Fairies in the lens

It's been a while since I've had a normal Saturday. By which I mean one of those lie-in, get-up-and-have-a-cooked-breakfast, maybe-think-about-doing-something-productive-later kind of Saturdays. Mostly I'm off to crazy places all over the country to photograph lovely people's weddings - and during the week I'm blissfully up to my ears in Photoshop and thousands of photos of smiling happy people.

Louise, my partner in crime on these exploits, is particularly great at getting kids on her side at weddings, which results in some fantastic shots (who said never work with children and animals? they're great fun!) but can sometimes give unexpected results.

Last weekend she managed to convince three wonderfully cute kids that there were fairies in the lens of her (admittedly rather large and intriguing) camera. Sorting through the dozens of photos of very earnest, slightly puzzled-looking kids at a very short distance from the lens has been an entertaining break from the usual kind of shots we come away with!

Which reminds me - I have to get those little fingerprints off the glass...

Curiouser and curiouser...

Summer is here...

Well, May has arrived, with its strange Oxford traditions of students jumping off bridges, Morris dancers in the streets, and choirs singing from towers. If that makes no sense to you - join the club.

What makes perfect sense is the wedding of the wonderful Piper and Simon at Ardington House in south Oxfordshire. Fairytale is one way to describe the day - the bride looked utterly stunning, making her way to get married on an island in the middle of a lake (carried on a boat, no less!); the weather was perfect; the couple's guests were a delight to be around and a great laugh (the speeches - award-winning), and the lovely couple were so relaxed in front of the camera we couldn't help but take some stunning shots. Did I mention last week that this is the best job in the world?

As a fan of occasionally walking up hills, an important part of that particular past-time is to stop every so often and look back, and marvel at how far you've come. The moment I finished processing Piper and Simon's wedding was one of those metaphorical enjoy-the-view moments - comparing last weekend's wedding with the photos I gave to my good friends Ben and Clare all those weddings ago (kudos for letting me cut my teeth at their special day!) is quite a reminder that the only way to survive in the photography business is to try and make every shoot better than the last - cliched perhaps, but nonetheless true!

The bride



Arriving by boat to meet her beloved...



Pure joy!



The fabulous grounds at Ardington



Piper and Simon picked exactly the right weekend for the blossom...







Cutting the cake at sunset - with a kiwi to celebrate!



We like to party.

...say the bells of St Paul's

It was off to London last weekend for a real treat - Liv and Tony got married in the crypt at St Paul's Cathedral. Welcome to fairytale land! As if someone was listening out for us, the weather was better than any other weekend this year, with some breathtaking blue skies and great light even through the stained glass.

I had the pleasure of working with another professional image-maker in the evening - and it would be safe to say I've never seen anything like it. Liv and Tony had a silhouette-cutter providing not-inconsiderable entertainment in the evening! I still have no idea how she did it - take a piece of card, a pair of scissors and a subject, and two minutes later, pure genius. Amazing. It certainly put me in my place - all I have to do is press a button!

The adorned bride...


In front of St Paul's Cathedral - watched by more people than I'm usually used to!



Returning for dinner


Here comes the sun!


Here's one I made... just now.