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.

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.

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.

There’s something particularly magical about photographing a couple’s pre-wedding images partly because it’s such an honour to be involved in the build-up to the big day but also because I think there’s a real emotion to the images we capture. And this seems especially evident in the pictures we captured from this session!

I’m not sure why, but you can really feel the excitement and romance between them both. And how nice is that?

Just brilliant.

And if this is just the pre-wedding session, you can only imagine the images we’ll capture on their wedding day in September. And I, for one, can’t wait!

Cheers
P.

This shoot was an absolute ball. Helen contacted us a while back to arrange the session with her brothers and sisters. And then rearranged it rapidly when one of them (no names, no pack-drill) double booked and went off to some far-off climb. A holiday in Rome I believe. Some people have no sense of priority.

So it was with some degree of anticipation that we eventually did this session – you know what it’s like: the weather was stunning, the location is the ever beautiful Haddenham, and all five of the guys were great company and easy to photograph. It was all well worth the wait! And so, as usual, I’m a very happy bunny. Ah, how the summer will simply sail on past!

I love these pictures. You really don’t need very much to create images like this – a good eye for light I suppose (particularly when the conditions are as bright this) and, crucially, a relaxed client. It seems, on this occasion, we had both. I know I’ve gone for black and white images here but I’m still having an ongoing love affair with monochrome. Even though the colours on this particular day were stunning, there is something about the simplicity of these black and whites that works so well!

Let us know what you think!

Cheers
P.

I think you can see from the photos here that, well, we had a reasonably good time. Possibly. Just a little. Laugh? No. Not really. Oh go on then, I admit it. We laughed. A lot. Actually, I don’t think we did anything other than laugh.

Not a bad day at the office then!

I loved this shoot: lovely family, beautiful location, stunning weather. Best job in the world. And we have soooo many images to choose from it’s unreal.

We’re well and truly into our wedding season for this year and we’re having an absolute ball – but I can’t help but think that Claire and Iain’s will be one that might well be a highlight of the year!

I’ll keep you posted.

Let us know what you think.
Cheers
P.

The daffodils are out (though I do have to admit to a secret and irrational dislike of them – something to do with them taking over your lawn every spring I suspect – and they’re not even particularly pretty. I am worryingly beginning to sound like an old git…), birds are singing, kids are guzzling ice cream like it’s gone out of fashion and the great British public has taken off a little too much clothing and is quietly going pink. Ah, the sound of sizzling and the smell of coconut oil.

And all of this in the middle of London.

I love shooting up in town; there is just something about it. The area around us here in rural Buckinghamshire is beautiful and tranquil and everything I’d ever want to live in but I still get a real buzz from being back in London, camera in hand.

This shoot was the pre-wedding session for Marc & Rebecca who we’re going to be working with in a few weeks’ time. And it was glorious. The weather was simply too good to be stuck in anywhere stuffy so we headed over to Regent’s Park. Bit weird, it has to be said, as it happened to be the G20 conference that week and it seemed like the park was the site of a Policeman’s Picnic. There were stab vests and blue lights everywhere (something to do with the American Ambassador’s place backing onto it) and it did feel a little weird being watched given I was clearly holding the terrorist’s weapon of choice – a camera. Sigh.

Still, this was an absolutely beautiful shoot! Marc and Rebecca were (are) great company and clearly very much in love. Ahhh. A great set of photos and the exciting prospect of shooting them again at their wedding back in London! Can’t wait.

Let us know what you think.

Cheers
P.

Bob & Rachel’s wedding is going to be this village’s event of the year. Can’t wait. The pre-wedding shoot was fantastic! I’m hoping the year carries on like this ’cause we’re having an absolute ball. And that’s pretty much critical for the type of photography we do. You gotta enjoy it. That way our clients enjoy it and, hey, you get beautiful pictures of people looking natural and comfortable.

Bob & Rachel (and Alex who came along for the shoot and turned out to be pretty handy with a reflector!) were fantastic to work with and I think we have some gorgeous images! I know we’re in a recession (the press do keep reminding us!) but with sessions like this one, it’s looking like 2009 is going to be an absolutely classic year for us.

Let us know what you think.

Cheers.
P.

“Julian Lass meets three award-winning portrait shooters combining the best of modern and contemporary. Grounded in craft-based black and white techniques and using their highly developed lighting skills together with a more relaxed approach to posing, they’re bucking the trend and increasing sales by pushing their creative, professional expertise. Just good enough doesn’t cut it.”

OK, so maybe I’m blowing the trumpet a little hard to but you’ve got to admit, that’s not a bad opening line for an article when you’re one of those three photographers!

The whole article (though sadly not all of the pictures that are in the magazine) can be found on the BJP Online Site.

Let us know you comments. I would be really interested to know if you think the article is right!

Enjoy.

Cheers
P.