Well, this one was for me.

I’ve known Rory for a while (I photographed a big event with his family a couple of years ago now) and we’ve talked about just doing a quick portfolio session with him ever since.

Rory has a fantastic look and, fortuitously, the weather broke last week for a day or two so it was an excellent opportunity to go and grab some shots for the portfolio – and for the sheer hell of it!

I love doing this kind of shoot because the pressure is all self-induced. If you’ve read other posts on the blog, you may have been left with the impression I love – possibly, I do admit, to the point of being somewhat dull at dinner parties – what I do. But hey, if I don’t get passionate about capturing images who will? However, no matter how many sessions we do, I still love (just occassionally you understand – we get booked up for months in advance when the weather’s good) to grab a willing/unwilling/unsuspecting/press-ganged/bribed* subject and go play with a camera. This keeps everything we do fresh and gives me a chance to try things out I might not be in a position to when under the pressure of a normal lifestyle session. (I do try not to take up fee-paying sessions trying out shots that may not work!)

Anyway. this was one of thoooose days.

Although this was a session set up just to photograph Rory – we have been trying to get this date in the diary for over a year now – Rory’s younger brother Brandon was at a loose end so I grabbed some shots of him as well. Both the lads are unbelievable to work with – utterly professional and extraordinarily good looking of course – so this session was hugely productive and an absolute pleasure!)

So we have a bucket load of interesting shots for our portfolio (and for Rory and Brandon) and hopefully, we’ll get to grab another session with them.

Though, given our diary, we may have to wait another year or two…

*Delete as appropriate

Well, you can tell it’s been a busy week for us this week as this entry should have been written at the weekend but we just haven’t stopped!

Had the most fantastic Sunday – woke up expecting a nice spring weather shoot and er…. it had snowed. Not your normal April morning but it did make for some really gorgeous photos!

Steve, Sara and Nathan came over for a family session which was just brilliant. Luckily, they were more than happy to grab some images outdoors even though it was stupidly cold for the time of year, but with an opportunity like that it would have been a shame to miss it!

Nathan was brilliant – like all two-year-olds, he is great fun and really just a walking photo opportunity. Which is lucky if you happen to be a photographer. He’s a really chilled little chap and was up for anything – not a sign of the notorious “terrible twos”. Phew.

We couldn’t hold the entire session outside, at least, not without risking frostbite (OK so I exagerate a little – maybe not frostbite but definitely a severe runny nose…), so we decamped into the studio for the rest of the time and grabbed a combination of punchy colour images using the full flash rig and then some really cool black and whites, just using the modelling lights which was really nice. I don’t like using flash throughout a session as I think the constant “pop” of the flash heads becomes really annoying after a while but it definitely has quite a distinctive look.

Anyway, have a look through some of these images and let me know what you think.

Wow. Worth missing the Grand National for. Not that I ever follow horse racing you understand, but if did, well then it would have been worth missing for this session.

Not the warmest morning ever (snow was on it’s way as we discovered this morning) but the light was just gorgeous. Provided we could keep Rachel warm, there really was no excuse for not getting really beautiful images.

Rachel and Leon are getting married in Haddenham in a couple of months’ time – this was their pre-wedding session. All we’re really trying to do during this session, is to check out all the angles, get used to working together and, possibly most importantly, have a laugh (which we did). Oh, and we also make sure we capture an image that can be used for the signature frame.

If you haven’t seen one of these before, they’re a really cool idea (not mine I hasten to add) where we take one of the images from the pre-wedding session and have it printed and mounted in quite a large mount that has enough space around the sides for guest signatures and messages. We bring this with us to the wedding day itself and we get it signed by all the guests (in pencil – just in case!) We then complete the framing of this in time for the wedding reveal which is a really nice thing to have from the day. Provided no-one has written anything they shouldn’t have of course…

Anyway, the photos we captured yesterday are really really beautiful – and, thankfully. no-one caught hypothermia. Well, at least not too severely! And to top it all, we have a bag-load of images to choose from for the signature frame. This is going to be one big local wedding that I’m really looking forward to. Particularly given that everywhere we went during the session, it seemed that Rachel and Leon stopped to say ‘hello’ to people they knew. I get the distinct feeling this may be the social event of the year. Fantastic!

If there’s one thing about this job that is ALWAYS a thrill, it’s when you get to photograph close friends. I think it’s always more nerve-racking working with friends, but there is something really emotional when you’re constructing images around people you’ve known for a long time and, in Jess’ case, that’s nearly 10 years (she worked at the nursery that Harriet went to when she was little.) These days she’s pretty much one of the family (and both our kids adore her and Dan!)

Jess and Dan are getting married in a couple of months so we went up to the Swan in Tetsworth where they’re going to have the reception to capture some pre-wedding images. I’ve never been there before but it’s brilliant! The place is just full of interesting little nooks and crannies (and the odd butchers delivery bike ?!) that makes photography so much more interesting than a plain white background. I’m a huge fan of being dropped into a location – particularly when the sun is shining, obviously – and just getting on with finding angles and pockets of light to capture. And on top of that, the reputation of the restaurant up there is pretty impressive (apparently – at least according to Dan – the onion soup is to die for…)

Unfortunately Abbi had been down with that miserable cold that’s been doing the rounds and wasn’t quite as bubbly as she usually is – she was particularly unappreciative of my efforts to borrow just her parents to get some nice romantic “couple” shots! However, while she was in the middle of things she was as happy as Larry (btw, who is the ‘Larry’ in that saying?) Anyway, the family groups are just gorgeous showing just how close these guys are (and how happy Abbi is when everyone’s together!) Ah!

I have to be honest, I can’t wait until this wedding – I think it’s going to be fantastic. And, as an extra bonus, our two kids, Harriet and Jake are going to be bridesmaid and pageboy respectively – which will, of course, be just lovely for me to photograph. Having said that, anyone who’s tried working with their own kids will probably appreciate it can sometimes be trickier than working with strangers’ children. Now, if I can just avoid the two of them giving me that folded-arms, screwed-up nose, indignant “do I look bovvered” sort of scowl… Whatever.