Bridgnorth Castle Garden
Since moving to Bridgnorth, one of my favorite hobbies has been exploring the sometimes hidden, usually unexpected and always plentiful areas of beauty that this town has to offer. Initially, these missions were inspired by a desire to catalogue all of the places I'd like to one day use as a backdrop for a photoshoot (you can view some more of these posts here), but after spending so much time walking around the town while training for the Bridgnorth Walk, I've developed a genuine enjoyment from just getting away from my desk, strolling around no matter the weather, and admiring the things that are so easily taken for granted when you become used to your environment. I still wouldn't exactly describe myself as outdoorsy, but moving here has reawakened a fascination with unpredictability of the nature that surrounds us, and I'm hoping that with my camera in hand Ill have an excuse to keep this spark ignited, and to get back in the habit of using my (spare) camera for something that's just for me.
So I decided to start this little project where I started.
The castle garden in Bridgnorth was first place I fell in love with in this town, a place I would walk to every morning with my daughter, so she could play while I adjusted to my new surroundings. It's just so impossibly pretty there, so well cared for, and in July it's arguably at it's prettiest. Every flower is in bloom, every lawn perfectly tended. There's a nature walk, and a veggie patch, military themed topiary, a bandstand and a gravity defying wall that people keep insisting to me 'is' a castle, though I'm sure anybody would have a hard time living in it, in its current state. There's a bandstand and little stream and views of the Severn Valley Railway where you can sit and watch the steam trains go by. And it doesn't matter when I visit, I've watched the sunrise there in the dead of winter, kicked the leaves along the castle walk in the autumn, made daisy chains for Rory in the springtime and enjoyed the ice cream in the summer, it's always beautiful and always different.
Krafty Gifts Session 1
I have recently started working with kraft Gifts, an online store with it's HQ in Bridgnorth who sell an absolutely huge and growing number of personalized gifts with various hand drawn designs. Such a large variety of designs in fact, that it was simpler for us to shoot the bags and lunch bags without any design on them, and inserted the illustrations in after the session, (hence the blank panels) but you can view all of the available designs here
Jez Mann Headshots
Jez is a personal development coach based in Shropshire, and a couple of weeks ago we shot some portraits for his website launch. So if you're looking for some inspiration for yourself or for your team, head over to his site to find out more.
Emilia's Christening
In May I travelled over to my original neck of the woods, to The Holy Trinity Church in Short Heath to photograph my very first christening, for the wonderful 10 week old Emilia Rose. I'd been prepared for a grouchy newborn (I mean, who wouldn't be grouchy about a stranger sprinkling water on your hair when you could be having a nap, and then some random lady following you around with a camera for a few hours?), but Emilia was the most relaxed baby in the world, with the sweetest little baby face and along with her charming big brothers who never ran out of smiles for me, made my job a particularly easy one.
After the service we popped over the road to the Duke of Cambridge pub, for cake and nibbles. But mostly cake.
x
Lavender Cottage
Lavender Cottage is a brand new holiday cottage available to rent in Astley Abbotts, just a little outside of Bridgnorth High Town. The cottage was converted from the old Lavender Farm shop, into a 3 bedroom property with a fully renovated interior and surrounded by beautiful, rural Shropshire countryside.
I was invited along to take some commercial property photography of the cottage for the online holiday booking sites that it will be hosted on, which was a treat for me, given the cottage's beautiful views, wonderful sunlight and the fact that it's located in a parish I know rather well.
You can view Air BNB's listing for Lavender Cottage Here
That's Nice Interiors - Session 8
I'm so excited to finally share these images from my latest session with That's Nice Interiors. Once again we worked out on location, this time visiting a local country park and setting up a most decadent table lay out of pretty glassware, dinnerware, candles and delicious food. We picked a time during the late afternoon, catching the sun just at the perfect time to create this gorgeous summer evening glow, perfect for a warm weather picnic.
April 2017
While sunny days at the seaside are pretty hard to come by in the UK, the gloomy ones do make perfect oppertunities to capture moody black and white images, and those are my favourite kind.
That's Nice Session 7
For session 7 with That's Nice Interiors we took the show on the road, using a location setting as a backdrop for some kitchen products.