The Bluebell Wood
It's the photographer's lot, to rarely be in a photograph because we're usually the ones taking it and while I wouldn't say I'm the biggest fan of having my picture taken, I understand the value of pictures well enough to know that one day my kids might want to look back and know what I looked like at particular points in our lives.
So once a year we go back to this beautiful bluebell wood near Bridgnorth, and we take a family portrait.
February 2019
Last month was all about Plastic Free February over on my Instagram where I sorted through all of my favourite items that reduce the amount of single-use plastic I use at home. The newest addition, but stand out hero of them all has been reusable nappies with their adorable prints, super soft and absorbent inserts and a huge community full of tips and trades has turned my attempt at reducing the amount of waste I send off to landfill, into a full-blown obsession with all of the many different varieties of nappies available. It's turned out to be a far easier process than I imagined and I really wish I'd taken the time to learn more about it the first time around.
January 2019
January started out as a waiting game.
We counted the days as new year and my birthday and finally my due date came and went with no signs of the baby making an appearance and by the time I was a week overdue I'd given up any hope of the relaxed homebirth we'd been hoping for.
But then on that evening the sporadic niggling I'd been experiencing for weeks finally began to form some sort of rhythm, and before I'd barely had enough time to get my head around the idea that this really, really might just be it, he was here (arriving just before the second midwife got to us).
Our beautiful boy Fox Jasper Kit was born at 2:37am on the 11th of January, happy, healthy and at home and everything since then has been a whirlwind of medical appointments, nappy changes, learning how to do everything one handed and gushing about what a spectacular big sister Rory has already turned out to be.
RB Luxury / The Takeover
For this post I get to talk about two great businesses I got to work with, the first being The Takeover a design, marketing and social media management team based in Shropshire who reached out to me to arrange some product photography for their client RB Luxury.
Working alongside the Takeover who were working on RB Luxury's entire brand design meant that the sessions concept, props, colour schemes were consistent with the brand's entirely new design style and meant that on my end the images taken were able to be far more varied, providing a number of image 'sets' to serve a variety of uses depending on the platform and format in which they will be used while maintaining a style specific to RB Luxury's aesthetic, right down to the being able to incorporate the brand's logo colour code into the backdrops I used in the images.
It was a great drop off session, made even more so by the fact I got to spend a day smelling delicious candles, which is possibly my favourite thing of all.
Opium Gym
Opium Gym is a family run business in Halesowen which offers amazing personal training sessions and fitness programmes.
In October I was invited over to shoot some environmental promotional portraits of the gym itself along with some lifestyle portraits of Nathan giving some personal training instruction and some more formal portraits using the portable studio set up for the business to use in their online and printed marketing and promotions.
Check out their Instagram to see some behind the scenes of the work these guys are doing.
Helen & Paul Wedding at Severn Valley Railway
Helen & Paul were married on the S.V.R in October, catching a train from Bridgnorth with a small group of guests to an intimate ceremony at Arley station with a little picnic reception afterwards.
Their day was perfectly laid back and blessed with the very best autumnal weather.
Congratulations you two!
x
Venue: Severn Valley Railway
Dress: Orla Kiely
Dress alterations: Dawn at Seams So Special in Broseley
Flowers: Louise at Florabunda in Ludlow
November 2018
As I'm officially now on maternity leave until next year, I'm planning to take more time to experiment with my photography and take the time to shoot and share photos just for fun!
So here's a montage of my housemates making gingerbread biscuits. It turns out that Chris and I are particularly competitive about cookie decorating, but obviously mine were the best.
Krafty Gifts UK Session 9
Mini e-commerce photography session with Krafty Gifts for a couple of new items in their store.
Clean and simple product photography is perfect for online businesses who sell their work over a variety of platforms and who require product photographs which fit with a number of different guidelines while still looking stylish, crisp and eye-catching to customers.
Get in touch via the contact page above to arrange your ecommerce photoshoot for 2019
N.A.F.D Charity Ball
In October I made my second visit to Albrighton Hall to take some event photographs at the N.A.F.D Charity Ball raised by the lovely people of Perry & Philips and which took place to raise donations for Severn Hospice, a wonderful charity based in Shropshire.
I arrived at the venue a little before the event to take portraits of the guests arriving and then Chris and I spent the remainder of the evening shooting candids of the guests, hosts and the main auction event.
Perry & Phillips Session 2
For the second session shooting for Perry & Phillips I headed to their offices to photograph some of their stock as well as the business itself to go in an information brochure describing the many services that they offer. I also got to hang out with their lovely family pup, and you know I can't resist some doggy attention.
'Promotional' photography can be useful for all sorts of businesses, from advertising facilities to people who are new to your business or providing useful information to clients that can be taken away in the form of a brochure or published online to help clients or in this case families, reflect over their various options in their own time.
