Archive for category Lifestyle
Amy & Jonny: Pre-Wedding shoot at Wendover Woods, Buckinghamshire
Posted by Paul in For Website, Lifestyle, Pre-Wedding on February 21st, 2010
OK, so you may have noticed our titles are quietly getting longer (and distinctly less ’snappy’) well, this is due to a push to help our rankings on web search engines. We recently won a couple more weddings at The Crazy Bear simply because the client searched for ‘Crazy Bear Photography’ and this blog came up on Google’s first page which is always good. We’re also recommended by them which is an additional help of course!
We don’t advertise anywhere (though look out for our new soon-to-be-branded Land Rover Defender!) so it’s always reassuring to hear that people are finding us online as well as through the many recommendations we get. And modifying our cryptic titles to be something a little more, well, useful is just another small step we’re taking!
Anyway, onto the subject of this particular blog: Amy & Jonny’s pre-wedding session at Wendover Woods. This Buckinghamshire setting (d’you see what I did there?!) is almost certainly our most-visited location along with Coombe Hill and our home village of Haddenham. I must make an effort to find something more industrial this year for our fashion clients but, well, if you have beautiful locations right on your doorstep then why not go with it?!
The weather wasn’t exactly easy to deal with – but it was suitably dramatic! Although the snow wasn’t sticking, it was coming down at quite a pace for a period!
Amy & Jonny are getting married at Nether Winchendon House later this year and we’re unbelievably excited about working with them both. So early this Saturday before the crowds arrived (actually, given the weather, I’m not sure there’d be much in the way of crowds except for dog-walkers, mountain-bikers and photographers but still) we found ourselves on the hillside of this amazing forest.
The session was brilliant fun (they brought their two very lively pet labradors with them!) and the photos are just what I’d hope for. Lots of character and a lot of fun. Can’t wait for the summer to photograph the whole family in such a wonderful setting as Nether Winchendon. Perfect.
Lucy, Steve & George: Photography session at the Mausoleum in West Wycombe
Posted by Paul in For Website, Lifestyle on February 20th, 2010
Ah, I’m sitting clearing up disks and backing up data. Not the most fun you can have but it’s absolutely critical (we had a disk fail a few weeks ago and, although we did indeed have everything we needed to recover the data, it was a nervous moment!)
It does have to be said that I’m pretty much as bad at cleaning up disks as I am cleaning up the desk around my Mac and printers – my biggest problem being I’ll find something interesting and immediately get distracted by it! Which is exactly what happened here – I was moving some files around and caught sight of these album files for Lucy & Steve.
Although most people probably associate albums with wedding photography, rather than lifestyle or fashion, we actually produce nearly as many lifestyle and family books. Why not? A lifestyle shoot does, after all, create a whole load of priceless images that are just as important, particularly if they’re from a family session, and will last a lifetime. And they look great in a beautiful album!
So here’s one from last year: Lucy, Steve & George. We photographed Lucy & Steve’s wedding so it was wonderful to see them again – particularly with the addition of George. We chose the location as the Mausoleum that rises high above West Wycombe in Buckinghamshire. A stunning location! I loved this shoot and we have some truly gorgeous images of all three of them – particularly George who is a real character!
Just brilliant!
Cheers
P.
The Smith family in St. James Park London
Posted by Paul in For Website, Lifestyle on February 14th, 2010
Anyone who follows our blog regularly will know there are two things I love: photographing in London and strong back-lighting. Oh, that and having great people to photograph of course.
This shoot had all three. In abundance. St. James Park is possibly one of London’s slightly less well known parks, though it’s actually right next to Trafalgar Square which makes it really easy for us to get to. We photographed Oliver Peyton there last year, at his restaurant “Inn The Park” and I thought it would be good to go back for a lifestyle session.
I couldn’t have asked for a better time of it – it was freezing cold but I think this just adds to the romance of the images. Besides, it was shot in early January so what did I expect? I’d rather cold’n'clear than cold’n'grey.
London is such a characteristic background, even when it’s deliberately out of focus as it is in most of these images, that it gives a tremendously editorial quality to the pictures. You can kind of imagine you were looking at them in a glossy magazine or coffee-table book. And I love that. That fusion of portraiture and fashion/lifestyle imagery. Still very much a family photograph but done in a way that’s current and exciting.
Hopefully you agree!
The Faulkes family in the snow.
Posted by Paul in For Website, Lifestyle on February 13th, 2010
So, have you ever wondered what portrait photographers do when it snows? I don’t mean a little bit of snow, I mean when it really really snows.
That was what had happened that this particular shoot. It had been in a diary for a while to photograh Rebecca Faulkes and her family over at their farm near Thame in Oxfordshire. and, much to my excitement (and hopefully their’s too) it had snowed! OK, so for anyone reading this in, say, Washington at the moment, it may not be quite the same snow that you’re currently experiencing – but the few inches we had, happily brought the country to its knees.
Thankfully, it wasn’t too much of a problem to get over there (our trusty old Shogun has done us proud this winter) but keeping everyone warm enough to be photographed was an entirely different matter!
Still, snow is such a fantastic environment in which to photograph – particularly for portraits – as it creates an unbelievably natural wraparound light. Just look at the portraits below to see what I mean. And, given it’s unbelievably rare in this country, it makes these portraits even more unusual and special! Though watching out for shivering, streaming eyes and runny noses was also a necessity!
I loved this shoot and I love the photos we captured.
Let us know what you think.
Karen, Dave, Sam & Maia
Posted by Paul in For Website, Lifestyle on January 10th, 2010
Just occasionally, I do have to admit, I’m not entirely sure what I’m going to capture when we set out on a session. I have all these ideas in my head but I just know we’re going to do something different somehow. It makes me nervous. But very creative. And very excited.
This was one of those sessions.
I’ve photographed Karen & Dave and their family before and had been looking forward to the session for weeks. But it was to be a studio session rather than location as the weather had been awful all week. I do love working in the studio – it’s much more technical than location (in as much as you have to control rather than locate the backgrounds and lighting) and it’s hugely rewarding. However, it’s not my ‘home’. Outdoors will always be my natural environment as I think children, in particular, are much more at ease when they can run unrestricted, only needing to stop and be photographed when we find some stunning light.
However, I needn’t have worried.
Sam & Maia stepped into the studio as if it were the most natural environment in the world to them. And the pictures we captured of the whole family are everything I think you’d want from a photo. Some are funny, some are moody, some are formal while others are essentially moments I grabbed as i saw them.
But they all tell a lovely story of this time in Karen & Dave’s family.
And the frame we just delivered is gorgeous!
Priceless. 
Shelley, Alex and Olivia
Posted by Paul in For Website, Lifestyle on January 9th, 2010
One of the great joys of this job is that we meet so many lovely people (many of whom stay as friends) and then we get to work with them over the years.
This is true of Shelley and Alex whose wedding we photographed a couple of years ago – a fantastic wedding at Whittlebury Manor near Silverstone – and who have now come back with their baby daughter!
Shelley and Alex have bought a package that we’ve been slowly piecing together over the past year or two: our one-year baby package. This package is designed for new parents (or new parents-to-be) so they can have a series of sessions over a year to capture possibly the most wonderful period in a new life. Wonderful in spite of the nappies, prams, muslin-squares, bottles, no sleep, no money, more nappies and even less sleep of course. Ah, but I reminisce.
Anyway, when myself and Sarah sat down and looked at the photos we had of the first year of each of our kids, we couldn’t believe how much they changed in those first magical 12 months. Quite literally they go from a standing (well, not quite standing) start to chattering, squawking, laughing, puking little money-pits who you instantly love more than anything you’ve ever loved in your life. Bizarre. To be fair, they carry on developing (particularly in the cost-centre department) at a ridiculous rate but that doesn’t change the fact that that first year, once you’ve got over the shock, is pretty spectacular! And it’s absolutely magic!
And it’s the photos from that life-shattering period (as you might imagine, we do have quite a few!) that are some of the most wonderful to look back at. So we created a package to do just that. 12 months. 3 sessions. Tons of pictures. Simple.
And I’m chuffed to bits that some of our clients – particularly clients like Shelley and Alex – are having families and coming to create some more priceless images. Brilliant!
One foggy morning in the woods
Posted by Paul in For Website, Lifestyle on January 8th, 2010
There are only a few irrefutable facts in life. You will eventually get a water meter. You will pay taxes. If you went to a Welsh school, you did do country dancing (in my case, with a lack of enthusiasm that barely kept up with my distinct ineptitude.) And you cannot, no matter what you believe, control the weather.
Rain? No problem.
Harsh sunshine? No problem.
Snow? No problem.
Richter scale gales? No problem.
Fog. Ah yes, that stuff of Stephen King thrillers. Cold. Clammy. Haunting. Fog.
I’ve never really photographed in fog as such – I have taken photographs of fog. But that is not the same thing at all. Photographing group portraits through fog is an entirely different beast.
For a start, it’s finger-numbingly cold. Not that romantic, crystal clear, frost type cold that makes you feel good to be alive. No. This is a wet, penetrating chill that eats its way through your clothing and sucks the feeling from your digits. The type of cold that makes your eyes (and nose!) drip and drizzle uncontrollably. And, in an obvious twist of the unfortunate – certainly if you’re a photographer – you can’t really see too much. True, the flat, wrap-around light it creates makes for the most enigmatic and gentle face portraits imaginable. However, if you cannot see your clients through the gloom then this is not much use.
Still, nothing ventured as they say.
So here we were in Wendover Woods in Buckinghamshire with the Baldwin family. And it was absolutely worth the risk. I grant you it took the rest of the day for my fingers to come back to life, but the shots we got were gorgeous. Really unusual and atmospheric. And, as the fog ebbed and flowed around the hill tops like some ghostly ocean sloshing around the foot of some magical inland coast, we had moments of inexplicably stunning sunshine which flung warmth and light at us with such force that it took your breath.
And then by way of apology, would close in again leaving us pulling coat zips back up and tightening hoods and scarves.
A true winter shoot that produced beautiful and distinctive images.
Krystina, Ryan & Jacqueline (with Max & Jet) at Little Marlow
Posted by Paul in For Website, Lifestyle on January 3rd, 2010
Well, a very happy new year (and new decade) to everyone! As I write this I’m sitting in a particularly early (and consequently deserted) Saturday morning train clattering lazily through a frost-bitten Chiltern landscape into London for the first shoot of 2010 – very excited to be starting the year at a run and the weather is simply gorgeous!
My new year’s resolution this year (actually, just one of my new year’s resolutions. If I’m being honest, of course, there are numerous including the obligatory lose weight, spend more time with my family/friends, sleep more, talk less but hey, who’s counting?) is to get on top of our blog. I should make it clear at this point that I love writing the blog. It’s like talking. But without the requirement that anyone stop and listen. It’s just that it takes time and time seems to be one commodity I never have enough of.
That is, unless, I happen to be sitting on a train whipping past the frozen pastures and woodland of this glorious landscape that we’re blessed with around here in Buckingamshire. Quintessentially English and breathtakingly beautiful. Maybe not as awe-inspiring as my native North Wales, but we really do take this gently curvaceous scenery far too much for granted. And, on a crystal morning like this, it’s tear-jerkingly pretty.
As it was just before Christmas (nice link huh? D’yer see what I did there?) when I set out to photograph Krystina, Ryan and Jacqueline – and two unbelievably well-trained gun-dogs: Max and Jet – on their family farmland above Marlow.
I’m not normally known for photographing animals but we’d been asked to create some images for Christmas presents – and I do like a challenge. And thank goodness or I would have missed some truly unique images.
The weather had been truly awful all week but, for this particular afternoon, the muddy grey December veil lifted briefly to expose that wondrous raking winter sunshine that you only get on a few days of the year. Couple that with three siblings who were fantastic company (no, seriously, we just laughed for two hours!) and two dogs that were the epitome of health and contentment (and, alarmingly, better behaved than my own kids) and we were on for one of those sessions!
Utterly stunning!
Caroline, Ray, Emily and Lily at Coombe Hill
Posted by Paul in For Website, Lifestyle on September 27th, 2009
Ah, now this was one of those sessions.
The light, the location, the family. It all just fell into place and we had a ball.
Lily was clearly the star of the show and played for the camera from start to finish (it was hard to know when to stop as we could have carried on getting stunning images until it went dark!) but we have really lovely images of everyone both individually and as groups.
One of the reasons we like Coombe Hill so much (apart from the fact that it is generally a very beautiful place to be) is that there is so much variety in which we can capture images, from the grassy area as you go into the National Trust area, to the woodland, to the high almost moor-like area on the top to the deep forested area reminiscent of many a Hollywood Sherwood forest! And to top it all nicely, the last shot was taken in the carpark itself! No opportunity wasted!
Oh, and there’s nearly always an ice-cream van parked up there somewhere which keeps the kids and adults alike happy!
As I said earlier, this was one of those sessions!
Let us know what you think.
Cheers
P.
The Krauze Family
Posted by Paul in For Website, Lifestyle on September 10th, 2009
It’s late and I’m writing a blog.
I’ve just spent a very happy 20 minutes trying to get my head around my own Facebook profile and, much to my embarrassment given my technology background, failed miserably. I think have just asked quite a few people I know (and possibly one or two I have absolutely no knowledge of whatsoever) to be ‘friends’ of mine. If only real life were so easy huh? Just login and say ‘be my friend’. Actually, come to think of it, my boy Jake does exactly that – he simply walks into a situation – any situation – and excitedly makes new friends. Oh for the confidence of youth!
Anyway, unsurprisingly, I’m digressing. Back to the job in hand. (Is it any wonder I get behind with my blogs when I spend so much time talking about anything but the topic I set out to write about?!)
So, where was I? Ah yes, the Krauze family.
I wasn’t sure quite what to expect with this shoot as it was in a location above Nether Winchendon that we’ve never photographed before. I shouldn’t have worried though as the light was beautiful up there and we found an absolute wealth of locations in which to work.
At the end of the day this job is all about the light as that is, technically, all a photo is. A split second of light reflected from whatever it is your capturing. You’ve got to love photography for that utter simplicity.
I love these images for the characters in them though as much as the light. This was a fantastic session, full of energy and life and I think that it shows in the images. And just when I thought we’d caught everything, one of the lads pulled off the perfect ‘Dick Van Dyke’! A good day by anybody’s standards!
Let us know what you think.
Cheers
P.
Erik, Nicky, Holly and Ellis at Coombe Hill
Posted by Paul in For Website, Lifestyle on August 3rd, 2009
I have photographed Erik, Nicky and their family a couple of few times now and it just seems to get better each time!
We chose Coombe Hill for this particular jaunt and it was a great choice. The light up there is always different, always exciting and this day was no exception. You can see it in the photos we have (note that the bluey green images are created using a hi-power video light. A neat little gadget that gives us some wonderful images!)
I love these images – particularly the really panoramic wide-crops. I have always had a thing about cinema-style images and somehow these photographs just lent themselves to it. Beautiful.
We’ve just finished designing a gorgeous album from the images from this shoot and I’m hoping to be able to show it online later. We’re hugely proud of it the way it’s going to look – it’ll be an absolutely stunning family book!
Let us know what you think.
Cheers
P.
Elizabeth and Dave bring some California sunshine to Haddenham
Posted by Paul in For Website, Lifestyle, Pre-Wedding on July 11th, 2009
Ah, so you may have noticed. The blog has been quiet recently. Sorry about that. Been busy having fun with a camera!
And the irony is that we have sooooo much to talk about it’s untrue! We have a load of sessions and a load of fantastic clients to show you.
And so we start with Elizabeth and Dave who, it should be noted, live in California. And have elected to get married later this year at Notley Abbey deep in the heart of ’sunny’ Britain.
Hmmm. Given the typical British weather, you do have to ask why would someone would trade Californian sunshine for Britains inclement lottery? Well, I can’t entirely answer that – except to say that getting married in Britain is magic (there’s something hugely romantic about it!) and Notley is a stunning venue. And, whatever the reason, I am hugely glad that they have chosen this as their location because I have the opportunity to work with a couple who are simply fantastic to be around.
It doesn’t help that Dave is the spitting image of Lee Mack, a very funny comedian/actor. I can’t help it. Every time I’ve met them we have sat and laughed. And this session was no different. We spent a very happy hour or two in glorious sunshine messing around and capturing images. Something that is not entirely straightforward when you have to stop every two minutes to wipe your eyes from laughing so much.
So a heady mix of hilarity and utter romance (I think you can see it in the images) and add to that the excitement of a wedding day and this is one amazing day that I think everyone is going to remember!
Absolutely loved this session. Can’t wait till September to photograph them both again – along with their Californian guests who I hope don’t arrive thinking the British weather is always like this. Though for Elizabeth and Dave? I think it’ll turn out suitably perfect!
Let us know what you think of the images
Cheers
P.
Susan & Family – Bucks Herald Competition Winner
Posted by Paul in For Website, Lifestyle on June 28th, 2009
You never quite know what the outcome will be when you run a competition. After all, you really don’t have any control over who will win and what it is they are looking for in a shoot. You hope that the winner will be thrilled with the prize and will be a really nice person to work with. But you can’t be sure.
So it was, with naturally some degree of apprehension, that we ran a competition with the Bucks Herald – the prize being a session with us and a not inconsiderable quantity of prints/frames of the winner’s choosing.
And then we waited to meet the winner.
We should not have worried. It was with a great deal of satisfaction that Susan, the lucky winner, turned out to be another wonderful client. I know I bang on about this all the time, but I can’t stress enough how proud I am of the client base we’ve built up over the years. This is an utterly people-oriented business and it only works because we have a lot of very personable clients that make my job the pleasure that it is!
We held the session at Susan’s family home in Chilton on the most gorgeous day. You have to say that the weather this season has been stunning so far – albeit with the odd serious storm thrown in (we arrived back last night during the most monumental thunder storm to discover water pouring across the floor of my office from one side to the other – no idea how it got in and absolutely no idea how it flowed out again!).
Anyway, on this particular day back in April, with glorious sunshine and a stunning location up on the hills, how could this be anything other than a wonderful session?
And it was exactly that. A wonderful session.
Three generations of the same family and a set of pictures that will be treasured for a lifetime. Oh, and a mental note that competitions are definitely a good thing.
Just perfect.
Let us know what you think.
Cheers
P.
Emma, Oliver & Henry at Wendover Woods
Posted by Paul in For Website, Lifestyle on June 14th, 2009
I love this time of year – though, yes, I do freely admit that I probably say that throughout the year. Can’t help it. Every season – and particularly the changes between the different seasons – seems to bring a new perspective on the photography and a whole new set of interests for us.
This session was up in Wendover Woods, possibly one of our favourite haunts. It works for us on so many levels – the light, the woodland, the freedom etc. (oh, and you can get a nice cup of tea at the end!)
Oliver and Henry seemed to thoroughly enjoy the shoot from start to finish and we have an absolute bucket load of gorgeous images of them having a great time. I lent them one of my cameras to have a go with which, inevitably, means I also have quite a few pictures of me taking pictures of them!
Loved this shoot. Lovely client, (eventually) fantastic light and ultimately, great photos. Oh, and a nice cup of tea. Perfect.
Let us know what you think.
Cheers
P.
Jane, Michael, Katie and Sophie in the Bluebells at Christmas Common
Posted by Paul in For Website, Lifestyle on May 16th, 2009
Well, it’s Saturday morning as I’m sitting writing this and we’re (gradually) catching up with ourselves on the blog front (it was the Waddesdon school prom last night and, having got back home in the small hours after shooting several thousand photos I do admit to typing this at a considerably slower rate than normal!)
Anyway, this shoot was a gorgeous session we had a couple of weeks ago over in the Bluebells at Christmas Common.
It’s always an ‘interesting’ place to shoot up there because it’s invariably crowded – particularly when it looks as pretty as it does at this time of year. But, with a little bit of scouting around, I managed to find a spot that had beautiful light and was really quiet.
Jane, Michael, Katie and Shophie were absolutely lovely to work with and I think, in particular, you can see the spirit of the two girls in the images. One of the reasons I love this job so much is that I get to meet so many different characters and personalities and I can happily report that, after a brief (and I do mean brief) moment of uncertainty, Katie and Sophie got right into it and probably suggested more images to take than I did! Fantastic! I really love it when that happens because it shows that no-one felt uncomfortable or under pressure in front of the camera. Just a lovely afternoon, great company, stunning light and a bag-load of beautiful images.
Life is good. Busy. But good!
Cheers
P.
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