A great start to 2018 with a fab shoot for Pomegranate and Sage - a brand new deli and eatery opening in Kendal. I absolutely love photographing (and eating!) food, especially when the client allows me time and space to get creative with ingredients and still life type shots as well as the finished dishes. Best of luck to Tony and the team - it's going to be a great addition to Kendal, which is rapidly becoming a tip top place to eat and drink!
A fab day's shooting for Hand on Heart Jewellery last week - check out their gorgeous new packaging! As always it was a total pleasure to work for this company who are going from strength to strength and treat all their customers and suppliers like VIPs - I recommend them enough, their products are so beautifully handmade!
Models:
Elena, Elena(!) and Logan
A very busy 2017 means it's taken me a long time to get round to sharing these images with you! I was so excited when one of my favourite local brands - The Bath House - asked me to do a shoot with them to prepare for the launch of some new perfumes. I was even MORE excited when they discussed their ideas and the plans started to take shape.
We found a lovely private venue in the pretty valley of Dent and were blessed with beautiful weather. With Aimee Chorley working her magic with the make up brushes for our lovely models it all came together perfectly and we can't wait to do it again this year!
Client: The Bath House
Models: Abigail and Harry
Make up: Aimee Chorley
Clothes: The Exchange
It was great to return to The Plough, Lupton for a morning of food photography to update their portfolio. Since my last visit they have a new head chef, the talented and lovely Robert Stacey, formerly of The Castle Dairy and Lancrigg. The dishes were super pretty and super tasty (yep, I don't go in for all that styling with hairspray, vaseline, cigar smoke and whatever...it's all natural light and just as it should be - because obviously I want to eat them too, right?! ;)
You should get yourself there immediately, I'm particularly interested in their Burger Night :)
Earlier this year I worked on an exciting commission for Oscar's Restaurant at Abbey House Hotel. The aim was to come up with a fresh new range of images to be used across their website, social media and various other PR and marketing channels. We were aiming for a sophisticated, modern look, reflecting the feel and ethos of the brasserie. We focussed on processes, ingredients, people and, of course, the fantastic finished products! The shoot was done in just one day :)
Last week I was lucky enough to be in the Carcassonne area of South France where I was shooting a destination wedding. Of course it made TOTAL sense to bolt on a few days to the trip, and what better way to fill one of them than to go on a tour of Gaillac vineyards with the wonderful Angus of Fine Wine Tours?
Angus picked me up in Carcassonne and we whizzed over to Toulouse to collect one other lovely lady, then off we went, heading first to the Tarn area to visit Domaine Sarrabelle. We met grandma, resting in the shade after hanging out the laundry, before being shown around by the brothers Fabien and Laurent - 8th generation of wine producers for this vineyard. The tasting began - I can highly recommend wine and pate for breakfast by the way.
Next up was a visit to Astrid and her sons at Peyres Roses where we were immediately immersed in family life. Astrid cooked us one of the most amazing lunches I've ever had and we sat under the trees eating, drinking and talking - exactly the way lunch should be.
Our final visit of the day was to Bruno and Anne at Domaine Duffau. We discovered yet more new ways of making wine and had our last few samples of the day.
For someone who has only ever popped down to the local shop and picked a wine based on how nice the label looks, this tour was a real eye opener. The weather was hot, and huge storms had been predicted. I'd never even thought about how this might affect the thousands of vineyards that cover the area. A unseasonable hail storm could potentially ruin the entire crop for 2 years or more. That's a very real stress when your livelihood depends on grapes and insurance is way too expensive to even consider.
It was a real honour to be invited into the lives of these people for a few hours. Their work is relentless and their passion endless. I'll never drink wine in the same way again!
This shoot lasted just over an hour - a very hot one! The brief was simply to get enough photos together to launch this brand new company - check them out if you're planning a wedding or event and would love to wow your guests with something a bit different when it comes to the serving of drinks! This beautifully converted Stephens & West vintage caravan now acts as a mobile and fully licensed bar - with a range of different options to suit your needs - visit their site here.
I was SO excited (yep, look at me in the photo above!!) to attend a swanky awards do in London this week, having had two images selected for the finals of the Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year 2017!
Now in it’s sixth year, the Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year is the world’s leading food photography and film awards. The contest celebrates all aspects of food in culture across the globe and over 25,000 images have been entered since the awards began.
This is the fourth year that I’ve entered this competition, so it was a dream come true to have two images selected for final exhibition at The Mall Galleries, London.
I enter quite a lot of different photography competitions, with varying degrees of success, but the Pink Lady awards are definitely one of my favourite. So many competitions these days are more like popularity contests, relying more on attracting votes through your network rather than being judged on talent. Although there is a “People’s Choice” section to these awards, in the main part the decisions are made by a highly skilled panel of judges representing a wide cross section of the world of food production, cookery, photography and press. I’m just so pleased that my two little pictures from the depths of the Lake District made the final cut!
The finalist images:
The ones that didn't make the final cut!
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We are just back from an amazing 3 days in Ibiza. With flights at just £25 return from Manchester, and accommodation at Ibiza All Suite being great value, we decided it would be rude not to! It's the shortest trip abroad that we've done with the kids, but it worked really well. Obviously we'd have loved longer in the sun, but 3 days was all we could squeeze into a busy Easter schedule - and it was definitely worthwhile. The kids are (on the whole!) a total pleasure to travel with and see it as all part of the adventure.
Looking back through these photos made me realise that I'm probably never going to grow out of my habit of telling people to stand in front of nice bits of wall and doorways, but I guess there are worse habits to have! It's also interesting seeing how the kids change over time when it comes to holiday photos - they're now that bit more self conscious and super aware of social media and trends, babes certainly grow up fast these days!
We all loved the Postcard Challenge - for once I was organised enough to order some vintage postcards before we went (I think I'm the only person who buys the postcards before the holiday!) - we had great fun tracking down the beaches and re creating the scenes - you can spot them below. I love the thought of generations upon generations enjoying the sand and the sea in the same spots that we visited :)
Can't WAIT for our next adventure...Poland! :) x
I'm just back from an amazing few days in Barcelona with nine other sweet-as wedding photographers. We had an amazing time, walked miles, ate endless tapas, drunk a lot of beer and wine and a few flaming shots, shared thoughts and ideas and didn't even have to part with that many Euros along the way. I love Spain more and more every time I visit.
On the photography side of things, street is a lot harder than it looks. It's a really odd mixture of off the cuff lucky shots mixed with patiently framing and waiting (often in vain) for something to happen. Do you submit to a total lack of control, or do you interrupt a random person and ask permission, only to risk momentarily breaking the bubble in favour of getting that bit closer? It's an interesting challenge, especially for a wedding photographer who bases their art on building up relationships and understanding their clients so that they can gain the intimacy they need.
I hardly knew any of the 9 other people on this trip, but we shared some great times, and along with the micro-moments I had with people on the streets there's some memories to keep forever, that's for sure. I loved the little boy in the ice cream shop who laughed at me pulling faces that no one else in the world saw, I loved the lady with the beautiful blue eye shadow and coral lips that matched her scarf, who brushed away her pie crumbs and happily let me take her photo. Most of all, I loved the guy in the brown jacket and the cap, who said "no" when I asked if I could take his photo, but who then changed his mind and came running after me shouting "si, si" then stared into my lens for all he was worth.
I missed my husband and kids. I had an amazing time. I learnt a lot.
I've always been a big fan of The Plough at Lupton - it's a perfect rural pub. I especially love it in winter, when the fires are roaring and the whole place twinkles with festivity. The characterful building has been decorated in such a wonderfully quirky way, it's right up my street! Reclaimed garden tools prop up fairy lights and old suitcases are stacked in piles of patina perfection. Modern metallics sit happily alongside ancient wooden textures and unexpected pops of colour are waiting around each and every corner. Add to all this the fantastic smells of amazing food and mulled wine and you won't be leaving any time soon!
Managing Director Paul heads up a buzzing team - it's easy to see his natural leadership skills shining. The atmosphere is relaxed and everyone goes about their jobs happily and efficiently, trusted to do the best they possibly can. It really is a great little place - you should pop in - whether it's for a cup of coffee and a slice of amazing cake or your entire wedding - you can't go wrong!
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When two of my commercial clients were both talking to me about wanting to do a lakeside picnic shoot to get some lifestyle shots, it soon became obvious that we could all collaborate for double the fun. And so the Ginger Bakers and Clarabelle Interiors dreamy shoot was born. The weather gods were on our side, with warm September sun and a delicious golden hour. Our lovely models played cake Jenga, lemon polenta skittles, had an almondie-and-spoon race, and paddled, biked, sparkled and ate...a lot! The photos below include a few from an earlier product shoot for Ginger Bakers. I can't wait to see how the talented Scratch Creative weaves the two styles together for their new website.
Cakes by: Ginger Bakers
Interior accessories, toys, fabrics and throws all available from the wonderful Clarabelle Interiors - brands shown include Hogben, Maileg and Tolly McRae
Flowers: by the truly amazing Fia at The Little Atelier Gardener - all home grown and hand cut!
Vintage bike: kindly loaned to us by The Button Hole
A few months ago I did an amazing food photography shoot at the Gilpin Hotel and Lakehouse...and finally I am sharing the images! I had had the pleasure of working with their head chef Hrishikesh Desai before, following his win on BBC 2’s Alex Polizzi: Chefs on Trial. It was a real treat to return to the hotel and work alongside him again - this time, it was to focus on photographing his culinary creations. There was a detailed brief, but one which allowed lots of creativity too - the best of both worlds. I enjoyed planning and executing the styling almost as much as taking and editing the photos! Here are a few of the images from the shoot. My aim was to pay tribute to Hrishikesh's roots, but also introduce some of the colours, textures and lightness of the English Lakes. And yes, it all tasted AMAZING!
Sam and I had a very exciting day at T in the Park yesterday. With the kids away on a school trip, we decided to go on a crazy adventure! Of course I'm always thinking about photos, even when I'm drinking beer and having fun, so I was excited to take along my new little Olympus Stylus Tough TG4. I had worked out how to set it to RAW and turn off the flash, and that was it. The rest was trial and error! I debated whether to post this on my website or not, as this isn't my usual style of photography, and isn't my usual kit, but I found it a really interesting experience so I thought I'd share the results. Since going professional I've never used a point and shoot even for personal work, I've always insisted on carting my tonne of Canon gear around with me (or relying on my phone). I thought I'd get the Olympus as it got great reviews and, like it's name suggests, is super tough, even being waterproof to 15m depth and shock proof from heights of up to 2.1m. I can now confirm it is also mud-proof to T in the Park standards, which as you can see from the photos below is pretty flipping muddy!
I can't lie, I did miss my Canon bodies and all my lovely lenses, BUT....there is no way on earth I could have taken them into that arena and got out with them intact. The best camera is the one you can take with you...so in this case the Olympus wins hands down.
I am a big fan of street photography, but always struggle with it a bit myself, as it's not my usual style. When it comes to still life, I like to carefully compose. When it comes to documentary style, again I'll compose the scene and then stay there in position quietly waiting for someone or something to happen within the frame I have set. I love working like this, but at something like a festival - or on a busy wedding dance floor - it's just not possible. So what I've learnt lately, and put into practise yesterday, was to just shoot shoot shoot, and trust that there would be something there. I did some thinking and some framing too, and some squatting in the mud at odd angles, but most of this is just showing what happened and how it felt to be there.
This is certainly no professional review of the Olympus TG4, which has a zillion features I am yet to discover - but for what it's worth here are some happy memories it helped me to capture in a pretty extreme environment!
(Technical details - all the below are shot in RAW with no flash, auto ISO. Edited in Lightroom and Photoshop)
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I don't normally say yes to collaborative shoots in "the busy season", but I just couldn't resist when The Forest Side contacted me to see if I was interested in coming together with some amazing local suppliers to create some images to help position them as a brand new top end wedding venue.
We took our inspiration from the surroundings of the hotel and the exquisite creations of their head chef Kevin Tickle, whose menus heavily draw on ingredients grown and foraged in the immediate area. We were also lucky to benefit from the involvement of the Heaton Cooper Studio, who kindly allowed us to use original artwork and equipment from their archives.
I hope you love the photos - the weather wasn't so kind to us, but we braved the rain - it is the Lakes after all!
Models: Emma and Karen
Florist: Brackens of Bowness
Dresses: Mears Ghyll Bridal Rooms and Julia Tasker Bridal Couture
Make up: Aimée Chorley
Hair: Daniel Gray Hairdressers
Lighting: Typical Type
Table Linen and Styling Assistant: Clarabelle Interiors
Stationery: Neat Creative
Cake: The Bakery at No.4
Art Props: The Heaton Cooper Studio
Food: Kevin Tickle at The Forest Side
You know when you meet someone who has a definitive style - who just always seems to look just right, and know what direction they're going in? I am always envious of them - those who are lucky enough to have achieved such a calm consistency. I think I am more like a bumble bee, busying around flitting from one thing to the next, always being productive but also always tempted by all the different things that are on offer!
If you take a look at Poppy Pickering's (hugely popular) Instagram feed, you'll see that she's got it nailed. There's no mish mash of styles here, it's a wonderful stream of serene, calm, beautiful images, all with a subdued, calm palette. Stunning.
When I worked with Dominque on the day of the shoot she had this style at the forefront of her mind and it was great to have this as our guiding light throughout. Happily, though, she was very open to us having a bit of a play around too - the perfect mix!
Dominique's cakes are amazing to behold - they really are works of art - that are delicious too! As well as providing a huge range of bespoke cakes for every occasion and 45 flavours of handmade chocolates she also runs workshops - check out her site here.
There can be few people as easy to work with as Claire of Clarabelle Interiors. She really is a dream client. She has a super clear idea of where her business is going and what she needs, but she is always willing to leave me room to be creative and play around. She is also bloody hilarious, and we spend most of the time we are together crying laughing at something or other!
This was our first on-location lifestyle shoot, which brought together some of the fantastic brands she offers along with her own careful handiwork. It was red hot on the day of the shoot, the lighting was tricky and we had to deal with a slightly scary cockerel...but all in all a big success and we're already planning the next one!
Flowers kindly supplied by the brilliant Valerie Ann's Florist, Windermere.
Brands featured include:
Tolly McRae
Hannah Nunn
Peony and Sage
Mulberry
Cabbages and Roses
Cloth and Clover
All available from Clarabelle Interiors.
Holker Hall, home of the Cavendish family, is one of the best-loved stately homes in Britain. With the new addition of a brand new top class brasserie, it’s now an even more attractive option for a classy day out!
When my friend Megan from Typical Type and I first visited the development back in February, the building was in the middle of being renovated. At the end of April we returned to do a styled wedding shoot, and couldn’t believe our eyes when we saw the completed project - it is so stunning!
Beautifully transformed by some of the best local craftsmen, The Ilex (Latin for the Holm Oak) is a calm, serene, stylish haven - crisp linens and chalky pink paints paired with with the finest slate and, of course, oak.
The food is equally as impressive, drawing it’s inspiration and ingredients from the very best the local area has to offer.
With the Hall becoming one of Cumbria’s newest wedding venues, the Ilex brasserie will be hosting wedding receptions soon, so if you’re looking for an amazing venue then swing by and check it out - and BOOK ME to take the photos because I love it there! ;)
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Have you been to Baba Ganoush in Kendal? It's a little bit off the beaten path, which adds to it's charm. Hidden down Berrys' Yard it flanks either side of the wonderfully wonky alleyway, with a deli offering takeaway and some seating on one side, and a larger "canteen" on the other. Darting between the two are a whole host of happy busy staff carrying huge bowls of salad, brandishing random kitchen implements and towers of cakes and kindly shepherding customers to help them find a table amongst the crowds.
The food is, well, totally amazing. Once you've smelled that sizzling chorizo and fresh coffee and cast your eyes on those huge gooey traybakes, let's face it - you're going to wait for a table, you won't be going anywhere else!
Oh and the other thing I like about it? It's cute. It's quirky and trendy, but it's not all "hipster". It's not predictable - there's random bits and bobs here and there - and it just works. It's really, really good. You should go.
Farrers of Kendal is a magical tea and coffee emporium, housed in a wonderfully wonky 17th Century Grade 2 Listed building. It was a total delight to spend a few hours there taking photos. The amazing smells of freshly roasted coffee and steaming tea infusions immediately took me back to the happy times I spent in there with my mum when I was little. I'm ashamed to say I'd forgotten all about this place - tending to rush past it in the hurry of modern life, taking the kids to Costa because they recognise the branding and therefore like it, then dashing home to order my Nespresso pods online to save time. I am a BAD person!
THIS is the way you should enjoy your tea and coffee. From experts who know their stuff. With a team of happy smiley people who genuinely care that their customers have a good experience, the kind of people who ask how you are because they're interested, not because they've been programmed to on a roll out training programme.
I hope my photos do justice to this special place. Check out the wonky floors, patch-worked together from parts of old ships (the same ones that used to bring spices to West Cumbrian ports)....and check out the sneaky coffee beans that have nestled their way in between - my mum would say it was great insulation, just like having lots of books in your house!
I'm looking forward to seeing my photos incorporated into the fantastic new Farrers website currently being designed by Jonny at Scratch Creative - I'm sure it will be the perfect on-line shopfront for the perfect off-line place.
As a member of Canon Professional Services I'm lucky to be able to benefit from the chance to take part in some very exclusive experiences. I was excited to hear a few weeks ago that I had secured a place on a Canon Fashion Photography Experience at London Fashion Weekend. Being a wedding and commercialphotographer in the very rural Lake District, this was a chance to shoot something completely different, and of course catch up with friends in the Big Smoke!
I'd never been in the "Photographers' Pit" before, so it was great to get a full briefing beforehand on what we could and couldn't do, where to stand and, more importantly, where not to! We were then given a fantastic presentation by experienced fashion photographer Paul Cunningham who shared some top tips on how to get the most out of the catwalk experience.
As much as I love my clients, it's always good to make time to work on personal projects, and shoot without a client in mind. This was one of those times and it was great to have free reign and play around. What made it really interesting was the fact that movement in the photographers' pit was so strictly limited. It made me realise how much I move around and change angles when I'm shooting! I loved the challenge of having to find new ways to be creative.
We shot two shows at the fantastic Saatchi Gallery. The first was the Catwalk Categories Trend show – A variety of designer’s collections rounding up the latest trends, and the second was the new range from the hugely talented Alice Temperley MBE. The models were stunning, with hair by Toni & Guy and make up by Maybelline. Thank you Canon for inviting me to take part in such a brilliant experience - I promise I'll keep buying too much of your lovely equipment! ;)
You might remember my lovely client Clarabelle Interiors from this previous blog. Claire, who runs the company, is a true entrepreneur - she is always innovating and - like lots of us creative types - she gets bored quickly. This is good news for her customers. She offers (and creates) a wide range of products that reflect her signature style, yet are constantly changing and continually refreshed. She's always on the hunt for the next big thing, and when others start to catch up with her off she flies in another exciting direction!
She recently discovered Mirins, who are based in Copenhagen and hand craft organic body care products. As soon as she arrived with the parcels at the studio I could see why she was so excited! Not only do they look gorgeous, but they smell divine. They are not just *nice* - they are AMAZING! One try of them brings the instant realisation that you have inadvertently got used to using inferior products that life is too short for! I wish all my shoots smelled this good :)
You can see and buy the full range on the Clarabelle Interiors website here.
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