I'm someone who has to factor in recovery time after every social thing I do in order not to burn out, so effectively January is a hibernation month after the madness of December and I accept that about myself. Still I did take a few shots along the way, visiting venue with a lovely 2025 couple, celebrating Foxs 6th birthday and meeting up with family to see the planes at Cosford RAF Museum.

 It has been an effort to drag myself back to my desk this year, so excuse the delay. I'm a huge planner, so new year is usually my time to shine, but this year I'm following the seasons, taking things at my own pace. Our little Bridgnorth Christmas was cosy and slow, with lots of crafts and pottering about at home in our little cottage.

Since our last family portrait session in the summer this beautiful family has grown by 1 and I was invited to meet their littlest at home when she was barely 2 weeks old to get all of the snaps of all of her sweet newborn littleness that they grow out of before you know it. Naturally we also took plenty of photos of her siblings, parents and gorgeous dog Thea, too.

An On-Location studio session working again with the fabulous Pink Poppy Veils & Accessories featuring gowns from the equally gorgeous Emstrey Bridal. For this shoot we were working with a team as well as a model and so instead of working from my home studio, Vonny rented a space at Admaston House that was just spot on for the session, with gorgeous windows which let us work with some dynamic lighting throughout the day and added more versitility and mood for the images of each veil and dress.

This time last year I started to feel like I wasn't creating enough. There was work, and that was great, but I had stopped making things for myself, which meant I'd stopped exploring and experimenting and having my own definition of what made a 'good' picture. So I challenged myself to start carrying my camera more, to take it out to non-events and find subjects in the things I find around me. With limited time and limited transport in the week, most of these images are of the same places, but walking the same paths and studying the same spaces has taught me to see them in new ways, in new seasons, and see how they change over time. 

For my second studio session for Bridgnorth brand AwaikenU, we covered the same approach as before including lifestyle product photography, 'cut out' white shots, detail shots and some styled studio images on a blue backdrop. Having a mixture of different styles for each product is great for adding visual variety to product listings on sites like Amazon as well as providing consistent and varied content for social media.
AwaikenUProduct photographer in Bridgnorth, Shropshire
 

I'm so excited to share these images from my first session shooting for Billie Rose, who produce beautifully scented, long lasting luxury candles. Along with the products, I received a product description which rather than describing the props or lighting to be paired with a particular fragrance, described the inspiration behind the selected scents, and what they are evoking through our olfactory sense, which was such a creative and incredibly helpful way to provide me with insight into what the brand had in mind when making each candle, leaving me to interpret that visually, while maintaining the existing colour pallet and simplistic elegance of the brand. Every once in a while a business comes along and elevates my definition of a dream client and Billie Rose Candles have stepped it up another notch.

Chris and Maria were married in St Mary's Church in Alveley followed by a reception at The Royal Oak surrounded by family, friends and their two gorgeous daughters. A few days before the wedding, I was able to attend the church ceremony rehearsal, meet some of the wedding party and get a feel for the space, which in the case of church weddings is so, so valuable when lighting and layout can vary so much. On their Big Day, The Darbyshire’s were blessed with the most ideal weather (which for August is a big ask, with it typically being either too hot or too wet) and it really was a pleasure to have couple who were completely comfortable in front of the camera and happy to follow me into any great light I happened to spot. Here are some of my favourite shots from the day.

Suppliers:

Hair & MUA - lovehair.withkirstywilcox

Venue - The Royal Oak

Bouncy Castle - Live, Laugh, Love with Lauren

Sax - Sax with Stacey

Venue Decor - Cupids - wedding - designs and Events by Chris foxall

Photography - Christina Clare Photography