My Journal
All About Me & My Photography
Rustic Country or City Chic? Choosing your venue
Choosing your venue is one of your first major decisions of your wedding planning journey, but where to start? There are so many venues types available. Barns, hotels, country houses, golf clubs, village halls, farms, woodland, city centre and more. It can and will...
It’s all about the details
When every couple plans their wedding they spend an inordinate amount of time choosing even the smallest details. Although some of these details may not be individually noticed by all guests, they will be vital in sculpting the day and the experience for all involved....
You ARE beautiful – no matter what YOU say
I've lost count of the number of times I'm asked by someone can I Photoshop them to make them thinner, or to lose a double chin. In fact if I was given £1 for every time I was I would be significantly better off! But my answer is always no and for very good reasons. I...
Here come the girls…
It's International Women's day!There is an International Women's day for the same reason there is an International Men's day. To celebrate the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. Yes the day also challenges us to work towards women's...
Wedding Photographers – Are two better than one?
If you're a bride searching for your photographer you will undoubtedly be getting numerous opinions over having one or two photographers, which in turn leads to many questions in your head. Is it essential to have two? Is it the best choice? Can you afford it in your...
Behind The Magic – You get what you pay for
Have you looked at three photographers one charging £50 for a photoshoot, another £150, and another £500 and wondered the difference? Let me try to explain to you, and more importantly how and why that is not their 'hourly' rate. To break it down I'm going to let you...
Behind the Magic – Stop, Collaborate & listen!
Last week I took the opportunity to meet up with three fellow equestrian photographers, Rose, Laura & Louise, for an afternoon of idea sharing and education. All four of us are established photographers but have different styles and areas of expertise, so what...
Behind the magic – every day is a school day
I was asked recently how I became a professional photographer. Did I go to college or university to study or was it all 'just there'? In my case I fall somewhere in the middle, I would like to think that I have a natural eye for composition and subjects, whereas a lot...
Behind The Magic – Finding stock photography
Do you work in a business that needs marketing images? Do you have a project to do for college, university, school or even work? If so the majority will probably have utilised google image search to find a suitable photo to use at some point. There is no denying it,...
Behind The Magic – Backup, backup and backup again
A lesson most photographers learn the hard way is to have backups, and not just one, of their photos. There is nothing worse than a card or hard disk failure and loosing irreplaceable photos. I learnt the hard way when a hard drive filed on me a few years ago....
Behind the Magic – Horses & studio lights
Horses are naturally wary animals and many are known as being spooky especially at new things. Portable lighting which I use for my studio lit photoshoots are incredibly powerful and do result in a wide range of reactions from horses. From all that I have photographed...
Behind The Magic – Everyone is a photographer
You may think this post is going to be a rant and it is but perhaps not in the way you will expect... 'Everyone thinks they are a photographer' and the truth is everyone is. In the same way that everyone is a cook. Some do it well, some do it badly, and lots are...
Behind The Magic – The magic of a tight crop
Now I love to photograph tight crops. The reason? The photograph is (normally) all about the subject and cluttered backgrounds detract, tight crops focus in on that subject and allow you to tell a different photograph. Granted there are times where you want the...
Behind the Magic – The golden hour
I love love LOVE the golden hour, although actually it's normally not an hour long and there are two of them per day (weather dependant!). As the sun progresses through the sky during the day it starts low to the horizon moves over head until again dropping down to...
Behind the Magic – Do What You Love
There are so many different forms of photography, even within portrait photography you have everything from newborns, maternity, weddings, family and so on and so forth. Different photographers specialise in different areas, some are jack of all trades some are...
Behind The Magic – Bokeh – what is it and how to create it
You have undoubtedly seen those lovely dreamy photos where the background is beautifully blurred often to the point of seeing sparkles in the background and wandered how that was created. This is bokeh, and it's what most portrait photographers aim for with their...
Behind The Magic – Black & White
When I was going through my photos of the action at Barbury on Sunday I had the sudden strong urge to go almost all black & white for editing. I don't normally put so many black and white images in an event but the backdrop and the competition itself just lending...
Behind the Magic – Printing photos
Have you got a collection of photos on your camera, computer or phone that you keep meaning to print but never get round to it? Is that because previously you have been disappointed with the prints you have received or it's just a bit too much of a faff? If I can give...
Behind the Magic – Photographing your pet
There are a few simple guidelines that will help no end with photographing your pet, so here are my 5 top tips for improving your pet photography 1. Get down to their eye level - this may mean sitting or even lying on the ground or putting them up on a table or...
Behind The Magic – Photographing sunrises & sunsets
Have you ever tried to photograph a sunset and been disappointed with how bright and lacking in colours it is? This is because when a camera meters the light levels of a sunset it will most likely be using an evaluative metering and will want to over expose the scene....
What would you like to know?
Have you got a burning question you would like to ask me? Would you like to know something about how I create my images or how I work? Drop me a line and let me know.