I first met Gemma and Sean over a year ago when they came to talk to me about photographing their wedding at As You Like It in Jesmond, Newcastle, from the first moment Gemma walked in I knew we would end up being friends, she's just my kind of girl, she's got style and taste, she knows what she wants and she loves a bit of floral and vintage.  I love it when that happens, to end up with friendship from your clients is quite the most special thing.  You know when you're at school and you make new friends all the time, let me tell you it's a lot harder when you're a grown up (well in my case, pretending to be a grown up, I'm still a full on Disney princess if I'm honest, I sing to the enchanted squirrels quite often in the hope they'll come and wash my dishes).

Sean on the other hand is what I like to call a proper blokes bloke although he's definitely got a soft side, I know because I've seen him waiting at the top of the aisle for his true love ;)  Just don't tell him I said that will you, you know how men like to be big strong men!

I think Gemma and Sean clearly compliment each other, I think Sean is laid back whilst Gemma is an organiser who like me likes to get stuff done, Gemma is also very giggly and you know how infectious a good laugh is.  Every time I've spent time with them as a couple it's been a total pleasure and we've ended up getting completely distracted and we've gone way over the planned time but you know what, that's the thing that's great and so when it came to the wedding I felt like I was photographing the day of two lovely friends.

As a wedding photographer in Newcastle I definitely have my favourite places to photograph weddings and As You Like It, in Jesmond is one of my favourite wedding venues if you are planning a vintage styled day and Gemma and Sean did just that, a small wedding with only 26 guests it was a pleasure to photograph, I love small weddings, I love the intimacy of them, I really enjoyed this one and I think it might be the first wedding I've been to where I got a round of applause as I left.

Gemma and Sean booked me for one of my smaller wedding collections and I spent just over 3 hours at their wedding and I'm delighted to say we've ended up with the most delicious little gallery where quality definitely wins over quantity, I've always said it's not about the number of photographs you get on the disk, it's what in them that counts, never be fooled by a photographer who promises you thousands of shots!

Shall we take a look at some of the highlights of the happiest day of their lives so far?

I adore these button holes made from used shot cartridges, so pretty!

adorable flower girls, every wedding needs a couple of those.

I do love a nice compact group shot which is handy for As You Like It as this is their only really outdoor area so it's something to consider if you are planning your wedding here.

The speeches were short and heartfelt, just the way I like them, use any words, use your words but think about them and never use the first speech which comes up on the first page of Google, I promise it's been done already many, many, many, times, if you're a nervous groom just remember that all you ever have to say is "thank you for coming" and "Doesn't my new wife look like the most beautiful woman in the whole world" As long as you say those things (you can paraphrase if you like) then you'll be guaranteed to be forgiven for anything you missed!

One of the flower girls read a poem and I don't think there was a dry eye in the room, obviously I cried too, I'm such a softy at weddings!

Gemma and Sean, thank you for letting me tell the day of your wedding in photographs, I hope I've given you images you can look at often and that remind you of just how special your day, your hearts and your lives have been/are now and will always be.

If you would like to have a chat about me shooting your wedding day at As You Like It or indeed anywhere in the North East of England and even further afield remember that I am currently offering a complimentary pre-wedding shoot with images on disk worth £335 with every package booked of 3 hours or over and if you have a friend or family member who is about to get married or wants to renew their vows please consider referring them to me and if they book I'll give you a complimentary family photo shoot.

Contact me via my Website | Email | Facebook | 

Why I'm shooting weddings again....

"What, you never stopped did you?" Said someone to me the other day, well no, I hadn't but I was winding down and retiring from weddings and thinking that all in life was sorted out and I knew what I was doing and where I was going.

Here's the thing, I'm sure that all artists suffer from elements of self doubt but I really went through a period of losing complete confidence in my ability and therefore I fell out of love with what I did. Those of you who know me personally will know just how important I think weddings are and I've always felt that If you can't go to a wedding and give 150% of yourself then you shouldn't do it, a lot of things have happened over the last year which have made me readdress the way I feel about many things in life and as I shot my first 2 weddings of this year suddenly I realised that if I give this up, I lose the chance to record one of the most important days of peoples lives to be preserved in history forever.  History remembers weddings, it may not remember the tiny details of the settings or the wedding favours but it will remember the bride and groom, the people who celebrated with them, friends and family all gathered together on one very special day.  At weddings I often see photographs of parents weddings and grandparents and sometimes great grandparents and those photos make me smile.  I guess it's proof that love and hope are timeless, something we all hold onto and believe because we know that when you meet that other half of your whole you will be complete (sorry Plato for paraphrasing your story).

I am a silly, head in the clouds romantic who truly believes that for every heart which roams the earth there's an opposite heart just waiting to meet them, i still truly believe that the most special moment of the whole wedding is when the groom waiting pensively at the top of the aisle turns to see his beautiful bride for the very first time.  That's the moment when time stops and everyone else in the room fades into grey, your eyes connect and there's a look which says "you are mine and I am about to be yours forever"

I'm always honest about my whole life, about who I am, where I've come from and where I am heading and the truth of the matter is that if I stop shooting weddings I give up a whole part of my working life which I would miss.  I've come to terms with the fact that I'll have nightmares and crazy dreams before every wedding, I've consoled myself that the nerves I get the day before are simply because I care and I know the task I'm undertaking but from the moment I arrive and pick up my camera I am overwhelmingly the calmest person in the room.  I often have tears during the ceremony as I can't help but take in the beauty and promise of the ceremony and nothing makes me get more emotional than when big tough men break down because they're so full of love and emotion upon that special day.

And so here I stand today relaunching a wedding photography career, nervous because it takes time to build a business but then I remember I have almost 10 years experience and I've shot hundreds of weddings, I've had brides burst into tears when I've arrived, I've given rescue remedy pastilles to small flower girls and I've helped bridesmaids channel their inner Disney Princesses.  I've been left breathless seeing women transformed into the most amazing brides and I've been overwhelmed by the beauty of a couples love.

If you're looking for a wedding photographer for your wedding in 2015/2016/2017 whether it's for just 1 hour or you need a whole day from the getting ready right through to the first dance please get in touch via my website, Facebook or email

At the moment I am offering a complimentary pre-wedding shoot with images on disk worth £335 with every booking of 3 hours or more and I'm also offering a free family portrait session for anyone referring a couple who go onto book me for their wedding.  Primarily I am available for wedding photography in Newcastle, Sunderland, Durham and Northumberland but given the right wedding I will travel anywhere in the UK (travel expenses may be applicable on some packages).

Beautiful Berwick, our Haven gem of a Sun £9.50 Holiday

It's hard to know quite where to start when thinking of the holiday from which we've just returned dear reader and you might be forgiven for thinking we've been somewhere terribly exotic when you look at this photo, I'll try my best to take you on the journey with us on our Sun £9.50 holiday to Haven, Berwick, in Northumberland

I can honestly say that I didn't have huge expectations of our Monday to Friday caravan break, I'd paid £62ish with The Sun plus another £70ish for entertainment passes, linen hire and a £20 pet supplement for Holly the beagle and I really didn't know what to expect.

I've never been one for caravan holidays but after Looby and I spent 4 nights in Ugly Betty last year in Hereford I thought it was worth a try and it definitely was, from the moment we arrived and saw the immaculately kept caravan park which is nestled on the cliff tops of 2 sheltered coves of white sands made from ground shells in  beautiful Berwick I knew that we had gotten ourselves an absolute bargain.

The caravan, one of Havens standard accommodation offerings was clean, modern and cosy during the day, it was colder than the actual North Pole during the nights and when we go back I am definitely going to be hiring a space heater.  Last night for example I slept in 2 layers of clothes, a huge cardigan, 3 quilts and a hat and I just about had a great nights sleep!  There was a fire in the caravan but it really only kept a small part of the caravan warm and it's no surprise that Abigail chose to sleep on the sofa closest to the fire last night. Obviously though it's warmer in the summer evenings so it might not be as much of an issue but I would pack a hot water bottle just in case.  I do think it's a shame that you can't hire a nicer caravan just because you have a dog, I would have paid more to have one with central heating.

When we arrived we were told there was a leaky tap which would be fixed that evening or it may have already been fixed, I went back to reception on Wednesday to report that it was getting worse and was told that it would be fixed that evening, a repair man did appear and promised he would be back to fix it properly on Thursday but at the time of checkout on Friday it was still unfixed and getting worse all the time.

The wardrobe door was also broken having come off it's track and the extractor hood on the cooker didn't work which lead to me setting off the smoke alarm twice.  They really are just minor quibbles and for the most part for 4 whole days we did what we wanted, ate what we liked and walked many miles each day, it's good for the soul to have a break from the norm and that includes eating all those yummy but usually taboo foods!

The scenery of the surrounding coastline was for me the thing which made the holiday, I just adored every second of the copious amounts of walks with Holly every day, we walked early in the morning, mid morning, lunchtime, afternoon, after dinner and sometimes in the evenings as well, it's no wonder I was racking up 10k steps by 11am most days, it's just a shame it didn't counteract all of the sugar and pastries, haha!

Looby loved the swimming, the activities and the entertainment, she did fencing, water walking, retro party dancing, game playing, amusement arcading, swinging, climbing and lots and lots of sliding and I think if you have kids then that's the joy of a Haven holiday, there's literally things to do nearly every minute of the day.  Looby particularly loved Funstars Go Live in the evenings and I think we went every night, Abigail came with us a couple of evenings but she mostly lounged about with Holly or on her own or did the being teenage and angry thing!  I asked her why she asked for money so often, she said, it's my age, that's what we do!  I don't think she's coming with us during summer but she did say she might come for a weekend which will be handy if it's just Berwick as it's only 45 minutes on the train.

I took some time to contemplate live, the universe and everything and came to the conclusion that Looby, Holly and I need more holidays, more adventures and so during term times I need to really work at making my wedding photography and portrait photography businesses really blossom, it's taken me several months to get to the point where I am enjoying work again, I suppose not just work but also life.  Huge life events take a long time to get over and the healing process does seem to be well on it's way for me, I found I enjoyed all of the time on my own with Holly when we were away, I felt like better company to myself and Looby and I had a big chat about how I would have to work extra hard so that we could take the time away and have many holidays, suffice to say if you would like to speak to me about shoooting your wedding or portraits this summer please do get in touch

For now I am going to have a nice hot bath and enjoy the feeling of being warm again!

(all of these photos were taken with the awesome iPhone6 and edited in Instagram and yes I will be ordering prints)

I have loved, I do love and I will love again

I said in my last blog dear reader that this week has been a challenge but I have emerged from the other side of it stronger, better and wiser and I feel that I really have, I guess we never stop learning from life, ourselves and others.

1 thing I really need to do is reconnect with a social life.  Don't get me wrong, I am rarely home, I am always off on one adventure or another but it's usually quite insular, Holly and I traverse wide and far and we meet interesting people on our journeys but I do sometimes feel I lack the joy of other people and the experiences they offer.  I have friends, wonderful friends who will always be there for me and but I think for one reason or another we just haven't had time to arrange lunches and trips out for cocktails.  I miss two of my friends Elanor and Li so very much, both moved away last year to fabulous new and inspiring lives and I just haven't seen them enough. I must make more effort and arrange things!

I hope my holiday next week with Abigail and Looby (and Holly) will be the start of the healing process for me really, I say to myself, "it's been 7 months since Paul left, how can you not have sorted yourself out yet?" I've always been a survivor (sorry Beyonce), I know my own self in that respect but I guess 15 years (and it will be 15 years on the 14/4) is harder to move on from than I ever imagined it would be and maybe in some way there are parts of me I'd given away and they will remain gone for the rest of my life, that's what you do isn't it, when you marry someone?  You give parts of your soul and they're just not yours anymore, it's part of the contract of marriage, you have to give all of your heart and soul on that day when you walk down the aisle because you have to believe that you will be together for the rest of your lives.  I still believe that, I still believe in unbreakable, enduring true love which lasts forever.

For now though in whatever form I have to live most days on a path of my own and I'm sure as I walk down this new road I'll meet friends along the way and I'll stop to drink from fountains of life and I'll gaze at beautiful vistas and my heart will smile back at me.  This week whilst walking many many miles (over 45 so far) my heart smiled at me as I simply enjoyed the company of my dog and the sunshine on my face and the sounds of the birds in the trees, nature is at it's most splendid and miraculous in spring.  Maybe that's what it is, maybe I've had to wait until spring to feel able to start again?

What it is I guess is that when it all comes down to it I know I have loved, I do love and I will love again...

New Beginnings...

I'm sitting here writing this, the sun has just disappeared in a glorious sunset and I can still see it's red tinges as the world in front of me experiences the blue hour, that's the hour just after sunset, golden before, blue after, remember that!!  It's been another glorious day and a day when I decided to make a new start, to make some big decisions about the future, to resolve to go back to some old things....

You see, I've always been a positive kind of person and well over the last few months I'd kind of got bogged down a little by spells of depression, loneliness, blah, blah, blah....

I walked to the Dunston Staithes today to catch up with a good friend I hadn't seen for probably 3 years and as I walked my 6 mile round trip I contemplated on my life and how I could make it better, not just for me but for my children too.

First step, regain control of my business, it's so easy to delegate and perhaps in some ways it is the future but for now I want to get to grips with my own business again, it's best way to give great customer service and I need to look at how I'm going to make things even better for future clients.

Second step, say yes to more business things, start taking on short weddings again, I'm not going to lie, I lost my confidence a while back and getting it back has been difficult but look, I shot the most amazing wedding last week and I loved every second of it and if that means I can shoot weddings like this all of the time then awesome.

The wedding of Gemma and Sean at As You Like It, Jesmond

So if you are planning your wedding in 2015/16/17 and you would like to book a wedding photographer in newcastle  for a smaller wedding package, i.e up to 4 hours then please do get in touch 

I've also decided to just only say positive things and think positive thoughts, it always worked so well for me in the past and I'm not going to beat myself up because I know that yes, it's been a difficult period in my life but above all I still believe the most important things in life are love and happiness and love comes in so many different forms, I want to truly love the world and all of the people in my world and I want to celebrate the love that many families feel though the photography that I love, I'm rambling but to use the words of Ewan Mcgregor in Moulin Rouge "Above all else I believe in love, love is like oxygen, love is a many splendored thing, love lifts us up where we belong, all you need is love" or something like that anyway!

This weeks sessions in Jesmond Dene and Tynemouth have all turned out to be fabulous wonderful things, here's some previews.  If you would like to book a session this week in Jesmond Dene or Tynemouth we have availability so contact me now!

I'm not sure how long the positivity takes to have an effect but if tonight is anything to go by I have spoken to one of my lovely brides, I have been to Slimming World and lost another 2.5lb and I have come home and made epic burgers, it's all a starting point and I plan to embrace every second of every day from now on.

Bank Holidays, They're Not The Same As They Used To Be

As i'm sitting here typing on my sofa the sun is just starting to dip, it's the start of the golden hour and the end of the most beautiful weather day of the year so far.  It's been a bit of a scorcher in parts today, by the sea it was still uber chilly but in my garden when we came home from the beach it was nearly 30c, it does catch the sun with absolutely no wind though usually because of the walls.

Today was such a difficult day, bank holidays for me have always been about family time, every single one for the last 15 years has pretty much been a whole family adventure of some kind or other so I hope you'll forgive me for feeling, well just sad really, if some days are harder than others this one is definitely one of them.  7 months on almost exactly to the day since life changed forever and I wouldn't say that it hurts any less now than it did back then.

I don't want to dwell but I have always been honest thus far and what's the point of lying to yourself (and 20,000 readers a month) someone is going to find out...

I do hope that today marks the start of sunshine all of the time until at least October, in fact if I'm honest I'll be happy if it lasts until our Berwick holidays are over, 8 sleeps to go, I have a treasure trail, Looby has packed her suitcase and I'm considering selling a body part to pay for all of the expected activities that Haven has to offer, I remember the last time dear reader and it was not a cheap experience.  At least this time I have Holly who's my get out of jail free or rather "I can't come and play family bingo because someone has to look after Holly at all times and she's not allowed in any of the buildings" (haven't quite worked out if Haven really is dog friendly or more along the lines of dog tolerant, they're quite different animals).

Speaking of animals, Holly is now a stinky beagle after rolling in manure today at the beach, I thought I could smell the whiff of freshly fertilised fields carried on the winds all day until I worked out that the smell was actually coming from Hollys neck, she wasn't amused by the bath at all and she's probably grumpy because she can smell herself and yes, she's going to need another bath tomorrow.

What Looby and I did do today to make the best of the situation we've found ourselves in was go to the beach (again, again, again.....) we walked from Tynemouth to Whitley Bay via beaches and promenades and the sun shone on our faces and warmed our skin and I was glad I'd remembered to put  my factor 50 on my face this morning, sun can be ageing when you're my age so it's full on sun block at every opportunity.

We decided not to wait in the huge queue for ice-cream or to partake of the (probably overpriced and underwhelming) fun fare which has been set up at Whitley Bay for the bank holiday weekend.  Oh no, we're going back again tomorrow without Holly, yes the beach again, ice-cream and the fun fare (probably still overpriced) but that's what Looby wants to do so yes that's what we're doing.  I feel I really should move to Tynemouth, I seem to spend more time there than I do at home.

Whatever you get up to tomorrow dear reader please go and embrace your families and do something with them, enjoy every second, savour every moment because you just never know what might lie around the corner of life.

5 top photography tips for parents, take better photos of your kids today!

This weekend it's Easter, i'm sure you know that already dear reader but just in case ;)  

One important note of the day, my website is mobile friendly, check out it's new makeover here, the least you can do is go and admire it on your iPad or iPhone as it nearly made my eyes bleed until very late last night achieving that.

I've always thought that as a parent you should photograph your children and pets as often as humanly possible, of course you may think that it's easy for me to say that but anyone can take photos, not everything has to be technically perfect, to be honest not everything I take is technically perfect but it's about the moments isn't it?  So with that in mind I thought I would offer up a few photography tips and tricks I use in the hope that it'll help you take more photographs of those precious moments you have in your life every day.

1. Light is the very most important thing to note in photography for without it, well photographs are just going to be black aren't they?  For today just do one thing, watch the light, watch how it changes throughout the day.  You'll mainly find that the very best times are the hour that follows sunrise and the hour that proceeds sunset.  As the sun gets higher in the skies you'll find it gets harsher and the shadows get harder.   If that happens try to run into a shaded area.
2. Direction, again this is pretty light focused, I like to photograph people with their backs to the sun, you'll notice when you do this in the golden hours you end up with lovely light on the hair and you'll get great skin tones, one thing you should note with this is that you may need a touch of fill flash to illuminate faces, you never ever want to end up with panda eyes and whatever you do please don't make your kids face the sun in bright sunlight, can you say Squint?
3. If you can possibly avoid using flash at all ever then by all means do so, especially if it's the flash on the front of your phone, it's the harshest most awful kind of light and it's not kind to anyone ever, this is because of where the flash is, if you really want to use flash and you have the means then you want to take your flash off the camera in as many cases as possible.  I actually never use flash on camera anymore, the only time I ever use it is off camera to do clever things.
4. Don't ask your kids to pose or you'll miss out on the moments, the little things that they do, if you do want portrait photographs then hire a photographer, once a year is a lovely time to do update shots and if you have a great photographer they'll just get the kids having fun and doing stuff to with a few portraits thrown in for good measure, that's why I choose to photograph families in the places they love.
5. Sometimes it's not even about photographing their faces, when they grow up you'll want to remember those tiny hands they had or those cute shoes they always wore, sometimes the most beautiful photographs of children are not about looking at the camera
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

I've included a sprinkling of personal, professional, iphone and dslr in this article to give you a brief over view of whats possible in any kind of situation and something I'd just like to say is, yes I actually have total posers for children, I'm sure they weren't always that way but they've been photographed constantly for the last 10 or so years of their lives. Possibly it's a good thing to also say that if your kids ask them to take a photo, just do it because one day they won't want you to take their photo anymore!

And if all else fails you'll just have to hire a professional and if you're looking for a photographer in Newcastle then get in touch, I have a few spare sessions remaining over the bank holiday and I'm available all next week including Saturday 11th April which will be at Jesmond Dene.