large Format Flower Studies
It’s that quiet time of year just after Christmas when not much is going on and the light is only around for short parts of the day. So it seemed like a good time to break out the Intrepid Large Format camera and spend some quality time with a bunch of flowers.
As you can see from the following photos , the setup was very simple with just my trusty black velvet offcut draped over a clothes horse and table in front of a bright window. The Intrepid sat on my old and very solid Manfrotto tripod and I used a blanket to cover my head (as my velvet offcut was in use for the background!). And yes, you do need to hide under a cloth to focus the image on the rear ground glass of the camera - the picture is faint and barely visble in sunlight. The third image shows the view you get on the back of the camera - it’s inverted and upside down - you can imagine how hard that makes it to compose your image.
The following three images are some of the Instax Wide instant film images I took with the Intrepid and the LomoGraflok instant back. I hope that you can see that the pictures have a slightly dreamy quality and although the instant film can’t catch anywhere near the sharpness you can get from the camera with transparent film, the pictures have something about them that makes the process worthwhile. Also, they’re a unique ‘thing’ you can hold and look at within a few minutes of taking the picture, which is something special in the days of digital!
The final three images are digital photos taken in the same session, which I’ve processed in Lightroom. Whether these are ‘better’ or just differnet is really up to the viewer!
The Batch Country House Pre-Wedding Shoot
Meeting up with our wedding couples for a ‘pre wedding shoot’ is not only a fab way to get to know each other before the big day but also we always have a bit of a laugh! We met up with Emily, Jake and their adorable puppy Molly at their chosen wedding venue The Batch Country House near Weston Super Mare. We had a lovely time exploring the gardens (Molly certainly explored it at least ten times over!) and discussing ideas for their wedding photographs. They were a totally awesome couple and we cannot wait to photograph their wedding this year. Molly will obviously play her part on the day…maybe with less energy than she did at the pre wedding shoot…but who knows! But what I do know is that it’s certainly going to be a lot of fun!
James at the Cardiff Motorpoint Arena 2021
As should be obvious from some of the posts in this blog, we love live music and particularly love the opportunity to photograph it.
The band James have been one of my favorite bands since I can’t even remember, but I do know that I fell back in love with their music following the release of their “Hey Ma” album after they reformed in 2007…since that time I firmly believe they have just got better with each release, so it was a given that when they announced they were touring, we bought a pair of tickets. We actually went the extra mile and bought VIP tickets, which allowed us to see them rehearsing 3 songs before the main gig, with a tiny number of others.
They’re very giving to their audience, and so we were treated to 3 songs, the chance to get up close, ask questions and early entry to the main gig so we could be right at the front. I’d highly recommend this if you get the option with a band you love.
New York, New York, Engaged!
Happy New Year to one and all! A bit late to the party but here we all are well and truly flying into 2022!
New york, new york
Woz and I were a little busy towards the end of last year especially as we went a bit crazy and flew to New York for a week or so just prior to Christmas (definitely crazy!). With both of us being double vaxxed, then getting COVID plus getting the booster, we felt very safe to head across the Atlantic and have a little holibob. Our first ‘proper’ getaway since getting together 5 years ago!
This was our little adventure and oh my did we cram in as much as we possibly could…so much so every night it was a painful experience just to take our shoes off our throbbing feet! So many steps! Sooo many steps! But worth every step even though we were both grimacing with pain. Side note: Must get fitter for 2022…
One of our many highlights of our week in NYC was having the amazing opportunity to watch David Byrne’s American Utopia on that Broadway. Having watched the show on Amazon Prime last year we knew had to see it for ourselves - it was so mesmerising that we managed to see it twice at St James’s Theatre or should I say Theater!? If you haven’t seen it, check it out on Prime…it is truly brilliant.
New York City gave us such amazing opportunities to capture some street photography which is a love that we very much share.
Engaged!
Whilst out of breath, dressed in the biggest padded coat ever and feeling giddy from the astonishing views from the Empire State Building - Woz went down on one knee (oh yes he did!) and asked me to marry him and of course I said ‘Yes please!’ I honestly thought Woz was having a bit of a wobble as he’s not the most enthusiastic person when it comes to heights so it was such an amazing surprise when he asked me. So we’re officially engaged and cannot wait to make wedding plans of our own! Whoop!
Anyway! That’s our news! Wishing everyone a healthy and safe 2022! Very much looking forward to photographing all our weddings this year and meeting all our gorgeous couples!
love Em & Woz
Family Shoot with Bianca, Rob and Amelia
Back In July, on the hottest day of this year, we had the most wonderful time photographing Bianca and Rob’s wedding day at Upton Barn and Gardens in Devon. Three months later Woz and I met up with them for a catch up and family shoot at Wellington Monument. The sun shone down for us on a beautiful autumnal day…tree climbing, leaves throwing….there were smiles all round especially from Ella their beautiful Labradoodle! She really knows how to pose!
The Allergies at The Garage in London
Wow! Wow! Wow! Who knew by taking a few random snaps at a gig in Bristol would lead us to travel up to London the same week and take some pics for the amazing group ‘The Allergies’!
If you haven’t heard these guys then you must…as quoted by Craig Charles himself ‘The Allergies are neck deep in the world of scratchy samples -This is truly funk and soul for the 21st century’.
So anyway, how did we get here you may ask, well…The Allergies basically liked my photos from a previous gig (hashtaging really does help!) and next minute we were hopping on the train London bound heading towards The Garage. Both Woz and I absolutely love music in a huge way (it helps the soul, right?), and other than our wedding photography business going fairly quiet over the series of lockdowns, we have really missed live music at gigs and festivals. Unfortunately we contracted Covid over the summer (even though we are both double jabbed) which meant we couldn’t attend the Beautiful Days festival which we had been gearing up for. But hey, some things are slowly getting back to some normality now and so we jumped back deep into going to gigs.
The Allergies are a duo of skilled turntablists from Bristol who formed back in 2012 and along their way they have incorporated the mighty sounds of rapper Andy Cooper, soul sensation Marietta Smith and saxophonist extraordinaire Mr Woodnote. Together they make an incredible team and their performances are nothing but sublime.
Maternity Shoot with Nikita & Terry
Before becoming a professional photographer I used to work in a very busy maternity ward where I was surrounded by bumps, new mums and babies…I guess this could be someone’s idea of hell but I absolutely loved it. Having met so many new mums and mums to be over the years, and of course being a mum myself, when Nikita approached and asked us if we would like do a maternity shoot with her we obviously jumped at the chance. Pregnancy is such a special time, it goes so quickly and before you know it you’re holding your bundle of joy and the months of being pregnant seem to be a distant memory.
We arranged to meet Nikita and Terry on a glorious sunny Sunday afternoon in a local woodland, which gave us the perfect opportunity to frame Nikita in the foliage, and the nearby orchard gave some lovely leading lines and vanishing perspectives to pose the couple. Originally Nikita had said she would quite like to pose in water, but the river turned out to be down quite a steep bank and was covered in duck weed! Nobody was that keen to abseil down so we decided it probably was for the best to give this a miss THIS TIME (in case it accelerated the appearance of their baby)!
As Woz has already shown in our previous blog, we took along the Intrepid large format camera and the new Instant Back, which helped get everyone in the mood for photos - it’s fun to set up this type of camera in public, and we got quite a few walkers stopping by to see what was going on.
These two were incredible sports despite Nikita being about to pop and obviously refusing to abseil into the river! Nikita bought along her mum’s beautiful red velvet cloak which was worn by her mum at her wedding - it was such a special and fun day spent with these two lovely peeps.
Their gorgeous baby boy was born only a week or so later so thank goodness we managed to get the shoot done in time! Massive congratulations guys!
Instant Large Format Photography
What seems a very long time ago, I spotted a curious little thing that Lomo were offering that would fit on the back of our Intrepid Large Format Camera: a Polaroid style back for instant film!
I thought it might be fun to be able to get instant results from photoshoots, so joined the kickstarter and waited.
Then the pandemic hit, so I waited some more!
Finally, just recently we received a package containing a nondescript black plastic box, shown here attached to the camera:
The process of taking a photo is even more of a faff than the film process we’ve documented previously on this blog! Once you have the camera set up and focussed, you place the back on the camera and then take the photo.
You then have to remove the back (I think this is an Intrepid thing - if you leave it on the back, the clip you can see in the picture scratches the photo as it ejects) and press the button to eject the photo:
We tried this out on a recent maternity shoot and it’s great fun and helped get us all in to the right mood for the digital shots. It’s really lovely to all gather round and watch the picture appear as if by magic.
The pictures you get from this system can be very charming, but they are nowhere near the quality you can get from film in this camera or from our Fuji digital kit, but they are a unique instant memento and have a very different look to them. We’ll definitely be using it lots in the future.
Stunning wedding at Mount Pleasant Ecological Park
It’s not every day we get invited to photograph a wedding where we also have to pack a tent, sleeping bags and a toothbrush! But oh did we embrace the opportunity! We headed down to sunny Cornwall on a Friday night, set up the pop up tent (all 15 seconds of it!) and set out to explore the beautiful landscape of the Mount Pleasant Eco Park. The eco park is situated at the top of a steep valley with stunning views all the way out to sea and across to a disused tin mine. A perfect place for a wedding!
Sarah & Josh got in contact with us way prior to the COVID mayhem so their wedding was well overdue. After a number of changes to dates and venues, finally their special day came and oh boy, what a day/night it was too.
These two looked absolutely gorgeous, Sarah with her beautiful champagne bridal dress and Josh with his stunning gold velvet jacket, these two were the rock n roll wedding couple of 2021! The sun shone down as guests flocked from all over to join in with their celebrations well late into the night…and the party was still in full swing when we headed off back to our tent in the early hours. Such lightweights!
We truly felt like we were part of their troop. Thank you so much to Sarah & Josh, their family and friends who really made us feel welcome. We had so much fun and loved every minute of it. Can we do it again please?
Beautiful Church Wedding with Reception at The Pig
I was so fortunate to photograph Emma & Tim’s gorgeous wedding last month. These two lovelies met on a train eight years ago after watching England play at Twickenham, exchanged numbers and with some persuading Emma finally gave in to Tim’s persistent messaging! Since they’ve got together they have travelled all over the world together (jealous much!), and a few years ago Tim went down on one knee at the top of Table Mountain in South Africa popping the question to Emma…sooo romantic…and sooo exhausting! Thankfully Tim managed to keep hold of the ring despite dropping it five times on the way up! With having to cancel four wedding dates, due to…yes you guessed it…Covid and numerous lockdowns, they finally got to say ‘I do’ at Chew Stoke church in front of twenty of their nearest and dearest. Their adorable spaniel, Marley, also made a joyous appearance to enjoy the celebrations with them. I think he got a bit overly excited but we won’t go into that! The happy couple whizzed off in a stunning red Morgan to The Pig near Bath where the celebrations continued with a bit of croquet and welly wanging. Thankfully nobody was hurt in the process! The whole day was full of love and laughter, and I’m chuffed to pieces for them both! xx
Upton Barn & Walled Garden Wedding
Upton Barn & Walled Garden is situated in rolling green Devonshire countryside with stunning unbroken views over the Blackdown Hills past the pond and fountain.
The site features a lovingly restored 17th century cider barn, stables and a secret walled garden, all with a crisp modern feel juxtaposed with charming original features.
Bianca and Rob rescheduled their wedding following several lockdown imposed moves and boy what a lovely day it turned out to be. The sun broke out, and lockdown restrictions were lifted!
…Although the Upton House team and yours truly kept our masks on when indoors!
The day broke with glorious sunshine and HEAT. Em and I set off to our separate starting positions - Em headed off to Bianca for the prep while I went to the venue to get shots of the boys getting ready. The venue was also being prepared by Rustic Love. The amazing cake was made by Daisy May,
Em had a lovely time at the bridal prep with the bride, mum of the bride, three bridesmaids and four flower girls all getting ready! It was certainly a busy house to photograph and the atmosphere was charged with excitement for the day ahead. Bianca’s beautiful make-up was by Laura Le Page.
At the venue, the guys all arrived looking very cool like they’d just walked into a Tarantino movie, all shades and cool outfits in blistering sun.
The sun continued throughout the day, but the venue has a lovely inside/outside feel and everyone moved in and out to cool down.
Upton Barn’s staff were lovely, discrete but always there when you needed them and the day went incredibly smoothly. Here is a small selection of the pictures from the day, which were presented to the couple in three complete sets, one colour, one mono and one with vintage processing.
