Meg Hawkins Branding Portraits
Meg Hawkins is a supremely talented artist and a total powerhouse of a person whose work I've admired since I first moved to Shropshire and stumbled upon some of her watercolour paintings. So imagine my giddy, fangirlish delight when Meg got in touch to invite me to her home and studio to take some new branding portraits of herself, her team and her pups (who are two of the most handsome pups I've ever had the pleasure to meet).
If you somehow haven't seen Meg's art before (or even if you have), head over to her website and see some of her stunning work for yourselves.
Autumn/Winter 2018 Update
Hi guys!
I've been meaning to write this post for a while but it kept getting bumped to the back of the list of the many things I need to do and now that I'm already past the halfway point of my pregnancy (yikes!) I thought I'd better get on with it and get you all up to speed.
So after much pondering, I've decided I won't be taking an extended maternity leave as the approach to my business right from the start has always been designed to fit around my daughter and that hasn't really changed so there isn't really any need to take a year-long break. Instead, I'll be reducing the number of shoots I will do in a week and what sort of sessions I can offer while the baby is still too young for me to be away from him for long days. For my existing repeat clients, this shouldn't affect you any more than to make sure to book ahead of time for any upcoming sessions, but for you guys who have maybe been thinking about booking with me but aren't sure when/if/how I will be working after I have spawned, allow me to explain.
I will be taking a complete break from shooting as of December 2018 until March 2019, so if you have any big photoshoot plans for the new year, valentines, mothers day or your latest spring product ranges PLEASE get in touch ASAP and we can make a plan to shoot early.
From March onwards I will be taking on bookings as follows:
- All studio product photography sessions will continue to take place on weekdays in the form of 'drop off' shoots, whereby clients deliver items to me, I photograph them and they are collected on an alternative day. For shorter sessions, a same-day collection will still be available, but it will need to be on a case by case basis depending on the number of items and the type of styling.
- All location sessions will take place on weekends, this applies to all location product/commercial/event and portrait sessions.
- Studio portrait sessions for headshots will still be available if booked more than 4 weeks in advance.
- Bookings for weddings/day-long events will be available from summer 2019.
- All shoots from 2019 will need to be booked at least 2 weeks in advance as I will be reducing my work availability in order to maintain quality as well as a consistent turn around time and have a feeling that editing times might slow down somewhat with a little wriggler in the house :)
That should be everything! I hope this is useful for you guys and if there's anything I've forgotten that you feel might affect you or your business please get in touch. I've tried to be mindful of maintaining availability for you all but without making more promises than I can keep and will be sure to keep all of you in the loop with any changes as they crop up.
I'm currently still taking bookings for Autumn/Winter product sessions, though September and October are filling up fast so if you've got any plans for new products for winter, get in touch via the contact page and let me know what you have in mind!
Christina x
Ellie & Calum Madden
Absolutely stunning wedding at Much Wenlock PArish Church and The Mill Barns in Alveley for the wonderful Ellie & Calum Madden.
The first time I met Ellie I was taking her portrait picture for a local theatre company and in less than a minute, in just 3 frames she took what is to this day one of my favourite portrait photographs. A classic beauty and true English Rose, Ellie is a gorgeous person through and through and having photographed her many times since it was an absolute privilege to be asked to photograph her wedding.
Both Ellie and Calums approach to their wedding was incredibly laid back, making everything as personal, fun and beautiful as possible and then letting the rest take care of itself, which for a big wedding, is so refreshing. There was no panicking, no worrying, no fuss at all, just a beautiful day spent with family and friends.
Before the ceremony I paid a super quick visit to the guys and then headed over to the bridal party prep at Ellie's parent's house before going to the church where people from the village along with Ellie's primary school students had turned out to wish the couple well (and get a look at the dress, because of course). Much Wenlock church always makes for a great venue, with its traditional architecture, amazing light and quirky priest and the residents of the town (plus lots of students from Ellie's class) turned up to watch the bride and groom arrive.
After the ceremony, we grabbed a couple of portraits at the church and then headed over to The Mill Barns for the rest of the evening. The weather was perfect, everything was stunning, the guests had a blast and really I couldn't have asked for a better day at work. Congratulations again Ellie & Calum... Can we do it again?
Flowers - Blooms Bridgnorth
Cake - the cake room
Hair and Makeup - salon ten Much Wenlock & Donna Grainger makeup and beauty
Jewellery - Julieann Bird
Venue - Mill Barns
Lights - Penny Lane Vintage Hire
Band - Joshua Sole
Dress - Wedding World Shropshire
Cars - 2xl limos
Perry & Philips Business Portaits
Perry & Philips are a funeral directors based in the very heart of Bridgnorth and who asked me to head over to their offices with my studio gear to take some new promotional portraits as well as a handful of corporate style headshot portraits for their website.
Louise Russell Design
Louise Russell is an extremely talented Graphic Designer based in Shropshire who got in touch a few months back to see if we could get together and take a few branding portraits out and about in Bridgnorth.
Branding portraits are a fantastic way of showing your clients the face behind your business and giving them an opportunity to get to know who they're working with. Before the shoot Louise sent over a few shots of her brand colours and the sorts of portraits she liked and after a couple of location scouting trips to find all of the colourful spots town we ended up with quite a few useful backdrops.
Portrait sessions can be tricky sometimes, particularly when working with people who usually operate behind the scenes, but Louise was a complete natural in front of the camera and working in a real environment rather than a studio allowed us both to approach the shoot in a more relaxed and fun way.
Chris & Teri 14.07.2018
Chris And Teri were married on the 14th of July at Albrighton Hall in a gloriously sunny, vintage wedding with some Peaky Blinders vibes, a caricaturist and Yam Yam Elvis thrown in for good measure. It was a really fun day, made even more so by the fact that the groom is my cousin, and so it was great to get to be a guest and a photographer (it’s far easier to direct a group shot when you already know everybody’s name).
Seat covers & Floral Arch - Julie Nicholas Florist
Makeup - Emily Grosvenor Makeup Artist
Hair - Evelyn Davies
Venue - Albrighton Hall Hotel & Spa
Caricaturist - Clive's Caricatures
DJ - DJ Mark Rees
Entertainment - Yam Yam Elvis
Dress - Julie Connolly Bespoke Tailored Alterations
Suits - Dapper Dan
Veil/Hair Piece - Matilda Bentley Bridal
Law Customs Session 2
For some clients producing custom and one-of-a-kind commissioned pieces the nature of their work means that it can take a long time to produce a single product or that work is produced as individual items and not as a part of a collection and therefor a standard product photography which is priced to cover a minimum of 5 items, is overkill.
To cater for those of you looking for professional product photographs of your work for your websites, social media and print marketing I offer a 'mini' session, which offers a bespoke pricing structure depending on the size of the item and style of the shoot from 1 - 4 items.
If you're a local artist, designer or maker and you'd like to know more about this service, get in touch and lets chat!
Krafty Gifts UK Session 8
Getting back to school ready with Krafty Gifts UK. For this session we focused on their new holographic backpacks, lunch bags and pencil cases, but they have also added boot bags and messenger bags to their range, along with enlarged backpacks making them an ideal size for ring binders, A4 notebooks and laptops and as always, are forever adding to their huge choice of personalised design options.
Everything from the Krafty Gifts UK shop is exceptional quality, my daughter has had her school bag for 18 months and has been put through the sort of heavy use only a toddler can manage and it's still in an absolutely perfect condition, so if you've got a little one about to start at school or move into a new ear group, or just want something jazzy for yourself you should definitely head over to their store and have a browse in time for September.
Happy Scents
Colourful product photography for Happy scents, a West Midlands based company who make the most gorgeously scented range of vegan candles. Check out their Facebook page to find out more about where you can get your hands on some.
Krafty Gifts Uk 7
As usual, it's never a dull session shooting e-commerce imagery for Krafty Gifts UK and this time I got to play around with the very latest addition to their range of personalised products in the form of colour change sequin cushions. For every Krafty Gifts shoot, I photograph a blank, unprinted sample of the items and then the team at KGUK transfer their designs onto my photo ready to be listed online. It's taken a little trial and error to find a way of photographing the items so that they are not only correctly lit, exposed and toned but so that they also have enough contrast from the backdrop for the design image to be layered on top, but I think we got there in the end.
